For the Children

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16940, 15 January 1923, Page 3

For the Children

THE WILLOW PIPE. Teal's came into the eyes of Vincenzo Bellini and it seemed to him that joy had gone out of the worll. The Count of Syracuse, in order to encourage boys of musical ability to work to develop it, had offered a purse of gold to whoever would win in a contest upon orchestral instruments, tc be held in October. But the band master had just moved away from tho village and taken his flute with him. That meant the boy could not- compete for the prize, because he had no other instrument. He was up on one of the vine-tufted hills, west of Catania, that make tho island of Sicily a place of such delight, watching the goats that he drove there to graze every afternoon. On ether days he romped and played mf.’i the animals, but to-day he did not notice them at all. He could think only of the contest to be held in the autumn, that he felt lie would give anything he possessed to enter. “ Perhaps we can find a way even yet,” old Agostina Silvera said in an effort to comfort him, ior well ho imew that this brown-eyed Sicilian lad loved music better than anything in the world, and made delightful harmonics upon every instrument ho touched. Ui.s father played in one of Catania 9 ! churches, and be had set him to work at the organ when little more than a baby. But as he grew older and had to spend his spare hours in looking after his grandfather’s goats, there was little time for being at the j keyboard. So good Maestro Bondi ; loaned him a flute and gave him a few ' lessons upon it. and day after day, when lie was out on the slope'-, people heard him playing as he followed the , flock. But the friendly teacher ha I j to go to live in another part of the j island, and could not very well give { him the instrument. Old Agostino took his staff out > trudged down over the hill towa-I the village, but Vincenzo stayed m with the flock until sunset time. Then he drove the bleating creatures home i and tethered them for the nicht. j “ Wash vour face non- and get in to } supper,” his mother called from the doorway, “for T have the macaroni ready and vour father has come from tlic church.” SUMMONED BY THE OLD MUSICIAN. Just as he started to do her Bidding, a boy came running towards him. “Maestro Silvera wants you to j come to his house to-night.” he called. “He says he has something to tcT i For the first time in several hours. Vincenzo smiled. It was always a ' pleasure to go to Silvera’s cottage because its master was kindly and in ■ leresting. Time was when lie ha s | been a noted orchestra leader of ' Catania, but now be earned bis bread by mending wind instruments for tho o who. could not get them to Catania, i So as soon as the boy finished his I supper, he went gladly over to the cor- J tage, and found the musician sitting ; at a table, examining a willow pipe. He smiled at the sight of bis young j friend and motioned him to take a J seat beside him. j " We will make a willow pipe.” lie | said, “so you can enter the contest.” Vincenzo started in astonishment. “A willow pipe!” he- exclaimed. “ Thev won’t let me trv on a thing like that.” “No?” the grey-haired man questioned. in a whimsical way. “ Are you so foolish as to think it is the colour or glitter of the instrument that gives the tone? J( is the love in the maker’s heart and the patience that Uo • puts into his fineors that does "thaN You are young yet,” be said gent-1; . j “ but some day vou will know that the- . most perfect violin, harp or flute was once just, a tree in tho forest. Yes.” lie added, in a voice that was musical . low nole an instrument can bp fashion j ed through which a song can pass.” Vincenzo’s heart began to bound : In the depths of bis heart lie know 1 the master was right He know also that, when a vonth. bo bad been a»tireuticed to an instrument maker of ■ Catania, and could make a flute if M r>v. , body could. THE PLOW M.un\G OF THE ! FLUTE. So they went, to work. Evening fcfter evening found the eager lad at the bouse of the old orchestra leader, tutting and scraping with his knife aim ooing whatever be was told to do. An l as he worked be learned many things about the great instrument makers of the past. “They were not just skillful craftsmen.” the musician declared. “They j u ere artists who laboured with care ' end patience to make perfect every curve and line, not because of tb • rrtonev fine wnrlrmsuidiin n-niilil B-ii. -

n, ■.>. | them, but because of the deep satisfaction it would be.” i The boy found out that a violin, harp or flute is like the picture of tlm , painter, the song of the poet or the i statue of the sculptor, a part ot him • i self put into form that the world may touch, see or hear. And so we rea 1 ; olr an Amati toiling for seven years to make a deeper amber varnish, a Guarnerius labouring for three in the hope of fashioning a finer bow-piee 2 than any of bis predecessors, or an Antonio Stradivarius plodding away j ior twenty to give deeper resonance to a violin. It is not the material that goes into the work that matters half as much as the perseverance wi c which that material is shaped and moulded. Perseverance and care welled. together with a joy in the thought of line achievement, makes what tinworld calls genius. And genius a*'- ' complished tho impossible, because of , its capacity for never-ending pain j That is wliv a willow pole mav become 1 a singing instrument in the fingers of Agostino Silvera was an artist, an ! now he taught Vincenzo how to hollow and shape the willow and cut on: . the keyholes as the master flute maker of Catania had taught liim. when be was an apprentice boy more than fii v ye-ars before, and to strive to produce an instrument that would gladden tin* heart of the greatest musician. It ! seemed a long, slow process to the : bov, but he was patient and did as the I old man advised, and one wonderful ' Saturday the pipe was finished. ! " List to the inelodv it makes despifo its home!v dress.” the crrev-haire-l master exclaimed, as he held it up to : the light. | THEY TEST THE INSTRUMENT. He lilted a song upon it. a fok ! 7m 13ad wise men say 3iis ancestors j j brought with them when they came j from the Grecian Islands ages ago And to the bov who heard it seemed I never anything bad .sounded half as | {"'lt sings.” he shrieked in delight , “yet it is only a willow pipe!” “Only a willow pipe!” Agostino re peated. He smiled as he spoke, for >e (bought how, in that far-off morning 01 old Greece, Tan the wood god moved trees and stones with his melody, so , marvellous were the strains he brougu? I from a svrinx made of rushes. Did Vincenzo Bellini compete in U i contest, two weeks later? Read tin : story of the great masters of and vou will know. j When every ambitious lad oT th* I region went to tho palace of tho Conn I of Syracuse to trv for the gold pin*I hat nobleman offered, he hurried tb.er with the rest. And .although so nr i brought instruments trimmed witb j j silver and inlaid with ivory, he carrie ' j only a willow pipe, white and mmr , rushed as when the pole from which b | was carved had come from the ire ' But joy was in his eyes and high ho- ] ' an ibis heart, because it had bee*, j ! fashioned under the guidance of 81! : l-vora. who he knew to be a master | j craftsman. And when nil had had their turn- | ! and the manager of the contest her j aided that he would name the winner. I 'ov greater than anvtliing the bov Jsac' 1 ever known filled him. "To Vincenzo Bellini goes tin And everybody who had heard tb | contest knew the decision wa* just. { The years brought glorious things i to the goatherd, for lie became a groat artist. That purse of gold paved the j wav for studr at Catania’s conserve tor'v. Then Borne with its masterfed his genius, and before a. decao • : had passed all Europe rang with lib I praise. Ho not onlv played uiusi? : but wrote it. and every melody that he composed was beautiful. Tll . Paris. London Vienna. Milan, in fa T. wherever rnclodv was loved, peopi ■ i called him “The Incomparable Bek Mini.” and prizes of priceless vain i came to him from great lords a::! ; kings. But of all the precious thing* most was a pipe of willow, whittl'd ivith his own jackknife under the a ’ - vice of an old flute maker, and pTavc I j one day at a contest in Catania. If j Avon him the purse that sent him to | the conservatory and made possible ! his great career, so wliv should it not I have been treasured? As old Silvern 1 said, it is not the cost of the instru • incur that makes the melody gl --v: >us ! but what goes into it from it.- maker and plavor. And. during Bellini’s manhood, some of those vdio hear! i him plav it declared that i>,e soun Is : which came from that willow pipe were j . of unearthly beautv.