When we have found out what that something else is we
shall understand the masters better and honor them more.
Everywhere in the history of music we read of what men have been
willing to do for the love of their art. It is not that they have been
willing to do when told; but that they have cheerfully done painful,
laborious tasks of their own accord. The name of every master will
recall great labor willingly given for music and equally great
suffering willingly endured, nay, even sought out, that the music
might be purer to them. Poor Palestrina went along many years through
life with the scantiest means. But, as he says, "in spite of all, I
have never interrupted the study of music." Bach was as simple and
loyal a citizen as any land could have, and from the early years when
he was a fatherless boy to the days of his sad affliction, he
sacrificed always. Think of the miles he walked to hear Buxterhude,
the organist; and in the earlier years, when he lived with Johann
Christopher, his brother, how eagerly he sought learning in the art
that so fascinated him. It was a constant willingness to learn
honestly that distinguished him.
Any of us who will labor faithfully with the talents we have can do a
great deal--more than we would believe. Even Bach himself said to a
pupil: "If thou art _equally_ diligent thou wilt succeed as I
have."[40] He recognized that it matters little how much we wish for
things to be as we want them; unless our wish-thoughts are forced into
prompt action we cannot succeed; for while all thoughts seek action,
wish-thoughts demand the most labor.
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