Now, here's a story by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, one of the most powerful, ingenious and influential women that ever set foot on this planet. I cannot know for certain how many of you know anything about the life and times of Mme Blavatsky, but i can assure you that she's one of the most intriguing characters that you could ever come around. Follow the link at the end of the story in case you care to know more about her. For the time being please enjoy the sounds of the Ensouled Violin:
I
In the year 1828, an old German, a music teacher, came to Paris with his pupil and settled unostentatiously in one of the quiet faubourgs of the metropolis.The first rejoiced in the name of Samuel Klaus; the second answered to the more poetical appellation of Franz Stenio. The younger man was a violinist, gifted, as rumor went, with extraordinary, almost miraculous talent. Yet as he was poor and had not hitherto made a name for himself in Europe, he remained for several years in the capital of France--the heart and pulse of capricious continental fashion--unknown and unappreciated. Franz was a Styrian by birth, and, at the time of the event to be presently described, he was a young man considerably under thirty. A philosopher and a dreamer by nature, imbued with all the mystic oddities of true genius, he reminded one of some of the heroes in Hoffmann's Contes Fantastiques. His earlier existence had been a very unusual, in fact, quite an eccentric one, and its history must be briefly told--for the better understanding of the present story. Born of very pious country people, in a quiet burg among the Styrian Alps; nursed "by the native gnomes who watched over his cradle"; growing up in the weird atmosphere of the ghouls and vampires who play such a prominent part in the household of every Styrian and Slavonian in Southern Austria; educated later, as a student, in the shadow of the old Rhenish castles of Germany; Franz from his childhood had passed through every emotional stage on the plane of theso-called "supernatural." He had also studied at one time the "occult arts" with an enthusiastic disciple of Paracelsus and Khunrath; alchemy had few theoretical secrets for him; and he had dabbled in "ceremonial magic" and "sorcery" with some Hungarian Tziganes. Yet he loved above all else music, and above music--his violin. At the age of twenty-two he suddenly gave up his practical studies in the occult, and from that day, though as devoted as ever in thought to the beautiful Grecian Gods, he surrendered himself entirely to his art. Of his classic studies he had retained only that which related to the muses--Euterpe especially, at whose altar he worshipped--and Orpheus whose magic lyre he tried to emulate with his violin. Except his dreamy belief in the nymphs and the sirens, on account probably of the double relationship of the latter to the muses through Calliope and Orpheus, he was interested but little in the matters of this sublunary world. All his aspirations mounted, like incense, with the wave of the heavenly harmony that he drew from his instrument, to a higher and nobler sphere. He dreamed awake, and lived a real though an enchanted life only during those hours when his magic bow carried him along the wave of sound to the Pagan Olympus, to the feet of Euterpe. A strange child he had ever been in his own home, where tales of magic and witchcraft grow out of every inch of the soil; a still stranger boy he had become, until finally he had blossomed into manhood, without one single characteristic of youth. Never had a fair face attracted his attention; not for one moment had his thoughts turned from his solitary studies to a life beyond that of a mystic Bohemian. Content with his own company, he had thus passed the best years of his youth and manhood with his violin for his chief idol, and with the Gods and Goddesses of old Greece for his audience, in perfect ignorance of practical life. His whole existence had been one long dayo f dreams, of melody and sunlight, and he had never felt any other aspirations.How useless, but oh, how glorious those dreams! how vivid! and why should he desire any better fate? Was he not all that he wanted to be, transformed in a second of thought into one or another hero; from Orpheus, who held all nature breathless, to the urchin who piped away under the plane tree to the naiads of CallirrhoΤ's crystal fountain? Did not the swift-footed nymphs frolic at his beck and call to the sound of the magic flute of the Arcadian shepherd--who was himself? Behold, the Goddess of Love and Beauty herself descending from on high, attracted by the sweet-voiced notes of his violin! . . . Yet there came a time when he preferred Syrinx to Aphrodite--not as the fair nymph pursued by Pan, but after her transformation by the merciful Gods into the reed out of which the frustrated God of the Shepherds had made his magic pipe. For also, with time, ambition grows and is rarely satisfied. When he tried to emulate on his violin the enchanting sounds that resounded in his mind, the whole of Parnassus kept silent under the spell, or joined in heavenly chorus; but the audience he finally craved was composed of more than the Gods sung by Hesiod, verily of the most appreciative melomanes of European capitals. He felt jealous of the magic pipe, and would fain have had it at his command."Oh! that I could allure a nymph into my beloved violin!"--he often cried, after awakening from one of his day-dreams. "Oh, that I could only span inspirit-flight the abyss of Time! Oh, that I could find myself for one short day a partaker of the secret arts of the Gods, a God myself, in the sight and hearing of enraptured humanity; and, having learned the mystery of the lyre of Orpheus, or secured within my violin a siren, thereby benefit mortals to my own glory!Thus, having for long years dreamed in the company of the Gods of his fancy, he now took to dreaming of the transitory glories of fame upon this earth. But at this time he was suddenly called home by his widowed mother from one of the German universities where he had lived for the last year or two. This was an event which brought his plans to an end, at least so far as the immediate future was concerned, for he had hitherto drawn upon her alone for his meagre pittance,and his means were not sufficient for an independent life outside his native place. His return had a very unexpected result. His mother, whose only love he was on earth, died soon after she had welcomed her Benjamin back; and the good wives ofthe burg exercised their swift tongues for many a month after as to the real causes of that death. Frau Stenio, before Franz's return, was a healthy, buxom, middle-aged body, strong and hearty. She was a pious and a God-fearing soul too, who had never failed in saying her prayers, nor had missed an early mass for years during his absence. On the first Sunday after her son had settled at home--a day that she had been longing for and had anticipated for months in joyous visions, in which she saw him kneeling by her side in the little church on the hill--she called him from the foot of the stairs. The hour had come when her pious dream was to be realized, and she was waiting for him, carefully wiping the dust from the prayer-book he had used in his boyhood. But instead of Franz, it was his violin that responded to her call, mixing its sonorous voice with the rather cracked tones of the peal of the merry Sunday bells. The fond mother was somewhat shocked at hearing the prayer-inspiring sounds drowned by the weird, fantastic notes of the "Dance of the Witches"; they seemed to her so unearthly and mocking. But she almost fainted upon hearing the definite refusal of her well-beloved son to go to church. He never went to church, he coolly remarked. It was loss of time; besides which, the loud peals of the old church organ jarred on his nerves. Nothing should induce him to submit to the torture of listening to that cracked organ. He was firm, and nothing could move him. To her supplications and remonstrances he put an end by offering to play for her a"Hymn to the Sun" he had just composed. From that memorable Sunday morning, Frau Stenio lost her usual serenity of mind.She hastened to lay her sorrows and seek for consolation at the foot of the confessional; but that which she heard in response from the stern priest filled her gentle and unsophisticated soul with dismay and almost with despair. A feeling of fear, a sense of profound terror which soon became a chronic state with her, pursued her from that moment; her nights became disturbed and sleepless, her days passed in prayer and lamentations. In her maternal anxietyfor the salvation of her beloved son's soul, and for his post-mortem welfare,she made a series of rash vows. Finding that neither the Latin petition to the Mother of God written for her by her spiritual adviser, nor yet the humble supplications in German, addressed by herself to every saint she had reason to believe was residing in Paradise, worked the desired effect, she took to pilgrimages to distant shrines. During one of these journeys to a holy chapel situated high up in the mountains, she caught cold, amidst the glaciers of theTyro, and redescended only to take to a sick bed, from which she arose no more. Frau Stenio's vow had led her, in one sense, to the desired result. The poor woman was now given an opportunity of seeking out in propria persona the saints she had believed in so well, and of pleading face to face for the recreant son,who refused adherence to them and to the Church, scoffed at monk and confessional, and held the organ in such horror. Franz sincerely lamented his mother's death. Unaware of being the indirect causeof it, he felt no remorse; but selling the modest household goods and chattels, light in purse and heart, he resolved to travel on foot for a year or two, before settling down to any definite profession. A hazy desire to see the great cities of Europe, and to try his luck in France, lurked at the bottom of this travelling project, but his Bohemian habits of life were too strong to be abruptly abandoned. He placed his small capital with a banker for a rainy day, and started on his pedestrian journey via Germany andAustria. His violin paid for his board and lodging in the inns and farms on his way, and he passed his days in the green fields and in the solemn silent woods, face to face with Nature, dreaming all the time as usual with his eyes open.During the three months of his pleasant travels to and fro, he never descended for one moment from Parnassus; but, as an alchemist transmutes lead into gold, so he transformed everything on his way into a song of Hesiod or Anacreon. Every evening, while fiddling for his supper and bed, whether on a green lawn or in the hall of a rustic inn, his fancy changed the whole scene for him. Village swains and maidens became transfigured into Arcadian shepherds and nymphs. The sand-covered floor was now a green sward; the uncouth couples spinning round in a measured waltz with the wild grace of tamed bears became priests and priestesses of Terpsichore; the bulky, cherry-cheeked and blue-eyed daughters of rural Germany were the Hesperides circling around the trees laden with the golden apples. Nor did the melodious strains of the Arcadian demi-gods piping on their syrinxes, and audible but to his own enchanted ear, vanish with the dawn. For no sooner was the curtain of sleep raised from his eyes than he would sally forth into a new magic realm of day-dreams. On his way to some dark and solemn pine forest, he played incessantly, to himself and to everything else. He fiddled to the green hill, and forth with the mountain and the moss-covered rocksmoved forward to hear him the better, as they had done at the sound of the Orphean lyre. He fiddled to the merry-voiced brook, to the hurrying river, and both slackened their speed and stopped their waves, and, becoming silent, seemed to listen to him in an entranced rapture. Even the long-legged stork who stood meditatively on one leg on the thatched top of the rustic mill, gravely resolving unto himself the problem of his too-long existence, sent out after him a long and strident cry, screeching, "Art thou Orpheus himself, O Stenio?" It was a period of full bliss, of a daily and almost hourly exaltation. The last words of his dying mother, whispering to him of the horrors of eternal condemnation, had left him unaffected, and the only vision her warning evoked in him was that of Pluto. By a ready association of ideas, he saw the lord of the dark nether kingdom greeting him as he had greeted the husband of Eurydice before him. Charmed with the magic sounds of his violin, the wheel of Ixion was at a standstill once more, thus affording relief to the wretched seducer of Juno, and giving the lie to those who claim eternity for the duration of the punishment of condemned sinners. He perceived Tantalus forgetting his never-ceasing thirst, and smacking his lips as he drank in the heaven-born melody; the stone of Sisyphus becoming motionless, the Furies themselves smiling on him, and the sovereign of the gloomy regions delighted, and awarding preference to his violin over the lyre of Orpheus. Taken au sirieux, mythology thus seems a decided antidote to fear, in the face of theological threats, especially when strengthened with an insane and passionate love of music; withFranz, Euterpe proved always victorious in every contest, aye, even with Hell itself!But there is an end to everything, and very soon Franz had to give up uninterrupted dreaming. He had reached the university town where dwelt his old violin teacher, Samuel Klaus. When this antiquated musician found that his beloved and favourite pupil, Franz, had been left poor in purse and still poorer in earthly affections, he felt his strong attachment to the boy awaken with tenfold force. He took Franz to his heart, and forthwith adopted him as his son.The old teacher reminded people of one of those grotesque figures which look as if they had just stepped out of some medieval panel. And yet Klaus, with his fantastic allures of a night-goblin, had the most loving heart, as tender as that of a woman, and the self-sacrificing nature of an old Christian martyr.When Franz had briefly narrated to him the history of his last few years, the professor took him by the hand, and leading him into his study simply said:"Stop with me, and put an end to your Bohemian life. Make yourself famous. I am old and childless and will be your father. Let us live together and forget all save fame."And forthwith he offered to proceed with Franz to Paris, via several large German cities, where they would stop to give concerts. In a few days Klaus succeeded in making Franz forget his vagrant life and its artistic independence, and reawakened in his pupil his now dormant ambition and desire for worldly fame. Hitherto, since his mother's death, he had been content to receive applause only from the Gods and Goddesses who inhabited his vivid fancy; now he began to crave once more for the admiration of mortals. Under the clever and careful training of old Klaus his remarkable talent gained in strength and powerful charm with every day, and his reputation grew and expanded with every city and town wherein he made himself heard. His ambition was being rapidly realized; the presiding genii of various musical centres to whose patronage his talent was submitted soon proclaimed him the one violinist of the day, and the public declared loudly that he stood unrivalled by any one whom they had ever heard. These laudations very soon made both master and pupil completely lose their heads. But Paris was less ready with such appreciation.Paris makes reputations for itself, and will take none on faith. They had been living in it for almost three years, and were still climbing with difficulty the artist's Calvary, when an event occurred which put an end even to their most modest expectations. The first arrival of Nicolo Paganini was suddenly heralded,and threw Lutetia into a convulsion of expectation. The unparallelled artist arrived, and--all Paris fell at once at his feet.
II
Now it is a well-known fact that a superstition born in the dark days of medieval superstition, and surviving almost to the middle of the presentcentury, attributed all such abnormal, out-of-the-way talent as that of Paganinito "supernatural" agency. Every great and marvellous artist had been accused inhis day of dealings with the devil. A few instances will suffice to refresh thereader's memory.Tartini, the great composer and violinist of the XVIIth century, was denouncedas one who got his best inspirations from the Evil One, with whom he was, it wassaid, in regular league. This accusation was, of course, due to the almostmagical impression he produced upon his audiences. His inspired performance onthe violin secured for him in his native country the title of "Master ofNations." The Sonate du Diable, also called "Tartini's Dream"--as every one whohas heard it will be ready to testify--is the most weird melody ever heard orinvented: hence, the marvellous composition has become the source of endlesslegends Nor were they entirely baseless, since it was he, himself; who was shownto have originated them. Tartini confessed to having written it on awakeningfrom a dream, in which he had heard his sonata performed by Satan, for hisbenefit, and in consequence of a bargain made with his infernal majesty.Several famous singers, even, whose exceptional voices struck the hearers withsuperstitious admiration, have not escaped a like accusation. Pasta's splendidvoice was attributed in her day to the fact that three months before her birth,the diva's mother was carried during a trance to heaven, and there treated to avocal concert of seraphs. Malibran was indebted for her voice to St. Cecilia,while others said she owed it to a demon who watched over her cradle and sangthe baby to sleep. Finally, Paganini--the unrivalled performer, the meanItalian, who like Dryden's Jubal striking on the "chorded shell" forced thethrongs that followed him to worship the divine sounds produced, and made peoplesay that "less than a God could not dwell within the hollow of hisviolin"--Paganini left a legend too.The almost supernatural art of the greatest violin-player that the world hasever known was often speculated upon, never understood. The effect produced byhim on his audience was literally marvellous, overpowering. The great Rossini issaid to have wept like a sentimental German maiden on hearing him play for thefirst time. The Princess Elisa of Lucca, a sister of the great Napoleon, inwhose service Paganini was, as director of her private orchestra, for a longtime was unable to hear him play without fainting. In women he produced nervousfits and hysterics at his will; stout-hearted men he drove to frenzy. He changedcowards into heroes and made the bravest soldiers feel like so many nervousschoolgirls. Is it to be wondered at, then, that hundreds of weird talescirculated for long years about and around the mysterious Genoese, that modernOrpheus of Europe? One of these was especially ghastly. It was rumoured, and wasbelieved by more people than would probably like to confess it, that the stringsof his violin were made of human intestines, according to all the rules andrequirements of the Black Art.Exaggerated as this idea may seem to some, it has nothing impossible in it; andit is more than probable that it was this legend that led to the extraordinaryevents which we are about to narrate. Human organs are often used by the EasternBlack Magician, so-called, and it is an averred fact that some BengδlΣ Tδntrikas(reciters of tantras, or "invocations to the demon," as a reverend writer hasdescribed them) use human corpses, and certain internal and external organspertaining to them, as powerful magical agents for bad purposes.However this may be, now that the magnetic and mesmeric potencies of hypnotismare recognized as facts by most physicians, it may be suggested with less dangerthan heretofore that the extraordinary effects of Paganini's violin-playing werenot, perhaps, entirely due to his talent and genius. The wonder and awe he soeasily excited were as much caused by his external appearance, "which hadsomething weird and demoniacal in it," according to certain of his biographers,as by the inexpressible charm of his execution and his remarkable mechanicalskill. The latter is demonstrated by his perfect imitation of the flageolet, andhis performance of long and magnificent melodies on the G string alone. In thisperformance, which many an artist has tried to copy without success, he remainsunrivalled to this day.It is owing to this remarkable appearance of his--termed by his friendseccentric, and by his too nervous victims, diabolical--that he experienced greatdifficulties in refuting certain ugly rumours. These were credited far moreeasily in his day than they would be now. It was whispered throughout Italy, andeven in his own native town, that Paganini had murdered his wife, and, later on,a mistress, both of whom he had loved passionately, and both of whom he had nothesitated to sacrifice to his fiendish ambition. He had made himself proficientin magic arts, it was asserted, and had succeeded thereby in imprisoning thesouls of his two victims in his violin--his famous Cremona.It is maintained by the immediate friends of Ernest T.W. Hoffmann, thecelebrated author of Die Elixire des Teufels, Meister Martin, and other charmingand mystical tales, that Councillor Crespel, in the Violin of Cremona, was takenfrom the legend about Paganini. It is, as all who have read it know, the historyof a celebrated violin, into which the voice and the soul of a famous diva, awoman whom Crespel had loved and killed, had passed, and to which was added thevoice of his beloved daughter, Antonia.Nor was this superstition utterly ungrounded, nor was Hoffmann to be blamed foradopting it, after he had heard Paganini's playing. The extraordinary facilitywith which the artist drew out of his instrument, not only the most unearthlysounds, but positively human voices, justified the suspicion. Such effects mightwell have startled an audience and thrown terror into many a nervous heart. Addto this the impenetrable mystery connected with a certain period of Paganini'syouth, and the most wild tales about him must be found in a measure justifiable,and even excusable; especially among a nation whose ancestors knew the Borgiasand the Medicis of Black Art fame.
III
In those pre-telegraphic days, newspapers were limited, and the wings of famehad a heavier flight than they have now.Franz had hardly heard of Paganini; and when he did, he swore he would rival, ifnot eclipse, the Genoese magician. Yes, he would either become the most famousof all living violinists, or he would break his instrument and put an end to hislife at the same time.Old Klaus rejoiced at such a determination. He rubbed his hands in glee, andjumping about on his lame leg like a crippled satyr, he flattered and incensedhis pupil, believing himself all the while to be performing a sacred duty to theholy and majestic cause of art.Upon first setting foot in Paris, three years before, Franz had all but failed.Musical critics pronounced him a rising star, but had all agreed that herequired a few more years' practice, before he could hope to carry his audiencesby storm. Therefore, after a desperate study of over two years and uninterruptedpreparations, the Styrian artist had finally made himself ready for his firstserious appearance in the great Opera House where a public concert before themost exacting critics of the old world was to be held; at this critical momentPaganini's arrival in the European metropolis placed an obstacle in the way ofthe realization of his hopes, and the old German professor wisely postponed hispupil's d*but. At first he had simply smiled at the wild enthusiasm, thelaudatory hymns sung about the Genoese violinist, and the almost superstitiousawe with which his name was pronounced. But very soon Paganini's name became aburning iron in the hearts of both the artists. and a threatening phantom in themind of Klaus. A few days more, and they shuddered at the very mention of theirgreat rival, whose success became with every night more unprecedented.The first series of concerts was over, but neither Klaus nor Franz had as yethad an opportunity of hearing him and of judging for themselves. So great and sobeyond their means was the charge for admission, and so small the hope ofgetting a free pass from a brother artist justly regarded as the meanest of menin monetary transactions, that they had to wait for a chance, as did so manyothers. But the day came when neither master nor pupil could control theirimpatience any longer; so they pawned their watches, and with the proceedsbought two modest seats.Who can describe the enthusiasm, the triumphs, of this famous and at the sametime fatal night! The audience was frantic; men wept and women screamed andfainted; while both Klaus and Stenio sat looking paler than two ghosts. At thefirst touch of Paganini's magic bow, both Franz and Samuel felt as if the icyhand of death had touched them. Carried away by an irresistible enthusiasm,which turned into a violent, unearthly mental torture, they dared neither lookinto each other's faces, nor exchange one word during the whole performance.At midnight, while the chosen delegates of the Musical Societies and theConservatory of Paris unhitched the horses, and dragged the carriage of thegrand artist home in triumph, the two Germans returned to their modest lodgingand it was a pitiful sight to see them. Mournful and desperate, they placedthemselves in their usual seats at the fire corner, and neither for a whileopened his mouth"Samuel!" at last exclaimed Franz, pale as death itself. "Samuel--it remains forus now but to die! . . . Do you hear me? . . . We are worthless! We were twomadmen to have ever hoped that any one in this world would ever rival . . .him!"The name of Paganini stuck in his throat, as in utter despair he fell into hisarm chair.The old professor's wrinkles suddenly became purple. His little greenish eyesgleamed phosphorescently as, bending toward his pupil, he whispered to him inhoarse and broken tones:"Nein, nein! Thou art wrong, my Franz! I have taught thee, and thou hast learnedall of the great art that a simple mortal, and a Christian by baptism, can learnfrom another simple mortal. Am I to blame because these accursed Italians, inorder to reign unequalled in the domain of art, have recourse to Satan and thediabolical effects of Black Magic?"Franz turned his eyes upon his old master. There was a sinister light burning inthose glittering orbs; a light telling plainly, that, to secure such a power,he, too, would not scruple to sell himself, body and soul, to the Evil One.But he said not a word, and, turning his eyes from his old master s face, hegazed dreamily at the dying embers.The same long-forgotten incoherent dreams, which, after seeming such realitiesto him in his younger days, had been given up entirely, and had gradually fadedfrom his mind, now crowded back into it with the same force and vividness as ofold. The grimacing shades of Ixion, Sisyphus and Tantalus resurrected and stoodbefore him, saying:"What matters hell--in which thou believest not. And even if hell there be, itis the hell described by the old Greeks, not that of the modern bigots--alocality full of conscious shadows, to whom thou canst be a second Orpheus."Franz felt that he was going mad, and, turning instinctively, he looked his oldmaster once more right in the face. Then his bloodshot eye evaded the gaze ofKlaus.Whether Samuel understood the terrible state of mind of his pupil, or whether hewanted to draw him out, to make him speak, and thus to divert his thoughts, mustremain as hypothetical to the reader as it is to the writer. Whatever may havebeen in his mind, the German enthusiast went on, speaking with a feignedcalmness-**"Franz, my dear boy, I tell you that the art of the accursed Italian is notnatural; that it is due neither to study nor to genius. It never was acquired inthe usual, natural way. You need not stare at me in that wild manner, for what Isay is in the mouth of millions of people. Listen to what I now tell you, andtry to understand. You have heard the strange tale whispered about the famousTartini? He died one fine Sabbath night, strangled by his familiar demon, whohad taught him how to endow his violin with a human voice, by shutting up in it,by means of incantations, the soul of a young virgin. Paganini did more. Inorder to endow his instrument with the faculty of emitting human sounds, such assobs, despairing cries, supplications, moans of love and fury--in short, themost heart-rending notes of the human voice--Paganini became the murderer notonly of his wife and his mistress, but also of a friend, who was more tenderlyattached to him than any other being on this earth. He then made the four chordsof his magic violin out of the intestines of his last victim. This is the secretof his enchanting talent, of that overpowering melody, that combination ofsounds, which you will never be able to master, unless . . ."The old man could not finish the sentence. He staggered back before the fiendishlook of his pupil, and covered his face with his hands.Franz was breathing heavily, and his eyes had an expression which reminded Klausof those of a hyena. His pallor was cadaverous. For some time he could notspeak, but only gasped for breath. At last he slowly muttered:"Are you in earnest?""I am, as I hope to help you.'`"And . . . and do you really believe that had I only the means of obtaininghuman intestines for strings, I could rival Paganini?" asked Franz, after amoment's pause, and casting down his eyes.The old German unveiled his face, and, with a strange look of determination uponit, softly answered:"Human intestines alone are not sufficient for our purpose; they must havebelonged to some one who had loved us well, with an unselfish holy love. Tartiniendowed his violin with the life of a virgin; but that virgin had died ofunrequited love for him. The fiendish artist had prepared beforehand a tube, inwhich he managed to catch her last breath as she expired, pronouncing hisbeloved name, and he then transferred this breath to his violin. As to PaganiniI have just told you his tale. It was with the consent of his victim, though,that he murdered him to get possession of his intestines."Oh, for the power of the human voice!" Samuel went on, after a brief pause."What can equal the eloquence, the magic spell of the human voice? Do you think,my poor boy, I would not have taught you this great, this final secret, were itnot that it throws one right into the clutches of him . . . who must remainunnamed at night?" he added, with a sudden return to the superstitions of hisyouth.Franz did not answer; but with a calmness awful to behold, he left his place,took down his violin from the wall where it was hanging, and, with one powerfulgrasp of the chords, he tore them out and flung them into the fire.Samuel suppressed a cry of horror. The chords were hissing upon the coals,where, among the blazing logs, they wriggled and curled like so many livingsnakes."By the witches of Thessaly and the dark arts of Circe!" he exclaimed, withfoaming mouth and his eyes burning like coals; "by the Furies of Hell and Pluto himself, I now swear, in thy presence, O Samuel, my master, never to touch aviolin again until I can string it with four human chords. May I be accursed forever and ever if I do!"He fell senseless on the floor, with a deep sob, that ended like a funeral wail;old Samuel lifted him up as he would have lifted a child, and carried him to hisbed. Then he sallied forth in search of a physician.
IV
For several days after this painful scene Franz was very ill, ill almost beyond recovery. The physician declared him to be suffering from brain fever and saidthat the worst was to be feared. For nine long days the patient remained delirious; and Klaus, who was nursing him night and day with the solicitude of the tenderest mother, was horrified at the work of his own hands. For the firsttime since their acquaintance began, the old teacher, owing to the wild ravingsof his pupil, was able to penetrate into the darkest corners of that weird,superstitious, cold, and, at the same time, passionate nature; and--he trembledat what he discovered. For he saw that which he had failed to perceivebefore--Franz as he was in reality, and not as he seemed to superficialobservers. Music was the life of the young man, and adulation was the air hebreathed, without which that life became a burden; from the chords of his violinalone, Stenio drew his life and being, but the applause of men and even of Godswas necessary to its support. He saw unveiled before his eves a genuine,artistic, earthly soul, with its divine counterpart totally absent, a son of theMuses, all fancy and brain poetry, but without a heart. While listening to theravings of that delirious and unhinged fancy Klaus felt as if he were for thefirst time in his long life exploring a marvellous and untravelled region, ahuman nature not of this world but of some incomplete planet. He saw all this,and shuddered. More than once he asked himself whether it would not be doing akindness to his "boy" to let him die before he returned to consciousness.But he loved his pupil too well to dwell for long on such an idea. Franz hadbewitched his truly artistic nature, and now old Klaus felt as though their twolives were inseparably linked together. That he could thus feel was a revelationto the old man; so he decided to save Franz, even at the expense of his own old,and, as he thought, useless life.The seventh day of the illness brought on a most terrible crisis. Fortwenty-four hours the patient never closed his eyes, nor remained for a momentsilent; he raved continuously during the whole time. His visions were peculiar,and he minutely described each. Fantastic, ghastly figures kept slowly swimmingout of the penumbra of his small, dark room, in regular and uninterruptedprocession, and he greeted each by name as he might greet old acquaintances. Hereferred to himself as Prometheus, bound to the rock by four bands made of humanintestines. At the foot of the Caucasian Mount the black waters of the riverStyx were running . . . They had deserted Arcadia, and were now endeavouring toencircle within a sevenfold embrace the rock upon which he was suffering . . ."Wouldst thou know the name of the Promethean rock, old man?" he roared into hisadopted father's ear . . . "Listen then . . . its name is . . . called . . .Samuel Klaus . . .""Yes, yes! . . ." the German murmured disconsolately. "It is I who killed him,while seeking to console. The news of Paganini's magic arts struck his fancy toovividly . . . Oh, my poor, poor boy!""Ha, ha, ha, ha!" The patient broke into a loud and discordant laugh. "Aye, poorold man, sayest thou? . . . So, so, thou art of poor stuff, anyhow, and wouldstlook well only when stretched upon a fine Cremona violin! . . ."Klaus shuddered, but said nothing. He only bent over the poor maniac, and with a kiss upon his brow, a caress as tender and as gentle as that of a doting mother,he left the sickroom for a few instants, to seek relief in his own garret. Whenhe returned, the ravings were following another channel. Franz was singing,trying to imitate the sounds of a violin.Toward the evening of that day, the delirium of the sick man became perfectlyghastly. He saw spirits of fire clutching at his violin. Their skeleton hands,from each finger of which grew a flaming claw, beckoned to old Samuel . . . Theyapproached and surrounded the old master, and were preparing to rip him open . .. him, "the only man on this earth who loves me with an unselfish, holy love,and . . . whose intestines can be of any good at all!" he went on whispering,with glaring eyes and demon laugh . . .By the next morning, however, the fever had disappeared, and by the end of theninth day Stenio had left his bed, having no recollection of his illness, and nosuspicion that he had allowed Klaus to read his inner thought. Nay; had hehimself any knowledge that such a horrible idea as the sacrifice of his oldmaster to his ambition had ever entered his mind? Hardly. The only immediateresult of his fatal illness was, that as, by reason of his vow, his artisticpassion could find no issue, another passion awoke, which might avail to feedhis ambition and his insatiable fancy. He plunged headlong into the study of theOccult Arts, of Alchemy and of Magic. In the practice of Magic the young dreamersought to stifle the voice of his passionate longing for his, as he thought,forever lost violin . . .Weeks and months passed away, and the conversation about Paganini was neverresumed between the master and the pupil. But a profound melancholy had takenpossession of Franz, the two hardly exchanged a word, the violin hung mute,chordless, full of dust, in its habitual place. It was as the presence of asoulless corpse between them.The young man had become gloomy and sarcastic, even avoiding the mention ofmusic. Once, as his old professor, after long hesitation, took out his ownviolin from its dust-covered case and prepared to play, Franz gave a convulsiveshudder, but said nothing. At the first notes of the bow, however, he glaredlike a madman, and rushing out of the house, remained for hours, wandering inthe streets. Then old Samuel in his turn threw his instrument down, and lockedhimself up in his room till the following morning.One night as Franz sat, looking particularly pale and gloomy, old Samuelsuddenly jumped from his seat, and after hopping about the room in a magpiefashion, approached his pupil, imprinted a fond kiss upon the young man's brow,and squeaked at the top of his shrill voice:"Is it not time to put an end to all this?" . . .Whereupon, starting from his usual lethargy, Franz echoed, as in a dream:"Yes, it is time to put an end to this."Upon which the two separated, and went to bed.On the following morning, when Franz awoke, he was astonished not to see his oldteacher in his usual place to greet him. But he had greatly altered during thelast few months, and he at first paid no attention to his absence, unusual as itwas. He dressed and went into the adjoining room, a little parlour where theyhad their meals, and which separated their two bedrooms. The fire had not beenlighted since the embers had died out on the previous night, and no sign wasanywhere visible of the professor's busy hand in his usual housekeeping duties.Greatly puzzled, but in no way dismayed, Franz took his usual place at thecorner of the now cold fire-place, and fell into an aimless reverie. As hestretched himself in his old arm-chair, raising both his hands to clasp thembehind his head in a favourite posture of his, his hand came into contact withsomething on a shelf at his back; he knocked against a case, and brought itviolently on the ground.It was old Klaus' violin-case that came down to the floor with such a suddencrash that the case opened and the violin fell out of it, rolling to the feet ofFranz. And then the chords, striking against the brass fender emitted a sound,prolonged, sad and mournful as the sigh of an unrestful soul; it seemed to fillthe whole room, and reverberated in the head and the very heart of the youngman. The effect of that broken violin-string was magical."Samuel!" cried Stenio, with his eyes starting from their sockets, and anunknown terror suddenly taking possession of his whole being. "Samuel! what hashappened? . . . My good, my dear old master!" he called out, hastening to theprofessor's little room, and throwing the door violently open. No one answered,all was silent within.He staggered back, frightened at the sound of his own voice, so changed andhoarse it seemed to him at this moment. No reply came in response to his call.Naught followed but a dead silence . . . that stillness which, in the domain ofsounds, usually denotes death. In the presence of a corpse, as in the lugubriousstillness of a tomb, such silence acquires a mysterious power, which strikes thesensitive soul with a nameless terror . . . The little room was dark, and Franzhastened to open the shutters.Samuel was lying on his bed, cold, stiff, and lifeless . . . At the sight of thecorpse of him who had loved him so well, and had been to him more than a father,Franz experienced a dreadful revulsion of feeling, a terrible shock. But theambition of the fanatical artist got the better of the despair of the man, andsmothered the feelings of the latter in a few seconds.A note bearing his own name was conspicuously placed upon a table near thecorpse. With trembling hand, the violinist tore open the envelope, and read thefollowing:MY BELOVED SON, FRANZ,When you read this, I shall have made the greatest sacrifice, that your best andonly friend and teacher could have accomplished for your fame. He, who loved youmost, is now but an inanimate lump of clay. Of your old teacher there nowremains but a clod of cold organic matter. I need not prompt you as to what youhave to do with it. Fear not stupid prejudices. It is for your future fame thatI have made an offering of my body, and you would be guilty of the blackestingratitude were you now to render useless this sacrifice. When you shall havereplaced the chords upon your violin, and these chords a portion of my own self,under your touch it will acquire the power of that accursed sorcerer, all themagic voices of Paganini's instrument. You will find therein my voice, my sighsand groans, my song of welcome, the prayerful sobs of my infinite and sorrowfulsympathy, my love for you. And now, my Franz, fear nobody! Take your instrumentwith you, and dog the steps of him who filled our lives with bitterness anddespair! . . . Appear in every arena, where, hitherto, he has reigned without arival, and bravely throw the gauntlet of defiance in his face. O Franz! thenonly wilt thou hear with what a magic power the full notes of unselfish lovewill issue forth from thy violin. Perchance, with a last caressing touch of itschords, thou wilt remember that they once formed a portion of thine old teacher,who now embraces and blesses thee for the last time.SAMUEL.Two burning tears sparkled in the eyes of Franz, but they dried up instantly.Under the fiery rush of passionate hope and pride, the two orbs of the futuremagician-artist, riveted to the ghastly face of the dead man, shone like theeyes of a demon.Our pen refuses to describe that which took place on that day, after the legalinquiry was over. As another note, written with the view of satisfying theauthorities, had been prudently provided by the loving care of the old teacher,the verdict was, "Suicide from causes unknown"; after this the coroner and thepolice retired, leaving the bereaved heir alone in the death room, with theremains of that which had once been a living man.Scarcely a fortnight had elapsed from that day, ere the violin had been dusted,and four new, stout strings had been stretched upon it. Franz dared not look atthem. He tried to play, but the bow trembled in his hand like a dagger in thegrasp of a novice-brigand. He then determined not to try again, until theportentous night should arrive, when he should have a chance of rivalling, nay,of surpassing, Paganini.The famous violinist had meanwhile left Paris, and was giving a series oftriumphant concerts at an old Flemish town in Belgium.
V
One night, as Paganini, surrounded by a crowd of admirers, was sitting in thedining-room of the hotel at which he was staying, a visiting card, with a fewwords written on it in pencil, was handed to him by a young man with wild andstaring eyes.Fixing upon the intruder a look which few persons could bear, but receiving backa glance as calm and determined as his own, Paganini slightly bowed, and thendryly said:"Sir, it shall be as you desire. Name the night. I am at your service."On the following morning the whole town was startled by the appearance of billsposted at the corner of every street, and bearing the strange notice:On the night of . . ., at the Grand Theatre of . . ., and for the first time,will appear before the public, Franz Stenio, a German violinist, arrivedpurposely to throw down the gauntlet to the world. famous Paganini and tochallenge him to a duel--upon their violins. He purposes to compete with thegreat "virtuoso" in the execution of the most difficult of his compositions. Thefamous Paganini has accepted the challenge. Franz Stenio will play, incompetition with the unrivalled violinist, the celebrated "Fantaisie Caprice" ofthe latter, known as "The Witches."The effect of the notice was magical. Paganini, who, amid his greatest triumphs,never lost sight of a profitable speculation, doubled the usual price ofadmission, but still the theatre could not hold the crowds that flocked tosecure tickets for that memorable performance.At last the morning of the concert day dawned, and the "duel" was in everyone'smouth. Franz Stenio, who, instead of sleeping, had passed the whole long hoursof the preceding midnight in walking up and down his room like an encagedpanther, had, toward morning, fallen on his bed from mere physical exhaustion.Gradually he passed into a deathlike and dreamless slumber. At the gloomy winterdawn he awoke, but finding it too early to rise he fell asleep again. And thenhe had a vivid dream--so vivid indeed, so lifelike, that from its terriblerealism he felt sure that it was a vision rather than a dream.He had left his violin on a table by his bedside, locked in its case, the key ofwhich never left him. Since he had strung it with those terrible chords he neverlet it out of his sight for a moment. In accordance with his resolution he hadnot touched it since his first trial, and his bow had never but once touched thehuman strings, for he had since always practised on another instrument. But nowin his sleep he saw himself looking at the locked case. Something in it wasattracting his attention, and he found himself incapable of detaching his eyesfrom it. Suddenly he saw the upper part of the case slowly rising, and, withinthe chink thus produced, he perceived two small, phosphorescent green eyes--eyesbut too familiar to him--fixing themselves on his, lovingly, almostbeseechingly. Then a thin, shrill voice, as if issuing from these ghastlyorbs--the voice and orbs of Samuel Klaus himself--resounded in Stenio'shorrified ear, and he heard it say:"Franz, my beloved boy . . . Franz, I cannot, no I cannot separate myself from .. . them!"And "they" twanged piteously inside the case.Franz stood speechless, horror-bound. He felt his blood actually freezing, andhis hair moving and standing erect on his head . . ."It's but a dream, an empty dream!" he attempted to formulate in his mind."I have tried my best, Franzchen . . . I have tried my best to sever myself fromthese accursed strings, without pulling them to pieces . . ." pleaded the sameshrill, familiar voice. "Wilt thou help me to do so? . . ."Another twang, still more prolonged and dismal, resounded within the case, nowdragged about the table in every direction, by some interior power, like someliving, wriggling thing, the twangs becoming sharper and more Jerky with everynew pull.It was not for the first time that Stenio heard those sounds. He had oftenremarked them before--indeed, ever since he had used his master's viscera as afootstool for his own ambition. But on every occasion a feeling of creepinghorror had prevented him from investigating their cause, and he had tried toassure himself that the sounds were only a hallucination.But now he stood face to face with the terrible fact whether in dream or inreality he knew not, nor did he care, since the hallucination--if hallucinationit were--was far more real and vivid than any reality. He tried to speak, totake a step forward; but, as often happens in nightmares, he could neither uttera word nor move a finger . . . He felt hopelessly paralyzed.The pulls and jerks were becoming more desperate with each moment, and at lastsomething inside the case snapped violently. The vision of his Stradivarius,devoid of its magical strings, flashed before his eyes throwing him into a coldsweat of mute and unspeakable terror.He made a superhuman effort to rid himself of the incubus that held himspell-bound. But as the last supplicating whisper of the invisible Presencerepeated:"Do, oh, do . . . help me to cut myself off--"Franz sprang to the case with one bound, like an enraged tiger defending itsprey, and with one frantic effort breaking the spell."Leave the violin alone, you old fiend from hell!" he cried, in hoarse andtrembling tones.He violently shut down the self-raising lid, and while firmly pressing his lefthand on it, he seized with the right a piece of rosin from the table and drew onthe leather-covered top the sign of the six-pointed star--the seal used by KingSolomon to bottle up the rebellious djins inside their prisons.A wail, like the howl of a she-wolf moaning over her dead little ones, came outof the violin-case:"Thou art ungrateful . . . very ungrateful, my Franz!" sobbed the blubbering"spirit-voice." "But I forgive . . . for I still love thee well. Yet thou canstnot shut me in . . . boy. Behold!"And instantly a grayish mist spread over and covered case and table, and risingupward formed itself first into an indistinct shape. Then it began growing, andas it grew, Franz felt himself gradually enfolded in cold and damp coils, slimyas those of a huge snake. He gave a terrible cry and--awoke; but,.strangelyenough, not on his bed, but near the table, just as he had dreamed, pressing theviolin case desperately with both his hands."It was but a dream . . . after all," he muttered, still terrified, but relievedof the load on his heaving breast.With a tremendous effort he composed himself, and unlocked the case to inspectthe violin. He found it covered with dust, but otherwise sound and in order, andhe suddenly felt himself as cool and as determined as ever. Having dusted theinstrument he carefully rosined the bow, tightened the strings and tuned them.He even went so far as to try upon it the first notes of the "Witches"; firstcautiously and timidly, then using his bow boldly and with full force.The sound of that loud, solitary note--defiant as the war trumpet of aconqueror, sweet and majestic as the touch of a seraph on his golden harp in thefancy of the faithful--thrilled through the very soul of Franz. It revealed tohim a hitherto unsuspected potency in his bow, which ran on in strains thatfilled the room with the richest swell of melody, unheard by the artist untilthat night. Commencing in uninterrupted legato tones, his bow sang to him ofsun-bright hope and beauty, of moonlit nights, when the soft and balmy stillnessendowed every blade of grass and all things animate and inanimate with a voiceand a song of love. For a few brief moments it was a torrent of melody, theharmony of which, "tuned to soft woe," was calculated to make mountains weep,had there been any in the room, and to soothe. . . even th' inexorable powers of hell,the presence of which was undeniably felt in this modest hotel room. Suddenly,the solemn legato chant, contrary to all laws of harmony, quivered, becamearpeggios, and ended in shrill staccatos, like the notes of a hyena laugh. The same creeping sensation of terror, as he had before felt, came over him, andFranz threw the bow away. He had recognized the familiar laugh, and would haveno more of it. Dressing, he locked the bedevilled violin securely in its case,and, taking it with him to the dining-room, determined to await quietly the hour of trial.
VI
The terrible hour of the struggle had come, and Stenio was at his post--calm, resolute, almost smiling.The theatre was crowded to suffocation, and there was not even standing room tobe got for any amount of hard cash or favouritism. The singular challenge hadreached every quarter to which the post could carry it, and gold flowed freelyinto Paganini's unfathomable pockets, to an extent almost satisfying even to hisinsatiate and venal soul.It was arranged that Paganini should begin. When he appeared upon the stage, thethick walls of the theatre shook to their foundations with the applause thatgreeted him. He began and ended his famous composition "The Witches" amid astorm of cheers. The shouts of public enthusiasm lasted so long that Franz beganto think his turn would never come. When, at last, Paganini, amid the roaringapplause of a frantic public, was allowed to retire behind the scenes, his eyefell upon Stenio, who was tuning his violin, and he felt amazed at the serenecalmness, the air of assurance, of the unknown German artist.When Franz approached the footlights, he was received with icy coldness. But forall that, he did not feel in the least disconcerted. He looked very pale, buthis thin white lips wore a scornful smile as response to this dumb unwelcome. Hewas sure of his triumph.At the first notes of the prelude of "The Witches" a thrill of astonishmentpassed over the audience. It was Paganini's touch, and--it was something more.Some--and they were the majority--thought that never, in his best moments ofinspiration, had the Italian artist himself, in executing that diabolicalcomposition of his, exhibited such an extraordinary diabolical power. Under thepressure of the long muscular fingers of Franz, the chords shivered like thepalpitating intestines of a disembowelled victim under the vivisector's knife.They moaned melodiously, like a dying child. The large blue eye of the artist,fixed with a satanic expression upon the sounding-board, seemed to summon forthOrpheus himself from the infernal regions, rather than the musical notessupposed to be generated in the depths of the violin. Sounds seemed to transformthemselves into objective shapes, thickly and precipitately gathering as at theevocation of a mighty magician, and to be whirling around him, like a host offantastic, infernal figures, dancing the witches' "goat dance." In the emptydepths of the shadowy background of the stage, behind the artist, a namelessphantasmagoria, produced by the concussion of unearthly vibrations, seemed toform pictures of shameless orgies, of the voluptuous hymens of a real witches'Sabbat . . . A collective hallucination took hold of the public. Panting forbreath, ghastly, and trickling with the icy perspiration of an inexpressiblehorror, they sat spellbound, and unable to break the spell of the music by theslightest motion. They experienced all the illicit enervating delights of theparadise of Mahommed, that come into the disordered fancy of an opium-eatingMussulman, and felt at the same time the abject terror, the agony of one whostruggles against an attack of delirium tremens . . . Many ladies shrieked aloudothers fainted, and strong men gnashed their teeth in a state of utterhelplessness . . .Then came the finale. Thundering uninterrupted applause delayed its beginning,expanding the momentary pause to a duration of almost a quarter of an hour. Thebravos were furious, almost hysterical. At last, when after a profound and lastbow, Stenio, whose smile was as sardonic as it was triumphant, lifted his bow toattack the famous finale his eye fell upon Paganini, who, calmly seated in themanager's box, had been behind none in zealous applause. The small and piercingblack eyes of the Genoese artist were riveted to the Stradivarius in the handsof Franz, but otherwise he seemed quite cool and unconcerned. His rival's facetroubled him for one short instant, but he regained his self-possession and,lifting once more his bow, drew the first note.Then the public enthusiasm reached its acme, and soon knew no bounds. Thelisteners heard and saw indeed. The witches' voices resounded in the air, andbeyond all the other voices, one voice was heard--Discordant, and unlike to human sounds; It seem'd of dogs the bark, of wolvesthe howl; The doleful screechings of the midnight owl; The hiss of snakes, thehungry lion's roar; The sounds of billows beating on the shore; The groan ofwinds among the leafy wood, And burst of thunder from the rending cloud,-- 'Twasthese, all these in one . . .The magic bow was drawing forth its last quivering sounds--famous amongprodigious musical feats--imitating the precipitate flight of the witches beforebright dawn; of the unholy women saturated with the fumes of their nocturnalSaturnalia, when--a strange thing came to pass on the stage. Without theslightest transition, the notes suddenly changed. In their *rial flight ofascension and descent, their melody was unexpectedly altered in character. Thesounds became confused, scattered, disconnected . . . and then--it seemed fromthe sounding-board of the violin--came out squeaking jarring tones, like thoseof a street Punch, screaming at the top of a senile voice:"Art thou satisfied, Franz, my boy? . . . Have not I gloriously kept my promise,eh?"The spell was broken. Though still unable to realize the whole situation, thosewho heard the voice and the Punchinello-like tones, were freed, as byenchantment, from the terrible charm under which they had been held. Loud roarsof laughter, mocking exclamations of half-anger and half-irritation were nowheard from every corner of the vast theatre. The musicians in the orchestra,with faces still blanched from weird emotion, were now seen shaking withlaughter, and the whole audience rose, like one man, from their seats, unableyet to solve the enigma; they felt, nevertheless, too disgusted, too disposed tolaugh to remain one moment longer in the building.But suddenly the sea of moving heads in the stalls and the pit became once moremotionless, and stood petrified as though struck by lightning. What all saw wasterrible enough--the handsome though wild face of the young artist suddenlyaged, and his graceful, erect figure bent down, as though under the weight ofyears; but this was nothing to that which some of the most sensitive clearlyperceived. Franz Stenio's person was now entirely enveloped in asemi-transparent mist, cloudlike, creeping with serpentine motion, and graduallytightening round the living form, as though ready to engulf him. And there werethose also who discerned in this tall and ominous pillar of smoke aclearly-defined figure, a form showing the unmistakable outlines of a grotesqueand grinning, but terribly awful-looking old man, whose viscera were protrudingand the ends of the intestines stretched on the violin.Within this hazy, quivering veil, the violinist was then seen, driving his bowfuriously across the human chords, with the contortions of a demoniac, as we seethem represented on medi*val cathedral paintings!An indescribable panic swept over the audience, and breaking now, for the lasttime, through the spell which had again bound them motionless, every livingcreature in the theatre made one mad rush towards the door. It was like thesudden outburst of a dam, a human torrent, roaring amid a shower of discordantnotes, idiotic squeakings, prolonged and whining moans, cacophonous cries offrenzy, above which, like the detonations of pistol shots, was heard theconsecutive bursting of the four strings stretched upon the sound-board of thatbewitched violin.When the theatre was emptied of the last man of the audience, the terrifiedmanager rushed on the stage in search of the unfortunate performer. He was founddead and already stiff, behind the footlights, twisted up into the mostunnatural of postures, with the "catguts" wound curiously around his neck, andhis violin shattered into a thousand fragments . . .When it became publicly known that the unfortunate would-be rival of NicoloPaganini had not left a cent to pay for his funeral or his hotel bill, theGenoese, his proverbial meanness notwithstanding, settled the hotel-bill and hadpoor Stenio buried at his own expense.He claimed, however, in exchange, the fragments of the Stradivarius--as a memento of the strange event.
Source: Classic Horror Stories
Bio: Wikipedia
Book Choice: Isis Unveiled: Secrets of the Ancient Wisdom Tradition, Madame Blavatsky's First Work
Mina is one of the very first stories i've written. A very simple story about a life that went terribly wrong and the side effects of its lost of course. I hope you'll enjoy it:
