Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/204

192 but natural in so great a pianist. His chamber-music is not yet much known in England, and he is apt to give the piano an undue prominence in it; the Quintet in F (op. 55) is almost a Pianoforte Concerto in disguise. His operas and oratorios have as yet met with but qualified success, seeming to lack dramatic force. This is in some measure due to his antagonism to the theories and practice of Wagner and the modern German school. He has a preference for sacred subjects, which are but ill fitted for the stage, but as these works are all amongst his most recent productions it is manifestly impossible to give any decided opinion as to their eventual success. The operas not included in the list of his works with opus-numbers are 'The Demon' (in rehearsal at Covent Garden, June 1881), 'Feramors' (Lalla Rookh), 'The Children of the Heath,' 'The Maccabees,' 'Dimitri Donskoi,' and 'Nero.' [App. p.776 "add 'Die sibirische Jäger,' 'Toms, der Narr,' 'Die Rache,' and 'Kalaschnikoff,' (1880), all to Russian words; 'Sulamith,' in 5 acts, Hamburg, Nov. 8, 1883, 'Unter Räubern,' comic opera in one act (produced, according to Riemann's 'Opernhandbuch,' on the same evening with 'Sulamith'), and 'Der Papagei,' comic opera in one act, Hamburg, Nov. 11, 1884. (The last three with German words.)"] There are also about a dozen songs, and as many fugitive pieces for piano without opus-number, besides some small works published during the composer's youthful days and reckoned separately as ops. 1–10.

The complete list of Rubinstein's numbered works is as follows:—

Rubinstein's appearance is remarkable. His head is of a very Russian type, massive and noble, without beard or moustache, but with a thick shock of dark brown hair which as yet shows no gray. In general look his face resembles the ideal Beethoven of the sculptors. He is well read, and his very wide travels have given him much knowledge of men and things. His manner is simple and genial, and he has the true modesty of genius.

We have said that Rubinstein's first visit to London was in 1842. He was then only just 12. Mendelssohn and Thalberg were both here, and the Philharmonic was thus naturally already occupied. No doubt he played in public; but the periodicals are silent about him, and the only printed mention of him to be found is in Moscheles's diary for 1842 ('Leben,' ii. 90), where he is spoken of by that genial master as 'a rival to Thalberg … a Russian boy whose fingers are as light as feathers, and yet as strong as a man's.' [App. p.776 "omit the sentence beginning No doubt he played in public, etc., and add that an account of his performance will be found in the 'Musical and Dramatic Review' for 1842."] He did not return to this country till 1857, when