Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

262 MY MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
often heard him use. The sensation one had very
often after a lesson with him was twofold. The art-
sense was keener, the perception finer ; but, as a pupil,
one felt, I suppose, much like a horse who has been
goaded and spurred up a steep incline, or forced to
leap a high wall by the application of both lash and
spur. It was not everyone who could bear such severe
drill ; and I was told more than once, in circles which
were antagonistic to him, that there was a saying,
' Henselt kills.' The meaning of this obviously was
that his was too strong and severe a training for
those who either wished to accomplish much without
delving deep below the- surface, or who had not the
physical or mental pluck to take the bitter with the
sweet, and console themselves, after getting one of
these moral boxes on the ear, with the reflection that
the demand on the part of the teacher implied his
belief in the power of the learner to do the thing
demanded. But as I think over Henselt's teaching,
and all I could relate about it, I feel that to enter
every detail, to relate every word that fell from the
Meister's lips, would in itself fill a small volume, and
this I must reserve for another occasion.
And now looking back, before taking leave of Hen-
selt, I mean to give a picture which shall present him >
both as a young and an old man—two pictures which,
much as they differ, are one and the same. But in
doing this I must ask the reader to accompany me
back to the days when I was still studying with Stern-