Dear ----,--Since we are bereft of balls and _soirées_ we devote our
time to improving our Italian. Johan and I take lessons of a monsignore
who appears precisely at ten every morning. We struggle through some
verbs, and then he dives into Dante, the most difficult thing to
comprehend in the Italian language. Then he tries to explain it in
Italian to us, which is more difficult still. He makes us read aloud to
him, during which he folds his hands over his fat stomach and audibly
goes to sleep. He will awake with a start and excuse himself, saying
that he gets up at five o'clock in the morning for _matines_, and that
naturally at eleven he is sleepy; but I think he only pretends to sleep
and takes refuge behind his eyelids, in order to ponder over the
Italian language as "she is spoke."
Sgambati, the very best composer and pianist in Rome, gives lessons to
Nina, who he says has "_molto talento_." Sgambati has a wonderful and
sympathetic touch, which is at once velvety and masterful. His gavotte
is a _chef-d'oeuvre_. He calls it a gavotte, but I tell him he ought to
call it "The Procession of the Cavaliers," because it has such a
martial ring to it. It does not in the least resemble a Gavotte Louis
XV. I seem to see in my mind's eye Henry V. trying to rally his
comrades about him and incite them to combat. Sgambati looks like a
_preux chevalier_ himself, with his soft, mild blue eyes and long hair
and serene brow. He brought a song that he composed, he said, "_per la
distinta Eccellenza Hegermann_ expressly by her devoted and admiring
Sgambati." Although the song was beautiful as a piano piece and as _he_
played it, I could not sing it. I said:
"My dear Sgambati, I can never sing 'Mio' on a si-bemol. Can I not
change it for an 'A'?"
"No!" answered Sgambati. "The-whole meaning would be lost; but you can
broaden it out and sing 'Miaa.'"
Another shining light is Tosti, who comes to us very often. He is by
far the best beloved of popular composers. He understands the voice
thoroughly and composes songs which are melodious and easy to sing.
Therefore every one sings them. He has not much of a voice, but when he
sings his compositions he makes them so charming that they sell like
wildfire. He is the most amiable of geniuses, and never refuses to sing
when he is asked.
Yesterday I sang something I had composed as a _vocalize_. He liked it
so much that he asked why I did not sing it as a song.