Mdme, Arabella Goddard.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 13 May 1890, Page 2

Mdme, Arabella Goddard.

Sir Gkokub Grove's aympatbis ;.appoal, and the benefit concert, at the St James's Hall, on behalf of Mdm*. Arabella Godda d have one* more brought before the public a name which, in years gone by, wav- as much a h useh»!d name as are those of Lady Halle, Miss Ellen Terry, and others the fani« of whose art has gone all over the country, and far beyond the sea. Mdlle. Go<Jdard wss the Musical infant phenomenon of nearly ha/f a century ago. When she was four she played for the first urae in public at her native place in France. At the age of eight she performed before the Queen and Prince Consort at Buckingham Paiacb, and while yet ia her teens she became one of the- first to educate and e;evate the popu'ar taste by bravo y playing Be thoven and Bach before a .diences musically nurtured ou " Home, >-weet houje," and similar domestic fare. Whole continent* conquered by her art as well •a? by her beauty, paid I heir tributes to the young )>ianiste ; not only in England and every European capital was suthusias ie homage paid to her wherever Bhe appeared, but America, Austia ia, lii'lia' and cveu China ami Jupan called on her to come and interpret to them the f. reat unknown gC'dn in the ream of sound. Wher- ; ever Mdllf. (or later Mdrae.) Godilard went she received the came er>thueinstio welcome nnd her career has imlcd hrn» ah one long day of

l-rinWJph. But as tivening is slowly foiling, the promise that " there "shall be light at eventide '" has noi been fulfilled, and at the preaeni monieu't Mdmf. Goidard is lyin-. weak, and ill, and lonely at th« lodgings which are all the horn( thnt iateft fco her. ■ •• Ak Interview. •'YeMt miglit be inter- sting.' said Mdme. Goddard on my exprfissing thi« h.pe, "to tell something oi toy : 'Wti, if ever 1 get well caouuh to do i , : ot on account of the in. terest which attaches to me perst.na.ly, for thai is of the past, but because from- ray -early childhood I have been brought in contact with intaresting people.- One -of my eai'lietjn recollections is of Cb^jun, nurs'ng me on hie knee and praising me for my playing. He used to turn to ray nuttier and say again «nd agiin, 'Don't let her play loud ; don't make her use th§ pedals yet, and try. to cover defects by noisy playing- : Those who remember wJbat.an exquisite touch (he famous pianist " possessed .wiH understand that the.ruaster's advice was not -o.it. "■(iiaorgft.,. Sand.'' M<ime Goddard •went on, '?wos also, i'renuently at our house, and I remember well how MbA and loving she used to b: with me. . • Ah, la pauvr^ cheve petite.'' she used to say as slie drew iue clos^ to her, 'elie n« vivra paa ; son coeur bat taui quand elle jove, et p.] cat «i ce^oe.' But you see I did no!; . die and I was not naturally a cle icate child, only very nervous ; music excited me, and as Iwas.alwa s play ingtOi'-listening much of?my present nexwous prostration nnd e>;!ap9e to having done too much in early life. It is interesting to see aud hear children lik" Hoffman aud H>gnor pay. but it is b.-.d, very bnd, for the children themselves. ■•' Another imprsßsion from mv childhood is when I was taken by.Mrs Anderson, the Queen's instructress on the pianforta, at Buckingham Palace ■to play before the Queen and Prince. I was placed by littletablein the room -where I was to play, and I remember how I peeped again aud a^ain round tbo corner to see whether the kings and queens whom I expected had yet come in. When they came the Princess Boyal now the Empress j .Frederick, was with them She is slightly younger than I, and she came up to me at once aad shook bands and said, • How do you do, Misa Goddard ? lamg ad to see you.' Tho Queen, too, and the Prince were vt-ry bind to me, and presently I heard the Princess say to th»i Queen, ' Mamma, why i» Miss Goddard allowed to use the pedalg svhen I am always forbidden to touch then. :' ' Her teachers had evident- | ly enforced the same principle advc j cated by Chopin, -♦• What has made you ill and weak ?" 1 asked, looking with a pang of inward pain at the hands, muffled up in gloves, wnich twitched so I nervously as they lay woari'y on the \ coverlet ? — " It has been coming- on j for years. Overstrain and nervous j excitement in early childhood ; many ye -rs of constant and very ex- i citing — becauae very attractive— work ; and a serious chill caught during *t shipwreok while I was on ray way out to Australia, and when for one whole long night, together with gome of my fellow paasenu' rs, was. in a boat with the vain beating down on. me, and the «tovm raging j furiously* .Later on, after my i iiusband, Mr Davison, the musical i oritie, was d ad, many other worries j and troubles did the rest, and for years past I have felt the prostration which is now complete, creeping *low'y find surely on. As long as I oould, I have given lessons, and often and often I have given them from the sofa, going to the piano and then returning to direct fiom here. But the time came when even that was impossible, and what the future will brinf I d'»re not aak myself. " You may think," Mdme. God* dard continued after a little pause, " that after my career I ought to havef saved money. Perhaps I ought -but thirty and forty years a: o •artkts were not paid as they are now ; 1-have had several unforeseen 'oeses, .-ana while I was well off I could not refuse to help others who came to me with their tales of woe."