Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/143

Rh generosity, so was Liszt among pianists. A prominent instance of this was when thousands of his countrymen were rendered homeless by an inundation of the Danube. Though Liszt was in Italy, he hastened to Vienna the next morning after hearing the news, and there he began giving concerts for the benefit of the stricken people; and it was not for two months that he ceased, by means of his art, to pour a flood of gold into Hungary.

It is said that his direct contributions to charity, if added to the amounts which he raised by his concerts, would make a sum-total of millions. With his wonderful art, his extensive learning, his magnetic temperament, his kindness of heart, his broad sympathies, and his great beneficence, it is little to be wondered that he was worshiped by all who knew him.  

The goddess of song seems to have chosen her most talented devotees from the humbler walks of life. Among the prime donne we find some of the greatest to have been children of strolling actors, cooks, shopkeepers, and the like. And among singers of the other sex we find porters, school teachers, valets, and coachmen. Very few of the greater singers have sprung from the higher walks of life. We give the circumstances of the discovery of two renowned sopranos, and the list of similar discoveries might be indefinitely extended had we the space and our readers the patience.

Some time during the middle of the last century, Cardinal Gabrielli, who was attached to the Papal Court, was walking in his garden, when his ears were delighted with a stream of joyous melody which, though evidently coming from an untutored throat, still showed remarkable power and sweetness. On investigation, he found the songstress to be the little daughter of his favorite cook. She had been taken to the theater by her father,