The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Nr. 249 bringt auf S. 62 (= S. 2 des 5. Teils) einen Artikel, in dem die Biographie Bruckners wohl den Absichten des Schreibers angepasst wurde oder seiner Unkenntnis zum Opfer fiel:

"     Poor Boys Who Became Great

     "I never had the chance to learn to play well! You see, I took only a few lessons, and then I gave it up. But people say that if I had kept on I might have made a first class player."

     Well, there was Anton Bruckner, who lived over in Austria less than a hundred years ago. In 1924 the people who love organ music, and who delight in symphonies and masses and requiems, may celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner, one of the greatest organists and one of the greatest composers of organ music. Anton Bruckner came before the world in a most dramatic manner.

     In the town of Linz in Austria there was open a place for an organist. The authorities announced that the place would be given to the man who could play the organ best. Many celebrated musicians came and played–men who had years of training under the best masters. Then there stepped forward young Anton Bruckner. He was nobody at all. He had had no master worth the mention. His father and mother had died, leaving him to the mercies of a selfish world.

     The lonely boy liked music as he liked life. He actually picked up the art of playing. Then he set himself to it, and, without much help, mastered the organ. He was unknown, poor, friendless. He won the competition, for he could play better than the celebrated musicians who had come. He studied more, and lo! he became the organist for the Emperor up in Vienna. The years went on, and before he died, in 1896, at the age of 72 he had traveled through Europe, playing his own great compositions. His music arose in cathedrals. His symphonies delighted great audiences. He had taught himself, and he had made himself a master!  Why try to excuse shortcomings by saying that you never had a chance to do better. The chance lies in yourself and not in outward circumstances!

   ———

     Next: James Ferguson, Who Made the Sun and Moon Go Around."

[siehe die Anmerkung]