Living is very cheap in Bologna; one can rent
a real palace for about $250 a year."
Mme. Busoni now invited us to inspect other parts of the house. We
passed to the adjoining room, which contains many rare old prints and
paintings and quaint old furniture--"everything old," as Mme. Busoni
said, with a smile. In this room stands a harpsichord, with its double
keyboard and brilliant red case. It is not an antique but an excellent
copy made by Chickering.
Farther on is a veritable musician's den, with upright piano, and with a
large desk crowded with pictures and mementoes. On the walls hang rare
portraits chiefly of Chopin and Liszt. Beyond this room came the salon,
with its two grand pianos side by side. This is the master's teaching
and recital room, and here are various massive pieces of richly carved
furniture. Mme. Busoni called our attention to the elaborate chandelier
in old silver, of exquisite workmanship, which, she said, had cost her a
long search to find. There are several portraits here of the
composer-pianist in his youth--one as a boy of twelve, a handsome
lad--_bildschoen_, with his curls, his soulful eyes and his big white
collar.
Busoni soon joined us in the salon and the conversation was turned to
his activities in the new field.
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