Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/70

58  income, but had forgotten his promise. Josquin reminded the king of his lapse of memory in a peculiar way. He composed an anthem for the chapel service, using the words (from the 119th psalm) as his subject: "Oh, think upon Thy servant as concerning Thy word." His majesty took the hint and bestowed upon the quick-witted musician the promised appointment.

Josquin was equally good at expressing gratitude in a musical way, for soon after he produced, as an anthem of thanks to the king, a composition set to the words from the same psalm: "O Lord, Thou hast dealt graciously with Thy servant."  

The greatest composers have been proud to acknowledge themselves the pupils of the masters with whom they studied. In fact, the only one among "the immortals" who did not have thorough drill in all departments of composition was Schubert; and his music shows this. For, while he has seldom been excelled in melodic inventiveness, his thematic treatment is weak, and he has not been able to make the most of the goods the gods gave him. Recognizing his lack of technical knowledge in the line of contrapuntal treatment, he made arrangements to study counterpoint with one of the best teachers of the day. But illness overtook him, and the grim reaper carried him off ere he could profit by his studies.

While this is true, while the greatest students of music that ever lived and those to whom most genius was given were eager and anxious to study as hard and as long as possible, we have, on the other hand, many who, relying on the mite of talent that has been given them, attempt to strike out for themselves, and who are so blind as not to see that with their untutored splashings