Consuelo, page 76
CHAPTER XCIII
WHILE Porpora's abode was the theater of these apparently unimportant proceedings, the results of which might yet have so great an influence on the history of art, inasmuch as the genius of one of the most original, imaginative, and celebrated composers of the last century received from them its greatest development—events exercising a more immediate influence on Consuelo's existence took place out of doors. Corilla, much more active and able in the promotion of her own interests, gained ground every day, and, now perfectly recovered, negotiated the conditions of her engagement at the court theater. A vigorous actress, but an indifferent musician, she pleased the director and his wife much more than Consuelo. It was very evident that the learned Porporina looked down from too great a height, were it only in thought, on the operas of Master Holzbaüer and the talents of his lady. They were well aware that great artists, poorly aided, reduced to express second-rate ideas, and as it were oppressed by the violence thus offered to their taste and conceptions, do not always preserve the beaten track, or retain the self-command which bold mediocrity introduces into the most wretched productions, and amid the dreary jingle of works badly studied and ill understood.
When, thanks to their wonderful resolution and power, they succeed in triumphing over the difficulties of their position, the envious atmosphere around them utters nothing but discord. The composer is well aware of their discomfort, and fears lest this forced inspiration should suddenly cool, and impair his success. Even the public, surprised and disconcerted without well knowing why, find out at last that genius, held enslaved by vulgar prejudice, is struggling within its narrow limits, and it is almost with a sigh that they applaud her strenuous efforts. Holzbaüer perfectly recollected the little relish that Consuelo displayed for his music. She was so unfortunate as to evince this one day, when, disguised and thinking she had only to deal with a person such as one meets when traveling for the first and last time, she had spoken her sentiments openly, never suspecting that her position as an artist could ever be at the mercy of the unknown friend of the canon. Holzbaüer, however, had not forgotten it, and under his calm and courteous demeanor was deeply hurt, and had sworn to throw every obstacle in the way of her success. But as he was unwilling that Porpora and his pupil, and what he called their clique, should have it in their power to accuse him of unfairness, he had mentioned to no one except his wife his meeting with Consuelo, and the adventure of the breakfast. This adventure therefore seemed to have made no impression on the director; he appeared to have entirely forgotten the little Bertoni, and not in the least to suspect that the wandering singer and Porporina were one and the same individual. Consuelo was lost in conjectures respecting the conduct of Holzbaüer toward her.
"I must have been completely disguised then," said she in confidence to Beppo, "and the arrangement of my hair must have greatly changed my features, since this man, who looked at me there so keenly, does not recognize me here at all."
"Neither did Count Hoditz know you the first time he saw you at the ambassador's," replied Joseph, "and perhaps had he not received your note, he might never have recognized you."
"Yes, but Count Hoditz has so proud and nonchalant a manner of looking at people, that in reality he scarcely sees them. I am sure he would not have divined my sex at Passau if Baron Trenck had not given him a hint; while Holzbaüer, as soon as he saw me, and, indeed, every time he meets me, looks at me with the same attentive and prying eyes that he fixed on me at the curate's. Why is he so generously silent on an adventure that might be misinterpreted, and which might even embroil me with my master, since he thinks I traveled to Vienna in the usual manner, without experiencing any distress, or meeting even with the shadow of an adventure? And all the while this same Holzbaüer depreciates, in an underhand manner, my voice and method, and in short, exerts himself to the utmost against me, in order not to be obliged to give me an engagement. He hates and repels me, and as his weapons are stronger than mine, I must succumb. I am lost."
The solution of the enigma was soon apparent to Consuelo; but in order to understand her position, the reader must remember that a numerous and powerful coterie was working hard against her, that Corilla was handsome and not over scrupulous, that the minister, Kaunitz, who loved to dazzle in the gossip of the green-room, saw her often, and that Maria Theresa, to relieve her mind from the cares of state, amused herself by listening to his chatterings on these topics, ridiculing him inwardly for his littleness of mind. She took a sort of pleasure in this gossip, which afforded her, though on a smaller scale, and with more open effrontery, a spectacle somewhat similar to that which was then taking place in the three most important courts of Europe—governed as they were by female intrigues—to wit, her own, that of the Czarina, and that of Madame de Pompadour.
Maria Theresa, as is well known, gave audiences once a week to all who wished to speak to her—a hypocritical and hereditary custom, which her son, Joseph II, religiously observed, and which still exists at the court of Austria. Besides this, Maria Theresa gave individual audiences to those who wished to enter her service, and no sovereign was ever more easy of access.
Porpora at length obtained this musical audience, in which he hoped that the empress, having an opportunity of seeing more closely the pleasing countenance of Consuelo, might perhaps be favorably disposed toward her. He knew the requirements of her majesty with regard to propriety of demeanor and correct conduct, and he felt assured that she would be struck with the candor and modesty which characterized his pupil's whole appearance. They were introduced into one of the smaller saloons of the palace, where a harpsichord had been brought, and where the empress herself arrived after an interval of half an hour. She had just been giving audience to some persons of distinction, and she still wore the same costume, just as it is represented on the gold sequins of the period, viz.: a robe of brocade, a mantle, a crown on her head, and a small Hungarian saber by her side. She was truly beautiful, not with that ideal grandeur which her courtiers affected to attribute to her, but lively, animated, with a happy, open countenance, and a self-possessed and enterprising look. It was indeed the king Maria Theresa, whom the Hungarian magnates, during a day of enthusiasm, had proclaimed, saber in hand; but at first sight it was a good rather than a great king. She displayed no coquetry, and her familiar manners evinced a calm and equable mind, devoid of female cunning. When she was closely observed, and more especially when she questioned perseveringly, a keen and even cold-blooded cunning was evident in this otherwise affable and smiling countenance. But if so, it was masculine, or, to choose a better word, imperial cunning.
"You will let me hear your pupil by and bye," said she to Porpora. "I already know that she is deeply skilled in the science of music, and has a magnificent voice; and I have not forgotten the pleasure she afforded me in the oratorio of Betulia Liberata. But I should like in the first place to speak to her for a short time in private. I have many questions to ask, and as I reckon upon her sincerity, I hope to be able to grant her the protection which she requests."
Porpora hastened to retire, reading in her majesty's eyes that she wished to be quite alone with Consuelo. He repaired to a neighboring gallery, which he found very cold; for the court, ruined by the outlay of the last war, was governed with strict economy, and Maria Theresa's character rendered this conformity to the necessity of her position easy to her.
Although thus left alone with the daughter and the mother of Cesars, the heroine of Germany and the greatest woman at that period in Europe, Consuelo was nevertheless neither agitated nor frightened. Whether it was that her aritstic temperament made her indifferent to this warlike display which glittered around Maria Theresa, extending even to her costume, or that her frank and noble soul was raised above such considerations, she awaited calmly and with perfect composure her majesty's inquiries.
The empress seated herself upon a sofa, adjusted her jeweled baldric, which somewhat fretted her fair round shoulders, and thus began: "I repeat to you, my child, that I think highly of your talents. I do not doubt your excellent education and artistic faculties, but you must be aware that I hold talent and genius as nothing in comparison with a pious upright heart and irreproachable conduct."
Consuelo, standing, listened respectfully to this exordium, but it did not occur to her that it afforded any grounds for praising herself; and as, besides, she felt an utter repugnance to boasting of virtues which she unostentatiously exercised, she waited for the empress to question her more directly on her principles and intentions. This would have been the time, however, to address the sovereign with a well-turned madrigal on her angelic piety, her sublime virtue, and on the impossibility of going astray with such an example before one's eyes; but poor Consuelo never even dreamed of profiting by the occasion. Refined minds fear to insult a noble character by offering vulgar praise, but monarchs, if they are not the dnpes of flattery, are at least so much in the habit of breathing its intoxicating incense, that they demand it as a simple act of submission and etiquette. Maria Theresa was astonished at the young girl's silence, and assuming a somewhat harsher and less encouraging tone, she continued:
"I know, my young friend, that your conduct has not been over scrupulous, and that, although not married, you lead a life of somewhat unwarrantable intimacy with a young man of your own profession, whose name I do not now recollect."
"I can at least assure your imperial majesty of one thing," said Consuelo, provoked by the injustice of this sharp accusation, "that I have never committed a single fault, the recollection of which prevents me from sustaining your majesty's look with pride and satisfaction."
Maria Theresa was struck with the noble and lofty expression which Consuelo's countenance assumed at that instant. At an earlier period of her life she would doubtless have remarked it with pleasure and sympathy; but Maria Theresa was already a queen to the heart's core, and the exercise of absolute power had produced that species of mental intoxication which would subject every thing and every person to its own will. Maria Theresa wished to be the only powerful mind, whether a woman or sovereign, in all her realms. She was astounded, therefore, at the unshrinking look and proud smile of this young girl, whom she esteemed but as a worm before her, and with whom she would have amused herself for the instant as with a slave whom one questions out of curiosity.
"I asked you, mademoiselle," resumed she with an icy tone, "who is the young man who lives with you in Porpora's house? you have not yet told me."
"His name is Joseph Haydn," replied Consuelo, composedly.
"Well! he has entered Porpora's service as valet-de-chambre, through love of you; and Master Porpora is ignorant of this young man's real motives, while you are aware of them and encourage them."
"They have calumniated me to your majesty. This youth never had any preference for me" (here Consuelo thought she spoke the truth); "and I even know positively that his affections are engaged elsewhere; and if there has been a little deceit employed toward my excellent master, the motives for it are innocent, perhaps praiseworthy. The love of art alone has induced Joseph Haydn to enter the service of Porpora, and since your majesty deigns to weigh and examine the conduct of the meanest of your subjects, and since nothing can escape your clear-sighted scrutiny, I feel assured your majesty will give me credit for sincerity if you will but look into the particulars of my case."
Maria Theresa was too clear-sighted not to recognize at once the accents of truth. She had not yet lost the heroism of youth, although she had begun to descend that fatal declivity of absolute power, which so certainly extinguishes little by little faith and confidence even in the most generous minds.
"Young girl," said she, "I believe that you speak the truth, and that you are strictly well conducted; but I discern in you great pride and mistrust of my maternal goodness, symptoms which make me fear I can do nothing for you."
"If I am to appeal to the maternal goodness of Maria Theresa," replied Consuelo, softened by language of which the poor soul, alas! was far from suspecting the empty and meaningless nature, "I am ready to bend before her and implore it; but if it be——"
"Go on, my child," said Maria Theresa, who, without being able to explain her own feelings, would have been rejoiced to bring this singular person to her knees; "Speak freely."
"But if, on the other hand, it be to your majesty's imperial justice I am to appeal, as I have nothing to confess, inasmuch as a pure breath does not taint the air which even the gods breathe, I feel sufficient pride to esteem myself worthy of your protection."
"Porporina," said the empress, "you are an intelligent girl, and your originality, which might perhaps offend another, does you no discredit with me. I have told you that I believe you sincere, yet I know that you have something to confess. Why do you hesitate? You love this Haydn; your attachment, I have no doubt, is pure, but still you love him, since, for the pleasure of seeing him more frequently (let us even suppose that it is out of anxiety for his progress in music with Porpora), you fearlessly expose your reputation, which to us women is, of all things, one of the most sacred and important. But you fear, perhaps, that your master and your adopted father will never consent to your union with a poor and obscure artist. Perhaps, also, for I wish to believe all your assertions, the young man's affections are placed elsewhere; and you, proud as I see you are, conceal your preference, and generously sacrifice your good fame without receiving any equivalent. Were I in your place, my dear girl, and had the opportunity you have now, and may never have again, I should open my heart to my sovereign and should say: 'To you who can do every thing I confide my destiny; remove all obstacles. With a word you can change the feelings of my master and my lover. You can make me happy, reestablish me in public esteem, and place me in a position so honorable that I may hope to enter the service of the court.' Such is the confidence you should have in the maternal kindness of Maria Theresa, and I am sorry that you have not already made the discovery."
"I perceive very well," thought Consuelo, "that actuated by the despotic capriciousness of a spoiled child, you are desirous, great queen, to see the zingarella prostrate herself at your feet, because it seems to you that her knees are stiff and will not bend before you, and this to you is an unheard-of phenomenon. Well! you shall not have this amusement unless you prove clearly that you deserve the homage!"
These and other reflections passed quickly through her mind while Maria Theresa lectured her. She reflected that Porpora's fortune hung on the cast of a die, upon a whim of the empress, and that her master's prospects were well deserving the price of a little humiliation. But she would not incur the humiliation in vain. She would not act a part with a crowned head who certainly was as well skilled as she was on this point. She waited till Maria Theresa should prove herself truly great in her eyes, in order that in prostrating herself before her she might be sincere.
When the empress had finished her homily, Consuelo replied:
"I shall reply to all your majesty has deigned to say to me, if your majesty will please to order me."
"Yes, speak—speak!" said the empress, annoyed at her inflexible countenance.
"In the first place then your majesty will permit me to say, that for the first time in my life I learn from your imperial lips, that my reputation is at stake owing to the presence of Joseph Haydn in my master's house. I confess I thought that I was of too little importance to call forth an expression of public opinion, and if I had been told when I entered the imperial palace that the empress herself had weighed and condemned my conduct, I should have thought it was a dream."
Maria Theresa interrupted her. She thought this reflection of Consuelo's was somewhat ironical.
"You must not be astonished," said she, in an emphatic tone, "that I should busy myself in the most minute concerns of a being for whom I am responsible to God."
"We may be permitted to wonder where we admire," replied Consuelo, adroitly, "and if great deeds be the most simple, they are at least sufficiently unusual to surprise at first sight."
"You must understand, moreover," said the empress, "that I attend particularly to the artists with whom I love to adorn my court. The theater in every country is a school of scandal—a pit of perdition. I entertain the hope, laudable at least, if not practicable, of raising in the eyes of men and of purifying before God, the class of actors—a class exposed to the contempt of men, and even to the anathemas of the church in several countries, and despised and proscribed by most nations. While in France the church shuts her doors upon them, I for my part would have the church open them wide to receive them. I have never admitted either into my Italian, my French, or my national theater, any except persons of irreproachable morality, or at least those who are firmly resolved to reform their conduct. You must know that I insist on their marriage, and that I even hold their children at the baptismal font, resolved as I am to encourage legitimate births and nuptial fidelity."
"If we had known that," thought Consuelo, "we should have asked her majesty to be the godmother of Angela in my place. Your majesty sows only to reap abundantly," replied she aloud; "and if I had a fault on my conscience, I should be happy to confide it to so merciful and just a confessor; but——"
"Continue what you were just about to observe," said Maria Theresa, haughtily.
"I was about to say," replied Consuelo, "that being ignorant of the blame cast on me with respect to Joseph Haydn's abode in the same house, I did not make any severe sacrifice for his sake in exposing myself to it."
"I understand," said the empress; "you deny every thing!"
"How should I plead guilty to a falsehood?" replied Consuelo; "I have no preference for my master's pupil, much less the slightest desire to marry him; and even were it otherwise," thought she, "I should hardly accept his heart in virtue of an imperial fiat."
"So you intend to remain unmarried?" said the empress, rising. "Very well; I must say that it is a position which in point of character does not yield me sufficient security. Besides it is unseemly that a young person should appear in certain parts, and represent certain passions, when she has not the sanction of marriage and the protection of her husband. It only depended upon yourself to distance your competitor, Madame Corilla, respecting whom I have received a very good character, but who does not pronounce Italian nearly so well as you do. But then Madame Corilla is married, and the mother of a family, which places her in a more favorable position than that which you have chosen to occupy."
