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MUSIC-STUDY
AMY
MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY
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MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY
PEOM
THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE
OF AMY FAY
EDITED BT
MRS. FAY PEIECE
AUTHOR OP " CO-OPERATIVE EOTTSBKBHPING *'
" The Ijght that never was on sea or land,"
WOJRDSWOBTH
" Pour admirer assez il faut admirer trop, et un peu d'Ulusion
est necessaire au bonheur."
CHEEBITLEKZ
EIGHTEENTH EDITION
THE MACMILLAN" COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
1908
All riffhts reserved
COPYRIGHT,
, MoOLTJJta & COMPACTS'
1880.
COPYRIGHT, 1806,
BY THE MACMILLAltf COMPANY.
Printed August, 1896; reprinted June, 1897;
September, 1900; February, 1:903 ; March, 1905 ;
June, 1908.
ISTorixraotr
Berwick fe Smith, Norwood, M*.u.,
PKEFACE.
IN preparing for the public letters which were written
only for home, I have hoped that some readers would find in
them the charm of style which the writer's friends fancy
them to possess ; that others would think the description of
her masters amid their pupils, and especially Liszt, worth
preserving ; while piano students would be grateful for the
information that an analysis of the piano technique has been
made, such as very greatly to diminish the difficulties of the
instrument.
How much of Herr Deppe's piano " method " is original
with himself, pianists must decide. That he has at least
made an invaluable resume of all or most of their secrets, m^
sister believes no student of the instrument who fairly and
conscientiously examines into the matter will deny.
M. FAY PEIRCE.
CHICAGO, Dec., 1880.
KANSAS CITY (*,.> > ^aC
PREFACE
TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
Miss FAY'S little book has been so popular in her own
country as to have gone through half a dozen editions, and
even in German, into which it was translated soon after its
first appearance, it has had much success. It is strange that
it has not been already published in England, where music
excites so much attention, and where works on musical sub-
jects are beginning to form a distinct branch of literature.
This is the more remarkable because it is thoroughly read-
able and amusing, which books on music too rarely are.
The freshness and truth of the letters is not to be denied.
We may laugh at the writer's enthusiasm, at the readiness
with which she changes her methods and gives up all that
she has already learnt at the call of each fresh teacher, at
the certainty with which every new artist is announced as
quite the best she ever heard, and at the glowing and con-
fident predictions not, alas, apparently always realised.
But no one can laugh at her indomitable determination,
and the artistic earnestness with which she makes the most
of each of her opportunities, or the brightness and ease
with which all is described (in choice American), and each
successive person placed before us in his habit as he lives.
Such a gift is indeed a rare and precious one. Will Miss
Fay never oblige us with an equally charming and faithful
(3)
PKEFACE.
account of music and life in the States? Hitherto musical
America has been almost an unknown land to us, described
by the few who have attempted it in the most opposite
terms. Their singers we already know well, and in this
respect America is perhaps destined to be the Italy of the
future, if only the artists will consent to learn slowly enough.
But on the subject of American players and American
orchestras, and the taste of the American amateurs, a great
deal of curiosity is felt, and we commend the subject to the
serious attention of one so thoroughly able to do it justice.
GEORGE GROVE.
December, 1885.
PEEFACB
TO THE GERMAN EDITION.
2>te toorliegenben SBriefe einer 9tnterifonerin in bic ^eitnatlj, btc
int Original bereits in gtteiter Slitflage erfdjienen futb, toerben, fo
fyoffm fair, cmrf) bent beittfdjen Sefer nicfjt ntinberc 25crgniigen,
ntc^t gertngerc SSCnregtmg al bem amerifanifd^en gettaren, ba ftc
in unmtttetbarer grtf(f)c tnebergefdjrieBen, ein tebenbigcS SBUb won
ben SBegic^ungen ber SSerfafferin ju ben ^ertjorragcnbftcn muftlas
u. f. to. Bieten.
28ir gcBen baS SBud^) in ttjortgetreuer Ucberfei^ung unb
nur nm biejcnigen SBriefc gcliirgt, bie in 2)entJ(^Ianb
lanntes beljanbefru ^tngcgen gtaubtcn tuir bic @teHcn bem Scfcr
ni^t ttorentljatten 311 biirfen, toeld^c ghiar nid^t muftfalifd)en 3fn*
5attS pnb, nn aber seigen, tt)ie ntandje unfcrer beiitfdjen 3^* ober
bon feerifanern bcurt^eilt tocrbcn.
Hobcrt Opycnljetm/ Publisher.
^ 1882*
CONTENTS.
H TAUSIG'S CONSERVATORY,
CHAPTER I.
PAG1.
A GEBMAN INTBBTOR IN BERLIN, A GERMAN PABTY. JOACHIM.
TAUBIG'S CONSEBVATORY 13
CHAPTER II.
CLAKA SCHUMANN AND JOACHIM. THE AMERICAN MINISTER'S. THE
MUSEUM. THE CONSEBVATOBY. OPEBA. TAUSIG, CHBISTHAS. 25
CHAPTER III.
TAUBIG AND RUBINSTEIN. [TAUSIG'S PUPILS. THE BANCBOITS. A
GBBMAN KADIOAL * 87
CHAPTER IV.
OPBBA AND OBATOBIO IN BERLIN. A TYPICAL AMERICAN. PBTTSSIAH
KUDBNIBS, CONSERVATORY CHANGES. EASTER 51
CHAPTER V.
THE THIEB-.GARTEN. A MILITARY REYIEW. CHABLOTTENBUBG.
TAUSIG. BEBLIN IN SUMMER. POTSDAM AND BABELBBEsa 64
CHAPTER VI.
THE WAR. GBRMAN MEALS. WOMEN AND MEN. TAUSIG'S TEACH-
ING. TAUSHJ ABANDONS HIS CONSERVATORY. DRESDEN. KULLAK. 79
(7)
CONTENTS.
WITH KULLAK,
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE.
MOVING. GERMAN HOUSES AND DINNEUS. THE WAR, CAPTURE OP
NAPOLEON. KULLAK'S AND TAUBIG'S TEACHING. JOACHIM. WAG-
NEB. TAUSIG'S PLATING, GERMA y ETIQUETTE 95
CHAPTER VIII.
CONCERTS. JOACHIM AGAIN. THE SIKGTC OP PARIS. PEACH DECLARED.
WAGNER. A WOMAN'S SYMPHONY. OVATION TO WAGNER IN
BERLIN Ill
CHAPTER IX.
DIFFICULTIES OF THE PIANO. TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF THE TROOPS.
PARIS 123
OHAPTEE X.
A RHINE JOURNEY, FRANKFORT. MAINZ. SAIL DOWN THE RHINE.
COLOGNE. BONN. THE SEVEN MOUNTAINS. WORMS. SPIRE.
HEIDELBEBG. TAUSIG'S DEATH 131
CHAPTER XL
EISENACH. GOTHA. ERFURT. ANDERNACH. WEIMAR. TAUSIG.,., 145
CHAPTER XII.
DINNER-PARTY AND RECEPTION AT MR. BANCROFT'S. AUCTION AT
TAUSIG'S HOUSE. A GERMAN CHRISTMAS. THE JOACHIMS .... 15?
CHAPTER XIII.
VISIT TO DRESDEN. THE WIECKS. VON BULOW. A CHILD PRODIGY*
GRANTZOW,THE DANCER 168
CHAPTER XIV.
A RISING ORGANIST. KULLAK. VON BULOW'S PLAYING. A PRINCELY
FUNERAL WILHISLJU'S UONCEKT. A COUJIT BEAUTY 174
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XV.
THE BOSTON FIRE. AGGBAVATIONS OP Music STUDY. KULLAK.
SHERWOOD. HOCH SCHULB. A BRILLIANT AMERICAN. GERMAN
DANCING 182
CHAPTEE XVI.
A GERMAN PROFESSOR. SHERWOOD. THE BARONESS VON S, YON
BULOW. A GERMAN PARTY. JOACHIM. THE BARONESS AT HOME, 192
WITH LISZT.
CHAPTER XVII.
ARRIVES IN WIEMAR. LISZT AT THE THEATRE, AT A PARTY. AT
HIS OWN HOUSE 205
CHAPTEE XVIII.
LISZT'S DRAWING-ROOM. AN ARTIST'S WALKING PARTY. LISZT'S
TEACHING 218
CHAPTER XIX.
LISZT'S EXPRESSION IN PLAYING. LISZT ON CONSERVATORIES. OR-
DEAL OF LISZT'S LESSONS, LISZT^KINDNESS 327
CHAPTER XX.
LISZT'S COMPOSITIONS. His PLAYING AND TEACHING OP BEETHOVEN.
His " EFFECTS " IN PIANO-PLAYING, EXCURSION TO JENA. A
NEW Music MASTER 235
CHAPTER XXL
LISZT'S FLAYING. TAUSIG. EXCURSION TO SONDERSHAUSEH 848
CHAPTER XXII.
FAREWELL TO LISZT ! GERMAN CONSERVATORIES AND THEIR METHODS.
BERLIN AGAIN. LISZT AND JOACHIM 263
CHAPTER XXIIL
KULLAK AS A TEACHER. THE Foua GREAT VIRTUOSI, CLARA SCHU-
MANN, RUBINSTEIN, VON BULOW AND IAUSIG 272
10 CONTENTS.
WITH DEPPE.
OHAPTEE XXIV.
PAGE.
GIVES UP KULLAK FOR DEPPE. DEPPE I S METHOD IN TOUCH AND IN
SCALE-PLAYING. FRAULEIN STEINIGER. PEDAL STUDY 283
CHAPTER XXV.
CHORD-PLAYING. DEPPE NO MERE "PEDAGOGUE." SHERTVOOD.
MOZART'S CONCERTOS. PRACTICING SLOWLY. THE OPERA BALL. 299
CHAPTER XXVI.
A SET OF BEETHOVEN VARIATIONS. FANNIE WARBURG. DEPPE'S
INVENTIONS. His ROOM. His AFTERNOON COFFEE. PYRMONT. 811
CHAPTER XXVII.
THB BRUSSELS CONSERVATOIRE. STEINIGER. EXCURSION TO KLEES-
BEEG. GIVING A CONCERT. FRAULEIN TIMM 833
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Music IN HAMBURG. STUDYING CHAMBER Music. ABSENCE OF R.
:LIGION IN GERMANY. SOUTH AMERICANS. DEPPS ONCK MOBB
A CONCERT DEBUT. POSTSCRIPT 881
IN TAUSIG'S CONSEBYATOBY.
MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
CHAPTER I.
A German Interior in Berlin. A German Party. Joachim,
Tausig's Conservatory.
BERLIN, November 3, 1869.
Behold me at last at No. 26 Bernburger Strasse I
where I arrived exactly two weeks from the day I left
New York. Fran W. and her daughter, Frflulein A.
V., greeted me with the greatest warmth and cordiality,
and made me feel at home immediately. The German
idea of a "large" room I find is rather peculiar, for
this one is not more than ten or eleven feet square,
and has one corner of it snipped off, so that the room
is an irregular shape. When I first entered it I thought
I could not stay in it, it seemed so small, but when
I came to examine it, so ingeniously is every inch of
space made the most of, that I have come to the conclu-
sion that it will be very comfortable. It is not, however,
the apartment where " the last new novel will lie upon
the table, and where my daintily slippered feet will rest
upon the velvet cushion." No! rather is it the stern
abode of the Muses.
(13).
MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY,
To begin then : the room is spotlessly Clean and neat.
The walls are papered with a nice new paper, grey ground
with blue figuresa cheap paper, but soft and pretty. In
one corner stands my little bureau with three deep draw-
ers. Over it is a large looking-glass nicely framed. In the
other corner on the same side is a big sofa which at
night becomes a little bed. Next to the foot of the
sofa, against the wall, stands a tiny square table, with a
marble top, and a shelf underneath, on which are a
basin and a minute soap-dish and tumbler. In the
opposite corner towers a huge grey porcelain stove, which
comes up to within a few feet of the ceiling, Next is
one stiff cane-bottomed chair on four stiff legs. Then
comes the lop-sided corner of the room, where an upright
piano is to stand. Next there is a little space where
hangs the three-shelved book-case, which will contain
my vast library. Then comes a broad French window
with a deep window-seat. By this window is my sea-
chair by far the most luxurious one in the house!
Then comes my bureau again, and so on Da Capo. In
the middle is a pretty round table, with an inlaid centre-
piece, and on it is a waiter with a large glass bottle full
of water, and a glass; and this, with one more stiff
chair, completes the furniture of the room. My cur-
tains are white, with a blue border, and two transparen-
cies hang in the window. My towel-rack is fastened to
the wall, and has an embroidered centre-piece. On my
bureau is a beautiful inkstand, the cover being a carved
eagle with spread wings, perched over a nest with three
eggs in it. It is quite large, and looks extremely pretty
under the looking-glass.
A BERLIN HOME. 15
After I had taken off my things, Frau W. and her
daughter ushered me into their parlour, which had the
same look of neatness and simplicity and of extreme
economy, There are no carpets on any of the floors, but
they have large, though cheap, rugs. You never saw
such a primitive little household as it is that of this
German lawyer's widow. "We think our house at home
small, but I feel as if we lived in palatial magnificence
after seeing how they live here, i. e., about as our dress-
xnakeis used to do in the country, and yet it is sufficiently
nice and comfortable. There are two very pretty little
rooms opposite mine, which are yet to be let together.
If some friend of mine could only take them I should
be perfectly happy.
At night my bed is made upon the sofa. (They all
sleep on these sofas.) The cover consists of a feather
bed and a blanket. That sounds rather formidable, but
the feather bed is a light, warm covering, and looks
about two inches thick. It is much more comfortable
than our bed coverings in America. I tuck myself into
my nest at night, and in the morning after breakfast,
when I return to my room agramento-presto-change !
my bed is converted into a sofa, my basin is laid on
the shelf, the soap-dish and my combs and brushes
are scuttled away into the drawer; the windows are
open, a fresh fire crackles in my stove, and my charm-
ing little bed-room is straightway converted into an
equally charming sitting-room. How does the picture
please you ?
This morning Frau and FrSulein W. went with me
to engage a piano, and they took me also to the con-
16 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
servatory. Tausig is off for six weeks, giving concerts.
As I went up the stairs I heard most beautiful playing.
Ehlert, Tausig's partner, who has charge of the conser-
vatory, and teaches his pupils in his absence, examined
me. After that long voyage I did not dare attempt any-
thing difficult, so I just played one of Bach's Gavottes.
He said some encouraging words, and for the present has
taken me into his class. I am to begin to-morrow from
one o'clock to two. It is now ten P. M., anil toll 0. we
have had five meals to-day, so Madame P.\s statement
is about correct. The cooking is on the same scale as
the rest of the establishment .a little at a time,, but so
far very good. We know nothing at all about rolls in
America. Anything so delicious as the rolls here I
never ate in the way of bread. In the morning we had
a cup of coffee and rolls. At eleven we lunched on a
cup of bouillon and a roll. At two o'clock we had din-
ner, which consisted of soup and then chickens, pota-
toes, carrots and bread, with beer. At five we had tea,
cake and toast, and at nine we had a supper of cold
meat, boiled eggs, tea and bread and butter, Fraulein
W. speaks English quite nicely, and is my medium
of communication with her mother. I begin German
lessons with her to-morrow. They both send you their
compliments, and so you must return yours. They seem
as kind as possible, and I think I am very fortunate in
my boarding place.
Be sure to direct your letters " Care Frau Geheim-
rSthin W." (Mrs. Councillor W.), as the German
ladies are very particular about their titles !
SPEAKING- GERMAN, 1?
BERLIN, November 21, 1869.
Since I wrote to you not much of interest has oc-
curred. I am delighted with Berlin, and am enjoying
myself very much, though I am working hard. I am so
thankful that all my sewing was done before I came, for
I have not a minute to spare for it, and here it seems to
me all the dresses fit so dreadfully. It would make me
miserable to wear such looking clothes, and as I
can't speak the language, the difficulties in the way of
giving directions on the technicalities of dressmaking
would be terrific. Tell 0. he is very wise to con-
tinue his German conversation lessons with Madame P.
Even the few that I took prove of immense assist-
ance to me, as I can understand almost everything
that is said to me, though I cannot answer back. He
ought to make one of his lessons about shopping and
droschkie driving, for it is very essential to know how to
ask for things, and to be able to give directions in driv-
ing. I had a very funny experience with a droschkie
the other day, but it would take too long to write it.
Prau W. cannot understand English, and she gets dread-
fully impatient when Fraulein A. and I speak it, and
always says " Deutsch " in a sepulchral tone, so that I
have to begin and say it all over again in German with
A. ? s help.
When I got fairly settled I presented myself and my
letters at the Bancrofts, the B's. and the A ? s,, and was very
kindly and cordially received by them all. Mrs, Bancroft
and Mrs, B. have since called in return, and I have already
been to a charming reception at the house of the latter, and
18 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY,
to the grand American Thanksgiving dinner at the Hotel
de Borne, at which Mr, Bancroft presided, and made very
happy speeches both in English and German. I en-
joyed both occasions extremely, and made omo pleasant
acquaintances. I have also been to one Gorman tea-
party with Frau V. and A., and there I had " the jolliest
kind of a time." There were only twelve invited, but you
would have supposed from the clatter that there were at
least a hundred. At the American dinner there was noth-
ing like the noise of conversation that this little handful
kept up. Before supper it was rather stupid,, for the men all
retired to a room by themselves, where they sat with closed
doors and played whist and smoked. It is not considered
proper for ladies to play cards except at home., and I, of
course, did not say much, for the excellent reason that I
couldn't I At ten o'clock supper was announced, and
the gentlemen came and took us in. Herr J, was
my partner. He is a delightful man, though an elderly
one, and knows no end of things, us ho has Bpent his
whole life in study and in travelling, lie looks to me
like a man of very sensitive organization, and of very
delicate feelings. He is a tremendous republican, and a
great radical in every respect, and has an unbounded
admiration for America.
As soon as every one was seated at the table with due
form and ceremony, all began to talk as hard OH they
could, and you have no idea what a noise they made, and
how it increased toward the end with the potent libations
they had. The bill of fare was rather curious. Wo
began with slices of hot tongue, with a Bauce of chest-
nuts, and it was extremely nice, too. Then wo had ven*
A GERMAN SUPPER.
ison and boiled potatoes I Then we had a dessert con-
sisting of fruit, and some delicious cake. There were
several kinds of wine, and everybody drank the greatest
quantity. The host and hostess kept jumping up and
going round to everybody, saying: "But you drink
nothing," and then they would insist upon filling up
your glass. I don't dare to think how many times they
filled mine, but it seemed to be etiquette to drink, and
so I did as the rest. The repast ended with coffee, and
then the gentlemen lit their cigars, and were in such an
extremely cheerful frame of mind that they all began
to sing, and I even saw two old fellows kiss each other !
The venison was delicious, and nicer than any I ever
ate. Herr J. was the only man in the room who
could speak any English, and since then he takes a good
deal of interest in me, and lends me books. Every Sun-
day Prau W. takes me to her sister's house to tea.
I like to go because I hear so much German spoken
there, and they all take a profound interest in my affairs.
They know to a minute when I get a letter, and when I
write one, and every incident of my daily life. It amuses
them very much to see a real live wild Indian from
America. I am soon going to another German party,
.and I look forward to it with much pleasure; not that
the parties here give me the same feeling as at home,
but they are amusing because they are so entirely dif-
ferent.
There is so much to be seen and heard in Berlin that
if one has but the money there is no end to one's re-
sources. There are the opera and the Schauspielhaus every
night, and beautiful concerts every evening, too. They
20 MUSIC-STUDY IN GEBMAtfY.
say that the opera here is magnificent, and the scenery
superb, and they have a wonderful ballet-troupe. So far,
however, I have only been to one concert, and that was
a sacred concert. But Joachim played and Oh-h, what
a tone he draws out of the violin ! I could think of
nothing but Mrs. Moulton's voice, as he sighed out those
exquisitely pathetic notes. He played something by
Schumann which ended with a single note, and as he
drew his bow across he produced so many shades that it
was perfectly marvellous. I am going to hear him
again on Sunday night, when he plays at Clara Schu-
mann's concert. It will be a great concert, for she
plays much. She will be assisted by Joachim, Mtiller,
De Ahna, and by Joachim's wife, who has a beautiful
voice % and sings charmingly in the serious German
style. Joachim himself is not only the greatest vio>
linist in the world, but one of the greatest that over-
lived. De Ahna is one of the first violinists in Ger-
many, and Mtiller is one of the first 'cellists. In fact,
this quartette cannot be matched in Europe so you
see what I am expecting !
Tausig has not yet returned from his concert
tour, and will not arrive before the 21st of De-
cember. I find Ehlert a splendid teacher, but very
severe, and I am mortally afraid of him. Not that he
is cross, but he exacts so much, and such a hopeless
feeling of despair takes possession of me. His first
lesson on touch taught me more than all my other
lessons put together though, to be sure, that is not
saying much, as they were " few and far between."
At present I am weltering in a sea of troubles. The
A " MUSICAL BEADING." 21
girls in my class are three in number, and they all
play so extraordinarily well that sometimes I think
I can never catch up with them. I am the worst of
all the scholars in Tausig's classes that I have heard,
except one, and that is a young man. I know that
Ehlert thinks I have talent, but, after all, talent must
go to the wall before such practice as these people have
had, for most of them have studied a long time, and
have been at the piano four and five hours a day.
It is very interesting in the conservatory, for there
are pupils there from all countries except France.
Some of them seem to me splendid musicians. On
Sunday morning (I am sorry to say) once in a month
or six weeks, they have what they call a " Musical
Reading." It is held in a piano-forte ware-room, and
there all the scholars in the higher classes play, so I
had to go. Many of the girls played magnificently,
and I was amazed at the technique that they had, and
at the artistic manner in which even very youug girls
rendered the most difficult music, and all without
notes. It gave me a severe nervous headache just to
hear them. But it was delightful to see them go at
it. None of them had the least fear, and they laughed
and chattered between the pieces, and when their turn
came they marched up to the piano, sat down as bold
as lions, and banged away so splendidly !
You have no idea how hard they make Cramer's
Studies here. Ehlert makes me play them tremen-
dously /orte, and as fast as I can go. My hand gets so
tired that it is ready to break, and then I say that I
cannot go on. " But you must go on," he will say.
22 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
It is the same with the scales. It seems to me that I
play them so loud that I make the welkin ring, and
he will say, "But you play always piano? And with
all this rapidity he does not allow a note to be missed,
and if you happen to strike a wrong one he looks so
shocked that you feel ready to sink into the floor.
Strange to say, I enjoy the lessons in Zusammenspiel
(duet-playing) very much, although it is all reading
at sight. Four of us sit down at two pianos and read
duets at sight, Lesmann is a pleasant man, and he
always talks so fast that he amuses me very much.
He always counts and beats time most vigorously, and
bawls in your ear, "Eins zwei! Eins zwei!" or some-
times, " XHn&!" only, on the first beat of every bar.
When, occasionally, we all get out, he looks at us
through his glasses, and then such a volley of words as
he hurls at us is wonderful to hear. I never can help
laughing, though I take good care not to let him see
me.
But Weitzmann, the Harmony professor, is the fun-
niest of all. He is the dearest old man in the world, and
it is impossible for him to be cross ; but he takes so
much pains and trouble to make his class understand,
and he has the most peculiar way of talking imagin-
able, and accents everything he says tremendously. I
go to him because Ehlert says I must, but as I know
nothing of the theory of music (and if I did, the names
are so entirely different in German that I never should
know what they are in English) it is extremely diffi-
cult for me to understand him at all. He knew I was
an American, and let me pass for one or two lessons
A GERMAN PROFESSOR. 23
without asking me any questions, but finally his Ger-
man love of thoroughness has got the better of him,
and he is now beginning to take me in hand. At the
last lesson he wrote some chords on the blackboard,
and after holding forth for some time he wound up
with his usual " Verstehen Sie wohlJa? (Do you
understand Yes ?)" to the class, who all shouted "fa"
except me. I kept a discreet silence, thinking he
would not notice, but he suddenly turned on me and
said, " Verstehen Sie wohlJa?' I was as puzzled
what to say as the Pharisees were when they were
asked if the baptism of John were of heaven or of
men. I knew that if I said "/"/' he might call on
me for a proof, and that if I said "Ne,in? he would
undertake to enlighten me, and that I should not un-
derstand him.
After an instant's consideration I concluded the lat-
ter course was the safer, and so I said, boldly, "Nein"
;e lommen Sie hierher! (Come here !)" said he, and to
my horror I had to step up to the blackboard in front of
this large class. He harangued me for some minutes,
and then writing some notes on the bass clef, he put
the chalk into my hands and told me to write. Not
one word had I understood, and after staring blankly
at the board I said, "Ich verstehe nicht (I don't
understand.)" "Nein?" said he, and carefully went
over all his explanation again. This time I managed
to extract that he wished me to write the succession
of chords that those bass notes indicated, and to tie
what notes I could. A second time he put the
chalk into my hands, and told me to write the
24 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMAN r.
chords. " Heaven only knows what they aro !" thinks
I to myself. In my desperation, however, I guessed
at the first one, and uttered the names of the notes in
trembling accents, expecting to have a cannon fired
off at my head. Thanks to my lucky star, it happened
to be right. I wrote it on the blackboard, and then
as my wits sharpened I found the other chords from
that one, and wrote them all down right. I drew a
long breath of relief as he released me from his
clutches, and sat down hardly believing I had done
it. I have not now the least idea what it was ho made
me do, but I suppose it will come to me in the course
of the year ! As he does not understand a word of
English, I cannot say anything to him unless I can say
it in German, and as he is determined to make me learn
Harmony, it would be of no use to explain that I did not
know what he was talking about, for he would begin
all over again, and go on ad infinitum. I have got a
book on the Theory of Music, which I am reading
with Fraulein W. She has studied with Weitzmann,
also, and when I have caught up with the class I shall
go on very easily. I quite adore Weitzmann, Ho has
the kindest old face imaginable, and he hammers
away so indef atigably at his pupils ! The professors I
have described are all thorough and well-known musi-
cians of Berlin, and I wonder that people could tell
us before I came away, and really seem to believe it,
"that I could learn as well in an American conserva-
tory as in a German one." In comparison with the
drill I am now receiving, my Boston teaching was
mere play.
CHAPTER II.
Clara Schumann and Joachim. The American Minister'a
The Museum. The Conservatory. The Opera.
Tausig. Christmas.
BBBLIN, December 12, 1869.
I heard Clara Schumann on Sunday, and on Tuesday
evening, also. She is a most wonderful artist. In the
first concert she played a quartette by Schumann, and
you can imagine how lovely it was under the treat-
ment of Clara Schumann for the piano, Joachim for
the first violin, De ATma for the second, and Mtiller
for the 'cello. It was perfect, and I was in raptures.
Madame Schumann's selection for the two concerts
was a very wide one, and gave a full exhibition of her
powers in every kind of music. The Impromptu by
Schumann, Op. 90, was exquisite. It was full of passion
and very difficult. The second of the Songs without
Words, by Mendelssohn, was the most fairy-like per-
formance. It is one of those things that must be
tossed off with the greatest grace and smoothness, and
it requires the most beautiful and delicate technique.
She played it to perfection. The terrific Scherzo by
Chopin she did splendidly, but she kept the great
octave passages in the bass a little too subordinate, I
thought, and did not give it quite boldly enough for
my taste, though it was extremely artistic. Clara
Schumann's playing is very objective. She seems to
(25)
26 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
throw herself into the music, instead of letting the
music take possession of her. She gives you the most
exquisite pleasure with every note she touches, and.
has a wonderful conception and variety in playing, but
she seldom whirls you off your feet.
At the second concert she was even better than at
the first, if that is possible. She seemed full of fire,
and when she played Bach, she ought to have been
crowned with diamonds ! Such noble playing I never
heard. In fact you are all the time impressed with
the nobility and breadth of her style, and the com-
prehensiveness of her treatment, and oh, if you could
hear her scales! In short, there is nothing more to
be desired in her playing, and she has every quality of
a great artist. Many people say that Tausig is far
better, but I cannot believe it. He may have more
technique and more power, but nothing else I am sure.
Everybody raves over his playing, and I am getting
quite impatient for his return, which is expected next
week. I send you Madame Schumann's photograph,
which is exactly like her. She is a large, very German -
looking woman, with dark hair and superb neck and
arms. At the last concert she was dressed in black
velvet, low body and short sleeves, and when she
struck powerful chords, those large white arms came
down with a certain splendor.
As for Joachim, he is perfectly magnificent, and
has amazing power. When he played his solo in that
second Ohaconne of Bach's, you could scarcely believe
it was only one violin. He has, like Madame Schu-
mann, the greatest variety of tone, only on the violin
THE SING-AKADEMIE.
the shades can be made far more delicate than on the
piano.
I thought the second movement of Schumann's
Quartette perhaps as extraordinary as any part of Clara
Schumann's performance. It was very rapid, very stac-
catO) and pianissimo all the way through. Not a note
escaped her fingers, and she played with so much mag
netism that one could scarcely breathe until it was fin-
ished. You know nothing can be more difficult than
to play staccato so very softly where there is great
execution also. Both of the sonatas for violin and
piano which were played by Madame Schumann and
Joachim, and especially the one in A minor, by Bee-
thoven, were divine. Both parts were equally well
sustained, and they played with so much fire as if
one inspired the other. It was worth a trip across the
Atlantic just to hear those two performances.
The Sing-Akademie, where all the best concerts are
given, is not a very large hall, but it is beautifully
proportioned, and the acoustic is perfect. The fres-
coes are very delicate, and on the left are boxes all
along, which add much to the beauty of the hall, with
their scarlet and gold flutings. Clara Schumann is a
great favorite here, and there was such a rush for
seats that, though we went early for our tickets, all the
good parquet seats were gone, and we had to get
places on the estrade, or place where the chorus sits
when there is one. But I found it delightful for a
piano concert, for you can be as close to the performer
as you like, and at the same time see the faces of the
audience. I saw ever so many people that I knew,
and we kept bowing away at each other,
28 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
Just think how convenient it is here with regard to
public amusements, for ladies can go anywhere alone !
You take a droschkio and they drive you anywhere
for five groschen, which is about fifteen cents. When
you get into the concert hall you go into the garde-
role and take off your things, and hand them over to
the care of the woman who stands there, and then you
walk in and sit down comfortably as you would in a
parlour, and are not roasted in your hat and cloak
while at the concert, and chilled when you go out, as
we are in America. Their programmes, too, are not
so unconscionably long as ours, and, in short, their
whole method of concert-giving is more rational than
with us. I always enjoy the garde-robe, for if you
have acquaintances you are sure to meet them, and
you have no idea how exciting it is in a foreign city to
see anybody you know.
BERLIN, December 19, 18C9,
I suppose you are muttering maledictions on my
head for not writing, but I am so busy that I have no
time to answer my letters, which are accumulating
upon my hands at a terrible rate. This week I have
been out every night but one, so that I have had to
do all my practicing and German and Harmony lessons
in the day-time ; and these, with my daily hour and a
half at the conservatory, have been as much as I could
manage.
On Monday I went to a party at the Bancroft's,
which I enjoyed extremely. It was a very brilliant
MR. BURLHSTGAMR 29
affair, and the toilettes were superb. At the entrance
I was ushered in by a very fine servant dressed in liv-
ery. A second man showed me the dressing-room,
where my bewildered sight first rested on a lot of
Chinamen in festive attire. I could not make out for
a second what they were, and I thought to myself,
" Is it possible I have mistaken the invitation, and
this is a masquerade?" Another glance showed me
that they were Chinese, and it turned out that Mr.
Burlingame, the Chinese Minister, was there, and these
men were part of his suite. The ladies and gentle-
men had the same dressing-room, which was a new
feature in parties to me, and as we took off our things
the servant took them and gave us a ticket for them,
as they do at the opera. I should think there were
about a hundred persons present. There were a great
many handsome women, and they were beautifully
dressed and much be-diamonded and pearled. Corn-
colour seemed to be the fashion, and there were more
silks of that colour than any other.
Mr. Burlingame seemed to be a very genial, easy
man, I was not presented to him, but stood very
near him part of the time. He looks upon the intro-
duction of the Chinese into our country as a* great
blessing, and laughs at the idea of it being an evil.
He says that the reason railroads can't be introduced
into China is because the whole country is one vast
grave-yard, and you can't dig any depth without un-
earthing human bones, so that there would be a revo-
lution on the part of the people if it were done now,
but it will gradually be brought about. He travels
30 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
with a suite of forty attendants, and says he has got
all his treaties here arranged to his wishes, and that
Prussia has promised to follow the United States in
everything that they have agreed on with China. He
is going to resign his office in a year and go back to
America, where he wants to get into politics again,
Mr. Bancroft introduced many of the ladies to the
Chinese, one of whom could speak English, find he
interpreted to the others. It was very quaint to see
them all make their deep bows in silence when some
one was presented to them. They were in the Chinese
costume Turkish trousers, white silk coats, or blouses,
and red turbans, and their hair braided down their
backs in a long tail that nearly touched their heels.
On Thursday I went to Dr. A.'s to dinner. He
seems to be a very influential man here, and is a great
favorite with the Americans. He has a great big
heart, and I suspect that is the reason of it. Mrs. A.,
too, is very lovely. I saw there Mr. Theodore Fay,
who used to be our minister in Switzerland, and who
is also an author. He is very interesting, and the
most earnest Christian I ever met. He has the tender-
est sympathies in the world, and in a man this is very
striking. He has a high and beautiful forehead, and a
certain spirituality of expression that appeals to you at
once and touches you, also. At least he makes a pecu-
liar impression on me. There is something entirely
different about him from other men, but I don't know
what it is, unless it be his deep religious feeling, which
shines out unconsciously.
Last week I made my first visit to the Museum. It
THE MUSEUM. 31
is one of the great sights of Berlin, but it is so
immense that I only saw a few rooms. In fact there
are two Museums an old and a new. I was in the new
one. It is a perfect treasure house, and the floors
alone are a study. All are inlaid with little coloured
marbles, and every one is different in pattern. One
of the most beautiful of the rooms was a large circular
dome-roofed apartment rouncl which were placed the
statues of the gods, and in the centre stood a statue
in bronze of one of the former German kings in a
Roman suit of armour. Half way up from the floor
ran round a little gallery in which you could stand
and look down over the railing, and here were placed
on the walls Raphael's cartoons, which are f ac-similes
of those in the Vatican, and are all woven in arras.
They are very wonderful, and you feel as if you could
not look at them long enough. The contrast is
impressive as you look down and see all the heathen
statues standing on the marble floor, each one like a
separate sphinx, and then look up and see all the
Christian subjects of Raphael The statues are so
cold and white and distant, and the pictures are so
warm and bright in colour. They seem to express the
difference between the ancient and the modern relig-
ions.* We went through the rooms of Greek and
Roman statues, of which there is an immense number,
and on the walls are Greek and Italian landscapes, all
done by celebrated painters.
We had to pass through these rooms rather hastily
in order to get a glimpse of the " Treppen Halle,"
which is the place where the two grand stair-cases
32 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
meet that carry you into the upper rooms of the
Museum. This is magnificent, and is all gilding and
decoration. An immense statue stands by each door,
and on the wall are six great pictures by Kaulbach,
three on each side. " The Last Judgment/ 3 of which
you've seen photographs, is one of them. I ought to
go to the Museum often to see it properly, but it is
such a long distance off that I can't get the time.
Berlin is a yery large city, and the distances are as
great as they are in New York.
At the last " Reading" at the conservatory the four
best scholars played last. One of them was an Amer-
ican, from San Francisco, a Mr. Trenkel, but who has
German parents. He plays exquisitely, and has just
such a poetic musical conception as Dresel, but a
beautiful technique, also. He is a thorough artist, and
he looks it, too, as he is dark and pale, and very strik-
ing. I always like to see him play, for he droops his
dark eyes, and his high pale forehead is thrown back,
and stands out so well defined over his black brows.
His expression is very serious and his manner very
quiet, and he has a sort of fascination about him. He
is a particular favorite of Tausig's.
After he played,came a young lady who has been a pu-
pil of Von Billow for two years. She plays splendidly,
and I could have torn my hair with envy when she got
up, and Ehlert went up to her and shook her hand and
told her before the whole school that she had " real
talent. After her came my favorite, little Fraulein
Timanoff, who sat down and did still better. She
is a little Eussian, only fifteen, and is still in short
THE BERLIN OPERA HOUSE. 33
dresses. She has almost white hair, it is so light, and
she combs it straight back and wears it in two long
braids down her back, which makes her look very
childish. It is really wonderful to see her ! She
takes her seat with the greatest confidence, and plays
with all the boldness of an artist.
Almost all the scholars in Tausig's class are study-
ing to play in public, and I should think he would be
very proud of all those that I have heard. There are
many scholars in the conservatory, but he teaches
only the most advanced. He only returned to Berlin
on Saturday, and I have not yet seen him, though I
am dying to do so, for all the Germans are wild over
his playing. The girls in his class are mortally afraid
of him, and when he gets angry he tells them they
play " like a rhinoceros/' and many other little re-
marks equally pleasing.
BEELIN, January 11, 1870.
Since my last letter I have been quite secluded, and
have seen nothing of the gay world. I have been to
the opera twiceonce to "Fantaska," a grand ballet,
and the second time to "Trovatore" The opera house
here is magnificent, and I would that I could go to it
every week. It is extremely difficult to get tickets to
it, as the rich Jews manage to get the monopoly of
them and the opera house is crowded every night. It
is the most brilliant building, and so exquisitely
painted ! All the heads and figures of the Muses and
portraits of composers and poets which decorate it, aro
8
34 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
so soft and so beautifully done. The curtain even is
charming. It represents the sea, and great sea mon-
sters are swimming about with nymphs and Cupids
and all sorts of things, and one lovely nymph floats in
the air with a thin gauzy veil which trails along after
her. The scenery and dresses are superb, and I never
imagined anything to equal them. The orchestra, too,
plays divinely*
The singing is the only thing which could be im-
proved. The Lucca, who is the grand attraction, is a
pretty little creature, but I did not find her voice re-
markable. The Berlinese worship her, and whenever
Lucca sings there is a rush for the tickets. Wachtel
and Niemann are the star singers among the men.
Niemann I have not heard, but Wachtel we should
not rave over in America. I am in doubt whether
indeed the Germans know what the best singing is.
They have most wonderful choruses, but when it
comes to soloists they have none that are really great
like Parepa and Adelaide Phillips ; at least, that is
my judgment after hearing the best singers in Berlin,
though as the voice is not my " instrument," I will
not be too confident about it. Everything else is so
far beyond what we have at home that perhaps I un-
consciously expect the climax of all the solo sing-
ing, to be proportionally finer also.
They have beautiful ballet-dancers here, though.
There is one little creature named Praulein David
who is a wonderful artist. She does such steps that
it turns one's head to see her. She is as light as down,
and so extremely graceful that when you watch her
TAUSIG, 35
floating about to the enchanting ballet music, it is too
captivating. There were four other dancers nearly
as good, who were all dressed exactly alike in white
dresses trimmed with pink satin. They would come
out first, and dance all together, sometimes separately
and sometimes forming a figure in the middle of the
stage. Then suddenly little David, who was dressed
in white and blue, would bound forward. The others
would immediately break up and retire to the side of
the stage, and she would execute a wonderful pas seul.
Then she would retire, and the others would come
forward again, and so it went. It was perfectly beau-
tiful. Finally they all danced together and did
everything exactly alike, though little David could
always bend lower, and take the " positions " (as we
used to say at Dio Lewis's,) better than all the rest.
On Friday I am going to hear Eubinstein play. I
suppose he will give a beautiful concert, as he and
Billow, Tausig and Clara Schumann are the grand
celebrities now on the piano, Liszt having given up
playing in public. After our lesson was over yester-
day, Ehlert 'took his leave, and left us to wait for
TAUSIG my dear ! who was to hear us each play.
He came in very late, and just before it was time to
give his own lesson. He is precisely like the photo-
graph I sent you, but is very short indeed too short,
in fact, for good looks but he has a remarkably
vivid expression of the eyes. He came in, and,
scarcely looking at us, and without taking the trouble
to bow even, he turned on me and said, imperiously,
" Spielen Sie mir Etwas vor. (Play something for
36 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
ine.)" I got up and played first an Etude* and then he
asked for the scales, and after I had played a few he told
me I "had talent/' and to come to his lessons, and I
would learn much. I went accordingly the next after-
noon. There were two girls only in the class, but they
were both far advanced. I had never heard either of
them play before. The second one played a fearfully
difficult concerto by Chopin, which I once heard from
Mills. It is exquisitely beautiful, and she did it very
well, From time to time Tausig would sweep her off
the stool, and play himself, and he is indeed a perfect
wonder ! If, as they say, Liszt's trill is " like the war-
ble of a bird," his is as much so. It is not surprising
that he is so celebrated, and I long to hear him in
concert, where he will do full justice to his powers.
He thrills you to the very marrow of your bones. He
is divorced from his wife, and I think it not improbable
that she could not live with him, for he looks as
haughty and despotic as Lucifer, though he has a
very winning way with him when he likes. His play-
ing is spoken of as sanspareil.
I spent a very pleasant Christmas. The family had
a pretty little tree, and we all gave each other presents.
It was charming to go out in the streets the week
before. The Germans make the greatest time over
Christmas, and the streets are full of Christmas trees,
the shops are crammed with lovely things, and there
are little booths erected all along the sidewalks
filled with toys, They have special cakes and con-
fections that they prepare only at this season.
CHAPTER III.
Tausig and Rubinstein. Tausig's Pupils, The Bancrofts.
German Radical.
BERLIN, February 8, 1870.
I have heard both. Rubinstein and Tausig in concert
since I last wrote. They are both wonderf ul, but in
quite a different way. Rubinstein has the greatest
power and abandon in playing that you can imagine,
and is extremely exciting. I never saw a man to whom
it seemed so easy to play. It is as if he were just
sporting with the piano, and could do what he pleased
with it. Tausig, on the contrary, is extremely
restrained, and has not quite enthusiasm enough, but
he is absolutely perfect, and plays with the greatest
expression. He is pre-eminent in grace and delicacy
of execution, but seems to hold back his power in
a concert room, which is very singular, for when he
plays to his classes in the conservatory he seems all
passion. His conception is so very refined that some-
times it is a little too much so, while Rubinstein is
occasionally too precipitate. I have not yet decided
which I like best, but in my estimation Clara Schu-
mann as a whole is superior to either, although she
has not their unlimited technique.
(37)
38 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
This was Tausig's programme :
1. Senate Op. 53. - Beethoven.
2. a. Bounce ...... Bach.
b. Presto Scherzando, - - - Mendelssohn.
c. Barcarole Op. 60, - - j
d. Ballade Op. 47, - - [ - Chopin.
e. Zwei Mazurkas Op. 59 u 33, )
f. Aufforderung zum Tanz, - - Weber.
4. a, StSaclchen yon Shakespeare \
nach Schubert, [ Liszt.
b. Ungarische Rhapsodie, )
Tausig's octave playing is the most extraordinary I
ever heard. The last great effect on his programme
was in the Rhapsody by Liszt, in an octave varia-
tion. He first played it so pianissimo that you could
only just hear it, and then he repeated the variation
and gave it tremendously forte. It was colossal !
His scales surpass Clara Schumann's, and it seems as
if he played with velvet fingers, his touch is so very soft.
He played the great major Sonata by Beethoven
Moschcles' favorite, you know. His conception of it
was not brilliant, as I expected it would be, but very
calm and dreamy, and the first movement especially
he took very piano. He did it most beautifully, but
I was not quite satisfied with the last movement, for I
expected he would make a grand climax with .those
passionate trills, and he did not. Chopin he plays
divinely, and that little Bourrde of Bach's that I used
to play, was magical. He played it like lightning, and
made it perfectly bewitching,
LITTLE TIMAKOFF. 39
Altogether, he is a great man. But Clara Schu-
mann always puts herself en rapport with you immedi-
ately. Tausig and Rubinstein do not sway you as she
does, and, therefore, I think she is the greater inter-
preter, although I imagine the Germans would not
agree with me. Tausig has such a little hand that I
wonder he has been able to acquire his immense vir-
tuosity. He is only thirty years old, and is mucfy
younger than Eubinstein or Btilow.
The day after Tausig's concert I went, as usual, to
hear him give the lesson to his best class of girls. I
got there a little before the hour, and the girls were
in the dressing-room waiting for the young men to be
through with their lesson. They were talking about
the concert. " Was it not beautiful?" said little Tim-
anoff, to me ; " I did not sleep the whole night after it I"
a touch of sentiment that quite surprised me in that
small personage, and made me feel some compunc-
tions, as I had slept soundly myself. " I have prac-
ticed five hours to-day already," she added. Just then
the young men came out of the class-room and we
passed into it. Tausig was standing by the piano.
" Begin !" said he, to Timanoff, more shortly even than
usual ; " I trust you have brought me a study this
time." He always insists upon a study in addition to
the piece. Timanoff replied in the affirmative, and
proceeded to open Chopin's, Etudes. She played the
great A minor " Winter Wind " study, and most mag-
nificently, too, starting off with the greatest brilliancy
and "go." I was perfectly amazed at such a feat
from such a child, and expected that Tausig would
MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
exclaim with admiration. Not so that Rhadaman-
thus. He heard it through without comment or
correction, and when Timanoff had finished, simply
remarked very composedly, "So! Have you taken
the next Etude, also?" as if the great A minor were
not enough for one meal ! It is eight pages long to
begin with, and there is no let-up to the difficulty all
the way [through. Afterward, however, he told the
young men that he " could not have done it better "
himself.
Tausig is so hasty and impatient that to be in his
classes must be a fearful ordeal. He will not bear the
slightest fault. The last time I went into his class to
hear him teach he was dreadful. J?r&ulein H. began,
and she has remarkable talent, and is far beyond me.
She would not play piano enough to suit him, and
finally he stamped his foot at her, snatched her hand
from the piano, and said : " Witt you play piano or
not, for if not we will go no farther ?" The second
girl sat down and played a few lines. He made her
begin over again several times, and finally came up
and took her music away and slapped it down on the
piano, " You have been studying this for weeks and
you can't play a note of it ; practice it for a month
and then you can bring it to me again," he said.
The third was Frilulein Thnanoff, who is a lit-
tle genius, I think. She brought a Sonata by Schu-
bert the lovely owe in A minor and by the way he
behaved Tausig must have a particular feeling about
that particular Sonata. Timanoff began running it
off in her usual ftimble style, having practiced it evi-
TAUSIQ TEACHING. 41
dently every minute of the time when she was not
asleep, since the last lesson. She had not proceeded
far down the first page when he stopped her, and began
to fuss over the expression. She began again, but
this time with no better luck. A third time, but still
he was dissatisfied, though he suffered her to go on a
little farther. He kept stopping her every moment
in the most tantalizing and exasperating manner. If
it had been I, I should have cried, but Timanofl is
well broken, and only flushed deeply to the very tips of
her small ears. From an apple blossom she changed
to a carnation. Tausig grew more and more savage,
and made her skip whole pages in his impatience.
" Play here I" he would say, in the most imperative tone,
pointing to a half or whole page farther on. " This I
cannot hear!- Go on farther! It is too bad to be
listened to !" Finally, he struck the music with the
back of his hand, and exclaimed, in a despairing way,
" Kind, es liegt eine Seele darin. Weiss du nicht es
liegt eine SEELE darin? (Child, there's a soul in the
piece. Don't you know there is asowJin it?)" To
the little Timanofl, who has no soul, and who is not
sufficiently experienced to counterfeit one, this speech
evidently conveyed no particular idea. She ran on as
glibly as ever till Tausig could endure no more, and
shut up the music. I was much disappointed, as it
was new to me, and I like to hear Timanofl's little
fingers tinkle over the keys, " Seele" or no "Seele,"
She has a most accurate and dainty way of doing
everything, and somehow, in her healthy little brain
I hardly wish for Seele!
42 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
Last of all Fraulein L. played, and she alone suited
Tausig. She is a Swede, and is the best scholar he
has, but she has such frightfully ugly hands, and
holds them so terribly, that when 1 look at her I can-
not enjoy her playing. Tausig always praises her very
much, and she is tremendously ambitious.
Tausig has a charming face, full of expression and
very sensitive. He is extremely sharp-sighted, and
has eyes in the back of his head, I believe. He is far
too small and too despotic to be fascinating, however,
though he has a sort of captivating way with him
when he is in a good humor.
I was dreadfully sorry to hear of poor Gottschalk's
death. He had a golden touch, and equal to any in
the world, I think. But what a romantic way to die !
to fall senseless at his instrument, while he was
playing "La Morte" It was very strange. If any-
thing more is in the papers about him you must send
it to me, for the infatuation that I and 99,999 other
American girls once felt for him, still lingers in my
breast !
On Saturday night I went for the first time to hear
the Berlin Symphony Kapelle. It is composed only
of artists, and is the most splendid music imaginable.
De Ahna, for instance, is one of the violinists, and he
is not far behind Joachim. We have no conception
of such an orchestra in America,* The Philharmonic
of New York approaches it, but is still a long way off.
This orchestra* is so perfect, and plays with such pre-
*This was written before the full development of the Thomas Orchestra,
The writer had heard It only in its infancy.
BERLIN SYMPHONY KAPELLE. 43
cision, that you can't realize that there are any perform-
ers at all. It is just a great wave of sound that rolls
over yon as smooth as glass. As the concert halls are
much smaller here, the music is much louder, and
every man not only plays piano and forte where it is
marked, but he draws the tone out of his violin. They
have the greatest pathos, consequently, in the soft
parts, and overwhelming power in the loud. Where
great expression is required the conductor almost
ceases to beat time, and it seems as if the performers
took it ad libitum; but they understand each other
so well that they play like one man. It is too ecstatic ! I
observed the greatest difference in the horn playing.
Instead of coming in in a monotonous sort of way
as it does at home, and always with the same degree
of loudness, here, when it is solo, it begins round and
smooth and full, and then gently modulates until the
tone seems to sigh itself out, dying away at last with
a little tremolo that is perfectly melting. I never
before heard such an effect. "When the trumpets
come in it is like the crack of doom, and you should
hear the way they play the drums. I never was satis-
fied with the way they strike the drums in New York
and Boston, for it always seemed as if they thought
the parchment would break. Here, sometimes they
give such a sharp stroke that it startles me, though,
of course, it is not often. But it adds immensely to
the accent, and makes your heart beat, I can tell you.
They played Schubert's great symphony, and Beetho-
ven's in B major, and I could scarcely believe my
own ears at the difference between this orchestra and
ours. It is as great as between and Tausig.
44 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
BBELIK, March 4, 1870.
Tausig is off to Russia to-day on a concert tour, and
not return until the 1st of May. Out of six
months he has been in Berlin about two and a half !
However, as I am not yet in his class it doesn't affect
me much, but I should think his scholars would be
provoked at such long absences. That is the worst
of having such a great artist for a master. I believe
we are to have no vacation in the summer though,
and that he has promised to remain here from May
until November without going off. Ehlert and Tau-
sig have had a grand quarrel, and Ehlert is going to
leave the conservatory in April. I am very sorry, for
he is an admirable teacher, and I like him extremely.
We had another Musical Beading on Sunday, at
which I played, but all the conservatory classes were
there, and all the teachers, with Tausig, also, so it was
a pretty hard ordeal. The girls said I turned deadly
pale when I sat down to the piano, and well I might, for
here you cannot play any thing that the scholars have not
either played themselves or are perfectly familiar with,
so they criticise you without mercy. Tausig plays so
magnificently that you know beforehand that a thing
can never be more than comparatively good in his
eyes. Praulein L. is the only one of his pupils that
plays to suit him. I do not like her playing so much
myself, because it sounds as if she had tried to imitate
him exactly- which she probably does. It does not
seem spontaneous, and she is an affected creature.
They all think ' the world ' of her at the conservatory
A STRANGE GIRL. 45
and I suppose she is quite extraordinary ; but I prefer
Fraulein Timanoff "die kleine Person" as Tau-
sig calls her and she is, indeed, a " little person."
On Sunday Fraulein L. played the first part of a
Sonata by Chopin, and Tausig was quite enchanted
with her performance. I thought he was going to
embrace her, he jumped up so impetuously and ran
over to her. He declared that it could not be better
played, and said he would not hear anything else after
that, and so the school was dismissed, although sev-
eral had not played that expected to do so.
Tausig has one scholar who is a very singular
girl the Eraulein H. I mentioned to you before,
who has studied with Billow. She is half French and
half German, and speaks both languages. She is full
of talent and cannot be over eighteen, but she is the
most intense character, and is a perfect child of nature.
One can't help smiling at everything she does, be-
cause she goes at everything so hard and so uncon-
sciously. When the other girls are playing she folds
her arms and plays with her fingers against her sides
all the time, and when her turn comes she seizes her
music, jumps up, and rushes for the piano as fast
as she can. She hasn't the least timidity, and on
Sunday when Tausig called out her name he scarcely
got the words out before she said, "Ja" to the great
amusement of the class (for none of us answered to
our names) and ran to the piano.
She sat down with the chair half crooked, and
almost on the side of it, but she never stopped to
arrange herself, but dashed ofl a prelude out of her
46 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
own head, and then played her piece* When she got
through she never changed countenance, but was back
in her seat before you could say a Jack Robinson."
She is as passionate as Tausig, and so they usually
have a scene over her lesson. He is always either
half amused at her or very angry, and is terribly
severe with her. When he stamps his foot at her she
makes up a face, and the blood rushes up into her
head, and I believe she would beat him if she dared.
She always plays as impetuously as she does every-
thing else, and then he stops his ears and tells her she
makes too much "Spectakel" (his favorite expression).
Then she begins over again two or three times, but
always in the same way. He snatches the music from
the piano and tells her that is enough. Then the class
bursts out laughing and she goes to her seat and cries.
But she is too proud to let the other gjrls see her wipe
her eyes, and so she sits up straight, and tries to look
unconcerned, but the tears trickle down her cheeks
one after the other, and drop off her chin all the rest
of the hour. By the time she has had a piece for two
lessons she comes to the third, and at last she has
managed to tone down enough, and then she plays it
splendidly. She is a savage creature. The girls tell
me that one time she sat down to the piano (a concert-
grand) with such violence as to push the instrument
to one side, and began to play with such vehemence
that she burst the sleeve out of her dress behind!
She is going to be an artist, and I told her she must
come to America to give concerts. She said "Jaf 9
and immediately wanted to know where I lived, so she
BUBINSTEIN, 4?
could come and see me. I think she will make a cap-
ital concert player, for she is always excited by an
audience, and she has immense power. I am a
mere baby to her in strength. Perhaps when she is
ten years older she will be able to restrain herself
within just limits, and to put in the light and shade
as Fraulein L. does.
-. Since I last wrote I have been to hear Rubinstein
again. He is the greatest sensation player I know of,
and, like Gottschalk, has all sorts of tricks of his own.
His grand aim is to produce an effect, so it is dread-
fully exciting to hear him, and at his last concert the
first piece he played a terrific composition by Schu-
bert gave me such a violent headache that I couldn't
hear the rest of the performance with any pleasure.
He has a gigantic spirit in him, and is extremely
poetic and original, but for an entire concert he is too
much. Give me Rubinstein for a few pieces, but
Tausig for a whole evening. Rubinstein doesn't care
how many notes he misses, provided he can bring out
his conception and make it vivid enough. Tausig
strikes every note with rigid exactness, and perhaps
his very perfection makes him at times a little cold.
Rubinstein played Schubert's Erl-Konig, arranged by
Liszt, gloriously. Where the child is so frightened,
his hands flew all over the piano, and absolutely made
it shriek with terror. It was enough to freeze you to
hear it.
Last week I went to a party at Mrs. Bancroft's in
honour of Washington's birth-day, and had a lovely
time, as I always do when I go there. Bismarck was
48 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
present, and wore a coat all decorated with stars and
orders. He is a splendid looking man, and is tall
and imposing. No one could be kinder than Mr.
Bancroft. He and Mrs. Bancroft live in a beautiful
house, furnished in perfect taste and full of lovely
pictures and things, and they entertain most charm-
ingly. They seem to do their utmost for the Ameri-
cans who are in Berlin, and I am very proud of our
minister. His reputation as our national historian,
together with his German culture and early German
associations, all combine to render him an admirable
representative of our country to this haughty king-
dom, and I hear that he is very popular with its self-
satisfied citizens. As for Mrs. Bancroft, one could
hardly be more elegant, or better suited to the posi-
tion. Mr. Bancroft is passionately fond of music, and
knows what good music is, which is of course an
additional title to my high opinion !
The other day Herr J. called for me to go and take
a walk through the Thier-Garten, and see the skating.
It was the first time I had been there, though it is not
far from us, and I was delighted with it. It is the
natural forest, with beautiful walks and drives cut
through it, and statues here and there. We went to
see the skating, and it was a lovely sight. The band
was playing, and ladies and gentlemen were skating in
time to the waltz. Many ladies skate very elegantly,
and go along with their hands in their muffs, swaying
first to one side and then to the other. It is grace
itself. Carriages and horses pranced slowly around
the edge of the pond, and at last the Prince and Prin-
A GEKMAST KADICAL. 49
cess Eoyal came along, drawn by two splendid black
horses.
The carriage stopped and they got out to walk.
"Now/' said I to Herr J., "you must take off your
hat " f or everybody takes off his hat to the Crown
Prince. As they passed us he did take it off, but
blushed up to his ears, which I thought rather odd,
until he said, in a half -ashamed tone, "That is the first
time in my life that I ever took off my hat to a Prince."
" Well, what did you do it for?" said I. "Because you
told me to," said he. He is such a red hot republi-
can, that even such a little act of respect as this grated
upon him ! I only told him in fun, any way, but I was
very much amused to see how he took it. He always
raves over the United States, and says we are the
greatest country in the world. He is a strange man,
and you ought to hear his theory of religion. He sets
the Bible entirely asidelike most German cultivated
men. We were talking of it one night, and he said,
" We won't speak of that blockhead Peter, stupid fish-
erman that he was ! but we will pass on to Paul, who
was a man of some education." David, he calls "that
rascal David, etc." Of course, I hold to my own belief,
but I can't help laughing to hear him, it sounds so ridic-
ulous. The world never had any beginning, he says,
and there is no resurrection. We live only for the
benefit of the next generation, and therefore it is nec-
essary to lead good lives. We inherit the result of
our father's labours, and our children will inherit ours.
So we shall go on until the human race comes to a
state of perfection. "And then what?" said L Oh
50 MUSIC-STUDY IN" GERMANY.
then, he didn't know. Perhaps the world would ex-
plode, and go off in meteors. " We do know/' said he,
" that there are lost stars. Occasionally a star disap-
pears and we can't tell what has become of it ; and
perhaps the earth will become a wandering star, or a
comet. The intervals between the stars are so great
as to admit of a world wandering about and there is
no police in those regions, I fancy/' concluded he, with
a shrug of his shoulders. "Do you really believe that,
Herr J.?" I asked. "Oh/' said he, "we won't speak
about beliefs. Now we are speculating!" He is a delight-
ful companion, and I fchink he is scrupulously con-
scientious. Though he does not profess the Christian
faith, he acts up to Christian principles.
CHAPTER IV.
Opera and Oratorio in Berlin. A Typical American. Prus-
sian Rudeness. Conservatory Changes. Easter.
BERLIN, March 20, 1870.
On Wednesday the Bancrofts most kindly called for me
to go to the opera with them. They came in their car-
riage, with two horses and footmen, so it was very jolly,
and we bowled rapidly through Unter den Linden
(the Broadway of Berlin), in rather a different manner
from the pace I usually crawl along in a droschkie. They
had fine opera glasses, of course, and we took our seats
just as the overture was about to begin, so that every-
thing was charming except that instead of Lohengrin,
which we had expected to hear, they had changed the
opera to Faust, which I had heard the week before.
Faust is, however, a fascinating opera, and it is beauti-
fully given here, albeit the Germans stick to it that it
is Gounod's Faust and not Goethe's.
Since I have come here I have a perfect passion for
going to the opera, for everything is done in such superb
fashion, and they have the orchestra of the Symphony
Kapelle, which is so splendid that it could not be better.
It is a pity the singers are not equally good, but I don't
believe Germany is the land of great voices. However,
the men sing finely, and the prima donnas have much
talent, and act beautifully. The prima donna on this
occasion was Mallinger, the rival of Lucca. She is espe-
(51)
52 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
daily good as Margaretta. Memami and Waohtel are
the great men singers. Wachtel was formerly a coach-
man, but he has a lovely voice. His acting is not
remarkable, but Niemann is superb, and he sings and
acts delightfully. He is very tall and fair, with light
whiskers, and golden hair crowning a noble head, in truth
a regular Viking. When he comes out in his crimson
velvet mantle and crimson cap, with a white plume, and
begins singing these delicious love songs to Margaretta,
he is perfectly enchanting ! He and Mallinger throw
themselves into the long love scene which fills the third
act, and act it magnificently. It was the first time I
ever saw a love scene well done. The fourth act is most
impressive. The curtain rises, and shows the interior of
a church. The candles are burning on the altar, aixi
the priests and acolytes are standing in their proper order
before it. The organ strikes up a fugue and all the
peasants come in and kneel down. Then poor Margar-
etta comes in for refuge, but when she kneels to pray
a voice is heard which tells her that for her there is
no refuge or hope in heaven or earth.
This scene Mallinger does so well that it is nature
itself. "When the voice is heard she gives a shriek, tot-
ters for a moment, and then falls upon the floor sense-
less, and 0, so naturally that one is entirely carried away
by it. The organ takes up the fugue, and the curtain
drops. The contrast between the two acts makes it all
the more effective, for in the third it is all love and
flowers and languishing music, and in the fourth one is
suddenly recalled to the sanctity and severity of the
church ; also, alter the orchestra this subdued fugue on
READING GOETHE. 53
the organ makes a yery peculiar impression. In the fifth
act Margaretta is in prison, and Faust and Mephis-
topheles come to rescue her. This is a powerful scene,
for at first she hesitates, and thinks she will go with
them, and then her mind wanders, and she recalls, as in
a vision, the happy scenes of earlier days. They keep
urging her, and try to drag her along with them, but at
last she breaks free from them and cries, "To Thee, 0,
God, belongs my soul/' and falls upon her straw pallet,
and dies. Then the scene changes, and you see four
angels gradually floating up to heaven, supporting her
dead body, while the chorus sings :
" Christ 1st erstanden
Ans Tod und Banden
Frieden und Heil verkeisst
Aller Welt er, die ihn preist."*
This ends the opera, which is very exciting through-
out. I am going to read the original as soon as I
know a little more German, so that I shan't have to read
with a dictionary. I am just getting able to read Goethe
without one, and think he is the most entrancing writer.
There never could have been a man who understood
women so well as he ! His female characters are per-
fectly captivating, but he is not very flattering to his own
sex, and generally makes them, in love, (what they are)
weak and vacillating.
I met a very agreeable young countryman at a dinner
the other day a Mr. P. and a great contrast to any of
Goethe's ill-regulated heroes. He was the typical Amer-
*0hrist is risen out of bonds and death. Ho promises joy and blessing
to all the world, which for this glorifies Him.
54 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
ican, I thought. Wide awake, bright, with a sharp eye
to business, very republican, with a hearty contempt for
titles and a great respect for women, practical and clear-
headed. When the wine was passed round he refused
it, and said he had never drunk a glass of wine or
touched tobacco in his life. I was so amused, for he
looked so young. I said to myself, " probably you are
just out of college, and are travelling before you settle
down to a profession." After a while he said something
about his wife. I was a little surprised, but still I
thought "perhaps you have only been married a few
months." A little further on he mentioned his children.
I was still more surprised, but thought he couldn't have
more than two ; but when Mrs; B. asked him how many
he had, and he said " three living and two dead," adding
very gravely, "I have been twice left childless," I could
scarcely help bursting out laughing, for I had thought
him about twenty-one, and these revelations of a wife
and numerous family seemed too preposterous ! But it
was very nice to see such a model countryman, too. It
is such men that make the American greatness.
After dinner I went with my hostess to hear Men-
delssohn's Oratorio of St. Paul. It is a great work, a
little tedious as a whole, but with wonderfully beautiful
numbers interspersed through it. There are several
lovely chorales in it. I was disappointed in the perform-
ance, though, for in the first place there is no organ in
the Sing-Akademie, and I consider the effect of the
organ and the drums indispensable to an oratorio ; and
in the second, the solos all seemed to me indifferently
sung. The choruses were faultless, however. They
BORSEG'S GREENHOUSE. 55
understand how to drill a chorus here ! Next Friday I
am going to Haydn's "Jahreszeiten," which I never hap-
pened to hear in Boston.
Germany is a great place for birds and flowers. All
winter long we have quantities of saucy-looking little
sparrows here, and they have the most thievish expres-
sion when they fly down for a crumb. I sometimes
put crumbs on my window-sill, and in a short time
they are sure to see them. Then they stand on the
edge of a roof opposite, and look from side to side for
a long time, the way birds do. At last they make up
their minds, swoop down on the sill, stretch their
heads, give a bold look to see if I am about, and
then snatch a crumb and fly off with it. They never
can get over their own temerity, and always give a
chirp as they fly away with the crumb ; whether it is
a note of triumph over their success, or an expression
of nervousness, I cannot decide. One cold day I
passed a tree, on every twig of which was a bird. They
were holding a political meeting, I am sure, for they
were all jabbering away to each other in the most
excited manner, and each one had his breast bulged
out, and his feathers ruffled. They were " awfully
cunning !"
On Tuesday I went out to Borsig's greenhouse. He
is an immensely rich rnan here, who makes a specialty
of flowers. He lives some way out of Berlin, and has
the largest conservatories here. The inside of the
portico which leads into them is all covered with ivy,
which creeps up on the inside of the walls,' and covers
them completely. When we came within, the flowers
56 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
were arranged in perfect banks all along the length of
the greenhouse, so that you saw one continuous line
of brilliant colours, and oh the perfume ! The hya-
cinths predominated in all shades, though there were
many other flowers, and many of them new to me.
Oamelias were trained, vine fashion, all over the
sides of the greenhouse, and hundreds of white and
pink blossoms were depending from them. All the
centre of the greenhouse was a bed of rich earth cov-
ered with a little delicate plant, and at intervals
planted with azalea bushes so covered with blossoms
that one could scarcely see the leaves. At one end
was a very large cage filled with brilliant birds, and
at the other was a lovely fountain of white marble-
Venus and Cupid supported on three shells. But I
was most struck by the tree ferns, which I had never
before seen. They were perfectly magnificent, and
were arranged on the highest side of the greenhouse
with many other rare plants most artistically mingled
in. After we had finished looking at the flowers we
went into a second house, where were palm trees, ferns,
cacti and all sorts of strange things growing, but all
placed with the same taste. It was a beautiful sight,
and I never had any idea of the garden of Eden be-
fore. I must try and bring home a pot of the " Violet
of the Alps/' It is the most delicate little flower, and
looks as if it grew on a high, cold mountain.
HAYDN'S JAHRESZEITEN*. 57
BERLIN, April 1, 1870.
To-day is April Fool's day, and the first real month of
spring is begun. I have not fooled anybody yet, but as
soon as dinner is ready, I shall rush to the window and
cry, "There goes the king!" Of course they will
all run to see him, and then I shall get it off on the
whole family at once. I shall wait until the " kleiner
Hans," Prau WVs son, comes home, I call him the
" Kleinen " in derision, for in reality he is immense. I
have been very much struck with the height of the peo-
ple here. As a rule they are much taller than Amer-
icans, and sometimes one meets perfect giants in the
streets. The Prussian men are often semi-insolent
iw their street manners to women, and sometimes nearly
knock you off the sidewalk, from simply not choosing to
see you, I suppose this arrogance is one of the benefits
of their military training I They will have the middle
of the walk where the stone flag is laid, no matter what
you have to step off into !
I went to hear Haydn's Jahreszeiten a few evenings
since, and it is the most charming work such a happy
combination of grave and gay I He wrote it when he
was seventy years old, and it is so popular that one has
great difficulty in getting a ticket for it. The salon was
entirely filled, so that I had to take a seat in the loge,
where the places are pretty poor, though I went early,
too. The work is sung like an oratorio, in arias, recita-
tives and choruses, and is interspersed with charming
little songs. It represents the four seasons of the year,
and each part is prefaced by a little overture appropriate
58 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
to the passing of each season into the next. The reci-
tatives are sung by Hanna and Lucas, who are lovers,
and by Simon, who is a friend of both, apparently.
The autumn is the prettiest of the four parts, for it
represents first the joy of the country people over the
harvests and over the fruits. Then comes a splendid
chorus in praise of Industry. After that follows a little
love dialogue between Hanna and Lucas, then a descrip-
tion of a hunt, then a dance ; lastly the wine is brought,
and the whole ends with a magnificent chorus in praise
of wine. The dance is too pretty for anything, for the
whole chorus sings a waltz, and it is the gayest, most
captivating composition imaginable. The choruses here
are so splendidly drilled that they give the expression in
a very vivid manner, and produce beautiful effects. All
the parts are perfectly accurate and well balanced. But
the solo singers are, as I have remarked in former letters,
for the most part, ordinary.
I took my last lesson of Ehlert yesterday. I am very
sorry that he and Tausig have quarrelled, for he is a
splendid teacher. He has taught me a great deal, and
precisely the things that I wanted to know and could not
find out for myself. For instance, those twists and turns
of the hands that artists have, their way of striking the
chords, and many other little technicalities which one
must have a master to learn. He always seemed to take
great pleasure in teaching me, and I am most grateful to
him for his encouragement. I think Tausig behaves
very strangely to be off for such a long time. He does
not return until the first of May, and all this month we
are to be taught by one of his best scholars until he
THE " PASSION " MUSIC. 59
comes back and engages another teacher. He has just
given concerts at St. Petersburg, and I am told that at
a single one he made six thousand rubles. They are in
an immense enthusiasm there over him.
Last night I went with Mr. B. to hear Bach's Passion
Music. Anything to equal that last chorus I never heard
from voices. I felt as if it ought to go on forever, and
could not bear to have it end. That chorale, "0 Sacred
Head now wounded," is taken from it, and it comes in
twice; the second time with different harmonies and
without accompaniment. It is the most exquisite thing ;
you feel as if you would like to die when you hear it.
But the last chorus carries you straight up to heaven. It
begins :
"We sit down in tears
And call to thee in the grave,
Best soft rest soft."
It represents the rest of our Saviour after the stone
had been rolled before the tomb, and it is divine. Every-
body in the chorus was dressed in black, and almost
every one in the audience, so you can imagine what a
sombre scene it was. This is the custom here, and on
Good Friday, when the celebrated "Tod Jesu" by
Graun, is perf ormed,they go in black without exception.
BEBLIST, April 24, 1870.
I thought of you all on Easter Sunday, and won-
dered what sort of music you were having. I did not
go to the English church, as is my wont, but to the
60 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
Dom, which is the great church here, and is where
all the court goes. It is an extremely ugly church,
and much like one of our old Congregational meeting-
houses ; but they have a. superb choir of two hundred
men and boys which is celebrated all over Europe.
Haupt (Mr. J. K. Paine's former master) .is the organ-
ist, and of course they have a very large organ. I
knew, as this was Easter, that the music would be
magnificent, so I made A. W. go there with me, much
against her will, for she declared we should get no
seat The Germans don't trouble themselves to go to
church very often, but on a feast day they turn out
in crowds.
We got to the church only twenty minutes before
service began, and I confess I was rather daunted as I
saw the swarms of people not only going in but coming
out, hopeless of getting into the church. However, I
determined to push on and see what the chances were,
and with great difficulty we got up stairs. There is a
lobby that runs all around the church, just as in the
Boston Music Hall. All the doors between the gal-
lery and the lobby were open, and each was crammed
full of people. I thought the best thing we could do
would be to stand there until we got tired, and listen
to the music, and then go. Finally, the sexton came
along, and A. asked him if he could not give us two
seats ; he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yes, if you
choose to pass through the crowd." We boldly said
we would, although it looked almost hopeless, and
then made our way through it, followed by muttered
execrations. At last the sexton unlocked a door,
THE -DOM CHOIR." 61
and gave us two excellent seats, and there was plenty
of room for a dozen more people ; but I don't doubt
he frightened them away just as he would have done
us if he could. He locked us in, and there we sat
quite in comfort.
At ten the choir began to sing a psalm. They
sit directly over the chancel, and a gilded frame work
conceals them completely from the congregation.
They have a leader who conducts them, and they sing
in most perfect time and tune, entirely without accom-
paniment. The voices are tender and soft rather
than loud, and they weave in and out most beautifully.
There are a great many different parts, and the voices
keep striking in from various points, which produces
a delicious effect, and makes them sound like an angel
choir far up in the sky. After they had finished the
psalm the organ burst out with a tremendous great
chord, enough to make you jump, and then played a
chorale, and there were also trombones which took the
melody. Then all the congregation sang the chorale,
and the choir kept silence. You cannot imagine how
easy it is to sing when the trombones lead, and tie
effect is overwhelming with the organ, especially in
these grand old chorales. I could scarcely bear it, it
was so very exciting.
There was a great deal of music, as it was Easter
Sunday, and it was done alternately by the choir and
the congregation ; but generally the Dom choir only
sings one psalm before the service begins, and there-
fore I seldom take the trouble to go there. The rest
of the music is entirely congregational, and they only
62 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
have trombones on great occasions. We sat close by
the chancel, and the great wax candles flared on the
altar below us, and the Lutheran clergyman read the
German so that it sounded a good deal like Latin. I
was quite surprised to see how much like Latin Ger-
man could sound, for it has these long, rolling words,
and it is just as pompous. Altogether it made a
strange but splendid impression. I thought if they
had only had their choir in the chancel, and in white
surplices, it would have been much more beautiful,
but perhaps the music would not have sounded so line
as when the singers were overhead. The Berlin
churches all look as if religion was dying out here, so
old and bare and ill-cared for, and so few in number.
They are only redeemed by the great castles of organs
which they generally have ; and it is a difficult thing
to get the post of organist here. One must be an
experienced and well-known musician to do it. They
sing no chants in the service, but only chorales.
To-night is the last Royal Symphony Concert of this
season, and of course I shall go. This wonderful or-
chestra carries me completely away. It is too mar-
vellous how they play ! such expression, such dan! I
heard them give Beethoven's Leonora Overture last
week in such a fashion as fairly electrified me. This
overture sums up the opera of Fidelio, and in one part
of it, just as the hero is going to be executed, you hear
the post-horn sound which announces his delivery.
This they play so softly that you catch it exactly as if
it came from a long distance, and you cannot believe
BERING-ER 65
it comes from the orchestra. It makes you think of
"the horns of elf -land faintly blowing. 37
Tausig is expected back this week, and he has in-
deed been gone long enough. He is going to give a
lesson every Monday to the best scholars who are not
in his class, and as I stand at the head of these I hope
to have a lesson from him every week. This would
suit me better than two, as he is so dreadfully exact-
ing, and it will give me time to learn a piece well.
Then I should have my regular lesson beside from M.r.
Beringer, or whoever he appoints to take Ehlert's place.
Beringer, who is a young man about twenty -five years
old, has turned out a capital teacher, and I am
learning much with him. He plays beautifully
himself, and is a great favorite of T^usig's. He has
been with him so long that he teaches his method ex-
cellently, and gives me pieces that he has studied with
him. I believe he is to come out at the Gewandhaus,
in Leipsic, in October, and after that he will settle in
London.
CHAPTER V.
The Thier-Garten. A Military Review. Charlottenburg.
Tausig. Berlin in Summer. Potsdam and Babelsberg.
BEELIN, June 5, 1870.
We've had the vilest possible weather this spring, but
Berlin looks perfectly lovely now. There are a great
many gardens attached to the houses here. Every-
thing is in bloom, and is laden with the scent of lilacs
and apple blossoms. The streets are planted with lin-
dens and horse chestnut trees, and on the fashionable
street bordering on the Thier-Garten, all the houses
have little lawns in front, carpeted with the most daz-
zling green grass, and rising out of it are solid banks
of flowers. The shrubs are planted according to their
height, close together, and one behind the other, and
as they are all in blossom you see these great masses of
colour. It is like a gigantic bouquet growing up be-
fore you.
The Thier-Garten is perfectly beautiful. It is so
charming to come upon this unfenced wood right in
the heart of an immense city, with roads and paths
cut all through it, and each over-arched with vivid
green as far as the eye can reach. When you see the
gay equipages driving swiftly through it, and ladies
and gentlemen glancing amid the trees on horseback,
it is very romantic.
Frau W.'s brother, "Uncle 8." as I call him,
(64)
CHARLOTTENBURG. 65
announced the other day that he was going to
take us to Oharlottenburg. I had often been told that
I must go there and see the "Mausoleum," but as you
know I never ask for explanations, this did not cox ^ey
any particular idea to my mind, and I started out jn
this excursion in my usual state of blissful ignor-
ance. We took two droschkies for our party ? and
meandered slowly through the Thier-Garten and along
the Oharlottenburg road till we arrived at our point of
destination. This was announced from afar by an
absurd statue poised on one toe on the top of the
castle which stands in front of the park containing
the Mausoleum.
The first thing we did on alighting was to go into a
little beer garden close by to take coSee. It was a per-
fect afternoon, and the trees and flowers were in all
their June glory. We sat down around one of those
delightful tables which they always have under the
trees in Germany. The coffee was soon served, hot
and strong, and Tfncle S. took out a cigar to complete
his enjoyment. Then we began to stroll. We went
through a gate into the grounds surrounding the castle,
and after passing through the orangery emerged into
a garden, which soon spread into a beautiful park
filled with magnificent trees, and with beds of flowers
cut in the smooth turf for some distance along the
borders of the avenues. We turned to the right (in-
stead of to the left, which would have brought us di-
rectly to the Mausoleum) in order to see the flowers
first, then the river, and then come round by the pond
where the carp are kept.
5
MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
The Germans certainly understand laying out parks
to perfection. They are not too rigidly kept, and there
is an air of nature about everything. This Charlot-
tenburg park is a particularly fascinating one. A dense
avenue borders the Eiver Spree, which is broad at this
point, and flows gloomily and silently along. The
branches of the trees overhang the stream, and also
lock together across the walk, forming a leafy avenue
before and behind you. We met very few people,
scarcely any one, in fact, and the songs of the birds
were the only sounds that broke the all-pervading
calm. The path finally left the river, and we came
out on an open spot, where was a pretty view of the
castle through a little cut in the trees. We sat down
on a bench and looked about us for awhile, and then
went up on the bridge which crosses the pond where
the carp are kept. The Germans always feed these
carp religiously, and that is a regular part of the ex-
cursion. The fish are very old, many of them, and we
saw some hoary old fellows rise lazily to the surface
and condescend to swallow the morsels of cake that
we threw them. They were evidently accustomed to
good living, and, like all swells, considered it only their
due!
At last we came gradually round towards the Mau-
soleum. An avenue of hemlocks led to it " Trauer-
Baume (mourning-trees), 3 ' as the Germans call them,
and it was an exquisite touch of sentiment to make
this avenue of these dark funereal evergreens. At first
you see nothing, fox the avenue is long, and you turn
into it gay and smiling with the influence of the birds,
THE "LEGENDED TOMB." 67
the trees, and the flowers fresh upon you. But the
drooping boughs of the sombre hemlocks soon begin
to take effect, and the feeling that comes over one
when about half way down it is certainly peculiar. It
seems as if one were passing between a row of tall and
silent sentinels watching over the abode of death !
Involuntarily you begin repeating from Edgar Foe's
haunting poem :
"Then I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And conquered her scruples and gloom,
And banished her scruples and gloom,
And we passed to the end of the vista
Till we came to the door of a tomb ;
And I said, ' What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb ?'
And she said, * Ulalume, Ulalume,
'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume."
And so, too, does your eye become fixed upon a door
at the end of this vista, which comes nearer and nearer
until finally the Mausoleum takes form round it in
the shape of a little Greek temple of polished brown
marble. A small flower garden lies in front of it, and
it would look inviting enough if one did not know
what it was. Two officials stand ready to receive you
and conduct you up the steps.
Within these walls a royal pair lie buried King
Priedrich Wilhelm III. and his beautiful wife, Luisa,
who so calmly withstood the bullying of Napoleon I.
and for whom the Prussians cherish such a chivalrous
affection. They are entombed under the front portion
of the temple, and two slabs in the pavement mark
their resting places. These are lit from above by a
68 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
window in the roof filled with blue glass, which
throws a subdued and solemn light into the marble
chamber. You walk past them to the other end of
the temple, which is cruciform in shape, go up one
step between pillars, and there, in the little white
transept, lie upon two snowy marble couches the sculp-
tured forms of the dead king and queen side by side.
Though this apartment is lit by side windows of plain
glass high up on the walls, so that it is full of the
white daylight, yet the blueish light from the outer
room is reflected into it just enough to heighten the
delicacy of the marble and to bestow on everything
an unearthly aspect.
Queen Luisa was celebrated for her beauty, and
the sculptor Eauch, who knew and adored her, has
breathed it all into the stone. There she lay, as if
asleep, her head easily pressing the pillow, her feet
crossed and the outlines of her exquisite form veilefl.
but not concealed by the thin tissue-like drapery. Jt
covered even the little feet, but they seemed to defir e
themselves all the more daintily through the muslri.
There is no look of death about her face. She seems
more like a bonny " Queen o' the May," reclining with
closed eyes upon her flowery bed. The statue has been
criticised by some on account of this entire absence of
the " beaute de la mort" There is no transfigured or
glorified look to it. It is simply that of a beautiful
woman in deep repose. But it seems to me that
this is a matter of taste, and that the artist had a per-
feet right to represent her as he most felt she was.
The king's statue is clothed in full uniform, and ho
THE MEMORIAL STATUES, 69
looks very striking, too, lying there in all the dignity
of manhood and of kingship, with the drapery of his
military cloak falling about him. His features are
delicate and regular, and he is a fit counterpart to his
lovely consort. Against the back wall an altar is
elevated on some steps, and there is an endless fasci-
nation in leaning against it and gazing down on those
two august forms stretched out so still before you.
On either side of the statues are magnificent tall
candelabra of white marble of very rich and beauti-
ful design, and appropriate inscriptions from the
German Bible run round the carved and diapered
marble walls. Altogether, this garden-park, with its
river, its Mausoleum, its avenue of hemlocks, and its
glorious statues of the king and queen, is one of the
most exquisite and ideal conceptions imaginable. As
we returned it was toward sunset. The evening wind
was sighing through the tall trees and the waving
grasses. An indefinable influence hovered in the air.
The supernatural seemed to envelop us, and instinct-
ively we hastened a little as we retraced our steps.
"When we emerged from the hemlock avenue Uncle
S., I thought, seemed rather relieved, for the contem-
plation of a future life is not particularly sympathetic
to him ! After he had asked me if I did not think the
Mausoleum "sehr schon (very beautiful)/' and had
ascertained that I did think so, he restored his equilib-
rium by taking out another cigar, which he lighted,
and we leisurely made our way through the garden to
our droschkies and drove home. It was quite dark as
we were coming through the Thicr Garten, and it
70 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
seemed like a forest. The stars were shining through
the branches overhead, and their soothing light gave
the last poetic touch to a lovely day.
BEELIN, June 26, 1870.
Last week the Emperor of Austria was here, and
they had a parade in his honour. The B/s took me
in their carriage to see it. We drove to a large plain
outside the city, and there we saw a mock battle, and
all the mancBuvers of an army how they advance
and retreat, and how they form and deploy. There
was a continual fire of musketry and artillery, and it was
very exciting. The enemy was only imaginary, but
the attacking party acted just as if there were one,
and at last it ended with the taking by storm, which
was done by the attacking party rushing on with one
continued cheer, or rather yell, from one end of the
lines to the other. Then they all broke up, the bands
played the Russian Hymn, the King and the Emperor
mounted horses and led off a great body of cavalry,
and away we all clattered home carriages and horses
all together. It was a great sight, and I enjoyed it
very much.
I am going to play before Tausig next Monday, and
have been studying very hard. He praised me very
much the last time, and said he would soon take me
into his regular class ; but he is such a whimsical
creature that one can't rely on him much. Two of
the girls have almost finished their studies with him,
and soon are going to give concerts. I am playing
BERLIN IN SUMMER. 71
Scarlatti, which, he is awfully particular with, and
expect to have my head taken off. Two of his scholars
are playing the same pieces that I am, and he told one
of them that she played " like a nut-cracker." He is
very funny sometimes. The other day one of the
young men played the Pastoral Sonata to him. Tau-
sig gave a sigh, and said, " This should be a garden
of roses, but, as you play it, I see only potato plants."
Scarlatti is charming music. He writes en suite like
Bach, and is still more quaint and full of humour.
I find Berlin very pleasant, even in summer. Most
of the bet l;or houses are made with balconies or bow
windows, and around each one they will have a little
frame full of earth in which is planted mignonette,
nasturtiums, geraniums, etc., which trail over the edge,
and as you look up from the street it seems as if the
houses were festooned with flowers. On many of them
woodbine is trained so that every window is set in a
deep green frame. All the nice streets have pretty
little front yards in which roses are planted, and I
never saw anything like them. The branches are cut
to one thick, straight stem, which is tied to a stick.
They grow very tall, and each one is crowned with a
top-knot of superb roses. Every yard looks like a lit-
tle orchard of roses, and they are of every imaginable
shade of colour. Every American who conies here
must be struck with the want of beauty in the cities
he has left at home ; and it is really shameful, that
when our people are so much better off, and when
such immense numbers of them seo this European
culture every year, still they do not introduce the same
MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
things into our country. Take Fifth Avenue or Beacon
Street, for example, and one won't see anything the
whole length of them but a little green grass and an
occasional woodbine, whereas here they would bo
adorned with flowers and all sorts of contrivances to
make them beautiful.
On Thursday a little party of three, including my-
self, was made up to take me out to Potsdam. The
Museum, Charlottenburg and Potsdarn, are, as Mr. T.
B. says, f< the three sights of Berlin." I have written
you of the first two, and you shall now have the third.
Potsdam is sixteen miles from here, and it took about
as long to go there by train as it does from Boston to
Lynn. It is the royal summer residence. On arriv-
ing we bought a large quantity of cherries and
then seated ourselves in a carriage to drive through
the city to Oharlottenhof. Here we got out and
walked into a superb park, filled with splendid old
trees. The first thing we saw was a beautiful little
building in the Pompeian style. This was where
Humboldt used to stay with the last king and queen
in summer. We went into it and found it the sweet-
est little place you can imagine. When we opened
the door, instead of a hall was a little court with a
fountain in it and two low, broad staircases (of
marble, I think) sweeping up to the main story. The
walls were delicately tinted and frescoed all round the
borders with Pompeian devices. The windows were
of some sort of thin transparent stained glass, through
which the light could penetrate easily, and were also in
the Pompeian fashion, with chariots, and horses, and
A MINIATURE PALACE. 73
goddesses, etc. The rooms all opened into each other,
but we were obliged to go through them so hastily
that I could not look at them much in detail. The
walls were covered with lovely pictures, and there were
tables inlaid with precious marbles and all sorts of,
beautiful things. We saw the table and chair where the
king always sat, just as he had left it, with his papers
and drawings; and the queen's boudoir, with her
writing materials and her sewing arrangements. From
her window one looked out on a fountain at the right,
and on the left was a long arcade covered with vines
which led to a garden of roses.
We opened a door and passed through this arcade,
and, after looking at the flowers, went on through the
park until we came to another house, which was Pom-
peian, also, or Greek, I couldn't exactly tell which.
It was built only to bathe in. The floors were all of
stone, and it was as cool and fresh as could be. The
bath itself was a large semi-circular place into which
one went down by steps. It was large enough to swim
in. Those old peoples understood pretty well how to
make themselves comfortable, didn't they? There
was an ancient bath-tub there, set upon a pedestal,
made of some precious stone, which Humboldt had ap-
praised at half a million of thalers. Outside was a
lovely little garden, of course, and one of the prettiest
things I saw was a quantity of those flowers which only
grow in cool, moist places, sheltered under an awning.
The awning was circular, and stretched down to the
ground on three sides, so that one could only see the
flowers by standing just in front. There were any
74 MUSia STUDY IN GERMANY.
number of lady-slippers of every shade, each mottled
exquisitely with a different colour, and. behind them
rose other flowers in regular gradation, and all of
brilliant tints. It seemed as if they were all nestling
under a great shaker bonnet, and they looked as coy
and bewitching as possible. I thought it was a charm-
ing idea.
After we left this place we went on until we came
to Sans Souci, which was built simply for the benefit
of the orange trees to give them a shelter in winter.
At least, this was the pretext. It has a most dazzling
effect in the sunshine as you look at it from below*
Terrace rises above terrace, and at the top is this airy
white building rising lightly into the sky, with gal-
leries and towers, groups of statuary, colonnades, fount-
ains, flowers, and every device one can imagine to
make it look as much like a fairy palace as possible.
The great burly orange trees stand in rows in the gar-
dens in large green pots. Many of them were in blos-
som, and cast their heavy perfume on the air. You
couldn't turn your eyes any where that something was
not arranged to arrest and surprise them. Here I
saw another way of training roses. Eunning along on
the green turf was a certain low growing variety, the
branches of which they pin to the earth with a kind
of wooden hair-pin, so that it does not show. They
thus lie perfectly flat, and the grass is literally " car-
peted " with them. It was lovely. After we had suf-
ficiently admired the exterior of the palace, we as-
cended the flights of steps which lead up the terraces,
and went into it. Outside were the long galleries
SANS SOUCI. 75
where the orange trees stand., and then we passed into
the large and noble rooms. First came the one which
is devoted to Raphael's pictures. Copies of them all
hang upon the walls. After we had gazed at them a
long time, we looked at the other apartments, all of
which were furnished in some extraordinary way, but
I glanced at them too hastily to retain any recollec-
tion of them. I only remember that one was all of
malachite and gold.
The next thing we did was to go over the palace
originally named " Sans Souci," where Frederick the
Great lived. We saw the benches ledges rather on
which his poor pages had to sit in the corridor, and
which were purposely made so narrow in order to pre-
vent their falling asleep while on duty. The arm-
chair in which he died is there, and the bust of Charles
XII still stands on the floor at the foot of the statue
of Venus, where Frederick placed it in derision,
because Charles was a woman-hater. I think it was
a very small piece of malice on Frederick's part, and
in fact he had such a bad heart that none of his relics
interested me in the least.
After we had seen everything we went to a little
restaurant at the foot of Sans Souci, where we drank
beer and coffee and ate cake seated round a little table
under the trees. This fashion that the Germans have
of eating out of doors in summer is perfectly delight-
ful, I think. I laid in a fresh stock of cherries, though
I had already eaten an immense quantity, but they
looked so nice, piled in little pyramids upon a vine
leaf, like tho cannon balls at the Cambridge arsenal,
76 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
that there was no resisting them. Fve thought of you
ever since the cherry season began. They are so ex-
tremely cheap here, that tAvo groschens (about six
cents) will buy as many as two persons can eat at one
time. We drove from Sans Souci to Fingstenberg,
which is only a place to see a view of the country.
The landscape was perfectly flat, but it had the charm
of quiet cultivation. It was green with beautiful trees,
and the river wound along dotted with white sails, and
there were wind-mills turning in every direction.
After we left Fingstenberg we drove down to an inn
where we ordered dinner, and this also was served out
of doors. It was about six o'clock in the evening, and
we were ali very hungry, so we enjoyed this part of
the programme very much.
When we had finished our cutlet and green peas we
got into the carriage again, and drove to Babelsberg.
This is a little retreat which belongs to the queen,
and where the royal family sometimes passes a few
weeks in summer. We walked through a noble park
where the ground swelled upward on our left and
sloped downward on our right. After following the
windings of the road for a long distance, we at last
arrived at the little castle, perched upon a hill-side
and embowered in trees. A smart looking maid
showed us through it, and I was more impressed here
than by all I had previously seen. As Balzac says,
" People who talk about a house ' being like a palace '
should see one first," although, as Herr J. o&served,
" Babelsberg is not a palace, but is more like the home
of an English nobleman." It is just a quiet little re-
EABELSBEKG.
treat, but the beauty with which everything is arranged
is quite indescribable. Every window is planned so
that you cannot look out without having something
exquisite before you. Here it will be a little mosaic
of rare flowers ; there a f ountain, etc, And then the
bronzes, the pictures, the rare old pieces of glass and
china, the thousand curious and beautiful objects of
art that one must see over and over again to be able
really to take in. In these castles, too, there are no
end of little nooks and crannies where two or three
persons, only, can sit and talk. Dainty little recesses
made for enjoyment.
I walked into the grand salon and imagined an
elegant assemblage of people in it, with all the means
of entertainment at hand. It was a circular room,
and large enough to dance the German in very com-
fortably. We went up stairs and through the differ-
ent apartments, I went into the Princess Royal's room,
and " surveyed my queenly form " in the superb mir-
ror, and arranged my veil by her toilette glass which
I envied her, I assure you, for it shone like silver.
We saw the cane of Frederick the Great, with a lion
couchant on it the one which he shook on some oc-
casion and frightened somebody (now you know,
don't you?) Last of all we went up into the tower, and
after climbing the dizzy staircase, we stood on the bal-
conies for a long time, and looked over the splendid
park about the country. Altogether, I was enchanted
with Babelsberg, and nothing will suit me now but to
have it for the retreat of my old age, I think I shall
apply to be a servant there, for it must be a delightful
78 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
situation. The royal family is only a short time there,
and the servants have this exquisite habitation, which
is always kept in perfect order, all the rest of the year,
and have nothing to do but show visitors over it and
take in half thaler s !
After we left Babelsberg we took a carriage and
drove to the station, where we got into the cars about
half -past nine, and went back to Berlin. Herr J. had
made himself extremely agreeable, and had exerted
himself the whole day on our behalf. We had a most
perfect time of its kind, and I enjoyed every minute
of it, but came back in the worst of spirits, as I gen-
erally do. It seems so hard that one can never get
together all the elements of perfect happiness ! Here
in Babelsberg everything was so lovely that one could
scarcely believe that there had ever been a "Fall." It
seemed as if people must be happy there, and yet I'm
told that the queen is very unhappy. I suppose be-
cause she has such a faithless old husband.
CHAPTER VI.
The War, German Meals. Women and Men. Tausig's
Teaching. Tausig Abandons his Conservatory.
Dresden. Kullak.
BEELIN, July 23, 1870.
Just now the grand topic of course is this dreadful
war that has just been declared between Prussia and
France, and everybody is in the wildest state of ex-
citement over it. It broke out so very suddenly that it
is only just one week since it has been decided upon, and
ever since, the drafting has been going on, and the
streets are filled with regiments and vyith droves of
horses, cannon, and all the implements of war. The
trains are going out all the time packed with soldiers,
and the railroad stations are the constant scene of
weeping women of all classes, come to see the last of
their dear ones. There is such a storm of indignation
against Napoleon that one hears nothing but curses
against him. I am entirely on the German side, and
am anxious to see the result, for between two such
great nations, and with so much at stake, it will be a
tremendous struggle.
We are promised a holiday soon, when I shall have
a let-up from practicing, and only practice three hours
a day, instead of five or six. Don't think I am mak-
ing extraordinary progress because I practice so much. I
find that the strengthening and equalizing of the fingers
(79)
80 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
is a terribly slow process, and that it takes much more
time to make a step forward than I expected. You
may know how a thing ought to be played, but it is
another matter to get your hands into such a training
that they obey your will. Sometimes I am very much
encouraged, and feel as if I should be an artist " im-
mediately, if not sooner," and at others I fall into the
blackest despair. I don't know but that 8. J. was in
the right of it, not to attempt anything, for it is an
awful pull when you do once begin to study !
I wish S. could come here and spend a winter. I
am sure it would be capital for her health. The Ger-
mans have a great idea that you must " starken
(strengthen)" yourself. So they eat every few hours.
When you first arrive you feel stuffed to bursting all
the time, for you naturally eat heartily at every meal,
because, as we only eat three times a day in America,
we are accustomed to take a good deal at once. Here
they have five meals a day, and one has to learn how
to take a little at a time. But it is a pretty good
idea, for you are continually repairing yourself, and
you never have such a strain on your system as to get
hungry ! The German women are plump roly-polies,
as a general rule, and it is probably in consequence of
this continual " strengthening." One has full opportu-
nity to observe their condition, for they generally
have their dress " aus-geschnitten (square neck)," as
they call it, in order to save collars, and you will
see them strolling along the streets with their dresses
cut open in front. They are not handsome irregular
features and muddy complexions being the rule. The
GIRLS IN GERMANY. 81
way they neglect their teeth is the worst. They are
always complimenting Americans on what they call
our " fine Grecian noses," and, in fact, since they have
said so much about it, I have noticed that nearly all
Americans have straight and reasonably proportioned
noses. One sees a great many handsome men on the
street, however many more than we do at home. Per-
haps it is because the Prussian uniform sets them off so,
and then their blonde beards and moustaches give them
a distingue air.
From what you tell me of the shock of our respected
friend over B/s travelling from the West under
Mr. S.'s escort, I think the "conventionalities"
are taking too strong a hold in America, and it
will not be many years before they are as strict there
as they are here, where young people of different sexes
can never see anything of each other. I regard it as
a shocking system, as the Germans manage it. Young
ladies and gentlemen only see each other in parties,
and a young man can never call on a girl, but must
always see her in the presence of the whole family. I
only wonder how marriages are managed at all, for the
sexes seem to live quite isolated from each other. The
consequence is, the girls get a lot of rubbish in their
beads, and as for the men, I know not what they think,
for I have not seen any to speak of since I have been
here. You can imagine that with my co-education
training and ideas, I have given Praulein W.'s moral
system a succession of shocks. She has been fenced
up, so to speak, her whole life, and, consequently, was
dumbfounded at the bold* stand I take. I cannot resist
6
82 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
giving her a sensation once in a while, so I come out
with some strong expression. Do you know, since Pve
seen so much of the world I've come to the conclusion
that the New England principle of teaching daughters
to be independent and to look out for themselves from
the first, is an excellent one. I've seen the evil of this
German system of never allowing children to think
for themselves. It does make them so mawkish. A
girl here nearly thirty years old will not know where
to buy the simplest thing, or do without her mother
any more than a baby. The best plan is the old-
fashioned American one, viz.: Give your children a
" stern sense of duty," and then throw them on their
own resources.
BEELIN, August 6, 1870.
Until yesterday I have had no holiday, for I got into
Tausig's class finally, so I had to practice very hard.
He was as amiable to me as he ever can be to anybody,
but he is the most trying and exasperating master you
can possibly imagine. It is his principle to rough you
and snub you as much as he can, even when there is
no occasion for it, and you can think yourself fortu-
nate if he does not hold you up to the ridicule of the
whole class. I was put into the class with Fritulein
Timanoff, who is so far advanced that Tausig told her
he would not give her lessons much longer, for that she
knew enough to graduate. You can imagine what an
ordeal my first lesson was to me. I brought him a
long and difficult Scherzo, by Chopin, that I had prac-
TAUSIG GIVES UP! 83
Jiced carefully for a month, and knew well. Fancy
how easy it was for me to play, when he stood over
me and kept calling out all through it in German,
"Terrible! Shocking! Dreadful 1 Gott ! Gott !"
I was really playing it well, too, and I kept on in spite
of him, but my nerves were all rasped and excited to
the highest point, and when I got through and he
gave me my music, and said, "Not at all bad" (very
complimentary for him), I rushed out of the room
and burst out crying. He followed me immediately,
and coolly said, "What are you crying for, child?
Your playing was not at all bad." I told him that it
was " impossible for me to help it when he talked in
such a way," but he did not seem to be aware that he
had said anything.
And now to show how we all have our troubles, and
that blow falls upon blow I will tell you that at our last
lesson Tausig informed us that he was not going to give
another lesson to anybody, and that the conservatory
would be shut up on the first of October ! ! This is the
most awful disappointment to me, for just as I have
worked up to the point where I am prepared to profit
by his lessons, he goes away ! I suppose that he has
left Berlin by this time, or that he will very soon, but he
wouldn't tell when or where he was going, and only said
that he was going off, and did not know when he was
coming back, or what would become of him. Of course
he does know, but he does not want to be plagued with
applications from scholars for private lessons. I heard
that he was only going to retain two of his scholars, and
that one was a princess and the other a countess.
tA MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
He is a perfect rock. I went to his house to see if
I could persuade him to give me private lessons. He
came into the room and accosted me in his sharpest
manner, with " Num., was ist's? (Well, what is it ?)"
I soon found that no impression was to be made orj
him* He only said that when he happened to be in
Berlin, if I would come and play to him, he woulcl
give me his judgment. But I never should venture to
do this, for as likely as not he would be in a bad
humour, and send me off he is such a difficult subject
to come at. I told him I thought it was very hard
after I had come all this way, and had been at so much
expense only to have lessons from him, that I should
have to go back without them. He said he was very
sorry, but that most of his scholars came from long
distances, and that he could not show any special
favor to me. He asked me why I insisted upon having
lessons from him, and said that Kullak or Bendel both
teacli as well as he does. The fact is, he is a capri-
cious genius, entirely spoiled and unregulated, and
the conservatory is a mere plaything to him. Ho
amused himself with it for a while, and now he ia
tired of it, and doesn't like to be bound down to it,
and so he throws it up. Money is no consideration to
him.
It really seems almost as difficult to get a great
teacher in Europe as in America. Tausig is the only
celebrity who teaches, and now he has given up. He
rather advised my taking lessons of Bendel, who is a
resident artist here, and a pupil of Liszt's.
I suffered terribly over Tausig's going off. I heard
GERMAN EQUANIMITY. 85
of it first two weeks ago, and couldn't sleep or anything.
The only consolation I have is that I should have
been "worn to the bone/' as H. 0. says, if I had kept
on with him, for all his pupils except little Tiinanoff,
who is at the age of plump fifteen, look as thin as rails.
However "the bitterness of death is past!" When
one is stopped off in one direction, there is nothing
for it but to turn in another. But it seems as if the
more one tried to accomplish a thing, the thicker
hindrances and difficulties spring up about one, like the
dragon's teeth, I suppose I shall end by going to Kul-
lak, He used to be court pianist here before Tausig
and has had immense experience as a teacher. Indeed,
Professor J. K. Paine recommended me to go to him
in the first place, you remember. If I do, I hope I
shall have a better fate than poor young KT., whom,
also, Professor Paine recommended to go to Kullak,
He could not stand or else understand the snubbing
and brow-beating they gave him in Kullak's conser-
vatory, and from being deeply melancholy over it, he
got desperate, and actually committed suicide !
Germans cannot understand blueness. They are
never blue themselves, and they expect you always to
preserve your equanimity, and torment you to death
to know "what is the matter?" when there is nothing
the matter, except that you are in a state of disgust with
everything* Moods are utterly incomprehensible to
They feel just the same every day in the year.
MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
BERLIN, August 21, 1870.
I suppose that 0. has described to you in full our
Dresden visit, and what a lovely time we had. It was
really a poetic five days, as everything was new to
both of us. We were a good deal surprised at many
things in Dresden, In the first place, the beauty of
the city struck us very forcibly, and we both remarked
how singular it was that of all the people we know who
have been there no one should have spoken of it.
The Bruhl'sche Terrasse is the most lovely promenade
imaginable. It runs along the bank of the Elbe
River, which is here quite broad and handsome, and I
always felt myself under a species of enchantment as
soon as we had ascended the broad flight of steps that
lead to it. We always took tea in the open air, and lis-
tened to a band of music playing. The Germans just
live in the open air in summer, and it is perfectly
fascinating. They have these gardens everywhere,
filled with trees, under which are little tables and
chairs and footstools ; and there you can sit and have
dinner or tea served up to you. At night they are all
lighted up with gas.
It seemed like fairy land, as we sat there in Dresden.
The evenings were soft and balmy, the very perfection
of summer weather. The terrace is quite high above
the river, and you look up and down it for a long dis-
tance. The city lies to the left, below you, and the
towers rise so prettily precisely as in a picture. This
air of the culture of centuries lies over everything,
and the soft and lazy atmosphere lulls the soul to rest.
THE SISTINE MADONNA. 87
We used to walk until we came to the Belvidere, which
is a large restaurant with a gallery up-stairs running
all round it. There was a band of music, and here we
sat and took our tea, and spent two or three hours,
always. The moonlight, the river flowing along and
spanned with beautiful bridges, the thousands of lamps
reflected in it and trembling across the water and
under the arches, the infinity of little steamers and
wherries sailing to and fro and brilliantly lighted up,
the music, and the throngs of people passing slowly
by, put one into a delicious and bewildered sort of
state, and one feels as if this world were heaven !
The day after we arrived we went, of course, to the
picture gallery, and here I was entirely taken by sur-
prise. Nothing one reads or hears gives one the
least idea of the magnificence of the pictures there.
I never knew what a picture was before. The softness
and richness of the colouring, and their exquisite
beauty, must be seen to be understood. The Sistine
Madonna fills one with rapture. It is perfectly glori-
ous, and one can't imagine how the mind of man could
have conceived it. One sees what a flight it was
after looking at all the other Madonnas in the Q-allery,
many of which are wonderful. But this one soars above
them all. Most of the Madonnas look so stiff, or so
old, or so matronly, or so expressionless, or, at best, as
in Corrcgio's Adoration of the Shepherds (a magnifi-
cent picture), the rapture of the mother only is
expressed in the face. In the Sistine Madonna the
virgin looks so young and innocent so virgin-like
not like a middle-aged married woman. The large,
MUSIC-STUDY IN GEKMANY.
wide-open blue eyes have a dewy look in them, as if
they had wept many tears, and yet such an innocence
that it makes you think of a baby whom you have
comforted after a violent fit of crying. The majesty
of the attitude, and the perfect repose of the face,
upon which is a look of waiting, of ineffable expect-
ancy, are very striking. Mr. T. B. says it looked to
him as though she had been overwhelmed at the tre-
mendous dignity that had been put upon her, and was
yet lost in the awe of it which I think an exquisite
idea. St. Sixtus, who is kneeling on the right of the
virgin, has an expression of anxious solicitude on his
features. He is evidently interceding with her for the
congregation toward whom his right hand is out-
stretched, for this picture was intended to be placed
over an altar. The only fault to be found with the
picture, I think, is in the face of Santa Barbara, who
kneels on the left. She looks sweetly down upon the
sinners below, but with a slight self-consciousness.
The two cherubs underneath are exquisite. Their lit-
tle round faces wear an exalted look, as if their eyes
fully took in the august pair to whom they are
upturned. The background of the picture all of the
faces of angels cloudily painted gives the finishing
touch to this astounding creation. But you must see
it to realize it.
Since my return I have finally decided to take private
lessons of Kullak. Kullak is a very celebrated teacher,
and plays splendidly himself, I am told, though he
doesn't give concerts any more. He used to be court
pianist here, and has had so much experience in teach-
A WAYWARD GENIUS. 89
ing that I hope a good deal from him, though I don't
believe he will equal our little Tausig, capricious and
ill-regulated though he is. Never shall I forget the iron
way he used to stand over those girls, his hand
clenched, determined to make them do it ! No wonder
they played so ! They didn't dare not to. He told one
of the class that "it was in me, and he could knock it
out of me if he had chosen to keep on with me." And I
know he could and that is what distracts me !
But just^ think what a way to behave to leave his con-
servatory so, at a day's notice, in holiday time, without
even informing his teachers ! He left everything to be
attended to by Beringer. Many of the scholars are very
poor, and have made a great effort to get here in order
to learn his method. 03 he went like a shot, because
he suddenly got disgusted with teaching, and he hasn't
told a soul where he was going, or how long he intended
to remain away. He wrote to Bechstein, the great piano-
maker here, "I am going away away away." He
wouldn't condescend to say more. Mr. Beringer has been
to his house to see him on business connected with the
conservatory, but he was flown, and his housekeeper told
Beringer that both letters and telegrams had come for
Tausig, and she did not know where to send them. Did
you ever hear of such a capricious creature? I was so
provoked at him that after the first week I ceased to grieve
over his departure. One cannot rely on these great gen-
iuses, but I hope that, as Kullak makes a business of
teaching, and not of playing, more is to be gained from
him. At any rate, he will not be off on these long
absences.
90 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
I am just studying my first concerto. It is Beetho-
ven's minor, and it is extremely beautiful, Mr. Ber-
inger tells me that two years is too short a time to make
an artist in ; and indeed one does not know how extremely
difficult it is until one tries it. He plays splendidly him-
self, and is to make his debut in the Gewandhaus in
Leipsic, this October. The best orchestra in Germany
is there. Tausig has turned out five artists from his
conservatory this summer. Time will show if any of
them become first class.
Aunt H. was right in thinking that this would be one
of the most dreadful wars that ever was, though she
needn't be anxious on my account. The Prussians are
winning everything, and are pushing on for Paris as
hard as they can go, They have just taken Chalons.
The battles have been terrible, and immense numbers
have been killed and wounded on both sides. They have
really fought to the death. The spirit of the two peo-
ples seems to me entirely different. The French seem
only to be possessed by a mad thirst for glory, and man-
ifest a blood-thirstiness which is perfectly appalling.
One reads the most revolting stories in the papers about
their creeping around the battle-field after the battle is
over, and killing and robbing the wounded Prussians,
cutting out their tongues and putting out their eyes.
The Prussians are so on the alert now, however, that I
hope few such things can take place. One Prussian
writes that he was lying wounded upon the field of bat-
tle, and another man was not far off in the same help-
less condition, when an old Frenchman came up and
clove this other man's head with a hatchet. The first
THE REALITIES OF WAR, 91
screamed loudly for help, when a party of Prussians
rushed up and rescued him, and overtook the old man,
and shot him. We hear every day of some dreadful
thing. 0/s cousin, who is just my age, and is three
years married, has lost her husband, her favorite brother
is fatally wounded with three balls and lies in the hos-
pital, and her second brother has a shot in each leg and
they don't know whether he will ever be able to walk
again. He is a young fellow nineteen years old.
In the first days after the war was declared, I felt as
if no punishment could be too hot for Napoleon. The
people just gave up everything, and stood in the streets
all day long on each side of the railroad track. The
trains passed every fifteen minutes, packed with the
brave fellows who were going off to lose their lives on a
mere pretext. Then there would be one continual cheer-
ing all along as they passed, and all the women would
cry, and the men would execrate Napoleon. The Prus-
sians don't seem to have any feelings of revenge, but
regard the French as a set of lunatics whom they are
going to bring to reason. The hatred of Napoleon is
intense. They regard him as the leader of a people
whom he has willfully blinded, and are determined to
make an end of him, if possible. The Prussian army
is such a splendid one that it is difficult to imagine that
it can be overcome. You see everybody under a certain
age is liable to be draf ted, and no one is allowed to buy
a substitute. So everybody is interested. Bismarck has
two sons who ar-e common soldiers, and all the ministers
together have twelve sons in the war. Then the King
and the Crown Prince being with the army, gives a great
92 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
enthusiasm. The Crown Prince has distinguished him-
self, and seems to have great military ability. The King
was very angry with Prince Pried rich Carl, because in
the last battle he exposed one regiment so that it was
completely mowed down. Only two or three men
escaped. But it makes one groan for the poor French-
men when one sees these terrible great cannon passing
by. The largest-sized ones were ordered for the storm-
ing of Metz, and each one requires twenty-four horses
to draw it !
WITH KTJLLAI,
CHAPTER VII.
Moving. German Houses and Dinners. The War. The Cap-
ture of Napoleon. Kullak's and Tausig's Teaching.
Joachim. Wagner. Tausig's Playing.
German Etiquette.
BERLIN, September 29, 1870.
I must request you in future to direct your letters
to No. 30 K$niggrStzer Strasse, as we move in three
days. The people who live on the floor under us
wouldn't bear my practicing for five or six hours daily,
and so Frau W. has looked up another lodging. The
German houses are about as uncomfortable as can be
imagined. Only the newest ones have gas and water-
works, or even the ordinary conveniences that every
house has with us. No carpets on the floors, stiff,
straight-backed chairs, precious little fire in cold
weather, etc. The rooms have no closets, and one
always has to have a great clumsy wardrobe with
wooden pegs in it, instead of hooks, so that when you
go to take down one dress all the others tumble down,
too. In short, the Germans are fifty years behind us.
Of course the rich people have superb houses, but I
speak now of people in ordinary circumstances. I often
look back upon the solid comfort of the Cambridge
houses. I think people understand there pretty well
how to live. I shall relish a good dinner when I come
home, for this is the land where what we call " family
(95)
MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
dinners " are unknown. They have parts of meals
five times a day, but never a complete one. The meat
is dreadful, and I never can tell what kind of an ani-
mal it grows on. They give me two boiled eggs for
supper, so I manage to live, but ! has beefsteak
vanished into the land of dreams? and is turkey but
the figment of my disordered imagination? They have
delicious bread and butter, but "man cannot live
by bread alone." Mr, F. says that where he boards thej
give him "pear soup, and cherry soup, and plum
soup !"
Everything here is saddened by this fearful war.
You have no idea how frightful it is. The men on
both sides are just being slaughtered by thousands.
Haven't the Prussians made a magnificent cornpaign?
I declare, I think it is marvellous what they have dono.
The French haven't had the smallest success, and have
had to give up one tremendous stronghold after another.
It is expected that Metz will surrender in about eight
days. It is a terrific place, and was believed to be
impregnable. Over and over again the poor French
have tried to cut through the Prussian army, and just
so often they have been beaten back into the city.
Finally they will have to give over. Their generals
must be shameful, for they have fought to the death,
but they can't make any headway against these for-
midable Prussians. The German papers say that the
French fire too high, for one thing. They are not
such practiced marksmen as the Germans, and their
balls fly over the enemy's heads. The French are
a savage people, however, and cruelty runs in their
THE "AFFAIR OF SEDAN." 97
veins. One reads the most awful things, but for the
credit of human nature it is to be hoped that the
worst of them are not true.
I believe I have not written to you since the capture
of the Emperor Napoleon, which of course you heard
of as soon as it happened. The Germans, as you may
imagine, were completely carried away with the glori-
ous news, and could scarcely believe in their own good
fortune. On the 3d of September, when I came out
to breakfast, Prau W. called out to me from behind
the newspaper, with a face all ablaze with triumph
and excitement, " Der Iai$er Napoleon ist gefangen.
(The Emperor Napoleon is taken.)" "No!" said I,
for it did not seem possible that anything so great and
unexpected could have happened. " It is true" said
she ; " look at this paper, which I just sent out for."
The instant I saw that Erau W. had been guilty of
the unwonted extravagance of purchasing the morn-
ing paper, it became clear to me that Napoleon must
have been taken prisoner. Generally we do not get
the paper till it is a day old, when Frau TV. brings
it carefully home from her brother's in her capacious
bag. He subscribes for it, and after his family have
perused it, she borrows it for our benefit an economi-
cal arrangement upon which she frequently congratu-
lates herself.
I fancy there was little work done or business trans-
acted that day in Berlin ! After I had finished my
coffee, I went and stood by the window and watched
the people pour through the streets. Everybody
streamed up Unter den Linden past the palace, their
7
98 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
faces full of joy. The street boys took an active part
in the general jollification, and were as ubiquitous as
boys always are when anything extraordinary is going
on. They conceived the brilliant idea of climbing
up on the equestrian statue of Frederick the Great,
which is just opposite the palace windows. The
Crown Princess, who was looking oat, immediately had
it announced to them that he who got to the top first
should receive a silver cup and some pieces of money.
That was all the boys needed. Away they went, strug-
gling and tumbling over each other like a swarm of
bees. At last one little urchin secured the coveted
position, and was afterward called up to the palace
window to receive the prize, If the Crown Princess,
by the way, were more given to such little acts of gen-
erosity, she would be more popular by far, for the
Germans sniff at her for being too economical. , They
are the closest possible economises themselves, but
they despise the trait in foreigners !
At night there was a grand illumination in honour of the
victory, and of course we all went to see it. Such a
time as we had ! The whole city was blazing with light,
and all the large firms had put up something brilliant
and striking before their places of business. Stars,
eagles, crosses (after the celebrated "iron cross'' of Prus-
sia), beside countless tapers, were burning away in every
direction, and all the carriages and droschkies in Berlin
were slowly crawling along the streets, much impeded by
the dense throng of pedestrians crowding through. All
the private houses were lit up with tapers, and thousands
of flags were flying. Over every public building and rail-
THE BERLIN "SMA.LL BOY.' 1
road station, and on all the public squares were trans-
parencies in which the substantial form of G-ermania
flourished extensively, leaning upon her shield, and gazing
sentimentally into vacancy. But I always enjoy " Ger-
mania." It seems a sort of recognition of the femi-
nine element.
We were in a droschkie, like other people, taking the
prescribed tour round by the Eath-Haus (City-Hall),
and were frequently brought to a stand-still by the crush.
At such times we were the target for all the small boys
standing in our neighbourhood. The " Berlinger Junge"
is almost as famous for his talent for repartee as the
Paris u Gamin." " Do be careful !" said one to me ; "you
will certainly tumble out, your carriage is going so
fast." This was intended as a double sarcasm, for in
the first place we were not in a carriage at all, but in a
second-class droschkie, and in the second place we had
been standing stock still for half an hour, and there
was no prospect of getting started for half an
hour more. Many more such little speeches were
addressed to us which we pretended not to hear, though
we were secretly much amused. It was a strange sort of
feeling to be out in the streets at night with this glare
of light, these crowds of people, and this suppressed
excitement in the air. I thought it gave some idea of
the Day of Judgment.
The women are tremendously patriotic and self-sacri-
ficing, and they seem to be throwing themselves heart
and soul into the war. With the catholicity of the
female sex, however, they could not help taking a peep
at the French prisoners when they came on, but went
100 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
to the station to see them arrive, and bestowed many lit-
tle hospitalities upon them in the way of cigars, luncheon,
etc., at all of which the papers were patriotically indig-
nant, and indulged in many sarcasms on the "warm
and sympathetic " reception given by the German women
to their enemies. Quite as many women go into nurs-
ing as was the case in our own war, I know one young
lady who spends her whole time in the hospitals among
the wounded soldiers, who are all the time being sent on
in ambulances. Her name is Fraulein Hezekiel, and she
has received a decoration from the Government.
Just after I wrote you last I went to Kullak, as I
told you I should, and engaged him to give me one
private lesson a week. He looks about fifty, and is
charming. I am enchanted with him. He plays mag-
nificently, and is a splendid teacher, but he gives me
immensely much to do, and I feel as if a mountain
of music were all the time pressing on my head. He
is so occupied that I have to take my lesson from seven
to eight in the evening.
Tausig's conservatory closes on the first of October,
and I feel very sorry, for my three grand friends, Mr.
Trenkel, Mr. Weber and Mr. Beringer, are all going
away, and I shall be awfully lonely without them.
Weber is very handsome, and has the most splendid
forehead I think I ever saw. He composes like an
angel, besides being remarkably clever in every way.
He will be famous some day, I know, and he belongs
to the Music of the Future. Beringer is poetic, pas-
sionate and vivid. He has golden hair and golden
eyes, I may say, for they are of a peculiar light hazel,
THREE YOUNG ARTISTS. 101
almost yellow, but with a warmth and sunniness, and
often a tenderness of expression that is extremely
fascinating. Weber cannot speak English, and as he
is from Switzerland, he speaks an entirely different
dialect from the Berlinese, so that it took me some
time to understand him. He is a perfect child of
nature, and has a great deal of humour. He and Ber-
inger are devoted friends, and are about my age.
Trenkel is older. He has the blackest hair and
eyes, and a dark Italian skin. He is intellectual and
highly cultured, and at the same time such a very
peculiar character that he interested me greatly.
Most of his life has been spent in America : first in
Boston, where he seems to know everybody, and after-
wards in San Francisco, whither he is about to return.
He has been studying with Tausig for two years, and
is a heavenly musician, though he hasn't Beringer's
great technique and passion. His conception is more
of the Chopin order, extremely finely shaded and
" filed out," as the Germans have it.
It was so pleasant to have these three musical
friends, who all play so much better than I, as they often
met and made lovely music in my little room. Weber
and Beringer took tea with us only yesterday evening.
Weber was in one of his good moods, arfd played to
Beringer and me his most beautiful compositions for
ever so long. We settled ourselves comfortably, one
in two chairs, the other on the sofa, and enjoyed it.
The Andante out of a great sonata he is composing,
is perfectly lovely. It is entirely original, and dif-
ferent from any music I have ever heard. Then he
102 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
played the second movement of his symphony, and it
is the most exquisite morceau you can imagine. I
asked him to compose a little piece for me, and so
yesterday morning he sat down and wrote seven mazur-
kas, one after the other. Whether he actually gives
me one is another matter, for, like all geniuses, he is
not very prodigal with his gifts, and is not very easy
to come at. But I would like to have even four bars
written by him, for he is so individual that it would
be worth keeping.
Weber looks perfectly charming when he plays.
He never glances at the keys, but his large blue eyes
gaze dreamily into vacancy, and his noble brow stands
out white and lofty. His conception is extremely
musical, but as he only practices whcu he feels like it
(as he docs everything else), lie doesn't come up to
the other two. Tausig burst out laughing at him at
his last lesson. That individual, by the way, came
back as suddenly as he went off, but announced that
he would give no more lessons except to these favoured
three. All the rest of us had to go begging. It didn't
make so much difference to me, as I had already gone
to Kullak, who is now the first teacher in Germany, as
all the greatest virtuosi have given up teaching.
Kullak himself is a truly splendid artist, which I
had not expected. He used to have great fame here
as a pianist, but I supposed that as he had given up his
concert playing he did not keep it up. I found, how-
ever, that I was mistaken. His playing does not suf-
fer iu comparison with Tausig's even, whom I have
so often heard. Why in the world he has not conthir
KULLAK AND TAUSIG- TEACHING. 103
u^d playing in public I can't imagine, but I am told
that he was too nervous. Like all artists, he is fasci-
nating, and full of his whims and caprices. He knows
everything in the way of music, and when I take my
lessons he has two grand pianos side by side, and he
sits at one and I at the other. He knows by heart
everything that he teaches, and he plays sometimes
with me, sometimes before me, and shows me all
sorts of ways of playing passages. I am getting no
end of ideas from hira. I have enjoyed playing my
Beethoven Concerto so much, for he has played all the
orchestral parts. Just think how exciting to have a
great artist like that play second piano with you!
I am going to learn one by Chopin next.
Kullak is not nearly so terrible a teacher as Tausig.
He has the greatest patience and gentleness, and helps
you on ; but Tausig keeps rating you and telling you,
what you feel only too deeply, that your playing is
" awful." When Tausig used to sit down in his im-
patient way and play a few bars, and then tell me to do
it just so, I used always to feel as if some one wished me
to copy a streak of forked lightning with the end of a
wetted match. At the last lesson Tausig gave me,
however, he entirely changed his tone, and was ex-
tremely sweet to me. I think he regretted having
made me cry at the previous lesson, for just as I sat
down to play, he turned to the class and made some
little joke about these "emyfindliche Amerikanerinnen
(sensitive Americans)." Then he came and stood by
me, and nothing could have been gentler than his
manner. After I had finished, he sat down and played
104 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
the whole piece for me, a thing he rarely does, intro-
ducing a magnificent trill in double thirds, and end-
ing up with some peculiar turn in which he allowed
his virtuosity to peep out at me for a moment. Only
for a moment though, for he is much too proud and
has too much contempt for SpectaJcel to "show
off/' so he suppressed himself immediately. It was
as if his fingers broke into the trill in spite of him,
and he had to pull them up with a severe check.
Strange, inscrutable being that he is !
BEELIN, October 13, 1870.
My room in our new lodging is a charming one.
Quite large, and a front one, and there is no vis-d-vis.
We look right over across the street into Prince Al-
brecht's Garden* It is very uncommon to have such
a nice outlook, particularly in Berlin. But it is so
long since I have lived among trees that at first it
affected my spirits dreadfully. As I sit by my window
and hear the autumn wind rushing through them,
and see all the leaves quivering and shaking, and
think that they have only a few short weeks more to
sway in the breeze, it makes me wretched. I suppose
that we shall now have two months of dismal weather.
I wish you were here to counsel me over my dresses.
I have just bought two one for a street dress, and
the other for demi-evening toilette, but heaven only
knows when they will be done, or how they will fit !
You ought to, see the biases of the dresses here ! They
all go zig-zag. The Berlin dressmakers are abomina-
KULLAK'S PIANO STYLE. 105
ble. Mrs. , of the Legation, told me that when she
first came here she cried over every new dress she had
made, and I could not sufficiently rejoice last winter
that l had got all my things before I sailed. M, E.,
too, who gets all her best things from Paris, told M.
she was never so happy as when her mother sent her
over an " American dress/' " They are so comfortable
and $o satisfactory," said she.
Yesterday I took my fourth lesson of Kullak. He
plays much more to me than Tausig did, and I am
surprised to see how much I have got on in four weeks.
Tausig didn't deign to do more than play occasional
passages, and we had only one piano in the room
where he taught. But at Kullak's there are two grand
pianos side by side. He sits at one and I at the other,
and as he knows everything by heart which he teaches,
as I told you, he keeps playing with me or before me,
so that I catch it a great; deal better. Sometimes he
will repeat a passage over and over, and I after him,
like a parrot, until I get it exactly right. He has this
excessively finished and elegant fantasia style of play-
ing, like Thalberg or De Meyer. He has great fame
as a teacher, and is perhaps more celebrated in this
respect than Tausig, but I was with Tausig too short
a time to judge personally which teaches the best.
This war is perfectly awful. The men are simply
being slaughtered like cattle. New regiments are all
the time being sent on. The Prussians have taken
over two hundred thousand prisoners, to say nothing
of the killed and wounded. But they lose fearful
numbers themselves also. It is expected in a few days
106 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
that Metz will surrender. It is a tremendous strong-
hold, and contains an army of fifty thousand men.
But isn't it extraordinary how disastrous the war has
been to the French? They had an immense army
of several hundred thousand men. And then they
had all the advantages of position. The Prussians
have had to fight their way through all those strong
defences one after another. They will soon bombard
Paris. As Herr S. says, this war is a disgrace to the
governments. He says that they ought to have united
against it (America included), and to have said that
on such an unjust pretext they would not permit it.
I read the other day a most touching letter that was
found on the dead body of a common soldier from his
old peasant father. He said, "What have we poor
people done that the Keber G-ott visits us with such
fearful judgments? When I got thy letter, my dear
son, saying that thou art safe come out of the last
battle with thy brother, I fell on my knees and thanked
God for His goodness." Then he goes on to describe
the joy of his mother and sister and sweetheart, and
how he read his letter to all the neighbours, " who re-
joiced much at thy safety," and his hope and confi-
dence that his son would return alive to his old father.
But in a few days his son fell in another battle, des-
perately wounded. He was carried to the house of a
lady who did all she could for him, but he died, and
she sent this letter to the paper. Do you got many of
the anecdotes in the American papers? Such as that
of the three hundred and two horses which, at the
usual signal after the battle that called the regiments
JOACHIM. 10?
together, came back riderless? I think that was very
touching in the poor things.* Or have you heard of
the Frenchman who, when informed that the Emperor
was taken prisoner, coolly replied: "Moiaussi!"
But these are already old stories, and you have doubt-
less heard them. I think one of the worst incidents
of the war is that bomb that fell into a girls' school at
Strasbourg. When one thinks of innocent young
girls having* their eyes torn out, and being killed and
wounded, it seems too terrible. I always pity the poor
horses so much. At the surrender of Sedan, the French
forgot to detach them from the cannon, and to give
them food and drink. Finally, frantic with thirst,
they broke themselves loose and rushed wildly through
the streets. It was said that any body could have a
horse for the trouble of catching him.
BERLIN, November 25, 1870.
I went last week to hear Joachim, who lives here,
and is giving his annual series of quartette soirees. Oh !
he is a wonderful genius, and the sublimest artist I
have yet heard. I am amazed afresh every time I
hear him. He draws the most extraordinary tone
from his violin, and such a powerful one that it seems
sometimes as if several were playing. Then his ex-
* In Mr. Longfellow's Poems of Places is a translation of Gerok's poem
on the subject :
14 Over three hundred were counted that day
Riderless horses who joined in the fray,
Over three hundred saddles, horrible sight!
Were emptied at once in that terrible fight."
108 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
pression is so marvellous that he holds complete sway
over his audience from the moment he begins till he
ceases. He possesses magnetic power to the highest
degree.
On Saturday night I went to a superb concert given
for the benefit of the wounded. The royal orchestra
played, and as it was in the Sing-Akademie, where the
acoustic is very remarkable, the orchestral perform-
ance seemed phenomenal. Generally, this orchestra
plays in the opera house, which is so much larger that
the effect is not so great. The last thing they played
was the "Ritt der Walkiiren," by Wagner. It was
the first time it was given in Berlin, and it is a wonder-
ful composition. It represents the ride of the Wal-
kiire-maidens into Valhalla, and when you hear it it
seems as if you could really see the spectral horses
with their ghostly riders. It produces the most un-
earthly effect at the end, and one feels as if one had
suddenly stepped into Pandemonium. I was perfectly
enchanted with it, and everybody was excited. The
"bravos" resounded all over the house. Tausig
played Chopin's E minor concerto in his own glorious
style, He did his very best, and when he got through
not only the whole orchestra was applauding him, but
even the conductor was rapping his desk with his baton
like mad. I thought to myself it was a proud position
where a man could excite enthusiasm in the hearts of
these old and tried musicians. As a specimen of his
virtuosity, what do you say to the little feat of playing
the running passage at the end, two pages long, and
FATIGUE OF GERMAN PABTIES. 109
which was written for both hands in unison, in octaves
instead of single notes? Gigantic! [.Later Kullak
gave this great concerto to my sister to study, and as
she was struggling with its difficulties he said : "Ah
yes, Fraulein, when I think of the time and labour I
spent over that concerto in my youth, I could weep
tears of blood!"] ED.
Yesterday evening I went to a party at the house of
a relative of the M.'s. Madame de Stael was right in
saying that etiquette is terribly severe in Germany.
It is downright law, and everybody is obliged to submit
to it. What other people in the world, for example,
would insist on your coming at eight and remaining
until nearly four in the morning, when the party con-
sists of a dozen or twenty people, almost all of them
married and middle-aged, or elderly? I nearly expire
of fatigue and ennui, but they would all take it so ill
if I didn't go, that there is no escape. Last night I
came home with such a dreadful nervous headache
from sheer exhaustion, that I could scarcely see. You
know in a dancing party the excitement keeps one up,
and one doesn't feel the fatigue until afterward. But
to sit three mortal hours before supper, and keep up
a conversation with a lot of people much older than
yourself in whom you have not the slightest interest,
and in a foreign language, when you wouldn't be bril-
liant in your own, and then another long three
hours at the supper table, and then still an hour or so
afterwards, to an American mind is terrible ! I always
groan in spirit when I think how comfortably I used
to jump into the carriage at nine o'clock, in Cambridge,
110 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
go to the party, and come home at half-past eleven or
twelve. Those long parties are what the Germans call
"being " gemuthUy (wociablo and friendly)." The
French -would call them " assommant" and they would
be entirely irx the right.
CHAPTER VIII.
Concerts. Joachim again. The Siege of Paris. Peace
Declared. Wagner. A Woman's Symphony.
Ovation to Wagner in Berlin.
BEBLHT, December 11, 1870.
I haven't been doing much of anything lately, except
going to concerts, of which I have heard an immense
number, and all of them admirable. I wish you could
hear Joachim ! I went last night to his third soiree,
and he certainly is the wonder of the age. Unless I
were to rave I never could express him. One of his
pieces was a quartette by Hadyn, which was perfectly
bewitching. The adagio he played so wonderfully, and
drew such a pathetic tone from his violin, that it really
went through one like a knife. The third movement
was a jig, and just the gayest little piece ! It flashed
like a humming bird, and he played every note so dis-
tinctly and so fast that people were beside themselves,
and it was almost impossible to keep still. It received
a tremendous encore.
Joachim is so bold ! You never imagined such
strokes as he gives the violin such tones as he brings
out of it. He plays these great tours deforce, his fin-
gers rushing all over the violin, just as Tausig dashes
down on the piano. So free ! And then his concep-
tion ! ! It is like revealing Beethoven ia the flesh, to
hear him.
(HI)
112 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
I heard a lady pianist the other day, who is becoming
very celebrated and who plays superbly. Her name
is Fraulein Menter, and she is from Munich. She has
been a pupil of Liszt, Tausig and Billow. Think what
a galaxy of teachers ! She is as pretty as she can
be, and she looked lovely sitting at the piano there
and playing piece after piece. I envied her dreadfully.
She plays everything by heart, and has a beautiful
conception. She gave her concert entirely alone,
except that some one sang a few songs, and at the end
Tausig played a duet for two pianos with her, in which
he took the second piano. Imagine being able to play
well enough for such a high artist as he to condescend to
do such a thing ! It was so pretty when they were
encored. He made a sign to go forward. She looked
up inquiringly, and then stepped down one step
lower than he. He smiled and applauded her as much
an anybody. I thought it was very gallant in him to
stand there and clap his hands before the whole audi-
ence, and not take any of the encore to himself, for
his part was as important as hers, and he is a much
greater artist. I was charmed with her, though. She
goes far beyond Mehlig and Topp, though Mehlig, too,
is considered to have a remarkable technique.
I regret so much that M. will have to go back to
America without seeing Paris the most beautiful city
in the world ! "Nobody knows^how long the war is going
to last. The Prussians have so surrounded Paris that
it is cut off from the country, and can't get any sup-
plies. They have eaten up all their meat, and now
the French are living upon rats, dogs and cats ! ' Just
THE SIEGE OF PAKIS. 113
think how horrid ! They catch the rats in the Paris
sewers, and cook them in champagne and eat them.
(At least that is the story.) It seems perfectly incon-
ceivable. The poor things haye no milk, no salt, no
butter and no meat. I wonder what they do with all
the little babies whose mothers can't nurse them, and
with young children. They will not give up, however,
for they have bread and wine enough to last all winter,
and they declare that Paris is too strong to be taken.
Of course if the Prussians remain where they are,
eventually Paris will be starved out, and will be obliged
to surrender.
It is a difficult position for the Prussians, for they
must either bombard the city, or starve it out. If
they bombard it, they must be in a situation to begin
it from all sides, or else the French will break through
their lines, and establish a communication with the
rest of France. Now the circle round Paris is twelve
miles long, so that it would take an enormous army to
keep up such a bombardment, and although the Prus-
sian army is enormous, I don't know whether it is
equal to that, for the French have so much the advan-
tage of position that they can fire down on the Prus-
sians, and kill them by thousands. On the other hand,
if they starve Paris out, the poor soldiers will have to lie
out in the cold all winter, and many of them will die
from the exposure.
The men are getting very restless from so many
weeks of inactivity. Nobody knows how it is to end.
The King is opposed to bombardment, for aside from
the terrible loss of life it would cause, it seems too
8
1U MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
inhuman to lay such a splendid city in the dust.
Fresh troops are sent on all the time, and every day
the trains pass my windows packed with soldiers. It
seems as if every man in Germany were being called
out, and that looks like bombardment. It is a terrible
time, and everybody feels restless and disturbed. One
sees few soldiers on the streets except wounded ones.
I often meet a young man who is wheeled about in a
chair, who has had both legs cut off. The poor fellow
looks so sad and I know of another who has lost both
hands and both feet.
It is curious to note the condescending, attitude
taken by people here toward the French in this war.
They never for a moment speak of them as if they
were antagonists on equal ground, but always as if
they were a set of fools bent on their own destruction,
who must be properly chastised and restored to their
equilibrium by the Germans. " Ja!die Franzosen!"
the Germans will say with a shrug which implies the
deepest conviction of their entire imbecility. They
admit, however, that the French are an "amusing
people/ 5 and that "Paris ist DOCK die Welt-Stadt.
(Paris is the city of the world.)"
BBELIN, February 36, 1871.
I am going to send you a song out of the Meister-
sanger, which I think is one of the most beautiful
songs I've ever heard. It is called "Walther's Traumlied
(Walter's Dream Song). The idea of it is that he
sees his love in a dream or vision as she will be when
PEACE DECLARED. 115
she is his wife. You must begin, to sing in a dreamy
way, as if you were in a trance, and then you must
gradually become more and more excited until you
end in a grand gush of passion. You will be quite in
the music of the future if you sing out of the Meist-
ersanger. It is one of Wagner's greatest operas, and
is very beautiful, in my opinion. It caused a grand
excitement when it came out last winter.
The whole musical world is in a quarrel over Wag-
ner, He is giving a new direction to music and is
finding out new combinations of the chords. Half
the musical world upholds him, and declares that in
the future he will stand on a par with Beethoven and
Mozart. The other half are bitterly opposed to him,
and say that he writes nothing but dissonances, and
that he is on an entirely false track. I am on the
Wagner side myself. He seems to me to be a great
genius. Pity he is such a moral outlaw !
Since I began this letter Paris has capitulated, and
PEACE has been declared. The anxiety and suspense
have lasted so long, however, that the news did not
cause much excitement or enthusiasm. Nothing like
that with which the capture of Napoleon was received.
But that was decidedly the event of the war. The
politic Bismarck would not allow the troops to march
triumphantly through Paris, but only permitted them
to pass through as small a corner of it as was consist-
ent with the national honour. This has caused a good
deal of murmuring and discontent among the Germans.
" Our poor soldiers ! after all their fatigues and hard-
ships, they ought have been allowed the satisfaction of
116 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
marching through the city !" is the general opinion
I hear expressed. However, they will probably ac-
quiesce in Bismarck's wisdom in not triumphing over
a fallen foe when they come to think it over. We
are now to have six weeks of mourning for those who
have been killed in the war, and then in May the army
will come back in triumph. The King is to meet them
at the Brandenburger Gate, and lead them up the
Linden. All Berlin will be wild with excitement, and
I expect it will be a great sight. The windows on
Unter den Linden are already selling at enormous
prices for the occasion.
The Germans, by the way, " take no stock " at all in
the King's pious expressions throughout the campaign.
They laugh at him greatly for calling himself vic-
torious "by the grace of God," "Such a nonsense!"
Herr J. says, contemptuously.
BERLIN, April 22, 1871.
I haven't a mortal thing to say, for all the little I
have done I communicated in a letter to K S. Kul-
lak has been praising my playing lately, but I cannot
believe in it myself. I have been learning a Ballade
of Liszt's. It is beautiful but very hard, and with some
terrific octave passages in it. It has the double roll of
octaves in it, and this is the first time I ever learned
how it was done. I am now studying octaves system-
atically. Kullak has written three books of them, and
it is an exhaustive work on the subject, and as famous
in its way as the Gradus ad Parnassum. The first vol-
A WOMAN'S SYMPHONY. 11?
ume is only the preparation, and the exercises are for
each hand separately. There are a lot of them for
the thumb alone, for instance. Then there are others
for the fourth and fifth fingers, turning over and un-
der each other in every conceivable way, Then there
are the wrist exercises, and, in short, it is the most
minute and complete work. Kullak himself is cele-
brated for his octave playing. That I knew when I
was in Tausig's conservatory, as Tausig used to tell his
scholars that they must study Kullak's Octave School.
Wagner has come to Berlin for a visit/ and next
week he will have a grand concert, when some of his
compositions are to be brought out, and he will, him-
self, conduct. Weitzmann says that he is a great con-
ductor. I heard his opera of Tannhaiiser the other
day, and I was perfectly carried away with the over-
ture, which I had not heard for a long time. The
orchestra played it magnificently, and I think it quite
equal to Beethoven. "Wagner's theory is that music is
a cry of the mind, and his compositions certainly illus-
trate it. All other music pales before it in passion
and intensity.
Did you read my letter to If. S. in which I told her
about Alicia Hund, who composed and conducted a
symphony? That is quite a step for women in the
musical line. She reminded me of M., as she had just
such a high-strung face. All the men were highly
disgusted because she was allowed to conduct the or-
chestra herself. I didn't think myself that it was a
very becoming position, though I had no prejudice
against it. Somehow, a woman doesn't look well with
a biton i*\ her hand directing a body of men.
118 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
BERLIN, May 18, 1871.
Wagner has just been in Berlin, and his arrival here
has been the occasion of a grand musical excitement.
He was received with the greatest enthusiasm, and
there was no end of ovations in his honour. First,
there was a great sapper given to him, which was got
up by Tausig and a few other distinguished musicians.
Then on Sunday, two weeks ago, was given a concert
in the Sing-Akademie, where the seats were free. As
the hall only holds about fifteen hundred people, you
may imagine it was pretty difficult to get tickets. I
didn't even attempt it, but luckily Weitzmann, my
harmony teacher, who is an old friend of Wagner's,
sent me one.
The orchestra was immense. It was carefully se-
lected from all the orchestras in Berlin, and Stern, who
directed it, had given himself infinite trouble in train-
ing it. Wagner is the most difficult person in the
world to please, and is a wonderful conductor himself.
He was highly discontented with the Gewandhaus Or-
chestra in Leipsic, which thinks itself the bost in ex-
istence, so the Berlinese felt rather shaky. The hall
was filled to overflowing, and finally, in marched Wag-
ner and his wife, preceded and followed by various
distinguished musicians. As he appeared the audience
rose, the orchestra struck up three clanging chords,
and everybody shouted Hoch! It gave one a strange
thrill.
The concert was at twelve, and was preceded by a
"greeting" which was recited by Frau Jachmann
THE WAGNER CONCERT. 119
Wagner, a niece of Wagner's, and an actress. She was
a pretty woman, " fair, fat and forty/' and an excellent
speaker. As she concluded she burst into tears, and
stepping down from the stage she presented Wagner
with a laurel crown, and kissed him. Then the or-
chestra played Wagner's Faust Overture most superbly,
and afterwards his Fest March from the Tannhauser.
The applause was unbounded. Wagner ascended the
stage and made a little speech, in which he expressed
his pleasure to the musicians and to Stern, and then
turned and addressed the audience. He spoke very
rapidly and in that child-like way that all great musi-
cians seem to haye, and as a proof of his satisfaction
with the orchestra he requested them to play the Faust
Overture under his direction. We were all on tiptoe
to know how he would direct, and indeed it was won-
derful to see him. He controlled the orchestra as if
it were a single instrument and he were playing on it.
He didn't beat the time simply, as most conductors do,
but he had all sorts of little ways to indicate what he
wished. It was very difficult for them to follow him,
and they had to " keep their little eye open," as B.
used to say. He held them down during the first part,
BO as to give the uncertainty and speculativeness of
Faust's character. Then as Mephistopheles came in,
he gradually let them loose with a terrible crescendo,
and made you feel as if hell suddenly gaped at your
feet. Then where Gretchen appeared, all was delicious
melody and sweetness. And so it went on, like a suc-
cession of pictures. The effect was tremendous.
I had one of the best seats in the house, and could
120 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
see Wagner and his wife the whole time. He has an
enormous forehead, and is the most nervous-looking
man you can imagine, but has that grim setting of the
mouth that betokens an iron will. When he conducts
he is almost beside himself with excitement. That is
one reason why he is so great as a conductor, for the
orchestra catches his frenzy, and each man plays un-
der a sudden inspiration. He really seems to be im-
provising on his orchestra.
Wagner's object in coming here was to try and get
his Nibelungen opera performed. It is an opera which
requires four evenings to get through with. Did you
ever hear of such a thing? He lays out everything
on such a colossal scale. It reminded me of that story
they tell of him when he was a boy. He was a
great Shakespeare enthusiast, and wanted to write
plays, too. So he wrote one in which he killed off
forty of the principal characters in the last act ! He
gave a grand concert in the opera house here, which
he directed himself. It was entirely his own composi-
tions, with the exception of Beethoven's Fifth Sym-
phony, which he declared nobody understood but him-
self. That rather took down Berlin, but all had to
acknowledge after the concert that they had never
heard it so magnificently played. He has, his own
peculiar conception of it. There was a great crowd,
and every seat had been taken long before. All the
artists were present except Kullak, who was ill. I saw
Tausig sitting in the front rank with the Baroness
von S. There must have been two hundred players in
the orchestra, and they acquitted themselves splen-
WAGNER CONDUCTING. 121
didly. The applause grew more and more enthusi-
astic, until it finally found vent in a shower of wreaths
and bouquets. Wagner bowed and bowed, and it
seemed as if the people would never settle down again.
At the end of the concert followed another shower of
flowers, and his Kaiser March was encored. Such an
effect ! Af ten the tempest of sound of the introduc-
tion the drums came in with a sharp tat-tat-tat-tat-
tat I Then the brass began with the air and came to a
crescendo, at last blaring out in such a way as shivered
you to the very marrow of your bones. It was like an
earthquake yawning before you.
The noise was so tremendous that it was like the
roaring of the surf. I never conceived of anything
in music to approach it, and Wagner made me think
of a giant Triton disporting himself amid the billows
and tossing these great waves of sound from one hand
to the other. You don't see his face, of course noth-
ing but his back, and yet you know every one of his
emotions. Every sinew in his body speaks. He
makes the instruments prolong the tones as no one
else does, and the effect is indescribably beautiful, yet
he complains that he never can get an orchestra to
hold the tone as they ought. His whole appearance
is of arrogance and despotism personified.
By the end of the concert the bouquets were so
heaped on the stage in front of the director's desk,
that Wagner had no place left big enough to stand on
without crushing them. Altogether, it was a bril-
liant affair, and a great triumph for his friends. He
has a great many bitter enemies here, however. Joa*
122 MUSIC-STUDY IN GEKMANY.
chim is one of them, though it seems unaccountable
that a man of his musical gifts should be. Ehlert
is also a strong anti-Wagnerite, and the Jews hate
him intensely. Perhaps his character has something
to do with it, for he has set all laws of honour, gratitude
and morality at defiance all his life long. It is a dread-
ful example for younger artists, and I think "Wagner is
depraving them. In this country everything is forgiven
to audacity and genius, and I must say that if Ger-
many can teach us Music, we can teach her morals !
CHAPTER IX.
Difficulties of the Piano. Triumphal Entry of the Troops.
Paris.
BERLIN, June 25, 1871.
I have been learning Beethoven's G- major Concerto
lately, and it is the most horribly difficult thing I've
ever attempted. I have practiced the first movement
a whole month, and I can't play it any more than I
can fly. If you hear Miss Mehlig play it, I trust you
will take in what a feat it is. Kullak gave me a reg-
ular rating over it at my last lesson, and told me I
must stick to it till I could play it. It requires the
greatest rapidity and facility of execution, and I get
perfectly desperate over it. Kullak took advantage
of the occasion to expand upon all the things an artist
must be able to do, until my heart died within me.
"What do you know of double thirds?" said he. I
had to admit that I knew nothing of double thirds,
and then he rushed down the piano like lightning
from top to bottom in a scale in double thirds, just as
if it were a 'common scale.
In one respect Kullak is a more discouraging teacher
than Tausig, for Tausig only played occasionally
before you, where it was absolutely necessary, and con-
tented himself with scolding and blaming. Kullak,
on the contrary, doesn't scold much, but as he plays
continually before and with you, with him you see
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124 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
how the thing ought to be done, and the perception
of your own deficiencies stands out before you merci-
lessly. My constant thought is, "When will my pas-
sages pearl? Whentoa'W my touch be perfectly equal?
When will my octaves be played from a lightly-hung
wrist? When will my trill be brilliant and sustained?
When will my thumb turn under and my fourth fin-
ger over without the slightest perceptible break?
When will my arpeggios go up the piano in that
peculiar roll that a genuine artist gives?" etc., etc.
All this gives a heavy heart, and so disinclines me to
write that you must excuse my frequent silences.
We are having such a horrid cold summer that I
sit and shiver all the time. I wish we could have a
little of the hot weather you speak of. I have put on
a muslin dress only once. Berlin is a very severe cli-
mate, I think.
The week before last was the triumphal entry or
"Einzug" of the troops. They all went past "my win-
dow, so I had a full view of them. The Emperor had
made immense preparations, for he is very proud of
his army. All along the Koniggratzer Strasse (the
street we live in), to the Brandenburger Gate, a dis-
tance of two or three miles, were set tall poles at inter-
vals of a few feet, connected by wreaths of green.
These were painted red and white, and had gilded pin-
nacles ; they were surmounted by the Prussian flag,
which is black and white, with a black eagle in the
centre. About half way down the poles was set a coat
of arms, with the flags of the older German States
grouped about it, As they were of different colours,
KBJOICING BERLIN. 125
the effect was very gay, and they made a triumphal
path of waving banners for the troops to pass under.
All along the last part of the Emiggratzer Strasse,
before you come to the Linden, were set the French
cannon which were captured, and on them was printed
the name of the place where the battle was, and one
read on them "Metz, Sedan, Strasburg/' etc. All up
the Linden, too, the way for the soldiers was hemmed
in on each side with cannon. The mitrailleuses inter-
ested me the most, because they had thirty bores in
each one, and could fire as many balls in succession.
In this way, you see, a single cannon could rain shot.
Luckily the French aim so badly that they couldn't
have killed half so many Prussians as they expected.
On every Platz (as the Germans call the squares), were
columns and statues set up, and enormous scaffolds for
people to sit on, all decked out with flags and coloured
cloth. In short, the whole city was got up in gala
array, and looked as gay as possible.
Of course there were thousands of strangers who had
come on to see it, and the streets were crowded. For
about a week beforehand there was one continual stream
of people going by our house, and a long line of car-
riages and droschkies as far as one could see, creeping
along at a snail's pace behind each other. I got worn out
with the noise and confusion long before the eventful
day came. When it did arrive, already at six o'clock in
the morning, when I looked out of my window, the walls
of Prince Albrecht's garden opposite were covered with
boys and men, and there they had to sit until nearly twelve
o'clock, with their legs dangling down, and nothing to eat
126 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
or drink, before the procession came by, and then it
took four hours to pass! Such is German endur-
ance, and a still more striking instance of it was showi)
by an orchestra stationed on the sidewalk opposite my
window. There were no seats or awnings for them, and
there they stood on the stones in the hot sun for fully
six hours, playing every little while on those heavy
French horns and trumpets. Just imagine it ! I was
astonished that there was no scaffold erected for them
to sit on, and wondered how the poor fellows could stand
it.
Just before eleven o'clock the gate of Prince Albrecht's
garden flew open, and out he rode, accompanied by a
large suite, and they remained there awaiting the Em-
peror, who was to ride by on his way to meet the troops.
I wish you could have seen them in their superb uniforms,
seated on their magnificent horses. They looked like
knights of the olden time, with their embroidered saddle-
cloths and gay trappings. Preceding the Emperor came
the Empress and all the ladies of the royal family in
about ten carriages, each one with six horses and the
Empress's with eight. The ladies were gorgeously dressed,
of course, in light coloured silks with lace over-dresses.
Then came the Emperor and his escort, riding slowly and
majestically along. The enthusiasm was immense as they
passed by, and they were indeed a proud sight. Bismarck,
Moltke and Von Roon rode in one row by themselves. Bis-
marck looked very imposing in his uniform entirely of
white and silver, with enormous top-boots, and a brazen
helmet surmounted by a silver eagle. There was every
variety of uniform, and the Crown Prince looked very
THE VICTORIOUS ARMY, 187
handsome in his. He is a splendid-looking man, with a
very soldierly bearing, and he rides to perfection.
The royal party went out to the parade ground, where
they met the army, and then returned at the head of it,
riding very slowly. Then, for four hours, the soldiers
poured by at a very quick step. If you could have seen
that river of men roll along, you would have some idea
of the strength of this nation. They were tall for the
most part, and their helmets and guns glittered in the
sun. They were dressed in their old uniforms, just
as they came from the field of battle. The people
showered wreaths and bouquets upon them as they passed,
and every man presented a festal appearance with his
helmet crowned, a bouquet on the point of his bayonet,
and flowers in his button hole. Tho Emperor's way was
literally carpeted with flowers, and his grooms rode be-
hind him picking them up, and hanging the wreaths upon
their saddle-bows. Bismarck, Moltke and Von Boon
and all the men of mark during the war were similarly
favoured.
The army marched along at an astonishingly quick
pace. I was surprised to see them walk so fast, heavily
laden as they were with their guns and knapsacks and
blankets, etc. Many of them had been marching a
good part of the night to get to the place of rendezvous,
and they had had a parade early in the morning. A
good many of them fainted and had to be carried out of
the ranks, and eight of them died I It was the hottest
day we have had this summer. I was the most inter-
ested in the Uhlanen. They were the greatest terror' of
the French, and were light cavalry with no arras except
128 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
a large pistol and a lance. Just below the head of the
lance was a little Prussian flag attached, and nearly every
one was splashed with the blood of some poor French-
man. When one looked at those terrible spikes, it
seemed a most dreadful death, and I don't wonder that
the French lost all courage at the sight of them. You
see, being on horseback and so lightly armed, the Uh-
lanen could go about like lightning, and were able to
appear suddenly at the most unexpected points. As I
was not on the Linden I did not see the army received at
the Brandenburger Gate by the four hundred young
ladies dressed in white, so I can't give you any account
of that. Bismarck, who always knows what to do, took
a handful of wreaths from his saddle-bow, and flung
them smilingly over among the welcoming maidens. He
is a courtly creature. I was nearly dead from just look-
ing out of my window, and listening to the continual
music of the bands, and I did not get over the fatigue
and nervous excitement for several days ; but I was very
fortunate to be able to see it from the house, for many
persons who had to sit on the scaffolds were dreadfully
burned, and were thrown into a fever by it. You see they
weren't allowed to put up their parasols, as that obscured
the view of the people behind them. I had one friend
who suffered awfully with her face, and did not sleep for
three nights. She said it was as if she had been burnt
by fire, and the whole skin peeled off.
July 4th. As usual, it is over a week since I begaix
this letter, and I have just decided to start at once on a
summer journey with Mrs. and Miss V. N"., Mr. P. and
Mrs., Mr. and Miss S. Kullak is away for his vaca-
AN ENGLISH ARISTOCRAT. 129
tion, so I shall lose no lessons. We shall go first to
Cologne and then to Bonn and Ooblentz and down
the Ehine. Perhaps we shall get as far as Heidelberg.
We got one of those return tickets, which makes the
journey very cheap ; only you are limited to a certain
time. We expect to be gone until the 1st of August.
I intend to walk a great deal between the different
points. Where the scenery is picturesque we shall
occasionally walk from station to station. We take
no baggage except a little bag (which we sling
over our backs with straps), containing a change of
linen and a brush and comb and tooth brush. We
shall wear the same dress all the time and have our
linen washed at the hotel. I thought it was a good
chance for me, and as we shall be a party of embryo
artists, we expect to go along in the Bohemian and
happy-go-lucky style of our class. I think of writing
a novel on the way 1 Won't it be romantic? Only,
unluckily for Miss S. and myself, we shall have no
adorers, as Mr. P. and Miss V. G. are engaged, and
Mr. S. is only about eighteen !
Just before the Binzug I was at a party at the
Bancroft's, and was standing near a doorway talking
to one of M7s class-mates in Harvard, when a portly
gentleman pushed very rudely between us and stood
there talking to Mr. Bancroft, who was on the other
side of me. We gazed at him for a minute before we
went on with our conversation. Presently the gentle-
man took his leave and bustled away. " That was the
Duke of Somerset," said Mr. Bancroft to me. I was
rather surprised, for I had just been thinking to my-
9
ISO MUSIC-STUDY IK" GERMANY.
self, "What an unmannerly creature you are!" I
suppose he had come on to the Einzug.
Triumphant Berlin, by the way, is rather a contrast
to Paris under the Commune. Such a horrible time
as they have been having there! It is enough to
make one's blood run cold to think of it. What
insane barbarians they are and the worst of it is the
part the women take in it. I saw a picture of Thiers*
house which they burnt down. It was a magnificent
mansion, and crammed full of exquisite works of art.
Mr. Bancroft grieved over it, for he had dined there,
and knew what treasures it contained. He said it was
one of the most beautiful houses he had ever been in.
And then the idea of pulling down the column of
the Place Vendomel Napoleon had built it from
cannon which he had captured in his great battles and
melted down, so that in a special manner it was a
monument of their victories over other nations.
There is a stupidity about them which makes them
perfectly pitiable.
[In 1848 Saint Beuve wrote the following almost
prophetic words: "Nothing is "swifter to decline in
crises like the present (the Eevolution of 1848) than
civilization. In three weeks the result of many cen-
turies are lost. Civilization, life, is a thing learned
and invented. * * * * After years of tranquil-
ity men are too forgetful of this truth ; they come to
think that culture is innate, that it is the same thing
as nature. But in truth barbarism is but a few paces
off and begins again as soon as our hold is slackened."]
-ED.
CHAPTER X.
&. Rhine Journey. Frankfort. Mainz. Sail down the Rhine.
Cologne. Bonn. The Seven Mountains. Worms.
Spire. Heidelberg. Tausig's Death.
ROLANDSECK AM RHEI3T, July 14, 1871.
You will be surprised to get this letter, dated from
a little Tillage on the Rhine, and I shall proceed to
tell you how I came here, if the vilest of vile paper
and pens will permit. I wrote a letter to L. just be-
fore I left Berlin, in which I informed her that I
meant to go on a little trip with a party of friends, as
Berlin in summer is malarious, rjid I felt the need of
a change.
Thursday a week ago we left Berlin and rode
straight through to Frankfort. It was a long jour-
ney, and lasted from six o'clock in the morning until
ten at night. I got up at four in the morning in a
most halcyon frame of mind. In fact, I felt as if I were
going to get married, owing to my putting on every-
thing new from top to toe ! The laundress had
made such ravages upon my linen that I found myself
suddenly obliged to replenish throughout, and conse-
quently I arrayed myself with great satisfaction in
new stockings, new under-clothes, new flannel, new
skirts, new hat, new veil and new shoes to boot! I
put on my black silk short suit, took my bag and
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132 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
shawl, and sallied to the station, where I found the
others waiting for me.
It was a lovely ride from Berlin to Frankfort, and
having been shut up in a city for nearly two years, the
country appeared perfectly charming and new to me,
and every little smiling tuft of daisies had a special
significance. I don't know whether you stopped at
Frankfort on your travels. I fell dead in love with it,
and liked it better than any part of Germany I have
seen. It is such a quiet town and has such an air of
elegance, and there are such lovely walks all about.
Everything looks so clean, and the streets are so hand-
somely laid out, and then there are no smells, as there
are in Berlin. The river flows all along the outside of
the city, and the promenade along it is delightful. I
went to see the house where my adorable Goethe was
born, and afterward walked over the bridge over which
he used to go to school. There was a gilded cock
perched upon it, which he used to be very fond of as
a child. We saw his statue, and then visited the Mu-
seum where was Danecker's great masterpiece, Ari-
adne sitting on the Panther. It is the most ex-
quisite thing, and it is cut out of one solid block of
Carrara marble. Through a pink curtain a rosy light
is thrown on it from above, which gives the marble a
delicious tinge. Strange that he should have risen to
such a poetic conception, and never done anything
afterwards of importance.
TTe went into a great room where life-size pictures
of all the Emperors of Germany were. Some of them
are very handsome men, and the Latin mottoes under-
MAINZ. 133
neath are very funny. One of them was: "If you
don't know how to hold your fcongue, you'll never know
the right place to speak." I hope P. will keep L. well
at her Latin and her history, and teach her something
about architecture and mythology, for these one needs
to know when one travels abroad. We only stayed
one day in Frankfort, for there isn't a great deal to
be seen there. The afternoon we spent in walking
about and in sitting on logs by the river-side. Oh,
what a sweet place one of those beautiful villas by the
swiftly flowing river would be to live in !
We left Frankfort at seven P. M., and rode to
Mainz, which is only a ride of two hours, I believe.
As we came over the railroad bridge into the town, we
got our first glimpse of the Ehine, and it was a splendid
sight, Our hotel was very near the river, and as our
rooms were front rooms, and three stories up, we had
a magnificent view of it. In the evening it was so fas-
cinating to watch the lights on the water and the boats
plying up and down, that it was long before we could
make up our minds to leave the windows and go to
bed. At Mainz we saw our first cathedral. It is six
hundred years old, and had. suffered six times by fire,
but it was very fine, notwithstanding. We spent a long
time studying it out. Afterwards we visited another
church and ascended a tower which was built 30, B. 0.
It seemed almost as firm as the day it was finished.
The view from it is magnificent, and the top of it is
all overgrown with harebells, golden rod and grass. It
was very picturesque.
On Sunday evening we took the boat for Cologne
134 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
which we reached at four o'clock in the afternoon.
Oh, that sail down the Khine was too delicious ! The
weather was perfect, and everything seemed to me like
a fairy tale. It is one of the most beautiful parts of
the Bhine, and it was too lovely to see those old castles
in every degree of ruin, jutting out over the steep
rocks, so high in the air, and then the vineyards slop-
ing down the hillsides to the water's edge. The whole
lay of the land was so exquisite. I didn't wonder that
it is so celebrated, and that so much has been written
about it. A funny old Englishman came and sat be-
side me, and we had a long conversation, pretty much
as follows :
Englishman. "England is no doubt the finest
country in the world. You know the people there are
so enormous rich, they can do as they please." " Ah,
indeed," said I, "have you travelled much in Ger-
many?" "Oyes! I've been all over Germany. I
come up the Khine every year," said he. "It's all very
pretty when you've never seen it before, but it's noth-
ing to me now." " Have you been to Berlin?" asked
I. " yes," said he. * Shouldn't want to live there.
Your Prussians are so confounded arrogant. They
think they're the greatest people in the world." " How
did you like Dresden ?" said I. "Stupid hole," said
he. "Leipsic?" "Dull town/ 3 "Stuttgardt?" "Quite
pretty." " Kissingen?" " 'Orrible place, nothing but
fanatics ; every other day a Saint's day, and the shops
shut up/' "Wiesbaden?" "Very fine place." "Ems?"
"Never been to Hems." "Mainz?" "Nasty hole,"
"Cologne?" "Stinking place." "Munich?" "Dread-
COLOGNE CATHEDRAL. 135
f ul unhealthy. They have fevers there, typhus, etc.
7 call 'em fevers." "How do you like the Ehine
wines?" "Don't like them at all. It's very seldom
a man gets to drink a decent glass of wine here. I
don't drink 'em at all. Hike a glass of port." "Beer?"
" 0, the German beer isn't fit to drink. The English
beer is the best in the world. German beer is 'orrible
bad stuff. Nothing but slops, slops !" Here I burst
out laughing, for his flattering descriptions were too
much for me. He gave me a quizzical look and said,
"Well, I'm glad I made you laugh. You're from
America, aren't you?" "Yes," said I. "Very un-
healthy place, I'm told." "Indeed? -I never heard
so," said I. " yes, very!" said he. Then he went
off, and after a long while he returned. " I've been
asleep," said he, " I've slept two hours and a half, all
through the fine scenery." " What!" said I, " don't
you enjoy it?"' "No, I don't enjoy it at all" Then
he told me he lived in Eotterdam, and that I must
come to Holland. He was very complaisant over the
Dutch, whom he said were " nice, decent people, like
the English. There's nothing of the German in them,"
said ho, "they're quite another people not so en-
tfAwsi-astic," with a contemptuous air. We got out
at Cologne, and he went on to his dear Eotterdam.
So I saw him no more.
Oh! isn't the Cologne Cathedral magnificent? It
quite took my breath away as I entered it. The priests
were just having vespers as we went in, and there was
scarcely a person in the cathedral beside. It was so
solemn and so touching to see them all by themselves
136 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
intoning the prayers, their voices swelling and falling
in that vast place. And when the superb organ struck
up, and they began to sing a hymn, so wildly sweet,
with an interlude most beautifully worked up at the
end of each line by the organist- as we sat there under
those great arches which soar up to such an immense
height, I felt as if I were in Heaven,
ANDEBNACH, July 16, 1871.
I believe I left off in my last with our arrival at
Cologne, of which I saw very little, as I was extremely
tired, and remained at the hotel. The Cathedral was,
of course, the main point of interest, and that I saw
thoroughly, as I went to it twice, and spent a number
of hours each time. I was entirely carried away by
its beauty and grandeur, as everybody must be. The
descriptions 1 had heard and the photographs I had seen
of it didn't prepare me at all. The height of the
great pile is one of the most astounding things, I
think. The three and four story houses about it look
like huts beside it. Beside the Cathedral I only saw
the church where the eleven thousand virgins are
buried, but that was more curious than beautiful. I
was much taken down by the shops in Cologne, which
I think much finer than the Berlin ones, and saw no
end of things in the windows I should like to have
bought. The cravats alone quite turned my head !
We only spent two days in Cologne, and then sailed
for Bonn, which is but a very short distance. Here
we were in a hotel directly upon the river, and I had
BOOTT. 137
a sweet little room quite to myself. The view up and
down the river was superb, and we could see the Seven
Mountains most beautifully. Bonn is the most quiet,
sleepy little town you can imagine, and just the place
to study, I should think. We saw the house where
Beethoven was born, a little yellow, two-story house,
and then we visited the Minster, which is nine hun-
dred years old. "We saw there a tomb devoted to the
memory of the first architect of the Cologne Cathe-
dral, with his statue lying upon it. He had a
severely beautiful face, and I could very well imagine
him capable of such a great conception. "We had
great difficulty in getting a dinner at Bonn, as, being
a university town, the students gobble up everything.
Finally, we found a little restaurant where they got
us up one, consisting of steak and potatoes. After
dinner I went to walk with Mr. S. and we ate cherries
all the way, and finally sat down on a bench by the
river's side, where we had an enchanting view. Then
we went back to the hotel, and I went directly to bed.
It was delicious to lie there and hear the little waves
washing up outside my window. It is just the place
for a honey-moonso out of the world as it seems,
and with none of the activity and bustle of other cities.
At six o'clock the next morning we took the boat, and
in about half an hour we landed at a little town on the
side of the river opposite to Bonn, and began our pedes-
trian tour through the Seven Mountains, of which we
ascended and descended four. They were all very steep
and difficult to climb, and it reminded me of my trip to
Mount Mansfield, years ago, only then we had horses.
138 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
We spent the night on one of them, the Lowen-berg
(Lion-mountain). This was a funny experience, as all
we five ladies had to sleep in one room, and in one great
bed of straw made up on the floor. The fleas bit us all
night, so we did not sleep too much. I mentioned the
little fact to the servant next day, to which she replied,
"Yes, when you are, n't used to fleas and bed-bugs, it is
hard to sleep !" I agreed with her perfectly ! Our walk
was enchanting in spite of the difficulty of the ascent,
and of the fact that all of us had satchels slung over our
shoulders, and a shawl and umbrella to cany, which
made locomotion rather difficult. We were in the sylvan
shades, following delicious footpaths scented with flowers,
and with the birds singing and trilling as loud as they
could over our heads.
It was heavenly on the LBwenberg, for the view was
glorious on every side, and it seemed as if we were on the
highest peak in the universe. I sat for hours looking
over the lovely country and following the meanderings of
the Ehine. The atmospheric effects produced by the
sunset were wonderful, and when it got to be nine o'clock
we saw the lights twinkle up one by one from the dis-
tant villages below like little earth-stars reflections of
the heavenly ones above. The last mountain we ascended
was the Drachenfels (Dragon-rock), and a fearful pull
it was. The three others had been so easy, comparatively,
that we none of us knew what we were in for. Soon
found out, though ! It was like trying to go up a wall,
it was so steep. But when we got up we were rewarded,
for the view was superb, and there was an interesting
old Roman ruin up there. We wandered all about, and
WOEMS. 13 S
got an excellent dinner, and then came down late in the
afternoon, took a row boat and rowed across the Rhine
to Rolandseck a fashionable watering place, and as
charming as German towns have a way of being.
GOTHA, July 27, 1871.
Since I wrote yon from Andernach I have been trav-
elling steadily. The whole party except Mrs. V. N. and
myself made a pedestrian tour along the Rhine from
Rolandseck to Bingen, a distance of sixty miles. I
started to walk, but when I had gone fifteen miles I gave
out, and was glad to take the boat. Mrs. V. K was an
invalid and couldn't walk, so I took charge of her, and
we would travel on together. When we got to the sta-
tion where we had agreed to wait for the others, I would
seat her somewhere with the bags of the party piled up
around her, and then I would make a sortie, look at the
hotels, and engage our rooms.
We saw the Rhine from Cologne to Worms very thor-
oughlyfor we kept stopping all along. It is truly mag-
nificent, and nothing can be more interesting and pic-
turesque than those old ruined castles which look as if
they had grown there. Bingen is the sweetest place, and
just the spot to spend a summer. We travelled from
there to Worms, which is a delightful old city. We
were there only an hour or two, but the walk from the
boat to the cars was through the prettiest part of it, I
should judge, and was very romantic, through winding
walks overshadowed with trees. We saw that great Luther
monument there, which is most imposing. The exterior
140 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
of the Cathedral is splendid, and in quite another style
of architecture from the Cologne Cathedral. From
Worms we went to Spire, in order to see the Cathedral
there, which is superb, and very celebrated. It was
founded in 1030 by Conrad the Second, as a burial place
for himself and his successors. It has no stained win-
dows at all, even in the chancel, which surprised me, but
the frescoes and the whole interior colouring are gor-
geous in the extreme. It is in the Romanesque style of
architecture, and is so entirely different from the Cologne
Cathedral that it was very interesting, but there's noth-
ing equal to the Gothic, after all.
From Spire we went to Heidelberg. I was
enchanted with Heidelberg. It is the most romantic
and beautiful place I was ever in. The Castle is the
prince of ruins. I had made up my mind all along
that I was going to enjoy myself at Heidelberg, for
my friend Dr. S. was studying there, and I knew I
should have him to go aboiit with. So I had been
urging the party to go there from the first. As soon
as we arrived, off I went to find him, which I soon
accomplished. He was very glad to see me, and put
himself at once at my disposal. You know the S.'s
used to live at Heidelberg, among other places, so he
knows it all by heart. After dinner we all went up to
the Castle, of course. I was very sorry that I had
neter read Hyperion. We had to ascend a long hill
before we got to it, but the weather was perfect, so we
didn't mind. It is so high up that the view of the
town and of the Neckar winding through it, with the
wooded hills on the opposite shore, is panoramic.
HEIDELBERG CASTLE. 141
The Castle itself is an enormous ruin, and very
richly ornamented. Ivy two hundred years old climbs
over it in great luxuriance. We passed through a gate-
way over which stand two stone knights which are
said to change places with each other at midnight,
and there are all sorts of charming stories like that
connected with the place. We saw a beautifully
carved stone archway which was put up in a single
night, in honour of somebody's birthday, aiid a monu-
ment with an inscription over it stood in one corner
of the grounds, stating that here had stood Rome distin-
guished personage (I always forget all the names,
unluckily, but ee the principle remains the same"), when
the Castle was being besieged by the French. Two
balls came from opposite directions, passed close by
him, and struck against each other, miraculously leav-
ing him unharmed !
After we had walked around the outside of the Cas-
tle sufficiently we went inside. It took us a long time
to go -over it, it was so large. We saw the stone dun-
geon, which was called the "Never Empty/' because
somebody was always confined there a dreadful hole,
and it must have been in perfect darkness and we
saw the great Heidelberg cask which had a scaffolding
on the top of it big enough to dance a quadrille on.
But the finest of everything was the ascending of the
tower. Just as wergot to the top of it, and had begun to
take in the magnificent scenery, an orchestra at a lit-
tle distance below struck up Wagner's " Kaiser March.*
It was the one touch which was needed to make the
ensemble perfect. On one side the landscape lay far
142 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
below us, -with, the silver river winding through it;
on the other the hills rose behind the Castle to an
immense height, and with the greatest boldness of
outline. The tops were thickly wooded, and lower
down the trees were beautifully grouped, and the vel-
vety turf rolled and swelled to the foot of the Castle.
The sun was just setting in a clear sky, and cast long
shadows athwart the scene, and I thought I had never
seen anything more striking. Then to hear Wagner's
Kaiser March by a well-trained orchestra come soar-
ing up, made a combination such as one gets perhaps
not more than once in a life-time.
The march is superb, so pompous and majestic,
and with delicious melodies occasionally interwoven
through it. Wagner's melodies are so heavily and in-
toxicatingly sweet, that they are almost narcotic. His
music excites a set of emotions that no other music
does, and he is a great original. It has the power of
expressing longing and aspiration to a wonderful de-
gree, and it always seems to me as if two impulses were
continually trying to get the mastery. The one is the
embodiment of all those vague yearnings of the soul
to burst its prison house, and the other is the cradling
of the body in the lap of pleasure, I always feel as
if I should like to swoon away when I hear his com-
positions. Then his harmonies are so strangely se-
ductive, so complicated, so "grossartig," as the Ger-
mans say, and so peculiar I Oh, I have an immense
admiration for him ! He thinks that music is not the
impersonation of an idea, but that it is the idea,
But to return to the Castle. We stayed up in the
NICOLAI RUBINSTEIN. 143
tower for some time, and then we made the tour of the
interior. Afterwards we walked and sat about until
all the party thought it was time to go back to the ho-
tel. Dr. S. and I thought we would stay up there to
supper. So we went where the orchestra was playing,
which was in an enclosed space near the Castle. We
took our seats at a little table in the open air, and
ordered a delicious little supper, also
"A bottle of wine
To make us shine "
in conversation /and so glided by the most ideal even-
ing, as far as surroundings go, that I ever spent.
In our hotel at Heidelberg I kept hearing a man
play splendidly in the room below us, and every time
we passed his door it was open, and we could partly
see the interior of a charming room with a grand piano
in it, at which he was seated. A pretty woman was
always lying back in the corner of the sofa listening to
him, apparently. The presence of a large wax doll in-
dicated that there must be a child about, and the per-
fume of flowers stole through the open doorway. My
interest was at once excited in these people, and I said
to myself as I heard this gentleman practice every day,
" This must be some artist passing the summer here
and getting up his winter programme." Accordingly,
on Sunday afternoon when he was playing beautifully,
I roused myself up and enquired of a servant who he
was. " Nicolai Eubinstein, from St. Petersburg," re-
plied she. He is the brother of the great Anton Eu-
binstein, and is nearly as fine a pianist. I know a
scholar of Tausig's who had studied with him, and
Tausig had a high opinion of him.
144 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
Oh, isn't it dreadful? When we were at Bingen we
saw the news of Tausig's DEATH in the paper ! He
died at Leipsic,on the 17th of July, of typhus fever,
brought on by over-taxing his musical memory. It
was a dreadful blow to me, as you may imagine, and
when I think of his wonderful playing silenced for-
ever, and comparatively in the beginning of his career,
I cannot get reconciled to it. If you could have heard
those matchlessly trained fingers of his, you would be
able to sympathize with me on the subject. I had
counted so on hearing him next winter, for he gave no
concerts in Berlin last winter. He was only thirty-one
years old !
CHAPTER XI.
Eisenach. Gotha. Erfurt. Andernactu Weimar. Tausig.
BBBLHT, August 15, 1871.
Well, here I am back in smelly old Berlin ! I really
hated to leave Heidelberg, it was such a paradisiacal
spot, but we saw so much that was beautiful after-
wards, that my impression of it has become a little
dimmed. From Heidelberg we went to Eisenach, its
rival in a different way, for here we went over the Wart-
burg the Castle famous for having been the dwelling
of the holy St. Elizabeth, and where Luther translated
the Bible and spent ten months of his life disguised
as a knight. I saw his room, a bare and comfortless
hole, but with a splendid view from the windows. The
Castle is in good repair, and is a noble pile. I suppose the
Duke of Weimar spends some time there every summer,
as it looks as if it were lived in. It is endlessly inter-
esting. There is a lovely little chapel in it where Lu-
ther used to preach, with everything left in just as it
was in his time a little gem. The Wartburg is on a
very high hill, and the views from it are superb.
Among other things to be seen from it is the Venus-
berg, which is the mountain Wagner has introduced
in his famous opera of Tannhauser. He was so car-
ried away by the Wartburg when he concealed himself
near it, as he was being pursued by the government to
be arrested as a revolutionary, twenty years ago, that
10 (145)
146 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
he never rested until he had united the legends of St.
Elizabeth and of the Venusberg in his opera. Liszt,
also, wrote an oratorio oil St. Elizabeth as his tribute
to the Wartburg.
From Eisenach we went to Gotha, a lovely place, all
shaded with trees, and surmounted by a very imposing
castle, with two immense towers. It is an enormous
edifice, and is surrounded by a magnificent park,
through which goes the slowly winding river. I be-
lieve that Gotha belongs to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg,
brother of the Queen of England, or something. At all
events, in the middle of this river is an island where
the ducal family is buried, and it is so thickly planted
with trees whose boughs hang over the water, that
their graves are quite shrouded from the vulgar eye.
Pretty idea ! The river laps lazily against the grassy
slope which covers the princely ones, and the wind
rushing through the trees, sings their dirge.
From Gotha we went to Erfurt, where we only spent
one night, in order to see the Cathedral. Erfurt is an
Undine of a place, full of running streams and bridges
and mills roaring all about you. I saw one street
with a brook rippling down the very middle of it at a
most rattling pace, and at every little distance two or
three stepping stones by which to cross it. Just think
how fascinating for children ! I longed to stay and
have a good play there myself. The Erfurt Cathe-
dral is much smaller than those of Spire and Cologne,
but the exterior is wonderfully beautiful. The tran-
sept is a masterpiece, and has fifteen enormous win-
dows of rich old stained glass going round it. The
A BEAUTIFUL SERVICE. 147
nave did not please me so well, because in addition to
its not being very rich, the side aisles were of equal
height with the main body of the Cathedral, and were
not sufficiently marked off from it to prevent the
roofs looking like a ceiling. I believe the side aisles
were of equal height wibh the main aisle in the Col-
ogne Cathedral, but the archways and pillars cut them
off more, so that it had a different effect.! am more
interested in cathedrals than anything else, and should
like to travel all over Europe and see all the different
ones. There is a lovely old church at Andernach,
Eoman Catholic, as most of the churches on the Rhine
are. I went there to church one Sunday morning, and
stayed through the service. They had the most pow-
erful church music I've ever heard. There was an ex-
cellent' boy choir which sang in unison and led the con-
gregation, every person of which joined in. The organ
was fine, as was also the organist, and the singing was
so universal that the old church walls rang again.
The priest preached an excellent sermon, too the best
I have heard in Germany.
BERLIN, August 81, 1871.
Germany is a most lovely country, and perfectly
delicious to travel through. I believe I have described
all the places we went to excepting Weimar. Weimar
is delightful, and so interesting, because Goethe and
Schiller, Wieland and Herder lived there, and every-
thing is connected with them, and especially with the
first two. There are many fine statues in the little
148 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
city, and a delicious great park along the river which
was laid out under Goethe's superintendence. One
group of Goethe and Schiller standing together in
front of the theatre is magnificent. One hardly knows
which to admire the most, Goethe, with his courtly
mein and commanding features, or Schiller, with his
extreme ideality and his head a little thrown back as
if to take in inspiration direct from the sky. It is
a most striking conception.
The palace of the Grand Duke of Weimar is the
principal " show " of the place. It is filled with the
richest works of art, and is beautifully frescoed in
rooms devoted each to a particular author, and repre-
senting his most celebrated works. There is the
Goethe room, and the Wieland room, etc. The Wie-
land room is the most charming thing. The fres-
coes on the walls are all illustrative of his " Oberon,"
which is his most celebrated work, and one picture
represents what happened when Oberon blew his horn.
You must know that when Oberon blows his horn
everybody is obliged to dance. So in this picture he
is represented blowing it in a convent, and all the*f at
friars and nuns are dancing away like mad. They
look so serious, and as if they didn't want to do it at
all, but their feet will fly up in the air in spite of them.
The nuns' slippers scarcely stick on, and it looks so
absurd ! I was as highly amused at it as the mischiev-
ous Oberon himself must have been, so delicately has
the artist touched it off. There was another design
representing a band of nymphs dancing in the sky,
hand in hand in the twilight, and it was the most
THE DUCAL PALACE. 149
graceful thing ! Their delicate little bare feet with
every pretty turn a foot could have, their clothes and
hair streaming in the breeze, and every attitude so
airy. It was lowly! The Goethe frescoes were by
another painter, and not so fine, but I prefer pictures
to frescoes. Only one suite of the ducal rooms was
frescoed. The others had superb pictures by the old
masters, many of them originals.
The Duke is an artist himself, and designs a great
many pretty things. For instance, he designed the
large candelabra which stood on each side of one of
the doorways, Cupid peeping through a wreath of
thistles and nettles. He was kneeling on one knee,
and pushing them aside with each hand. It was all
done in gilt metal and made a very dainty conceit,
beside being a good illustration of the pains of love !
I think the Duke probably designed some of the pic-
ture frames, for they were peculiarly rich and artistic ;
for instance, the frames of the original cartoons of
Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper were entirely com-
posed of the leaves and flowers of the calla lily. The
leaves lapped one over the other, and here and there
a lily was laid between. The flowers were done in a
different coloured gilding from the leaves. They
were very beautiful. The pictures were not all hung
together, so as to confuse your eye, but here a gem
and there a gem and 0, I saw the most bewitching
little statue there that ever I saw in my life ! The
subject was " Little Bed Biding Hood/' and it stood in
the corner of one of the great salons. It was about
two feet high, and represented the most fascinating
150 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
little girl you can imagine, clothed in the wolf's skin,
which hung down behind and had formed the little
hood. The child herself was quite indescribable the
daintiest little creature, with the most captivating ex-
pression of innocence and roguishness. If she looked
like that I should have followed the wolfs example
and eaten her up ! It was really a perfect little pearl
of a statue. I would give anything to possess it. In
short, I wish the Duke of Weimar were my intimate
friend, for he must be a man worth knowing. Now,
if I could only play like Liszt ! I don't wonder Liszt
spends so much of his time in Weimar. I am getting
perfectly cra,zy to hear him, by the way, for everybody
says there is nobody in the world like him, and
that he is the only artist who combines everything.
He does not play in public any more, but Weitzmann
says that he is amiability itself, and that it would prob-
ably not be difficult for me to get an opportunity to
hear him in private.
In the palace I also saw the little boudoir of the
Duchess. It was all panelled in white satin, and the fur-
niture was of the richest white brocaded silk. The win-
dow frames were of malachite, and one looked out
through the single great plate of glass on to the beau-
tiful park, and the winding river spanned by a bridge
which suggests immediately to your mind, "Walk over
me into the Garden of Paradise, for I was made for
your express benefit !" The park lies on each side of
this little river Ilm, and Goethe's exquisite taste has
given it more a look of nature than of art. It seems
as if you were walking in a delicious meadow, the
GOETHE'S SUMMER HOUSE, 151
trees being sometimes grouped together, sometimes
growing thickly along the water's edge, You go
in and out of sunshine and shadow, and here and
there are dusky little retreats, and, to borrow
Goldsmith's elegant style, "the winding walks
assume a natural sylvage." Some distance up the
river, on the side of a gentle hill, was a small house in
the woods where Goethe used to live in summer.
Here he slept sometimes, and farther up the hill
was a summer house where he took his coffee after
dinner. To the left of this summer house he had had
made a long alley-way or vista of trees whose tops met
overhead and formed a leafy ceiling. It was like a
cloister, and here he could pace up and down and muse.
It was a delightful idea. To the right of the summer
house was a small garden, and beyond that was a path
which wound through the wood down to the path below.
In one of the rocks there Goethe had had a little poem
cut. I was sorry afterward that I hadn't copied it, it
was so pretty. But it was such a charming place to
read and study, and it seemed to give me a better
impression of him than anything else.
I saw a piano in the Duke's palace upon which
Beethoven had played. It was a funny little instru-
ment of about five octaves, but it was so wheezy with
age that there wasn't much tone to be got out of it.
After we had finished looking at the palace, we went
over to see the ducal library. Here I saw a superb
bust of Goethe as a young man. It was so handsome
that it spurns description. He must have been a
perfect Apollo. I also saw a likeness of him painted
MUSIC-STUDY IK GERMANY.
upon a cup by some great artist, for which he sat
thirty-four times 1 The old librarian, who had known
Goethe, said that it was exactly like him, and the min-
iature painting was so wonderful that when you looked
at it with a magnifying glass it was only finer and
more accurate instead of less so ! There was also a
most noble bust of the composer Gltick. The face
was all scarred with small-pox, so that the cast must
must have been moulded from his features after death,
but I never saw such a living, animated, likeness in
marble. It looked as if it were going to speak to you.
There was a funny toy there, nearly three hundred
years old. It was a drummer boy, with a little baby
strapped on his back. The librarian wound him up,
and then he beat his drum lustily, rolled his eyes from
side to side, and wagged his head, while the baby
on his back hopped up and down. Whenever little
children see it, it scares them, and they begin to cry.
It had on a red flannel coat, and hasn't had a new one
since it was made. " Nearly three hundred years old,
and never had a new coat," is worse than when 0.
P. bought himself a trunk, and went round the
house saying, "Twenty-seven years old, and been in
twenty-three states of the Union, and never had a
new trunk before !"
Goethe's house is not exhibited, which I think
highly inexcusable in the Goethe family, but Schiller's
is. So we saw that, and what a contrast it was to the
ducal palace ! You go to a small yellow house on one
of the principal streets, enter a little hall by a little
door, go up two flights of a little stair-case, and in the
SCHILLER'S HOME. 153
very low-ceilinged third story was Schiller's home
" home " I say, and the whole of it, so please take it in !
The first room you enter is a sort of ante-room where
photographs are now sold. The next room was the
parlour, and of late years it has been comfortably fur-
nished by the ladies of "Weimar in the usual cheap
German taste. The third room was Schiller's study,
with an infinitesimal fourth room, or large closet,
opening from it, which was his sleeping apart-
ment. The study is precisely as he left it, and
nothing could be more bald and bare. No car-
pet on the floor, the three windows slightly fes-
tooned at the top with a single breadth of Turkey red,
his own portrait and a few wretched prints on the walls
in short, such a sordid habitation for such a soaring
nature as seemed almost incredible ! His writing table,
with a globe, inkstand, and pens upon it, stands at one
window, and his wife's tiny little piano with her guitar
on top, is against the wall. There are two or three
chairs, and a wash-stand with a minute washing appa-
ratus. In one corner is the tiny unpainted wooden
bedstead on which he died ; a bed not meant to stretch
out in, but to lie, as Germans do, half reclining, and
so low, narrow, plain and mean that I never saw any-
thing like it. In it and hanging on the wall over it
are wreaths which leading German actresses have
brought there as votive offerings to their great national
dramatist, their white satin ribbons yellowing by time.
At the foot of the stair-case as you go out, you see the
little walled-up garden at the back of the house where
the poet loved to sit.
154 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
After getting through with the abodes of the living,
we visited the ducal vault whore Goethe and Schiller
are buried. It is the crypt of a sort of temple built
in the old secluded cemetery in Weimar, and in it
all the coffins are laid in rows on supporters. Goethe
and Schiller lie apart from the others, side by side,
near the foot of the stair-case leading down into
the crypt. Their coffins, especially Schiller's, are cov-
ered with wreaths and bouquets brought by strangers
and laid there. Schiller's had on it a garland of silver
leaves presented by the women of Hamburg, and an-
other of leaves of green gauze or crape, on every one
of which was worked in gold thread the name of one
of his plays. A great actress had made it herself as
her tribute to his genius. From all I observe, I should
judge that the German people love Schiller much more
than they do Goethe. The dukes and duchesses lie
farther back in the vault in their red velvet coffins,
quite unnoticed. So much better is genius than rank !
Hummel is buried also in the cemetery, which is the
most beautiful I ever saw not stiff and " arranged "
like ours, but so natural ! with over-grown foot-paths,
and with much fewer and simpler grave-stones and
monuments, and many more yines and flowers and
roses creeping over the graves. We went to Hummel's
grave, and had I been Goethe and Schiller I should
much rather have been buried out of doors like him,
amid this sweet half -wild, half -gentle nature, than in
that dismal vault.
Speaking of Hummel reminds me of Tausig's death.
Was it not terrible that he should have died so young !
TAUSIG'S PLATING. 155
Such an enormous artist as lie was ! I cannot get
reconciled to it at all, and he played only twice in
Berlin last winter.
He was a strange little soul a perfect misanthrope.
Nobody knew him intimately. He lived all the last
part of his life in the strictest retirement, a prey to
deep melancholy. He was taken ill at Leipsic, whither
he had gone to meet Liszt. Until the ninth day they
had hopes of his recovery, but in the night he had a
relapse, and died the tenth day, very easily at the last.
His remains were brought to Berlin and he was buried
here. Everything was done to save him, and he had
the most celebrated physicians, but it was useless. So
my last hope of lessons from him again is at an end,
you see ! I never expect to hear such piano-playing
again. It was as impossible for him to strike one false
note as it is for other people to strike right ones. He
was absolutely infallible. The papers all tell a story
about his playing a piece one time before his friends,
from the notes. The music fell upon the keys, but
Tausig didn't allow himself to be at all disturbed, and
went on playing through the paper, his fingers piercing
it and grasping the proper chords, until some one
rushed to his aid and set the notes up again. Oh, he was
a wonder, and it is a tragic loss to Art that he is dead.
He was such a true artist, his standard was so immeas-
urably high, and he had such a proud contempt for
anything approaching clap-trap, or what he called
Spectakel, I have seen him execute the most gigantic
difficulties without permitting himself a sign of effort
beyond an almost imperceptible compression of one
156 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
corner of his mouth. And then his touch ! Never
shall I forget it ! that rush of silver over the keys.
However, he entirely overstrained himself, and his
whole nervous system was completely shattered long
before his illness. He said last winter that the very
idea of playing in public was unbearable to him, and
after he had announced in the papers that he would
give four concerts, he recalled the announcement on the
plea of ill health. Then he thought he would go to
Italy and spend the winter. But when he got as far
as Naples, he said to himself, "ITein, hier bleibst du
nicht (No, you won't stay here) " and back he came
to Berlin. He doesn't seem to have known what he
wanted, himself; his was an uneasy, tormented,
capricious spirit, at enmity with the world. Perhaps
his marriage had something to do with it. His wife
was a beautiful artist, too, and they thought the world
of each other, yet they couldn't live together. But
Tausig's whole life was a mystery, and his reserve was
so complete that nobody could pierce it. If I had only
been at the point in music two years ago that I am
now, I could have gone at once into his class. His
scholars were most of them artists already, or had got
to that point where they had pretty well mastered the
technique. A number of them came out last winter,
and the little Timanoff played duets with Eubinstein
for two pianos, at St. Petersburg.
Since my return I have gone into the first class in
Kullak's conservatory, instead of taking private lessons
of him. I think it will be of use to me to hear his
best pupils play.
CHAPTER XII.
Dinner-Party and Reception at Mr. Bancroft's. Auction at
Tausig's House. A German Christmas.
The Joachims.
BEKLHT, October 2, 1871.
This weekjl have been to a dinner-party at the Ban-
croft's. There were several eminent Germans there,
and I was taken out'by Bfttticher, the Herr who has
arranged all the casts in the Museum, and who knows
everything about Art. He couldn't speak a word of
English, so we G-ermaned it. We talked about Sap-
pho all through dinner, and he gave me several details
about that young woman which I did not know before.
As 0. used to say, we had one of those dinners ee such
as you read about in the Arabian Nights," topping off
with a glass of my favourite Tokay, which, I regret to
say, I so prolonged the pleasure of drinking, that
finally the signal was given to adjourn to the drawing-
room, and I was obliged to leave my glass standing
half full, to be swallowed by the waiter as soon as my
back was turned. Sad, but true !
On another evening, at a Bancroft reception, I
talked with a Miss B., who was charming. She is
twenty-two or three, I should think, very pretty
and extremely elegant, and with the most deli-
cious way of speaking you can imagine. Such soft-
ness of manner and such a delightfully pitched voice,
158 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
and then along with this perfect repose, such a
vivid TV ay of describing things ! I was immensely
taken with her, and was delighted to have her for a
countrywoman. She gave me a wonderful account
of the Island of Java. I had a lot of questions to ask
her, for you remember how persistently I read that
book by a naturalist (Wallace) who went to Java in
search of the Bird of Paradise. Miss E. is so ex-
tremely intelligent, and yet so unassuming ; and then
this high-bred manner. I did not have time to hear
her talk half enough, and, unfortunately, her party
went away the next day.
The other day was an auction in poor little Tausig's
house, arid all his furniture was sold. It was very
handsome, all of solid oak, beautifully carved. He
had spent five thousand thalers on it. His wardrobe
was sold, too, and I don't know how many pairs of his
little boots and shoes were there, his patent leather
concert boots among others. His little velvet coat
that he used to wear went with the rest. I saw it
lying on a chair. I came home quite ill, and was
laid up two days. It was the fatigue, I suppose, and
miserable reflections. I wanted to buy a picture, but
they were all sold in a lot. He had excellent ones of
all the great composers, down to Liszt and Wagner,
hanging over [his piano in the room where he always
played. Eullak deplores Tausig's death very deeply.
He had visited him in Leipsic two days before he was
taken ill, and said no one would have dreamed that
Tausig was going to die, he looked so well. Kullak
said Tausig was one of the three or four great special
AMERICAN COMFORT. 159
pianists. "Who will interpret to us so again?" said
he; and I echoed, sadly enough, "Who, indeed?"
Kullak, by the way, is a wonderfully finished teacher.
He is a great friend of Liszt's, and Liszt has taught
him a good many things. I doubt, however, how M.
will fare with him, if she is only going to be here a
year. My experience is that it takes fully a year to
get started under a first class master. These great
teachers won't take a pupil raw from America, still
less trouble themselves with a scholar who cannot im-
mediately' comprehend. I have written her to-day a
three-sheet letter in which I have set forth the disad-
vantages of Germany in a sufficiently forcible manner
to prevent her feeling disappointed if she still insists
upon the journey. I have come to the conclusion that
I am no criterion as to other people's impressions.
Unless people have an enthusiasm for art I don't see
the least use in their coming abroad. If they cannot
appreciate the culture of Europe, they are much better
off in America. There is no doubt whatever that as to
the comfort of every-day life, we are a long way ahead
of every nation, unless perhaps the English, whom,
however, I have not seen.
BEKLEBT, December 25, 1871.
To-day is Christmas-day, and I have thought much
of you all at home, and have wondered if you've been
having an apathetic time as usual. I think we often
spend Christmas in a most shocking fashion in Amer-
ica, and I mean to revolutionize all that when I get
160 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
back. So long a time in Germany has taught me bet-
ter. Here it is a season of universal joy, and every-
body enters into it. Last night we had a Christmas
tree at the S.'s, as we always do. "We went there at
half past six, and it was the prettiest thing to see in
every house, nearly, a tree just lighted, or in process
of being so. As a separate family lives on each floor,
often in one house would be three trees, one above the
other, in the front rooms. The curtains are always
drawn up, to give the passers-by the benefit of it. They
don't make a fearful undertaking of having a Christ-
mas tree here, as we do in America, and so they are
attainable by everybody. The tree is small, to begin
with, and nothing is put on it except the tapers and
bonbons. It is fixed on a small stand in the centre of
a large square table covered with a white cloth, and
each person's presents are arranged in a separate pile
around it. The tree is only lighted for the sake of
beauty, and for the air of festivity it throws over the
thing. After a crisp walk in the moonlight (which
I performed in the style of " Johnny-look-up-in-the
air," for I was engaged in staring into house-windows,
so far as it was practicable), we sat down to enjoy a
cup of tea and a piece of cake. I had just begun my
second cup, when, Presto ! the parlour doors flew open,
and there stood the little green tree, blossoming out
into lights, and throwing its gleams over the well-laden
table. There was a general scramble and a search
for one's own pile, succeeded by deep silence and sus-
pense while we opened the papers. Such a hand shak-
ing and embracing and thanking as folio wed I conclud-
FRAU JOACHIM. 101
ing with the satisfactory conviction that we each had
"just what we wanted." Germans do not despise the
utilitarian in their Christmas gifts, as we do, but, be-
tween these and their birthday offerings, expect to be
set up for the rest of the year in the necessaries of life
as well as in its superfluities. Presents of stockings,
under-clothes, dresses, handkerchiefs, soaps nothing
comes amiss. And every one must give to every one
else. That is LAW.
I have just heard a young artist from Vienna who
made a great impression on me. His name is Ignaz
Brlihl. He is quite exceptional, and has not only a
brilliant technique, but also a peculiar and beautiful
conception. But the best concert I have heard this
season was one given by Clara Schumann a week ago
last Monday. She was assisted by Joachim and his
wife, and that galaxy is indeed unequalled. Frau
Joachim sings delioiously. Not that her voice is so
remarkable. You hear such voices all the time. But
she manages it consummately, and sings German songs
as no one but a German could sing them. Indeed I
never heard any woman approach her in unobtrusive
yet perfect art. She does not take you by storm, and
when I first came here I did not think much of her,
but every time I hear her I am struck with how exqui-
site it is. Every word takes on a meaning, and on this
account I think you have to understand the language
before you can realize the beauty of it. One of her
songs was Schumann's " Spring Song/' with that rapid
agitato accompaniment, you know, She came out and
started off in it with a half breath and a tremor just
11
162 MUSIC-STUJDY IN GERMANY.
like a bird fluttering up out of its nest, and then went
up on a portamento with such abandon ! like the bird
soaring off in its flight. I never shall forget that
effect ! Of course it carried you completely away.
Beside singing so admirably she is a beauty a
sort of baby beauty and when she comes out in a
pale pink silk, contrasting with her dark hair and
revealing her imperial neck and arms, she is ravishing.
I've been told she wasn't anything remarkable when
Joachim married her. M"o doubt dwelling with such
a genius has developed her. They say that Joachim
has had such a happy life that he wants to live for-
ever ! He certainly does overtop everything. On this
occasion he played Beethoven's great Kreutzer Sonata
for violin and piano, with Clara Schumann, and I
thought it the most magnificent performance I ever
heard ! I perfectly adore Joachim, and consider him
the wonder of the age. It is simple ecstasy to listen
to him.
CHAPTER XIII.
Visit to Dresden. TheWiecks, YonBulow. A Child Prod-
igy. Grantzow, the Dancer.
BERLIN, February 10, 1872,
A week ago last Monday I went to Dresden with
J. L to -visit B, H. We got there at about fiye
in the afternoon, and were met at the station by
B/s maid, who conducted us straightway to their
house in Christian Strasse. B. and Mrs. H, received
us with the greatest cordiality, and we had a splen-
did time. I came home only the day before yes-
terday, and J. is still there. The H.'s have a charming
lodging, and Mrs. H. is a capital housekeeper. The
cuisine was excellent, and you can imagine how I
enjoyed an American breakfast once more, after noth-
ing but "rolls and cofee" for two years. B. did
everything in her power to amuse us, and she is the
soul of amiability. She kept inviting people to meet
us, and had several tea-parties, and when we had no
company she took us to the theatre or the opera. She
invited Marie Wieck (the sister of Clara Schumann)
to tea one night. I was very glad to meet her, for she
is an exquisite artist herself, and plays in Clara Schu-
mann's style, though her conception is not so remark-
able. Her touch is perfect. At B.'s request she
tried to play for us, but the action of B/s piano
did not suit her, and she presently got up, saying that
(163)
164 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
she could do nothing on that instrument, but that
if we would come to her, she would play for us with
pleasure.
I was in high glee at that proposal, for I was very
anxious to see the famous Wieck, the trainer of so
many generations of musicians. Praulein Wieck
appointed Saturday evening, and we accordingly went.
B. had instructed us how to act, for the old man is
quite a character, and has to be dealt with after his own
fashion. She said we must walk in (haying first laid off
our things) as if we had been members of the family
all our lives, and say, " Good-evening, Papa Wieck,"
(everybody calls him Papa). Then we were to seat our-
selves, and if we had some knitting or sewing with us
it would be well. At any rate we must have the appar-
ent intention of spending several hours, for nothing
provokes him so as to have people come in simply to
call. "What I" he will say, " do you expect to know a
celebrated man like me in half an hour?" then (very
sarcastically), "perhaps you want my autograph I" He
hates to give his autograph.
Well, we went through the prescribed programme.
We were ushered into a large room, much longer than
it was broad. At either end stood a grand piano.
Otherwise the room was furnished with the greatest
simplicity. My impression is that the floor was 'a plain
yellow painted one, with a rug or two here and there.
A few portraits and bas-reliefs hung upon the walls.
The pianos were of course fine. Fran Wieck and
"Papa" received us graciously. We began by taking
tea, but soon the old man became impatient, and
CLARA SCHUMANN'S SISTER. 165
said, "Come! the ladies wish to perform (vortragen)
something before me, and if we don't begin we shan't
accomplish anything." He lives entirely in music,
and has a class of girls whom he instructs every even-
ing for nothing. Five of these young girls were there.
He is very deaf, but strange to say, he is as
sensitive as ever to every musical sound, and the
same is the case with Clara Schumann. Fraulein
Wieck then opened the ball. She is about forty, I
should think, and a stout, phlegmatic-looking woman.
However, she played superbly, and her touch is one of
the most delicious possible. After hearing her, one is
not surprised that the Wiecks think nobody can teach
touch but themselves. She began with a nocturne by
Chopin, in F major, I forgot to say that the old Herr
sits in his chair with the air of being on a throne,
and announces beforehand each piece that is to be
played, following it with some comment : e. g., "This
nocturne I allowed my daughter Clara to play in Berlin
forty years ago, and afterward the principal newspaper
in criticising her performance, remarked : f This young
girl seems to have much talent ; it is only a pity that
she is in the hands of a father whose head seems
stuck full of queer new-fangled notions,' so new was
Chopin to the public at that time." That is the way
he goes on.
After Fraulein Wieck had finished the nocturne, I
asked for something by Bach, which Fm told she plays
remarkably. She said that at the moment she had
nothing in practice by Bach, but she would play me a
gigue by a composer of Bach's time, Haesler, I think
166 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
she said, but cannot remember, as it was a name
entirely unknown to me. It was very brilliant, and
she executed it beautifully. Afterward she played the
last movement of Beethoven's Sonata in E flat major,
but I wasn't particularly struck with her conception
of that. Then we had a pause, and she urged me to
play. I refused, for as I had been in Dresden a week
and had not practiced, I did not wish to sit down and
not do myself justice. My hand is so stiff, that as
Tausig said of himself (though of him I can hardly
believe it), "When I haven't practiced for fourteen days
I can't do anything." The old Herr then, said, "Now
we'll have something else f and got up and went to
the piano, and called the young girls. He made three
of them sing, one after the other, and they sang very
charmingly indeed. One of them he made improvise
a cadenza, and a second sang the alto to it without
accompaniment. He was very proud of that. He exer-
cises his pupils in all sorts of ways, trains them to sing
any given tone, and "to skip up and down the ladder/'
as they call the scale.
After the master had finished with the singing,
Praulein "Wieck played three more pieces, one of which
was an exquisite arrangement by Liszt of that song by
Schumann, "Du meine Seek" She ended with a
gavotte by Glttck, or as Papa Wieck would say, " This
is a gavotte from one of GlUck's operas, arranged by
Brahms for the piano. To the superficial observer the
second movement will appear very easy, but in my
opinion it is a very hard task to hit it exactly." I hap-
pened to know just how the thing ought to be played,
AN ORDEAL. 167
for I had heard it three times from Clara Schumann
herself. Fraulein Wieck didn't please me at all in it,
for she took the second movement twice as quickly as
the first. "Your sister plays the second movement
much slower/ 5 said I. "So?" said she, "I've never
heard it from her." She then asked, " So slow ?" play-
ing it slower. "Still slower ?" said she, beginning a
third time, at my continual disapproval. " Streng im
Tempo (in strict time)", said I, nodding my head
oracularly. "Vaterchen" called she to the old Herr,
" Miss Fay says that Clara plays the second movement
so slow," showing him. I don't know whether this
correction made an impression, but he was then deter-
mined that I should play, and on my continued refusal
he finally said that he found it very strange that a young
lady who had studied more than two years in Tausig's
arid Kullak's conservatories shouldn't have one piece
that she could play before people." This little fling
provoked me, so up I jumped, and saying to my-
self, "ITopf in die Hohe, Brust heraus, vorwartsl"
(one of the military orders here), I marched to the piano
and played the fugue at the end of Beethoven's A flat
Sonata, Op. 110. They all sat round the room as still
as so many statues while I played, and you cannot
imagine how dreadfully nervous I was. I thought
fifty times I would have to stop, for, like all fugues, it
is such a piece that if you once get out you never can
get in again, and Blilow himself got mixed up on the
last part of it the other night in his concert. But
I got well through, notwithstanding, and the old
master was good enough to commend me warmly.
168 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
He told me I must have studied a great deal, and
asked me if I hadn't played a great many Etuden. I
informed him in polite German " He'd better believe
I had!"
I should like to study with the Wiecks 1 in my vaca-
tion next summer if they would take me. Perhaps I
may. They are considered somewhat old-fashioned
in their style, and I shouldn't wish to exchange Kul-
lak for them, but they are such veterans that one
could not help getting many valuable ideas from
them. Papa Wieck used to be Bttlow's master before
he went to Liszt.
Did I tell you how carried away with Billow I was?
He is magnificent, and just between Eubinstein and
Tausig. I am going to hear him again on Sat-
urday, and then I'll write you my full opinion about
him. He is famous for his playing of Beethoven, and
I wish you could have heard the Moonlight Sonata
from him. One thing he does which is entirely pecu-
liar to himself. He runs all the movements of a so-
nata together, instead of pausing between. It pleased
me very much, as it gives a unity of effect, and seems
to make each movement beget the succeeding one,
J3BKLIK, May 30, 1872.
I wish L. were here studying piano with Kullak's
son. He has one little fairy of a scholar ten years old.
Her name is Adele aus der Ohe (isn't that an old
knightly name?) and it is the most astonishing thing
to hear that child play ! I heard her play a concerto
' ART IS LONG," 169
of Beethoven's the other day with orchestral accom-
paniment and a great cadenza by Moscheles, abso-
lutely perfectly. She never missed a note the whole
way through. I suppose she will become, like Mehlig,
a great artist. But perhaps, like her, she won't have
a great conception, but will do everything mechani-
cally. One never can tell how these child-prodigies
will turn out. Please don't form any exalted ideas of
my playing ! I'm a pretty stupid girl, and go forward
slowly. I never expect to play as Miss Mehlig does.
If I can ever get up to Topp, I shall be satisfied. You
wouldn't believe how long it takes to get to be a vir-
tuoso unless you tried it. Mehlig, you know, studied
steadily for ten years, under the lest of teaching all
the time, and she had probably more talent to start
with than I have. Miss V. and Mr. Gr. have been
here five years studying steadily, and they are no
farther than I am now. Not so far. It makes all the
difference in the world what kind of hand and wrist a
person has. Mine, you know, were pretty stiff, and
then it is a great disadvantage to begin studying after
one is grown up. One ought to be learning while the
hand is forming.
I am just now learning that A minor concerto of
Schumann's that Topp played at the Handel and
Haydn Festival in Boston. The cadenza is tough, I
can tell you. That is the worst of these concertos.
There is always a grand cadenza where you must
play all alone and "make a splurge." I don't know
how it feels to be left all at once without any support
from the orchestra. It is bad enough when Kullak
170 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
lies back in his chair and ceases accompanying me.
He plays with me on two pianos, and I get so excited
that my wrists tremble. He is a magnificent pianist,
and his technique is perfect. There's nothing he
can't do. Like all artists, he is as capricious and ex-
asperating as he can be, and, as the Germans say, he
is " ein Mai im Himmel und das ndchste Mai im Kel-
ler (one time in heaven and the next time in the cel-
lar) I" He has a deep rooted prejudice against Amer-
icans, and never loses an opportunity to make a
mean remark about them, and though he has some
remarkably gifted ones among his scholars, he always
insists upon it that the Americans have no real talent.
As far as I know anything about his conservatorium
just now, his most talented scholars are Americans.
There is a young fellow named Sherwood, who is only
seventeen years old, and he not only plays splendidly
but composes beautifully, also. In my own class Miss
B. and I are far ahead of all the others. Kullak will
praise us very enthusiastically, and then when some
one plays particularly badly in the class he will say to
them, " Why, FrSulein, you play exactly as if you
came from America." It makes Miss B. and me so
indignant that we don't know what to do. Of course we
can't say anything, for he addresses this remark in a
lofty way to ' the whole class. Miss Y. couldn't
bear Kullak, and the other day, when she and Mr. G.
were taking leave of him to go to America, she let him
see it. He said to her, "And when shall I see you
again?" "Never" exclaimed she ! We have only one
way of revenging ourselves, and that is when he gives
THE BALLET OP ESMERALDA" 171
us the choice of taking one of his compositions or a
piece by some one else, always to take the other per-
son's. For instance, he said to me, " Fraulein, you
can take Schumann's concerto or my concerto." I
immediately got Schumann's.
The other night I went to see a great ballet-dancer.
Her name is Fraulein Grantzow, and she is the court
dancer at St. Petersburg, where I've heard that the
ballet surpasses everything of the kind in the world.
This danseuse is a wonder, and they say there has never
been such dancing since the days of Fanny Ellsler.
She has the figure of a Venus, and the most expressive
face imaginable. "When she dances, it is not only
dancing, but a complete representation of character,
for she plays a r6le by her motions just the same as
if she were an actress. I have seen many a ballet, but
I never conceived what an art dancing is before. I
saw her in " Esmeralda," a ballet which is arranged
from Victor Hugo's romance and modified for the
stage. Fr&ulein Grantzow took the part of Esmer-
alda. In the first act a man is condemned to death,
but is pardoned on condition that one of the women
present will promise to marry him. The women, rep-
resented by about fifty ballet dancers, come up one
after the other, contemplate the poor victim, pirouette
round him, and reject him in turn with a gesture of
contempt. At last Esmeralda (a gypsy) comes danc-
ing along, asks what is the matter, and on being told,
has compassion on the poor wretch, and promises to
marry him in order to save him from his fate.
When the time came for G-rantzow to appear, the
172 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
crowd of dancers suddenly divided, and she bounded
out from the back of the stage. Such an appari-
tion as she was ! In the first place her toilettes sur-
passed everything, and she appeared in a fresh dress
in every act. In this first one she had on a most daz-
zling shade of green gauze for her skirt. Prom her
waist fell a golden net-work, like a cestus, with littb
golden tassels all round. She wore a little scarlet
satin jacket all fringed with gold coins, and a broad
golden belt, pointed in front, clasped her waist. On
her head was a tiny scarlet cap, also fringed with coins,
and she had some golden bangles round her neck. In
her hand was a tambourine from which depended four
knots of coloured ribbons with long ends. Shaking
her tambourine high in the air, out she sprang like a
panther, made one magnificent circuit all round the
stage, and after executing an immensely difficult pas
with perfect ease, she suddenly posed to the audience
in the most ravishing and impossible attitude and with
the most captivating grace conceivable. Anything like
her Man, her aplomb, I never saw. Such a daring crea-
ture ! Well, I cannot tell you all the things she did.
She is a perfect Terpsichorean genius. All through
the first act she danced very slowly, merely to show
her wonderful grace, and the beauty and originality of
her positions. She had a way of folding her arms over
her breast and dancing with a dreamy step that was
quite different from anybody else, and it produced an
entrancing effect. Through the second and third acts
she made a regular crescendo, just to display her tech-
nique and show what she could do. All the other
AN IDEAL DANSEUSE. 173
dancers seemed like blocks of wood in comparison with
her. Frftulein Grantzow is said to be between thirty-
five and thirty-eight years old. As the papers said,
her art shows the perfection that only maturity can
give. The men are all crazy over her, as you may im-
agine, and she was showered with bouquets as large as
the top of a barrel. The play of her features was as
extraordinary as the play of her muscles. Her whole
being seemed to be the soul of motion.
CHAPTER XIV.
A KiBing Organist. Kullak. Von Btilow's Playing.
A Princely Funeral Wilhelmj's Concert.
A Court Beauty.
BERLIN, July 1, 1872.
Since I have been here X. has gradually devel-
oped into a great organ player, and I fancy he is now
one of the first organ virtuosi in the world. His
musical activity is immense, and I don't doubt he will
be one of the great musical authorities here by the
time he is a few years older. He is a good-hearted
little demon, the incarnation of German dirt and
good humour, and he pretends to be desperately de-
voted to me. Last Sunday he was at M.'s and went
home with us afterward. Generally I go in front
with A. or Herr J. and let 5. give his arm to M.,
but this time I accorded him the honour of taking
it myself. He is about a foot shorter than I am, but
he trotted along by my side in a state of high satisfac-
tion, and asked me what he should play at this
concert. I told him he might play the G Minor
Prelude and Fugue, as I had just taken it, "'Jbut/ 9 said
I, "mind you play it well, for I shall study it very
hard during the next fortnight, and I shall know if
you strike one false note. Til allow you six faults,
but if you make one more Til beat you." This
amused him highly, but he said, "It is a very com-
(174)
AN ORGAN VIRTUOSO. 175
plicated fugue, and it isn't so easy to play it perf ectly,
with all the pedal passages. What will you do for me
if I come off without making one fault ?" I told him
there was plenty of time to think about that, and I
didn't believe he could. I have no doubt that he will
play it magnificently, but I love to plague him. I wish
that his department were secular rather than church
music, for if he were only a conductor of an orchestra,
or something of that sort, he could give me many a lift.
He doesn't dare play the piano anymore since I played
to him a few times. He used nearly to kill me with his
extemporizations, for he has no memory, and so he
always had to extemporize. I generally went off into
a secret convulsion of laughter when he went bang !
bang ! Donner and Blitz ! splaying all over the key-
board. It was the funniest thing I ever heard, and when
I heard him burst forth in such grand style on the or-
gan, I was perfectly amazed, and couldn't reconcile
it with his piano playing at alL He is a great reader,
of course, and can transpose at sight, and all that sort
of thing. I've known him to play accompaniments at
sight in a great concert in the Dom and transpose
them at the same time I
July 6. You ask me why I gave up going to the
Wiecks in Dresden this summer. Because they make
everybody begin at the very beginning of their system
and go through it before they give them a piece, and
at my stage of progress that would be losing time.
They think nobody can teach touch but themselves,
but Eullak is a much greater musician, and I should
not be willing to exchange him for Fr&ulein Wieck,
176 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
who does not begin to equal him in reputation. Much
as Kullak enrages me, I have to admit that he is a
great master, and that he is thoroughly capable of
developing artistic talent to the utmost. He makes
Miss B. so provoked that she had very strong thoughts
of going to Stuttgardt. The Stuttgardt conserva-
torium is so crowded that it is very difficult to get ad-
mission, Lebert (Mehlig's master,) sent word on her
writing to enquire, that he would only take her on con-
dition that she brought him a letter from Kullak au-
thorizing her leaving him, as Kullak was a personal
friend of his own, and so great an artist, that only the
most important reasons could justify her giving up
his instructions ! Of course that put the stopper on any
such movement.
I've always forgotten to"describe Billow's playing to
you, and it is now so long since 'I heard him that my
impressions of it are not so vivid. He has the most
forcible style I ever heard, and phrases wonderfully.
It is like looking through a stereoscope to hear him.
All the points of a piece seem to start out vividly be-
fore you. He makes me think of Gottschalk a little,
for he is full of his airs. His expression is proud and
supercilious to the last degree, and he looks all round
at his audience when he is playing. He always has
two grand pianos on the stage, one facing one way,
and one the other, and he plays alternately on both.
His face seems to say to his audience, "You're all cats
and dogs, and I don't care what you think of my play-
ing." Sometimes a look of infinite humour comes over
it, when he is playing a rondo or anything gay. It is
A PRINCELY FUNERAL. 177
very funny. He has remarkable magnetic power, and
you feel that you are under the sway of a tremendous
will. Many persons find fault with his playing, because
they say it is pure intellect (der reine Verstand) but
I think he has too much passion to be called purely
intellectual. Still, it is always passion controlled. Beet-
hoven has been the grand study of his life, and he
playes his sonatas as no one else does.
If he goes to America next winter, you must hear
him thoroughly, codte que codte. So I advise you to
be saving up your pennies, and be sure to get a place
near the piano so that you can see his face, for it is a
study, I always sit in the second or third row here.
BEKLUK, October 27, 1872.
This week has been quite an eventful one. It began
on Monday with the funeral of Prince Albrecht, the
youngest brother of the Emperor, and it was a very
imposing spectacle. I was in hopes that Mr. B. would
send me a card of admission to the Dom, where the serv-
ices were to be held, but as he didn't, I was obliged to
content myself with a sight of the procession and gen-
eral arrangement outside. I took my stand on a wagon
with H., and we got an excellent view. There was a
roadway built of wood from the royal Castle to the Dom,
carpeted with black, over which the procession was to
pass. We waited about an hour before it came along,
but we were pretty well amused by the gorgeous equi-
pages and liveries of the different diplomatic corps
which dashed past.
12
178 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
We were on the opposite side of the canal which
separated us from the square in front of the Dom.
On the right of the Dom is the Castle, and the Museum
is on the left. All this square was surrounded by
military, for as Prince Albrecht was a Field-Marshal,
the funeral had a military character. They were beau-
tifully arranged, the cavalry on one side and the
infantry on the other, and the different uniforms were
contrasted with each other so as to make the best
effects in colour. Both horses and men stood as if
they were carved out of marble, with the greatest pre-
cision of position. A little before eleven the royal
carriages rolled past from the palace to the'Castle,
with their occupants. Presently the bells began to toll,
and exactly at eleven the procession started. TheGardes
du Corps, which is the Crown Prince's regiment, pre-r
ceded the coffin, dressed in white and silver uniforms,
with glittering brass helmets surmounted by silver
eagles. The coffin itself was borne on a catafalque,
and drawn by eight horses covered with black velvet
trappings. It was yellow, and was surmounted by a
crown of gold. On it was laid the Prince's sword, hel-
met, etc., and some flowers. I was too far away to
distinguish the personages that followed. Of course
the Emperor was nearest, and all were on foot. Be-
hind the coffin the Prince's favorite horse was led, sad-
dled and bridled. All the servants of his household
walked together in silver liveries and with large tri-
angular hats with long bands of crape hanging down
behind. The band played a chorale, "Jesus, my Ref-
uge," and the bells kept tolling all the while. At the
A "CHARMEUSE." 179
door of the Dom, the procession was received by the
clergy officiating. The coffin was so heavy that it
was rolled down a platform of boards put up for the
purpose. Then it was lifted by sixteen bearers, the
glittering cortege closed round it, and they all swept
it at the open portal.
We waited until the end of the service, as it was a
short one, in order to hear the eight rounds of firing
by the artillery. It was interesting to see how exactly
they all fired the instant the signal was given. First the
musketry on one side, and then the musketry on the
other, in answer to it. The officers galloped and cur-
veted about on their fiery steeds, and finally, the can-
non went boom boom. The sharp crack of the rifles
made you start, but the sullen roar of the cannon
made you shudder. It gave you some idea of a battle.
Tuesday night I went to a concert given by a new
star in the musical world, a young violinist named Wil-
helmj. He is only twenty-six years old, and is already
said to be one of the greatest virtuosi living, perhaps
the greatest of the romantic school, for Joachim
belongs to the severe classic. All the artists and
critics and many of the aristocracy turned out to
hear him. It was his first appearance in Berlin, and
as I looked round the audience and picked out one
great musician after another, I fairly trembled for
him. Joachim and.de Ahna were both present, among
others, and my adorable Baroness von S. swept in late,
looking more exquisite than ever in black lace over
black silk, with jet ornaments, and her lovely hair
curled and done up high on her aristocratic little head.
180 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
She was all in mourning for the Prince, even to a
black lace fan with which she occasionally shaded her
eyes, so that her peach-bloomy cheek was just to be
discerned through it. She is a charming pianist her-
self, I've heard, and is a great patroness of music and
musicians, especially of the " music of the future,"
and its creators. I see her at all the concerts. When
her face is in perfect repose she has the most charming
expression and a sort of celestial look in her deep-
set blue eyes. She is what the French call spirituelle,
and the Germans geistmch, but we've no word in our
language that just describes her.
Well, as I was saying, my head got quite dizzy with
thinking what a trial it was to play before such an audi-
ence, but Wilhelmj seemed to differ from me, for he
came confidently down the steps with the dignified
self -poise of an artist who is master of his instrument,
and who knows what he can do, He is extremely
handsome, with regular features, massive overhanging
forehead, and with an expression of power and self -con-
tainment He looked a perfect picture as he stood there
so quietly and played. He hadn't gone far before he
made a brilliant cadenza that took down the house, and
there was a general burst of applause. His tone (which
is the grand thing in violin-playing) was magnificent,
and his technique masterly. He didn't play with that
tenderness of feeling and wonderful variety of expression
that Joachim does, but it was as if he didn't care to
aflect people in that way. It made me think of Tau-
sig on the piano. He played with the greatest ^n-
tensity and aplomb, and the strings seemed actually to
WILHELMJ, 181
seethe. People were taken by storm. The second
piece was a concerto by Baft Wilhelmj was in the
midst of the Andante, and was sawing our hearts with
every saw of his bow, when suddenly a string snapped
under the strain of his passionate fingers. He instantly
ceased playing, and retired up the steps to the back of
the stage to put on another string. Unfortunately he had
not brought along an extra one in his pocket, and had
to borrow one from one of the orchestra. Weitzmann,
who in his youth was himself an eminent concert violin-
ist/was amazed at Wilhelmfs temerity. "What rash-
ness" exclaimed he, " and the G string, too !" (one of
the most important). After a pause Wilhelraj came
down and began again, but the string was so out of tune
that he retired a second time. He must have been furi-
ous inwardly, one would think, and at his Berlin debut,
too ! but he came down the third time with the utmost
imperturbability, and got through the concerto. The
whole effect of the concert was spoiled, though, and he
had also to change the solos he had intended playing, so
as to avoid the G- string as much as possible. Instead of
the lovely Chopin Nocturne in D flat (his own arrange-
ment), he played an Aria by Bach. He did it so won-
derfully that I was really startled. I never shall forget
the nuances he put into his trill. But at his second
concert, where he did give the Nocturne, it was evident
that the romantic is his great forte, and on a first
appearance, and before his large and critical audience,
he should have been heard in that genre.*
*Thi5 letter, which was published in DwigMs Journal
the one alluded to on p. 193.
CHAPTER XV.
The Boston Fire. Aggravations of Music Study. Kullak.
Sherwood. Hoch Schule. A Brilliant American.
German Dancing.
BEBLIN, November 24, 1872.
All the papers over here have been ringing with the
Boston fire, the horse pestilence, shipwrecks, explosions,
etc., until I feel as if all America were going to the bad.
What an awful calamity that fire is I I can't take it in
at all. All the Germans are wondering what our fire
companies are made of that such conflagrations can take
place. They say it would be an impossibility here,
where the organization is so perfect. The men are
trained to the work for years, and are on the spot in a
twinkling, knowing just what to do. They are as fully
convinced of their super-excellence in the Fire Depart-
ment as in every other, and nothing can make them
believe that if two or three of their little fire-engines had
been there, and worked by their firemen, the Chicago
and Boston fires could not have been put out ! You
know their machines are pumped by hand, too, instead
of by steam, as ours are, which makes the assumption
all the more ludicrous. It reminds me of a German
party I was at once, where our war was the subject of
conversation. "Oh, you don't know anything about
fighting over there," said one gentleman, nodding at me
patronizingly across the table. "If you had had two or
(182)
A DESPEKATE VEXA.TION. 183
three of our regiments, with one of our generals, your
war would have been finished up in no time !"
I've had such a vexation to-day that I'm really quite
beside myself ! I was to play the first movement of my
Rubinstein Concerto in the conservatory with the orches-
tra. 'Fve been straining every nerve over it for several
weeks, practicing incessantly, and had learned it perfectly.
When I played it in the class the other day it went beau-
tifully, and I think even Kullak was satisfied. Well, of
course I was anticipating playing it with the orchestra
before an audience, with much pleasure, and hoped I was
going to distinguish myself. Music-director Wuerst and
Franz Kullak always take charge of these orchestra les-
sons, sometimes one directing and sometimes the other.
I got up early this morning, and practiced an hour and
a half before I went to the conservatory, and I was there
the first of all who were to play concertos. I spoke to
Wuerst and told him what I was to play, and he said
"All right." Wouldn't you have thought now, that he
would have let me play first? Not a bit of it. He first
heard the orchestra play a stupid symphony of Hadyn's,
which they might just as well have left out. Then he
began screaming out to know if Herr Moszkowski was
there? Herr Moszkowski, however, was not there, and
I began to breathe freer, for he is a finished artist, and
has been studying with Kullak for years, and plays in
concerts. Of course if he had played first, it would have
been doubly hard for me to muster up my courage, and
you would have thought that Wuerst would have taken
that into consideration. As Moszkowski was absent, I
thought I certainly should be called up next, but another
184 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
girl received the preference. She played extremely well,
and Wuerst paid her his compliments, and then took his
departure, leaving Franz Kullak to conduct. Then one
of my class played Beethoven's G major concerto most
wretchedly. Poor creature, she was nervous and fright-
ened, and couldn't do herself any sort of justice. At
last it was over, and at last Franz Kullak sung out, "We
will now have Eubinstein's concerto in D minor."
I got up, went to the piano, wiped off the keys,
which were completely wet from the nervous fingers
of those who had preceded me, and was just going to
sit down, when a young fellow approached from the
other side with the same intention. "0, FrSulein
Fay, you have the same concerto? Very well, you can
play it the next time. To-day Herr So-and-So plays
it !" Now, did you ever know anything so provoking?
I hoped at least that the young fellow would play it
well, and that I should learn something, but he per-
fectly murdered it, and there I had to sit through it
all, with the piece tingling at my fingers ends and
now there's no knowing when I shall play it, as the
orchestra lessons are so seldom and so uncertain. I
hope there will be one two weeks from to-day, but
even so I probably shan't do half so well as I should
have done to-day, for the freshness will be all out of
the piece, and I've practiced it so much now that I
hate the sound of it, and can't bear to waste any more
time over it. Such is life ! I thought this time that
I had taken every precaution to ensure success, for I
had risen early every day, and eaten no end of the
" bread of carefulness," and the result is nothing at
A POLISH ARTIST. 185
all! Not even a failure. It is the more to be re-
gretted as to-day was the first Sunday of the month,
and I wanted to go to church, especially as the bad
weather kept me at home for two Sundays. However,
I'm determined I will play the concerto yet, if I stake
"KopfundKragen (head and collar)" on it, as the
Germans say. But oh, the difficulty of doing anything
at all in this world !
December 18, 1872.^ last I played my Rubin-
stein concerto a week ago Sunday with the orchestra,
and had the pleasure of being told by Scharwenka
that I had had a brilliant success. Franz Kullak said
that my octave passages were superbly played, and
Moszkowski (who, to my surprise, was playing first
violin) applauded. So I was complimented by the
three of whom I stood most in awe. Scharwenka and
Moszkowski are both finished artists and exquisite
composers, and play a great deal in concerts*this win-
ter. Scharwenka is very handsome. He is a Pola,
and is very proud of his nationality. And, indeed,
there is something interesting and romantic about
being a Pole. The very name conjures up thoughts
of revolutions, conspiracies, bloody executions, masked
balls, and, of course, grace, wit and beauty ! Schar-
wenka certainly sustains the traditions of his race as
far as the latter qualification is concerned. I never
talked with him, as I have but a bowing acquaintance
with him, so I don't know what sort of a mind he has,
but I find myself looking at him and saying to myself
with a certain degree of satisfaction, " He is a Pole."
Why I should have this feeling I know not, but I
186 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
seem to be proud of knowing Poles! Scharwenka
has a clear olive complexion, oval face, hazel eyes (I
think) and a mass of brown silky hair which he wears
long, and which falls about his head in a most pictur-
esque and attractive fashion, He always presides
over the piano at the orchestral lessons in the conser-
vatory on Sunday mornings, and supplies those parts
which are wanting. When concertos are performed he
accompanies. He has a delightful serenity of manner,
and sits there with quiet dignity, his back to the win-
dows, and the light striking through his fluffy hair.
He plays beautifully, and composes after Chopin's
manner. Perhaps he will do greater things and de-
velop a style of his own by and by. Every winter he
gives a concert in Berlin in the Sing-Akademie.
By the way, I would not advise your paying any at-
tention to what G-. says about music. She is incapa-
ble of forming a correct judgment on the subject, and
she used to provoke me to death with her ignorant
and sweeping criticisms. I continually set her right,
but to hear her go on about music and musicians is
much like hearing S. E. and the M. crowd talk about
art. What can be easier or more absurd, than to set
yourself up and say that "nobody satisfies you."
Stuff! As for Kullak, I think a master must be
judged by the number of players he turns out. In
the two years that I have studied with him he has
formed six or eight artists to my knowledge, beside
no end of pupils who play extremely well. People
come to him from all over the world, and as an artist
himself he ranks first class.
AN AMERICAN PHCENIX. 187
I must tell you about a new acquaintance I've just
made, a Mr. P., a Harvard man, very fascinating, very
brilliant, a great swell, and the, most perfect dancer
I ever saw. I first met this phoenix at a dinner, when
he fairly sparkled. He seemed to have the history of
all countries at his tongue's end, and went through
revolutions and reigns in the most rapid way. We
had an animated discussion over the Germans, whom
he loathes and despises, and he brought up all the his-
torical events he could to justify his disgust. I was
on the defensive, of course. "They've no delicacy,"
said P., in his emphatic way, and I had to give in
there. Indeed, I can imagine that to a fastidious
creature like him, imbued, too, with all the Southern
chivalry, the Germans would be startling, to say the
least. "Why," he cried, "they help you at table with
their own forks after they've been eating with them !
What do you think my host did to-day ? He took a
piece of meat that he had begun to eat, from his own
plate! and put it on to mine with his own fork! ! say-
ing, 'Try this, this is a good piece! 7 His inten-
tions were excellent, but it never occurred to him that
I shouldn't be delighted to eat after him." P. can't
bear it when the waiters at the restaurants pretend to
think him a lord and address him as "Herr Graf."
" I'll teach them to Herr Graf me," he said between
his teeth, lowering his head, his eyes flashing danger-
ous fire. But it is quite likely that they do suppose
him a lord, for he looks it, " every inch."
I met him again at a reception, and was having a
most charming conversation with him about Goethe,
188 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
whom he -was dissecting in his keen way, when in
came Mr. and Mrs. N. I knew at once that there
was an end of our delightful talk, for though Mrs. K
has a most fascinating and high-bred husband herself,
and is, moreover, extremely jealous of him, she is
never content unless the most agreeable man in the
room is demoted to her, also. Sure enough, she came
straight toward us, and took occasion to whisper some
senseless thing in my ear. Of course Mr. P. had to
offer her his seat She was, however, not quite bare-
faced enough to take it, but she had succeeded in
breaking the tte4rtte and in distracting his atten-
tion. Soon after another gentleman came up to speak
to me, Mr. P. bowed, and for the rest of the evening
he was pinned to Mrs. N.'s side. Such are the satis-
factions of parties! Either one does not meet any
one worth talking to, or the conversation is sure to be
interrupted. It takes these women of the world, like
Mrs. K, to get the plums out of the pudding.
However, seeing him dance gave me almost as much
pleasure as talking with him. He has this air of
having danced millions of Germans, and is grace and
elegance incarnate. Just at the end of the party, he
asked me for a turn, and we took three long ones.
I never enjoyed dancing so much. He manages to an-
nihilate his legs entirely, and his arm, though strong,
is so light that you feel yourself borne along like a
bubble, and are only conscious that you are sustained
and guided. He inspired me so that I danced really
well, but when he complimented me, I basely re-
frained from letting him know it was all owing to
GERMAN DANCING. 189
him ! By a funny coincidence he is the son of that
elegant Mrs. P. who was on the steamer with me, and
his father is very prominent in politics. I remember
perfectly the pride with which Mrs. P. spoke to me
of this son, and how slightly interested I was. He
accompanied her to the steamer, and in fact the first
time I saw her was when Mr. T., who was standing by
me on the deck, said, " That was a mother's kiss," as
she rapturously embraced him on taking leave. I
didn't notice Mr. P. at all, though he says he remem-
bers me perfectly standing there. He is going, or
has gone, to Russia, and from there he will rejoin his
family in Paris. That is the worst of being abroad.
Charming people pass over your path like comets and
disappear never to be seen again.
By the way, I now feel equal to anything in the
shape of a German dance. Perhaps that may seem
to you a trifling statement ; but little do you know
on the subject if it does. If you've ever read "Fitz
Boodle's Confessions/ 7 you will remember that he rep-
resents the German dancing as a thing fearful and
wonderful to the inexperienced, and how the match
between him and Dorothea was broken off by his fall-
ing with her during the waltz, and rolling over and
over. Hefe everybody dances, old and young, and
you'll see fat old married ladies waddle off with their
gray and spindle-shanked husbands. Declining doesn't
help you in the least, and you are liable to be whisked
off without notice by some old fellow who revolves
with you like lightning on the tips of his toes, his
coat-tails flying at an angle of considerably more than
190 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY,
forty-five degrees. Reversing is unknown, and conse-
quently you see the room go spinning round with you.
I always thought, though, that if one could take
their steps, it might be pretty good fun. So, after a
pause of three years, I finally concluded this winter
to go to some German balls and try it again. The
first one I attended was an artists' ball. There was
first a little concert (at which I played), then a sup-
per at ten o'clock, and then the dancing began. The
dancing cards were handed round at supper, and my
various acquaintances came up to ask me for different
dances. The first one asked me for the Polonaise.
"Delighted!" said I; not that I had the remotest
idea what a "polonaise " was, but I was determined not
to flinch. The second engaged me for the " Quadrille
a la Cour," and the third for the "Rheinlaender," etc.,
etc. I assented to everything with outward alacrity,
but with some inward trepidation, for I thought it
rather a bold stroke to get up at a large ball and
attempt to dance a string of things I had never heard
of ! However, I was in luck. The Polonaise turned
out to be merely walking, but in different figures, and
this, before the conclusion of it, makes you continu-
ally change partners until you have promenaded and
spoken with every one of the opposite sex in the room.
This is to get the whole party acquainted. When you
finally get back to your own partner, it breaks up with
a waltz, and so ends.
My partner was a young artist, half painter, half
musician, and a very intelligent and in fact charming
talker. Like most artists, his dress was rather at
GERMAN" DANCING-. 19l
sixes and sevens. He had on a swallow-tailed coat,
but it did not fit him, so I conclude it was borrowed
or hired for the occasion. It was so wide, and so
long, that when I saw him dancing with some one
else, I thought I must have made a laughable figure
with him, for he was small into the bargain. How-
ever, he had that sunny, happy-go-lucky way about
him that all artists have when they're in good humour,
and he was a capital dancer. When I came back to
him at the end of the Polonaise I started off with a
mental "Now for it," for the waltz was the thing I
was most afraid of ; but to my surprise, I got on most
beautifully. Emboldened by success, I went on reck-
lessly. " Rheinlaender " turned out to be the schot-
tisch, and " Quadrille -a la Cour " the lancers, so I was
all right. They had to be danced in the German
sense of the word, of course, but with courage it is
possible to do it. Since this ball I have been to two
others, and am now pronounced by the gentlemen to
be a finished dancer. I don't know how I learned, but
it seemed to come to me with a sudden inspiration.
CHAPTER XVI.
A German Professor. Sherwood. The Baroness von S.
Von Billow. A German Party. Joachim.
The Baroness at Home.
BERLIN, February 25, 1873.
At Mr. P.'s we had a charming dinner the other day,
which was as sociable as possible, though we sat thir-
teen at table. Think what an oversight ! I believe
though, that I was the only one who perceived it. I sat
next to a German professor, who is said to speak sixty-
four languages ! He had a little compact head, which
looked as if it were stuffed and crammed to the utmost.
I reflected a long time which of his sixty-four lan-
guages I should start him on, but finally concluded that
as I spoke English with tolerable fluency we would
confine ourselves to that ! He was perfectly delightful
to talk to, as all these German savans are, and I got
a lot of new ideas from him. He had been writing
a pamphlet on the subject of love, as considered in
various ancient and modern languages, and in it
he proves that the passion of love used to be quite
a different thing from what it is now. All this ideality
of sentiment is entirely modern.
My friend Miss B. is playing exquisitely now, and
Sherwood is going ahead like a young giant. To-day
Kullak said that Sherwood played Beethoven's E flat
major concerto (the hardest of all Beethoven's con-
(192)
THE BAKONESS AGAIK. 193
certos) with a perfection that he had rarely heard
equalled. So much for being a genius, for he is still
under twenty, and has only been abroad a year or two.
But he studied with our best American master, Wil-
liam Mason, and played like an artist before he came.
But, then, Sherwood has one enormous advantage that
no master on earth can bestow, and that is, perfect con-
fidence in himself. There's nothing like having faith
in yourself, and I believe that is the kind of faith that
"moves mountains."
At Mr. Bancroft's grand party for Washington's birth-
day, last Friday, he presented me to the Baroness von
S., but without telling her that I was the person who
wrote that letter about her and Wilhelmj that M. pub-
lished without my knowledge in Dwighfs Journal.
She was as exquisite as I thought she would be, and is
the most bewitching creature! She is just such a
woman as Balzac describes like Honorine, for in-
stance. She has "Foeil plein de feu" etc., and is grace
and sentiment personified.
She was dressed in white silk, cut square neck and
trimmed with a lot of little box-plaited ruffles round
the bottom. Eound her throat was a black velvet
ribbon, with a necklace of magnificent pearls fastened
to it in festoons and a diamond pendant in the middle.
She greeted me with a ceremonious bow, and began
the conversation by complimenting me on an accom-
paniment I had been playing. I told her I was study-
ing music here, and that I had been in Tausig's con-
servatory a year. As soon as I mentioned him we got
on delightfully, for she was his favourite pupil, and
3
194 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
we talked a good deal about him and Billow. She
said she had heard Tausig play everything he eyer
learned, she thought, and that only a fortnight be-
fore his death, he was at her house and played Chopin's
first Sonata. The last movement comes after the
well-known Funeral March (which forms the Adagio)
and is very peculiar. It is a continual running move-
ment with both hands in unison, and it is played all
muffled, and with the soft pedal. Kullak thinks that
Chopin meant to express that after the grave all is
dust and ashes, but the Baroness said that Tausig
thought Chopin meant to represent by it the ghost of
the departed wandering about. On this occasion,
when Tausig had finished playing it, he turned and
said to her, " That seems to me like the wind blowing
over my grave/' A fortnight later he was dead ! I
asked her if it were not dreadful that such an artist
should have -died so young. The most pained look
came into her beautiful eyes, and she said, " I have
never been able to reconcile myself to it/'
The conversation continued in the most charming
manner until von Moltke came up to speak to her on
one side and Mr. Bancroft on the other offered his
arm to lead her into the supper-room. Did you tell
her?" whispered Mr. Bancroft. "No ; how could I?"
said I. " You ought to tell her." So I imagine
he did tell her, as they went into supper, that I was
the young lady who had described her in the paper.
I did not have a chance to approach her again until
just as I was going home. She was standing in tne
door-way of an ante-room with Mr. Bancroft, wrapped
AN ARISTOCRATIC PARTY. 195
in her opera cloak and waiting for her carriage to be
announced, I bade Mr. Bancroft good-night, and as I
passed her she put out her hand and said to me with
a meaning look, in her little hesitating English, * I
am so happy to have met you." I told her I owed her
an apology, which I hoped to make another time.
" Oh, no," said she, smilingly, " I am very thankful. 35
I suppose she meant "very much flattered," or
something of that kind.
I heard two tremendous concerts of Billow's lately.
Oh, I do hope you'll hear him some day! He is a
colossal artist. I never heard a pianist I liked so well.
He has such perfect mastery, and yet such comprehen-
sion and such sympathy. Among other things, he
played Beethoven's last Sonata. Such a magnificent
one as it is ! I liked it better than the Appassionata,
The other night I went to a party at a General von
der G.'s. It was a " dreadfully " elegant set of peo-
ple all countesses, Vons and generals' wives. Stiff,
oh, how stiff I I felt as if the ladies did me a per-
eonal favor every time they spoke to me, They
were very handsomely dressed, and wore their fam-
ily jewels. There was a great deal of music, and
a certain old Herr von K. sat on a sofa and nod-
ded his head & la connoisseur, while the officers
stood round and scarcely dared to wink. The for-
mality did not abate till we adjourned to the sup-
per-room, when, as is always the case in German
parties, everybody's tongue suddenly became loosed.
Germans are the happiest people at supper, and the
most wretched before it, that you ever saw. Their
196 MUSIC-STUDY IN" GERMANY.
parties are always "just so." So many hour? of propri-
ety beforehand, the ladies all by themselves round
a centre-table in one room, the young girls discreetly
sandwiched in between with their embroidery, and
talking on the most limited subjects in the most "papa,
potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism " manner and the
men in the other room playing cards. On this occa-
sion, when we went into supper, there was one large
central table covered with the feast, and then there
were little tables standing about, whither you could
retire with your prey when you had once secured it
I got something, and betook myself to a table in the
corner, whither a young artist, also Miss B. and an
officer, the son of the celebrated General von W., who
won the battle of something, speedily followed me.
The artist, Herr Meyer, sat opposite me, and I began to
jabber with him, unmindful of the officer, as I had pre-
viously tried him on every subject in the known world
without being able to extract a reply. We gradually col-
lected a miscellaneous array of plates full of things,
when I dropped one of my spoons on the floor. I
picked it up, laid it aside, and began eating out of one
of my other plates. Presently the officer, who had
been glaring at me all the while out of his uniform,
rose solemnly and went to the centre-table and re-
turned. Suddenly I became aware, by my light being
obscured, that he was standing opposite me on the other
side of the table. I glanced up, and remarked that
he had a spoon in his thumb and finger. As he did
not offer it, however, it did not occur to me that it
was for me, so I went on eating. After a minute I
GOING TO WEIMAR 197
looked up again, and he was still standing as if he
were pointing a gun, the spoon between thumb and
finger* At last it dawned upon me that he had brought
it for me, so I took it out of his hand and thanked
him, whereupon he resumed his seat. I was so over-
come by this unheard-of act of gallantry on the part
of an aristocrat ! and an officer ! ! that I felt I must
say something worthy of the occasion. So after a few
minutes I remarked to him, " Everything tastes very
sweet out of this spoon !" Total silence and impas-
sibility of countenance on his part. Miss B., who was
sitting opposite, remarked mischievously, " That was
entirely lost, my dear," and I was so depressed by my
failure that I subsided and did not try to kindle him
again.
BERLIN, April 14, 1873.
Colonel B. told me some weeks ago, that Kullak had
told him I was ready for the concert room, and that he
would like to have me play at court. If this is his real
opinion JT have no evidence of it, for he knows I am
anxious to play in concert before I leave Germany, and
yet he does nothing whatever to bring me forward. It
is very discouraging. In this conservatory there is no
stimulus whatever. One might as well be a machine.
I propose to go to Weimar the last of this week. It
seems very strange that I shall actually know Liszt at
last, after hearing of him so many years. I am wild to
see him ! They say everything depends upon the humour
he happens to be in when you come to him. I
198 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
hope I shall hit upon one of his indulgent moments.
Every one says he gives no lessons. But I hope at least
to play to him a few times, and what is more important,
to hear him play repeatedly. Happy the pianist who
can catch even a faint reflection of his wonderful style !
Not long ago Mr. Bancroft invited me to drive out
to Tegel, Humboldt's country-seat, near here, with the
Joachims, and so I had a three hours conversation with
that idol ! He is the most modest, unpretending man
possible. To hear him talk you wouldn't suppose he
could play at all I've always said to myself that if any-
thing would be heaven, it would be to play a sonata with
Joachim, but have supposed such a thing to be unattain-
able these master-artists are so proud and unapproach-
able. But I think now it might not have been so difficult
after all, he is so lovely. Joachim was very quiet during
the first part of the excursion, and I couldn't think how
I could get him to talk. At last I mentioned Wagner,
whom I knew he hated. His eyes kindled, and he roused
up, and after that was animated and interesting all the
rest of the time ! He said that "Wagner was under the
delusion that he was the only man in the world that
understood Beethoven ; but it happened there were other
people who could comprehend Beethoven as well as he,"
and indeed, it is difficult to conceive of any one under-
standing Beethoven any better than Joachipi.
Joachim is quite as noble and generous to poor artists
as Liszt is, and constantly teaches them for nothing. He
has the greatest enthusiasm for his class in the Hoch
Schule, and I shouldn't think that any one who wishes
to study the violin would think of going any where else,
u CALLING " AT A PALACE ! 199
They say that Joaohim possesses beautiful social qualities,
also, and has the faculty of entertaining in his own
house charmingly. He brings out what there is in every
one without apparently saying anything himself.
The Baroness yon S. had seemed so cordial and
friendly at Mr. Bancroft's on account of the letter you
had published in DwigJtf* Journal of Music, that I
finally made up my mind to the daring act of calling on
her in order to ask her for a letter of introduction to
Liszt. She lives in a palace belonging to the Empress.
There is a deep court in front of it, with lions on the
gateway. Before the door stood a soldier on guard. As
I approached, one of the Gardes du Corps (the Crown
Prince's regiment) emerged from the entrance. He was
dressed all in white and silver, with big top boots, and
his helmet surmounted by a silver eagle. He was an
officer, and of course all the officers in this regiment
belong to the flower of the nobility. I was rather awed
by his imposing appearance, and advanced timidly to the
doors, which were of glass, and pulled the bell. A tall
phantom in livery appeared, as if by magic, and signed
to me to ascend the grand staircase. The walls of it
were all covered with pictures. I went up, and was
received by another tall phantom in livery. I asked him
"if the Frau Excellency was to be spoken." He took
my card, and discreetly said, "he would see," at the same
time ushering me into an immense ball-room, where he
requested me to be seated. It was furnished in crimson
satin, there were myriads of mirrors, and the floor was
waxed. I took refuge in a corner of it, feeling very small
indeed. Those few minutes of waiting were extremely
200 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
uncomfortable, for I didn't know what she would say to
my request, as I had only seen her that one time at Mr.
Bancroft's, and was not sure that she would not regard
my coming as a liberty. People are so severe in their
ideas here.
At last the servant returned and said she would receive
me, and led the way across the ball-room to a door
which he opened for me to enter. I found myself in a
large, high room, also furnished in crimson, and in the
centre of which stood two pianos nestled lovingly
together. The Baroness was not there, however, and I
saw what seemed to be an endless succession of rooms
opening one out of the other, the doors always opposite
each other. I concluded to "go on till I stopped/'
and after traversing three or four, I at last heard a
faint murmur of voices, and entered what I suppose is
her boudoir. There my divinity was seated in a little
crimson satin sofa, talking to an old fellow who sat on
a chair near her, whom she introduced as Herr Pro-
fessor Somebody. He had a small, well-stuffed head,
and a pale, observant eye that seemed to say, "I've
looked into everything " and I should think it had
by the way he conversed.
The Baroness was attired in an olive-coloured silk,
short, and fashionably made. She was leaning for-
ward as she talked, and toying with a silver-sheathed
dagger which she took from a table loaded with costly
trifles next her. She rose as I came in, and greeted
me very cordially, and asked me to sit down on the
sofa by her. I explained to her my errand, and she im-
mediately said she would give me a letter with the great-
A HERR PROFESSOR 201
est pleasure. We had a yery charming conversation
about artists in general, and Liszt in particular, in
which the little professor took a leading part. He
showed himself the connoisseur he looked, and gradu-
ally diverged from the art of music to that of speak-
ing and reading, which he said was the most difficult'
of all the arts, because the tone was not there, but had
to be made. He said he had never heard a perfect
speaker or reader in his life. He descanted at great
length upon the art of speaking, and finally, when he
paused, the Baroness took my hand and said, "Where
do you live ?" I gave her my address, and she said she
would send me the letter. I then rose to go, and she as-
sured me again she would say all she could to dispose
Liszt favourably towards me. I thanked her, and said
good-bye. She waited till I was nearly half across
the next room, and then she called after me, "Til say
lots of pretty things about you I" That was a real
little piece of coquetry on her part, and she knew that
it would take me down ! She looked so sweet when
she said it, standing and smiling there in the middle
of the floor, the door-way making a frame for her. A
few days afterward I met her in the street, and she
told me she had enjoined it upon Liszt to be amiable
to me, " but," she added, with a mischievous laugh,
" I didn't tell him you wrote so well for the papers."
Oh, she is too fascinating for anything I She seems
just to float on the top of the wave and never to think.
Such exquisite perception and intelligence, and yet
lightness !
The last excitement in Berlin was over the wedding
202 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
of Prince Albrecht (the son of the one whose funeral
I saw) with the Princess of Altenburg. When she
arrived she made a regular entry into the city in a
coach all gold and glass, drawn by eight superb
plumed horses. A band of music went before her
and she had an escort all in grand equipages. As she
sat on the back seat with the Crown Princess, mag-
nificently dressed, and bowing from side to side, you
rubbed your eyes and thought you saw Cinderella !
WITH LISZT.
CHAPTER XVII.
Arrives in Weimar. Liszt at the Theatre. At a Party.
At his own House.
WEIMAK, May 1, 1873.
Last night I arrived in "Weimar, and this evening I
.have been to the theatre, which is very cheap here, and
the first person I saw, sitting in a box opposite, was
Liszt, from whom, as you know, I am bent on getting
lessons, though it will be a difficult thing I fear, as I
am told that Wiemar is overcrowded with people who
are on the same errand. I recognized Liszt from his
portrait, and it entertained and interested me very
much to observe him. He was making himself agree-
able to three ladies, one of whom was very pretty. He
sat with his back to the stage, not paying the least at-
tention, apparently, to the play, for he kept talking all
the while himself, and yet no point of it escaped him,
as I could tell by his expression and gestures.
Liszt is the most interesting and striking looking
man imaginable. Tall and slight, with deep-set eyes,
shaggy eyebrows, and long iron-gray hair, which he
wears parted in the middle. His mouth turns up at
the corners, which gives him a most crafty and Me-
phistophelean expression when he smiles, and his whole
appearance and manner have a sort of Jesuitical ele-
gance and ease. His hands are very narrow, with long
and slender fingers that look as if they had twice as
(205)
206 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
many joints as other people's. They are so flexible
and supple that it makes you nervous to look at
them. Anything like the polish of his manner I never j
saw. When he got up to leave the box, for instanced
after his adieux to the ladies, he laid his hand on hisl
heart and made his final bow, not with affectation,
or in mere gallantry, but with a quiet courtliness whicl|i
made you feel that no other way of bowing to a ladyi'
was right or proper. It was most characteristic. .
But the most extraordinary thing about Liszt is hi(s
wonderful variety of expression and play of feature^.
One moment his face will look dreamy, shadowy, tragic.
The next he will be insinuating, amiable, ironical, sar-
donic ; but always the same captivating grace of man-
ner. He is a perfect study. I cannot imagine how
he must look when he is playing. He is all spirit, but
half the time, at least, a mocking spirit, I should say.
I have heard the most remarkable stories about him
already. All Weimar adores him, and people say that
women still go perfectly crazy over him. When he
walks out be bows to everybody just like a King ! The
Grand Duke has presented him with a house beauti-
fully situated on the park, and here he lives elegantly,
free of expense, whenever he chooses to come to it.
WEIMAK, May 7, 1873.
There isn't a piano to be had in Weimar for love or
money, as there is no manufactory, and the few there
were to be disposed of were snatched up before I got
here. So I have lost an entire week in hunting one
LISZT'S APPEARANCE. 20?
up, and was obliged to go first to Erfurt and finally
to Leipsic, before I could find one and even that was
sent over as a favour after much coaxing and persua-
sion, I felt so happy when I fairly saw it in my room !
As if I had taken a city ! However, I met Liszt two
evenings ago at a little tea-party given by a friend and
prot/gte of his to as many of his scholars as have ar-
rived, I being asked with the rest. Liszt promised to
come late. We only numbered seven. There were
three young men and four young ladies, of whom three,
including myself, were Americans. Five of the num-
ber had studied with Liszt before, and the young men
are artists already before the public,
To fill up the time till Liszt came, our hostess made
us play, one after the other, beginning with the latest
arrival. After we had each "exhibited," little
tables were brought in and supper served. We
were in the midst of it, and having a merry time, when
the door suddenly opened and Liszt appeared. We all
rose to our feet, and he shook hands with everybody
without waiting to be introduced. Liszt looks as if
he had been through everything, and has a face seamed
with experience. He is rather tall and narrow, and
wears a long abba's coat reaching nearly down to his
feet. He made me think of an old time magician
more than anything, and I felt that with a touch of
his wand he could transform us all. After he had
finished his "greetings, he passed into the next room
and sat down. The young men gathered round him
and offered him a cigar, which he accepted and began
to smoke. We others continued our nonsense where
208 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
we were, and I suppose Liszt overheard some of our
brilliant conversation, for he asked who we were, I
think, and presently the lady of the house came out
after Miss W. and me, the two American strangers, to
take us in and present us to him.
After the preliminary greetings we had some little
talk. He asked me if I had been to Sophie Menter's
concert in Berlin the other day. I said yes. He
remarked that Miss Menter was a great favourite of
his, and that the lady from whom I had brought a let-
ter to him had done a good deal for her. I asked him
if Sophie Menter were a pupil of his. He said no, he
could not take the credit of her artistic success to
himself. I heard afterwards that he really had done
ever so much for her, but he won't have it said that
he teaches ! After he had finished his cigar, Liszt got
up and said, "America is now to have the floor," and
requested Miss W. to play for him. This was a dread-
ful ordeal for us new arrivals, for we had not expected
to be called upon. I began to quake inwardly, for I
had been without a piano for nearly a week, and was
not at all prepared to play to him, while Miss W. had
been up since five o'clock in the morning, and had
travelled all day. However, there was no getting off.
A request from Liszt is a command, and Miss W. sat
down, and acquitted herself as well as could have been
expected under the circumstances, Liszt waved his
hand and nodded his head from time to time, and
seemed pleased, I thought. He then called upon Lei-
tert,who played a composition of Liszt's own most
beautifully. Liszt commended^ him and patted him
AN ABSURD ORGANIST. 209
on the back. As soon as Leitert had finished, I slipped
off into the back room, hoping Liszt would forgQt all
about me, but he followed me almost immediately,
like a cat with a mouse, took both my hands in his,
and said in the most winning way imaginable, "Madem-
oiselle, wus jouerez quelque-chose, n'est-ce-pas ?"
I can't give you any idea of his persuasiveness, when
he chooses. It is enough to decoy you into anything.
It was such a desperate moment that I became reck-
less, and without even telling him that I was out of
practice and not prepared to play, I sat down and
plunged into the A flat major Ballade of Chopin, as if
I were possessed. The piano had a splendid touch,
luckily. Liszt kept calling out " Bravo " every min-
ute or two, to encourage me, and somehow, I got
through. When I had finished, he clapped his hands
and said, "Bravely played." He asked with whom I
had studied, and made one or two little criticisms. I
hoped he would shove me aside and play it himself,
but he didn't.
Liszt is just like a monarch, and no one dares speak to
him until he addresses one first, which I think no fun.
He did not play to us at all, except when some one
asked him if he had heard R play that afternoon.
R. is a young organist from Leipsic, who telegraphed
to Liszt to ask him if he might come over and play to
him on the organ. Liszt, with his usual amiability,
answerd that he might. "Oh," said Liszt, with an
indescribably comic look, "he improvised for me a
whole half -hour in this style," and then he got up
and went to the piano, and without sitting down he
14
210 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY,
played some ridiculous chords in the middle of the key-
board, and then little trills and turns high up in the
treble, which made us all burst out laughing. Shortly
after I had played I took my leave. Liszt had gone
into the other room to smoke, and I didn't care to fol-
low him, as I saw that he was tired, and had no inten-
tion of playing to us. Our hostess told Miss W. and
me to " slip out so that he would not perceive it."
Yesterday Miss "W. went to see him, and he asked her
if she knew that Miss " Fy," and told her to tell me to
come to him. So I shall present myself to-morrow,
though I don't know how the lion will act when I
beard him in his den.
WEIMAB, May 81, 1873.
Liszt is so besieged by people and so tormented with
applications, that I fear I should only have been sent
away if I had come without the Baroness von S.'s let-
ter of introduction, for he admires her extremely, and
I judge that she has much influence with him. He
says " people fly in his face by dozens/' and seem to
think he is " only there to give lessons." He gives no
paid lessons whatever, as he is much too grand for
that, but if one has talent enough, or pleases him, he
lets one come to him and play to him. I go to him
every other day, but I don't play more than twice a
week, as I cannot prepare so much, but I listen to the
others. Up to this point there have been only four in
the class besides myself, and I am the only new one.
From four to six P. M. is the time when he receives
A TIMID PUPIL. 211
his scholars. The first time I went I did not play to
him, but listened to the rest. Urspruch and Leitert,
the two young men whom 1 met the other night, have
studied with Liszt a longtime, and both play superbly.
Fraulein Schultz and Miss Gaul (of Baltimore), are
also most gifted creatures.
As I entered Liszt's salon, Urspruch was perform-
ing Schumann's Symphonic Studies an immense
composition, and one that it took at least half an
hour to get through. He played so splendidly that
my heart sank down into the very depths. I thought
I should never get on there! Liszt came forward and
greeted me in a very friendly manner as I entered. He
was in very good humour that day, and made some
little witticisms. Urspruch asked him what title he
should give to a piece he was composing. "Per aspera
ad astra," said Liszt. This was such a good hit that
I began to laugh, and he seemed to enjoy my apprecia-
tion of his little sarcasm. I did not play that time, as
my piano had only just come, and I was not prepared
to do so, but I went home and practiced tremendously
for several days on Chopin's B minor sonata. It is
a great composition, and one of his last works. When
I thought I could play it, I went to Liszt, though with
a trembling heart. I cannot tell you what it has cost
me every time I have ascended his stairs. I can
scarcely summon up courage to go there, and generally
stand on the steps awhile before I can make up my
mind to open the door and go in !
This day it was particularly trying, as it was really
my first serious performance before him, and he speaks
212 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
so very indistinctly that I feared I shouldn't under-
stand his corrections, and that he would get out of
patience with me, for he cannot bear to explain, I
think he hates the trouble of speaking German, for
he mutters his words and does not half finish his sen-
tences. Yesterday when I was there he spoke to me
in French all the time, and to the others in German,
one of his funny whims, I suppose.
Well, on this day the artists Leitert and Urspruch,
and the young composer Metzdorf, who is always hang-
ing about Liszt, were in the room when I came. They
had probably been playing. At first Liszt took no
notice of _me beyond a greeting, till Metzdorf said to
him, " Herr Doctor, Miss Fay has brought a sonata."
(( Ah, well, let us hear it/ 9 said Liszt. Just then he left
the room for a minute, and I told the three gentlemen
that they ought to go away and let me play to Liszt
alone, for I felt nervous about playing before them.
They all laughed at me and said they would not budge
an inch. When Liszt came back they said to him,
" Only think, Herr Doctor, Miss Fay proposes to send
us all home." I said I could not play before such
great artists. "Oh, that is healthy for you," said Liszt,
with a smile, and added, "you have a very choice au-
dience, now." I don't know whether he appreciated
how nervous I was, but instead of walking up and
down the room as he often does, he sat down by me
like any other teacher, and heard me play the first
movement. It was frightfully hard, but I had studied
it so much that I managed to get through with it
pretty successfully. Nothing could exceed Liszt's
LISZT PLAYS TO HER. 213
amiability, or the trouble lie gave himself, and instead
of frightening me, he inspired me. Never was there
such a delightful teacher ! and he is the first sympa-
thetic one I've had, You feel so free with him, and
he develops the very spirit of music in you. He doesn't
keep nagging at you all the time, but he leaves you
your own conception. Now and then he will make a
criticism, or play a passage, and with a few words give
you enough to think of all the rest of your life. There
is a delicate point to everything he says, as subtle as
he is himself. He doesn't tell you anything about the
technique. That you must work out for yourself.
When I had finished the first movement of the sonata,
Liszt, as he always does, said " Bravo!" Taking my
seat, he made some little criticisms, and then told me
to go on and play the rest of it.
Now, I only half knew the other movements, for the
first one was so extremely difficult that it cost me all
the labour I could give to prepare that. But playing
to Liszt reminds me of trying to feed the elephant in
the Zoological Garden with lumps of sugar. He dis-
poses of whole movements as if they were nothing, and
stretches out gravely for more ! One of my fingers fortu-
nately began to bleed, for I had practiced the skin off,
and that gave me a good excuse for stopping. "Whether
he was pleased at this proof of industry, I know not ;
but after looking at my finger and saying, "Oh !" very
compassionately, he sat down and played the whole
three last movements himself, That was a great deal,
and showed off all his powers. It was the first time I
had heard him, and I don't know which was the most
314 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
extraordinary, the Scherzo, with its wonderful light-
ness and swiftness, the Adagio with its depth and
pathos, or the last movement, where the whole key-
board seemed to " donnern und blitzen (thunder and
lighten)." There is such a vividness about everything
he plays that it does not seem as if it were mere music
you were listening to, but it is as if he had called up a
real, living form, and you saw it breathing before your
face and eyes. It gives me almost a ghostly feeling to
hear him, and it seems as if the air were peopled with
spirits, Oh, he is a perfect wizard ! It is as interest-
ing to see him as it is to hear him, for his'f ace changes
with every modulation of the piece, and he looks ex-
actly as he is playing. He has one element that is
most captivating, and that is, a sort of -delicate and
fitful mirth that keeps peering out at you here and
there ! It is most peculiar, and when he plays that way,
the most bewitching little expression comes over his
face. It seems as if a little spirit of joy were playing
hide and go seek with you.
On Friday Liszt came and paid me a visit, and even
played a little on my piano. Only think what an hon-
our ! At the same time he told me to come to him
that afternoon and play to him, and invited me also to a
matinee he was going to give on Sunday for some
countess of distinction who was here for a few days.
None of the other scholars were asked, and when I en-
tered the room there were only three persons in it be-
side Liszt. One was the Grand Duke himself, the
other was the Countess von M. (born a Eussian Prin-
cess), and the third was a Russian minister's wife.
FASHIONABLE COURTESY. 215
They were all four standing in a little knot, speaking
in French together. I had no idea who they were, as
the Grand Duke was in morning costume, and had no
star or decoration to distinguish him. I saw at a glance,
however, that they were all swells, and so I didn't speak
to any of them, luckily, though it was an even chance
that I had not said something to avoid the awkward-
ness of standing there like a post, for I had been told
beforehand that Liszt never introduced people to each
other. Liszt greeted me in a very friendly manner,
and introduced me to the countess, but she was so dread-
fully set up that it was impossible to get more than a
few icy words out of her. I was thankful enough
when more people arrived, so that I could retire to a
corner and sit down without being observed, for it was
a very uncomfortable situation to be standing, a
stranger, close to four fashionables and not dare to
speak to any of them because they did not address me.
After the company was all assembled, it numbered
eighteen persons, nearly all of whom were titled. I
was the only unimportant one in it. Liszt was so
sweet. He kept coming over to where I sat and talk-
ing to me, and promised me a ticket for a private con-
cert where only his compositions were to be performed.
He seemed determined to make me feel at home. He
played five times, but no great work, which was a dis-
appointment to me, particularly as the last three times
he played duetts with a leading Weimar artist named
Lassen, who was present. He made me come and turn
the leaves. Gracious 1 how he does read 1 It is very
difficult to turn for him, for he reads ever so far ahead
216 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
of what he is playing, and takes in fully five bars at a
glance, so you have to guess about where yon think he
would like to have the page over. Once I turned it
too late, and once too early, and he snatched it out of
my hand and whirled it back. Net quite the situation
for timorous me, was it?
May 21, To-day being my birthday, I thought
I must go to Liszt by way of celebration. I
wasn't really ready to play to him, but I took his sec-
ond Ballade with me, and thought I'd ask him some
questions about some hard places in it. He insisted
upon my playing it. When we came in he looked
indisposed and nervous, and there happened to be a
good many artists there. "We always lay our notes
on the table, and he takes them, looks them over, and
calls out what he'll have played. He remarked this
piece and called out " Wer spielt diese grosse machtige
Ballade von mir? (Who plays this great and mighty
ballad of mine?)" I felt as if he had asked "Who
killed Cock Kobin?" and as if I were the one who had
done it, only I did not feel like "owning up" to it quite
so glibly as the sparrow had, for Liszt seemed to be in
very bad humour, and had roughed the one who had
played before me. I finally mustered up my courage
and said "Ich" but told him I did not know it per-
fectly yet. He said, "No matter; play it." So I sat
down, expecting he would take my head off, but,
strange to say, he seemed to be delighted with my
playing, and said that I had "quite touched him."
Think of that from Liszt, and when I was playing his
own composition ! When I went out he accompanied
"IL FAUT YOUS Gi/TER?"
me to the door, took my hand in both of his and said^
" To-day you've covered yourself with glory 1" I told
him I had only begun it, and I hoped he would let me
play it again when I knew it better. "What," said
he, " I must pay you a still greater compliment, must
I?" "Of course/' said I. "Ilfautvousgdter?" "Oui?
said L He laughed.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Liszt'a Drawing-room. An Artist's Walking Party. Liszt's
Teaching.
WBIMAB, May 29, 1873.
I am having~the most heavenly time in Weimar,
studying with Liszt, and sometimes I can scarcely real-
ize that I am at that summit of my ambition, to be
his pupil I It was the Baroness von S.'s letter that
secured it for me, I am sure. He is so overrun with
people, that I think it is a wonder he is civil to
anybody, but he is the most amiable man I ever knew,
though he can be dreadful, too, when he chooses, and
he understands how to put people outside his door
in as short a space of time as it can be done. I go to
him three times a week. At home Liszt doesn't wear
his long abba's coat, but a short one, in which he
looks much more artistic. His figure is remarkably
slight, but his head is most imposing. It is so deli-
cious in that room of his ! It was all furnished and
put in order for him by the Grand Duchess herself.
The walls are pale gray, with a gilded border running
round the room, or rather two rooms, which are divided,
but not separated, by crimson curtains. The furni-
ture is crimson, and everything is so comfortable such
a contrast to German bareness and stiffness generally.
A splendid grand piano stands in one window (he
receives a new one every year). The other window Is
(218) ,
A MUSICAL MONARCH. 219
always wide open, and looks out on the park. There
is a dove-cote just opposite the window, and the doves
promenade up and down on tho roof of it, and fly
about, and sometimes whirr down on the sill itself.
That pleases Liszt. His writing-table is beautifully
fitted up with things that all match. Everything is
in bronze ink-stand, paper-weight, match-box, etc.,
and there is always a lighted candle standing on it by
which he and the gentlemen can light their cigars.
There is a carpet on the floor, a rarity in Germany,
and Liszt generally walks about, and smokes, and mut-
ters (he can never be said to talk], and calls upon one
or other of us to play. From time to time he will sit
down and play himself where a passage does not suit
him, and when he is in good spirits he makes little
jests all the time. His playing was a complete reve-
lation to me, and has given me an entirely new insight
into music. You cannot conceive, without hearing
him, how poetic he is, or the thousand nuances that he
can throw into the simplest thing, and he is equally
great on all sides. From the zephyr to the tempest,
the whole scale is equally at his command.
But Liszt is not at all like a master, and cannot be
treated like one. He is a monarch, and when he
extends his royal sceptre you can sit down and play to
him. You never can ask him to play anything for
you, no matter how much you're dying to hear it. If
he is in the mood he will play, if not, you must con-
tent yourself with a few remarks. You cannot even
offer to play yourself. You lay your notes on the table,
so he can see that you want to play, and sit down. He
220 MUSIC-STUDY IN GEEMANY.
takes a turn up and down the room, looks at the music,
and if the piece interests him, he will call upon you.
We bring the same piece to him but once, and but once
play it through.
Yesterday I had prepared for him his Au JBord
d'une Source. I was nervous and played badly. He
was not to be put out, however, but acted as if he
thought I had played charmingly, and then he sat
down and played the whole piece himself, oh, BO exqui-
sitely ! It made me feel like a wood-chopper. The
notes just seemed to ripple off his fingers' ends with
scarce any perceptible motion. As he neared the
close I remarked that that funny little expression came
over his face which he always has when he means to
surprise you, and he suddenly took an unexpected
chord and extemporized a poetical little end, quite
different from the written one. Do you wonder that
people go distracted over him?
Weimar is a lovely little place, and there are most
beautiful walks all about. Ascension being a holiday
here, all we pianists made up a walking party out to
Tiefurt, about two miles distant. We went in the
afternoon and returned in the evening. The walk lay
through the woods, and was perfectly exquisite the
whole way. As we came back in the evening the night-
ingales were singing, and I could not help wishing that
P. were there to hear them, as he has such a passion
for birds. There are cuckoos here, too, and you hear
them calling "cuckoo, cuckoo." Metzdorf and I
danced on the hard road, to the edification of all the
others. In Tiefurt we partook of a magnificent col-
LAURA KAHRER 221
lation consisting of a mug of beer, brown bread and
sausage ! Some of the party preferred coffee, among
whom was Metzdorf , who made us laugh by sticking
the coffee-pot into his inside coat pocket as soon as
he had poured out his first cup, in order to make sure
that the others didn't take more than their share ;
he would coolly take it out, help himself, and put
it back again. The servant who waited got frightened,
and thought he was going to steal it. Afterwards
when we were playing games and wanted the door
shut, the host came and opened it, and would not allow
us to shut it, because he said we might carry off some-
thing ! How's that !
WEIMAE, June 6, 1873.
When I first came there were only five of us who
studied with Liszt, but lately a good many others have
been there. Day before yesterday there came a young
lady who was a pupil of Henselt in St. Petersburg.
She is immensely talented, only seventeen years old,
and her name is Laura Kahrer. It is a very rare thing
to see a pupil of Henselt, for it is very difficult to get
lessons from him. He stands next to Liszt. This
Laura Kahrer plays everything that ever was heard of,
and she played a fugue of her own composition the
other day that was really vigorous and good. I was
quite astonished to^ hear how she had W9rked it up.
She has made a grand concert tour in Russia. I never
saw such a hand as she had. She could bend it back-
wards till it looked like the palm of her hand turned
222 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
inside out. She was an interesting little creature, with
dark eyes and hair, and one could see by her Turkish
necklace and numerous bangles that she had been
making money. She played with the greatest aplomb,
though her touch had a certain roughness about it to
my ear. She did not carry me away, but I haye not
heard many pieces from her.
However, all playing sounds barren by the side of
Liszt, for his is the living, breathing impersonation of
poetry, passion, grace, wit, coquetry, daring, tender-
ness and every other fascinating attribute that you
can think of ! Fm ready to hang myself half the time
when I've been to him. Oh, he is the most phenome-
nal being in every respect ! All that you've heard of
him would never give you an idea of him. In short,
he represents the whole scale of human emotion. He
is a many-sided prism, and reflects back the light in
all colours, no matter how you look at him. His pu-
pils adore <him, as in fact everybody else does, but it
is impossible to do otherwise with a person whose genius
flashes out of him all the time so, and whose character
is so winning.
One day this week, when we were with Liszt, he was
in such high spirits that it was as if he had suddenly
become twenty years younger. A student from the
Stuttgardt conservatory played a Liszt Concerto. His
name is V., and he is dreadfully nervous. Liszt kept
up a little running fire of satire all the time he was
playing, but in a good-natured way. I shouldn't have
minded it if it had been I. In fust, I think it would
have inspired me ; but poor V. hardly knew whether
LISZT ILLUSTRATING. 223
he was on his head or on his feet. It -was too funny.
Everything that Liszt says is so striking. For instance,
in one place where V. was playing the melody rather
feebly, Liszt suddenly took his seat at the piano and
said, " When Jplay, I always play for the people in
the gallery [by the gallery he meant the cock-loft,
where the rabble always sit, and where the places cost
next to nothing], so that those persons who pay only
five groschens for their seat also hear something. 53
Then he began, and I wish you could have heard him !
The sound didn't seem to be very loud, but it was pen-
etrating and far-reaching. When he had finished, he
raised one hand in the air, and you seemed to see all
the people in the gallery drinking in the sound. That
is the way Liszt teaches you. He presents an idea to
you, and it takes fast hold of your mind and sticks
there. Music is such a real, visible thing to him, that
he always has a symbol, instantly, in the material
world to express his idea. One day, when I was play-
ing, I made too much movement with my hand in a
rotatory sort of a passage where it was difficult to
avoid it, " Keep your hand still, FrSulein," said Liszt ;
"don't make omelette" I couldn't help laughing, it
hit me on the head so nicely. He is far too sparing
of his playing, unfortunately, and, like Tausig, only
sits down and plays a few bars at a time, generally.
It is dreadful when he stops, just as you are at the
height of your enjoyment, but he is so thoroughly
bla$6 that he doesn't care to show off, and doesn't like
to have any one pay him a compliment. Even at the
court it annoyed him so that the Grand Duchess told
224 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
people to take no notice when he rose from the
piano.
On the same day that Lizst was in such high good-
humour, a strange lady and her husband were there who
had made a long journey to Weimar, in the hope of
hearing him play. She waited patiently for a long
time through the lesson, and at last Liszt took com-
passion on her, and sat down with his favourite remark
that "the young ladies played a great deal better than
he did, but he would try his best to imitate them/ 3
and then played something of his own so wonderfully,
that when he had finished we all stood there like posts,
feeling that there was nothing to be said. But he, as
if he feared we might burst out into eulogy, got up in-
stantly and went over to a friend of his who was stand-
ing there, and who lives on an estate near "Weimar,
and said, in the most commonplace tone imaginable,
" By the way, how about those eggs? Are you going
to send me some ?" It seems to be not only a pro-
found bore to him, but really a sort of sensitiveness
on his part. How he can bear to hear m play, I can-
not imagine. It must grate on his ear terribly, I think,
because everything must sound expressionless to him
in comparison with his own marvellous conception. I
assure you, no matter how beautifully we play any
piece, the minute Liszt plays it, you would scarcely
recognize it ! His touch and his peculiar use of the
pedal are two secrets of his playing, and then he seems
to dive down in the most hidden thoughts of the com-
poser, and fetch them up to the surface, so that they
gleam out at you one by one, like stars !
VON BtJLOW. 225
The more I see and hear Liszt, the more I am lost
in amazement ! I can neither eat nor sleep on those
days that I go to him. All my musical studies till
now have been a mere going to school, a preparation
for him. I of teii think of what Tausig said once :
"Oh, compared with Liszt, we other artists are all
blockheads." I did not believe it at the time, but Pve
seen the truth of it, and in studying Liszt' s playing, I
can see where Tausig got many of his own wonderful
peculiarities. I think he was the most like Liszt of
all the army that have had the privilege of his instruc-
tion. I began this letter on Sunday, and it is now
Tuesday. Yesterday I went to Liszt, and found that
Btilow had just arrived. None of the other scholars
had come, for a wonder, and I was just going away,
when Liszt came out, asked me to come in a moment,
and introduced me to Btilow. There I was, all alone
with these two great artists in Liszt's salon! "Wasn't
that a situation? I only stayed a few minutes, of
course, though I should have liked to spend hours,
but our conversation was in the highest degree amus-
ing while I was there. Btilow had just returned from
his grand concert tour, and had been in London for
the first time. In a few months he had given one
hundred and twenty concerts ! He is a fascinating
creature, too, like all these master artists, but entirely
different from Liszt, being small, quick, and airy in
ids movements, and having one of the boldest and
proudest foreheads I ever saw. He looks like strength
of will personified. Liszt -gazed at "his Hans," as he
calls him, with the fondest t>ride, and seemed perfectly
226 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
happy over his arrival. It was like his beautiful
courtesy to call me in and introduce me to Bulow in-
stead of letting me go away. He thought I had come
to play to him, and was unwilling to have me take
that trouble for nothing, though he must have wished
me in Jericho. You would think I paid him a hun-
dred dollars a lesson, instead of his condescending to
his valuable time to me for nothing.
CHAPTER XIX.
Liszt's Expression in Playing. Liszt on Conservatories,
Ordeal of Liszt's Lessons. Liszt's Kindness.
WEIMAR, June 19, 1873.
In Liszt I can at last say that my ideal in something
has been realized. He goes far beyond all that I
expected. Anything so perfectly beautiful as he looks
-when he sits at the piano I never saw, and yet he is
almost an old man now.* I enjoy him as I would an
exquisite work of art. His personal magnetism is
immense, and I can scarcely bear it when he plays.
He can make me cry all he chooses, and that is saying
a good deal, because I've heard so much music, and
never have been affected by it. Even Joachim, whom
I think divine, never moved me. When Liszt plays
anything pathetic, it sounds as if he had been through
everything, and opens all one's wounds afresh. All
that one has ever suffered comes before one again.
Who was it that I heard say once, that years ago he
saw Clara Schumann sitting in tears near the plat-
form, during one of Liszt's performances? Liszt
knows well the influence he has on people, for
he always fixes his eyes on some one of us when he
plays, and I believe he tries to wring our hearts.
When he plays a passage, and goes pearling down the
key-board, he often looks over at me and smiles, to see
whether I am appreciating it.
* Liszt was born in 1811.
(227)
228 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
But I doubt if he feels any particular emotion him-
self /when he is piercing you through with his rendering.
He is simply hearing every tone, knowing exactly what
effect he wishes to produce and how to do it. In fact,
he is practically two persons in one the listener and
the performer. But what immense self-command that
implies ! No matter how fast he plays you always
feel that there is "plenty of time" no need to be
anxious ! You might as well try to move one of the
pyramids as fluster him. Tausig possessed this re-
pose in a technical way, and his touch was marvellous ;
but he never drew the tears to your eyes. He could
not wind himself through all the subtle labyrinths of
the heart as Liszt does.
Liszt does such bewitching little things ! The other
day, for instance, Fraulein Gaul was playing some-
thing to him, and in it were two runs, and after each
run two staccato chords. She did them most beauti-
fully, and struck the chords immediately after. "No,
no," said Liszt, " after you make a run you must wait
a minute before you strike the chords, as if in admir-
ation of your own performance. You must pause, as
if to say, 'How nicely I did that/" Then he sat
down and made a run himself, waited a second, and
then struck the two chords in the treble, saying as he
did so "Bra-w," and then he played again, struck
the other chord, and said again " Bra-vo," and posi-
tively, it was as if the piano had softly applauded !
That is the way he plays everything. It seems as if
the piano were speaking with a human tongue.
Our class has swelled to about a dozen persons now,
LISZT AKGBY. 229
and a good many others come and play to Mm once or
twice and then go. As I wrote to L. the other day,
that dear little scholar of Henselt, Praulein Kahrer,
was one, but she only stayed three days. She was a
most interesting little creature, and told some funny
stories about Henselt, who she says has a most violent
temper, and is very severe. She said that one day he
was giving a lesson to Princess Katherina (whoever
that is), and he was so enraged over her playing that
he snatched away the music, and dashed it to the
ground. The Princess, however, did not lose her
equanimity, but folded her arms and said, "Who
shall pick it up?" And he had to bend and restore
it to its place.
I've never seen Liszt look angry but once, but
then he was terrific. Like a lion ! It was one day
when a student from the Stuttgardt conservatory at-
tempted to play the Sonata Appassionata. He had a
good deal of technique, and a moderately good con-
ception of it, but still he was totally inadequate to the
wor k an( j indeed, only a mighty artist like Tausig or
Billow ought to attempt to play it. It was a hot after-
noon, and the clouds had been gathering for a storm.
As the Stuttgardter played the opening notes of
the sonata, the tree-tops suddenly waved wildly, and a
low growl of thunder was heard muttering in the dis-
tance. " Ah," said Liszt, who was standing at the
window, with his delicate quickness of perception, te a
fitting accompaniment. 7 ' (You know Beethoven wrote
the Appassionata one night when he was caught in a
thunder-storm.) If Liszt had only played it himself,
230 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
the whole thing would have been like a poem. But he
walked up and down the room and forced himself to
listen, though he could scarcely bear it, I could see.
A few times he pushed the student aside and played
a few bars himself, and we saw the passion leap up
into his face like a glare of sheet lightning. Any-
thing so magnificent as it was, the little that he did
play, and the startling individuality of his concep-
tion, I never heard or imagined. I felt as if I did not
know whether I were "in the body or out of the body/'
GLOEIOUS BEIKG I He is a two-edged sword that
cuts through everything*
The Stuttgardter made some such glaring mistakes,
not in the notes, but in rhythm, etc., that at last Liszt
burst out with, <Tou come from Stuttgardt, and play
like that!" and then he went on in a tirade against con-
servatories and teachers in general. He was like a
thunder-storm himself. He frowned, and bent his head,
and his long hair fell over his face, while the poor Stutt-
gardter sat there like a beaten hound. Oh, it was awful !
If it had been I, I think I should have withered entirely
away, for Liszt is always so amiable that the contrast was
all the stronger. "Aber das geht Sie nichts an (But this
does not concern you)," said he, in a conciliatory tone,
suddenly stopping himself and smiling. ".Spfelen Sie
weiter (Play on)." He meant that it was not at the
student but at the conservatories that he had been
angry.
Liszt hasn't the nervous irritability common to artists,
but on the contrary his disposition is the most exquisite
and tranquil in the world. We have been there inces-
ORDEAL OF LISZT'S LESSONS, 231
santly, and I've never seen him ruffled except two or
three times, and then he was tired and not himself, and
it was a most transient thing. When I think what a
little savage Tausig often was, and how cuttingly sarcastic
Kullak could be at times, I am astonished that Liszt so
rarely loses his temper. He has the power of turning
the best side of every one outward, and also the most
marvellous and instant appreciation of what that side is.
If there is anything in you, you may be sure that Liszt
will know it Whether he chooses to let you think he
does, may, however, be another matter.
WBIMAB, July 15, 1873.
Liszt is such an immense, inspiring force that one has
to try and stride forward with him at double rate,
even if with double expenditure, too 1 To-day I'm more
dead than alive, as we had a lesson from him yesterday
that lasted four hours. There were twenty artists present,
all of whom were anxious to play/and as he was in high
good-humour, he played ever so much himself in between.
It was perfectly magnificent, but exhausting and exciting
to the last degree. When I come home from the lessons I
fling myself on the sofa, and feel as if I never wanted to
get up again. It is a fearful day's work every time I go
to him. First, four hours' practice in the morning.
Then a nervous, anxious feeling that takes away my appe-
tite, and prevents me from eating my dinner. And then
several hours at Liszt's, where one succession of concertos,
fantasias, and all sorts of tremendous things are played.
You never know before whom you must play there, for
232 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
it is the musical headquarters of the world. Directors
of conservatories, composers, artists, aristocrats, all come-
in, and you have to bear the brunt of it as best you can.
The first month I was here, when there were only five of
us, it was quite another matter, but now the room is
crowded every time.
Liszt gave a matinee the other day at which I played
a" Soiree de Vienne," by Tausig awfully hard, but very
brilliant and peculiar. I don't know how I ever got
through it, for I had only been studying it a few days,
and didn't even know it by heart, nor had I played it to
Liszt. He only told me the evening before, too, about
eight o'clock" To-morrow I give a matinee ; bring your
Soiree de Vienne." I rushed home and practiced till
ten, and then I got up early the next morning and prac-
ticed a few hours. The matinee was at eleven o'clock.
First, Liszt played himself, then a young lady sang sev-
eral songs, then there was a piece for piano and flute
played by Liszt and a flutist, and then I came. I was
just as frightened as I could be ! Metzdorf (my Rus-
sian friend) and Urspruch sat down by me to give me
courage, and to turn the leaves, but Liszt insisted upon
turning himself, and stood behind me and did it in his
dexterous way. He says it is an art to turn the leaves
properly ! He was so kind, and whenever I did anything
well he would call out "charmant!" to encourage me.
It is considered a great compliment to be asked to play
at a matinee, and I don't ^know why Liszt paid it to me
at the expense of others who were there who play far
better than I do among them a young lady from Nor-
way, lately come, who is a most superb pianist. She
LISZT COMPASSIONATE. 233
was a pupil of Kullak's, too, but it is four years since she
left him, and she has been concertizing a good deal
Yesterday she played Schumann's A minor concerto
magnificently. I was surprised that Liszt had not
selected her, but one can never tell what to expect
from Liszt. With him "nothing is to be presumed on
or despaired of " as the proverb says. He is so full of
moods and phases that you have to have a very sharp
perception even to begin to understand him, and he
can cut you all up fine without your ever guessing
it. He rarely mortifies any one by an open snub, but
what is perhaps worse, he manages to let the rest of the
class know what he is thinking while the poor victim
remains quite in darkness about it ! Yes, he can do very
cruel things.
After all, though, people generally have their own
assurance to thank, or their own want of tact, when they
do not get on with Liszt. If they go to him full of
themselves, or expecting to make an impression on
Mm, or merely for the sake of saying they have been
with him, instead of presenting themselves to sit at his
feet in humility, as they ought, and learn whatever he is
willing to impart he soon finds it out, and treats them
accordingly. Some one once asked Liszt, what he would
have been had he not been a musician. "The first
diplomat in Europe," was the reply. With this Machia-
vellian bent it is not surprising that he sometimes
indulges himself in playing off the conceited or the
obtuse for the benefit of the bystanders. But the real
basis of his nature is compassion. The bruised reed he
does not break, nor the humble and docile heart despise!
234 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
Fraulein Gaul tells a characteristic story about the
" Meister," as we call Liszt. "When she first came to him
a year or two ago, she brought him one day Chopin's B
flat minor Scherzo one of those stock pieces that
every artist must learn, and that has also been thrummed
to death by countless tyros. Liszt looked at it, and
to her fright and dismay cried out in a fit of impatience,
"No, I won't hear it!" and dashed it angrily into the
corner. The next day he went to see her, apologized for
his outburst of temper, and said that as a penance for it
he would force himself to give her not one, but two or
three lessons on the Scherzo, and in the most minute
and careful manner -which accordingly he did ! Fancy
any music teacher you ever heard of, so humbling him-
self to a little girl of fifteen, and then remember that
Tausig, the greatest of modern virtuosi, said of Liszt,
" No mortal can measure himself with Liszt. He dwells
upon a solitary height."
But you need not fear that I am "giving up American
standards" because I reverence Liszt so boundlessly.
Everything is topsy-turvy in Europe according to our
moral ideas, and they don't have what we call "men"
over here. But they do have artists that we cannot ap-
proach ! It is as a Master in Art that I look at and write
of Liszt, and his mere presence is to his pupils such
stimulus and joy, that when I leave him I shall feel I
have Isft the best part of my life behind !
CHAPTER XX.
Liszt's Compositions. His Playing and Teaching of Beetho-
ven. His "Effects" in Piano-playing. Excursion
to Jena. A New Music Master.
WEIMAR, July 24, 1873.
Liszt is going away to-day. He was to have left sev-
eral days ago, but the Emperor of Austria or Kussia (I
don't know which), came to visit the Grand Duke, and
of course Liszt was obliged to be on hand and to spend
a day with them. He is such a grandee himself that
kings and emperors are quite matters of course to him.
Never was a man so courted and spoiled as he ! The
Grand Duchess herself frequently visits him. But he
never allows anyone to ask him to play, and even she
doesn't venture it. That is the only point in which one
sees Liszt's sense of his own greatness; otherwise his
manner is remarkably unassuming.
Liszt will be gone until the middle of August, and I
shall be thankful to have a few weeks of repose, and to
be able to study more quietly. With him one is at high
pressure all the time, and I have gained a good many
more ideas from him than I can work up in a hurry. In
fact, Liszt has revealed to me an entirely new idea of
piano-playing. He is a wonderful composer, by the way,
and that is what I was unprepared for in him. His ora-
torio of Christus was brought out here this summer, and
many strangers and celebrities came to hear it, Wagner
236 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
among others. It was magnificent, and one of the
noblest, and decidedly the grandest oratorio that I ever
heard. I've never had time to write home about it, for
I felt that it required a dissertation in itself to do it jus-
tice. I wish it could be performed in Boston, for his
orchestral and choral works, I am sorry to say, make
their way very slowly in Germany. u Liszt helped Wag-
ner/' said he to me, sadly, "but who will help Liszt?
though, compared with Opera it is as much harder for
Oratorio to conquer a place as it is for a pianist to
achieve success when compared to a singer." So he
feels as if things were against him, though his heart and
soul are so bound up in sacred music, that he told me it
had become to him " the only thing worth living for."
He really seems to care almost nothing for his piano-
playing or for his piano compositions.
And yet, what beauty is there in those compositions !
In Berlin I had always been taught that Liszt was a
would-be composer, that he could not write a melody,
that he had no originality, and that his compositions
were merely glitter to dazzle the eyes of the public.
How unjust and untrue have I found all these asser-
tions to be ! Here I have an opportunity of hearing
his piano works en masse, and day by day (since all
the young artists are playing them), and my previous
ideas have been entirely reversed. If Liszt is anything,
he is original. One can see that at a glance, simply
by imagining his music taken out. Where is there
anything that would fill its place? When artists wish
to make an "effect" and stir up the public "to fuse
the leaden thousands," as Chopin expressed it what
LISZT'S COMPOSITIONS. 237
do they play ? LISZT ! Not only is his music brilliant
not only does he pour this wealth of pearls and dia-
monds down the key-board, but his pieces rise to great
climaxes, are grandiose in style, overleap all bound-
aries, and whirl you away with the veiemence of pas-
sion. Then what lightness of touch in the lesser mor-
ceaux, where he is often the acme of tenderness, grace
and fairy-like sportiveness, while in the melancholy
ones, what subtle feeling 'after the emotions curled up
in the remote corners of the heart ! They are so rich in
harmony, so weird, so wild, that when you hear them
you are like a sea-weed cast upon the bosom of the
ocean. And then what could be more deep and poetic
than Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert's and Wagner's
songs ? They are altogether exquisite. Finally, Liszt's
Compositions stand the severest test of merit. They
wear well. You can play them a longtime and never
weary of them. In short, they embrace every element
except the classic, and the question is, whether these
airy or intense ideas that appeal to you through their
veils of shimmer and sheen are not a sort of classics
in their own way !
Liszt's Ohristus is arranged for piano for four hands,
and I wish I had it, and also Billow's great edi-
tion of Beethoven's sonatas Oh! you cannot conceive
anything like Liszt's playing of Beethoven. When he
plays a sonata it is as if the composition rose from the
dead and stood transfigured before you. You ask
yourself, "Did /ever play that?" But it bores him
so dreadfully to hear the sonatas, that though I've
heard him teach a good many, I haven't had the cour-
238 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
age to bring him one. I suppose lie is sick of the sound
of them, or perhaps it is because he feels obliged to be
conscientious in teaching Beethoven !
When one of the young pianists brings Liszt a so-
nata, he puts on an expression of resignation and gen-
erally begins a half protest which he afterward thinks
better of. "Well, go on," he will say, and then he
proceeds to be very strict. He always teaches Bee-
thoven with notes, which shows how scrupulous he is
about him, for, of course, he knows all the sonatas by
heart. He has Billow's edition, which he opens and
lays on the end of the grand piano. Then as he walks
up and down he can stop and refer to it and point out
passages, as they are being played, to the rest of the
class. Btilow probably got many of his ideas from
Liszt. One day when Mr. Orth was playing the Alle-
gro of the Sonata Op. 110, Liszt insisted upon having
it done in a particular way, and made him go back
and repeat it over and over again. One line of it is
particularly hard. Liszt made every one in the class
sit down and try it* Most of them failed, which
amused him. "Ah, yes," said he, laughing, ";when I
once begin to play the pedagogue I am not to be out-
done !" and then he related as an illustration of his
"pedagogism" a little anecdote of a former pupil of
his, now an eminent artist. " I liked young M. very
much/' said he. "He played beautifully, but he was
inclined to be lazy and to take things easily. One
morning he brought me Chopin's E minor concerto,
and he rather skimmed over that difficult passage in the
middle of the first movement as if he hadn't taken the
CHOPIN A MIMIC. 239
trouble really to study it. His execution was not clean.
So I thought I would give him a lesson, and I kept him
playing those two pages over and over for an hour
or two until he had mastered them. His arms
must have been ready to break when he got
through ! At the next lesson there was no M. I sent
to know why he did not appear. He replied that he
had been out hunting and had hurt his arm so that he
could not play. At the lesson following he accord-
ingly presented himself with his arm in a sling. But
I always suspected it was a stratagem on his part to
avoid playing, and that nothing really ailed him. He
had had enough for one while/' added Liszt, with a
mischievous smile.
On Monday I had a most delightful tete-i-tete with
Liszt, quite by chance. I had occasion to call upon
him for something, and, strange to say, he was alone,
sitting by his table and writing. Generally all sorts
of people are up there. He insisted upon my staying a
while, and we had the most amusing and entertaining
conversation imaginable. It was the first time I ever
heard Liszt really talk, for he contents himself mostly
with making little jests. He is full of esprit. We
were speaking of the faculty of mimicry, and he told
me such a funny little anecdote about Chopin. He
said that when he and Chopin were young together,
somebody told him that Chopin had a remarkable
talent for mimicry, and so he said to Chopin, "Come
round to my rooms this evening and show off this
talent of yours." So Chopin came. He had purchased
a blonde wig ("I was very blonde at that time," said
240 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
Liszt), which he put on, and got himself up in one of
Liszt's suits. Presently an acquaintance of Liszt's came
in, Chopin went to meet him instead of Liszt, and
took off his yoice and manner so perfectly, that
the man actually mistook him for Liszt, and made an
appointment with him for the next day "and there I
was in the room/' said Liszt. Wasn't that remark-
able?
Another evening I was there about twilight and
Liszt sat at the piano looking through a new oratorio,
which had just come out in Paris upon " Christus,"
the same subject that his own oratorio was on. He
asked me to turn for him, and evidently was not inter-
ested, for he would skip whole pages and begin again,
here and there. There was only a single lamp, and
that rather a dim one, so that the room was all in
shadow, and Liszt wore his 'Merlin-like aspect. I asked
him to tell me how he produced a certain ef ect he
makes in his arrangement of the ballad in Wagner's
Flying Dutchman. He looked very "fin" as the
French say, but did not reply. He never gives a direct
answer to a direct question, " Ah," said I, "you won't
tell." He smiled, and then immediately played the
passage. It was a long arpeggio, and the effect he made
was, as I had supposed, a pedal effect. He kept the
pedal down throughout, and played the beginning of
the passage in a grand rolling sort of manner, and
then all the rest of it with a very pianissimo touch,
and so lightly, that the continuity of the arpeggios was
destroyed, audthe notes seemed to be just strewn in,
as if you broke a wreath of flowers and scattered them
"STORMS ARE MY FORTE". 241
according to your fancy. It is a most striking and
beautiful effect, and I told Mm I didn't see how he
ever thought of it. " Oh, I've invented a great many
things/'said he,indiff erently "this,i or instance/' and
he began playing a double roll of octaves in chromatics
in the bass of the piano. It was very grand, and made
the room reverberate. " Magnificent," said I, "Did you
ever hear me do a storm ?" said he. " No." " Ah, you
ought to hear me do a storm I Storms are my forte!"
Then to himself between his teeth, while a weird look
came into his eyes as if he could indeed rule the blast,
"Da KBACHEN die JS&ume (Then crash the trees !)"
How ardently I wished he would "play a storm," but
of course he didn't, and he presently began to trifle
over the keys in his blasS style. I suppose he couldn't
quite work himself up to the effort, but that look and
tone told how Liszt would do it. Alas, that we poor
mortals here below should share so often the fate of
Moses, and have only a glimpse of the Promised Land>
and that without the consolation of being Moses!
But perhaps, after all, the vision is better than the
reality. We see the whole land, even if but at a dis-
tance, instead of being limited merely to the spot
where our foot treads.
Once again I saw Liszt in a similar mood, though
his expression was this time comfortably rather than
wildly destructive. It was when Fraulein Eemmertz
was playing his B flat concerto to him. There were
two grand pianos in the room, and she was sitting at
one, and he at the other, accompanying and interpo-
lating as he felt disposed. Finally they came to a
16
242 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
place where there were a series of passages beginning
with both hands in the middle of the piano, and going
in opposite directions to the ends of the key-board,
ending each time in a short, sharp chord. " Alles
zum Fenster hinaus werfen (Pitch everything out of
the window)/' said he, in a cozy, easy sort of way, and
he began playing these passages and giving every chord
a whack as if he were splitting everything up and fling-
ing it out, and that with such enjoyment, that you felt
as if you'd like to bear a hand, too, in the work of gen-
eral demolition ! But I never shall forget Liszt's look
as he so lazily proposed to " pitch everything out of
the window." It reminded me of the expression of a
big tabby-cat as it sits and purrs away, blinking its
eyes and seemingly half asleep, when suddenly ! !
out it strikes with both its claws, and woe be to what-
ever is within its reach I Perhaps, after all, the secret
of Liszt's fascination is this power of intense and wild
emotion that you feel he possesses, together with the
. nost perfect control over it.
Liszt sometimes strikes wrong notes when he plays,
but it does not trouble him in the least. On the con-
trary, he rather enjoys it. He reminds me of one of
the cabinet ministers in Berlin, of whom it is said that
he has an amazing talent for making blunders, but a
still more amazing one for getting out of them and
covering them up. Of Liszt the first part of this is
not true, for if he strikes a wrong note it is simply be-
cause he chooses to be careless. But the last part of
it applies to him eminently. It always amuses him
instead of disconcerting him when he comes down
LISZT MAKING A MISTAKE. 243
squarely wrong, as it affords him an opportunity of
displaying his ingenuity and giving things such a turn
that the false note will appear simply a key leading to
new and unexpected beauties. An accident of this
kind happened to_him in one of the Sunday matinees,
when the room was full of distinguished people and
of his pupils. He was rolling up the piano in arpeg-
gios in a very grand manner indeed, when he struck a
semi-tone short of the high note upon which he had
intended to end. I caught my breath and wondered
whether he was going to leave us like that, in mid-air,
as it were, and the harmony unresolved, or whether he
would be reduced to the humiliation of correcting him-
self like ordinary mortals, and taking the right chord.
A half smile came over his face, as much as to say
" Don't fancy that this little thing disturbs me/' and
he instantly went meandering down the piano in har-
mony with the false note he had struck, and then rolled
deliberately up in a second grand sweep, this time
striking true. I never saw a more delicious piece of
cleverness. It was so quick-witted and so exactly
characteristic of Liszt Instead of giving you a chance
to say, " He has made a mistake/' he forced you to
say, " He has shown how to get out of a mistake."
Another day I heard him pass from one piece into
another by making the finale of the first one play the
part of prelude to the second. So exquisitely were the
two woven together that you could hardly tell where
the one left off and the other began. Ah me I Such
a facile grace ! Nobody will ever equal him, with
those rolling basses and those flowery trebles. And
244 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
then his Adagios ! When you hear him in one of those,
you feel that his playing has got to that point when
it is purified from all earthly dross and is an exhala-
tion of the soul that mounts straight to heaven.
WBIMAE, August 8, 1873.
The other day we all made an excursion to Jena,
which is about three hours 5 drive from here. "We went
in carriages in a long train, and pulled up at a hotel
named The Bear. There we took our second break-
fast. There was to be a concert at five in a church,
where some of Liszt's music was to be performed.
After breakfast we went to the church, where Liszt
met us, and the rehearsal took place. After the re-
hearsal we went to dinner. We had three long tables
which Liszt arranged to suit Bimself, his own place be-
ing in the middle. He always manages every little
detail with the greatest tact, and is very particular
never to let two ladies or two gentlemen sit together,
but always alternately a lady and a gentleman, "/m-
mr eine lunte Reitie maclien (Always have a little
variety)," said he. The dinner was a very entertain-
ing one to me, because I could converse with Liszt
and hear all he said, as he was nearly opposite me. I
was in very high spirits that day, and as Kellerman,
Bendix and Urspruch were all near me, too, we had
endless fun. We had new potatoes for dinner, boiled
with their skins on, and Liszt threw one at me, and I
caught it. There was another young artist there from
Brussels named Gurickx, whom I didn't know, because
245
he spoke only French, and as I do not speak it, we
had never exchanged words in the class. I wasn't
paying any attention to him, therefore, when suddenly
my left-hand neighbour touched my arm. I looked
round and he handed me a flower made of bread
"from Monsieur Gurickx." I wish you could have
seen it I It had the effect of a tube rose. Every little
leaf and petal was as delicately turned as if nature
herself had done it. The bread was fresh, and Gur-
ickx had worked it between his fingers to the consist-
ency of clay, and then modelled these little flowers
which he stuck on to a stem. It was so artistically
done, and it was such a dainty little thing to do, that
I saw at once that he was interesting and that he pos-
sessed that marvellous French taste.
Since then we have become very good friends, and he
is teaching me to speak French. He plays beautifully,
and was trained in the famous Brussels conservatory, of
which Dupont is the head. Servais also got his musical
education there. They both advise me to go there for a
year, as Dupont is a very great master indeed, and Brus-
sels is the very home and centre of art and taste of
every description a "little Paris" but more earnest,
more German. Gurickx went through the art-school in
Brussels as well as the conservatory, so that he paints as
well as plays, and he had quite a struggle with himself to
decide to which art he should devote himself. His style
is the grandiose and fiery. Eubinstein is his model,
and he plays Liszt's Rhapsodies as I never heard any
one else. He brings out all their power, brilliancy and
careering wildness, and makes the greatest sensation of
246 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
them. Such tremendous sweeping chords ! Liszt him*
self doesn't play the chords as well as Gurickx ; perhaps
because he does not care now to exert the strength.
But to return to Jena. After dinner Liszt said, "Now
we'll go to Paradise." So we put on our things, and
proceeded to walk along the river to a place called Par-
adise, on account of its loveliness. We passed the Uni-
versity, on one corner of which is a tablet with "W. von
Goethe" written against the wall of the room which
Goethe occupied. It seemed strange to me to be passing
the room of my beloved Goethe, with our equally
beloved Liszt ! This walk along the river wag enchant-
ing. The current was very rapid, and the willows were
all blowing in the breeze. There is an odd triangular-
shaped hill that rises on one side very boldly and abruptly,
called the Fox's Head. The way was under a double
row of tall trees, which met at the top and formed a
green arch over our heads. It was all breeze and fresh-
ness, and the sunlight struck picturesquely aslant the
hill-sides. I started to walk with Liszt, but he was so
surrounded that it was difficult to get near him, so I
walked instead with an interesting young artist named
0., who was at once extraordinarily ugly and extremely
clever.
After our walk we went to the concert, wnich, was
lovely, and then at seven we were all invited to tea at
the house of a friend of Liszt's. He was a very tall
man, and he had a very tall and hospitable daughter,
nearly as big as himself, who received us very cordially.
The tea was all laid on tables in the garden, and the
sausages were cooking over afire made on the grounds.
A NEW MUSIC MASTER. 247
We sat down pell-mell, anywhere, I next to Liszt, who
kept putting things on my plate. When supper was
over he retreated to a little summer house with some
of his friends, to smoke. We sauntered round the grass
plat in front of it until Liszt called us to come in and
sit by him, which we did until he was ready to go.
I've heard of a new music master lately. When my
friend Miss B. was here, she told me that she had met a
"Herr Director Deppe" in Berlin, after I left, and had
told him all about me and my struggle to conquer the
piano. He seemed very much interested and said, "0,
if she had only come to me ! /would have helped her/'
and from all I can hear I think he must be the man
for me. He is interested in Sherwood, who used to
talk to me about him last winter. Sherwood says he
is wholly disinterested and devoted to art, and lives
entirely in music, and that he is a noble-hearted man,
and the " most musical person he ever met" Sher-
wood often wavers between him and Kullak, and Deppe
would like to teach Sherwood if he could, simply out
of interest for him. Deppe has a pupil whom he
has trained entirely himself, and whom he is going to
bring out next winter. Sherwood says he never heard
anything so beautiful as her playing. She is spending
the summer near Deppe, and he hears her play the
programme she is going to give in Berlin next winter,
every day. Think what immense certainty that must
give!
CHAPTER XXL
Liszt's Playing. Tausig. Excursion to Sondershausen,
WEIMAB, August S3, 1873.
Liszt has returned from his trip, and I haye played
to him twice this week, and am to go again on Mon-
day, He praised me very much on Tuesday, and said
I played admirably. I knew he was pleased, because
whenever he corrected me he would say, "ITein, Kind-
ohen" in such a gentle way ! "Kind" is the German
for child, and "Kindchen" is a diminutive, and when-
ever he calls you that you can tell he has a leaning
toward you.
This week is the first time that I have been able to
play to him without being nervous, or that my fingers
have felt warm and natural. It has been a fearful
ordeal, truly, to play there, for not only was Liszt him-
self present, but such a crowd of artists, all ready to
pick flaws in your playing, and to say, " She hasn't got
much talent." I am so glad that I stayed until Liszt's
return, for now the rush is over, and he has much
more time for those of us who are left, and plays a
great deal more himself. Yesterday he played us a
study of Paganini's, arranged by himself, and also his
Campanella. I longed for M,, as she is so fond of
the Campanella. Liszt gave it with a velvety softness,
clearness, brilliancy and pearliness of touch that was
inimitable. And' oh, his grace ! Nobody can com-
(248)
THE PIANIST MOSCEELES. 249
pare with him ! Everybody else sounds heavy beside
him!
However, I have felt some comfort in knowing that
it is not Liszt's genius alone that makes him such a
player. He has gone through such technical studies
as no one else has except Tausig, perhaps. He plays
everything under the sun in the way of Etuden has
played them, I mean. On Tuesday I got him talk-
ing about the composers who were the fashion when he
was a young fellow in Paris Kalkbrenner, Herz,
etc. and I asked him if he could not play us some-
thing by Kalkbrenner. " yes ! I must have a few
things of Kalkbrenner's in my head still/ 3 and then he
played part of a concerto. Afterward he went on to
speak of Herz, and said: "I'll play you a little study
of Herz's that is infamously hard. It is a stupid little
theme," and then he played the theme, "but now pay
attention." Then he played the study itself. It was
a most hazardous thing, where the hands kept crossing
continually with great rapidity, and striking notes in
the most difficult positions. It made us all laugh ; and
Liszt hit the notes every time, though it was disgust-
ingly hard, and as he said himself, "he used to get all
in a heat over it." He had evidently studied it so
well that he could never forget it. He went on to
speak of Moscheles and of his compositions. He said
that when between thirty and forty years of age,
Moscheles played superbly, but as he grew older he
became too old-womanish and set in his ways and
then he took off Moscheles, and played his Etuden in
his style. It was very funny. But it showed how
250 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
Liszt has studied everything, and the universality of
his knowledge, for he knows Tausig's and Rubinstein's
studies as well as Kalkbrenner and Herz. There can-
not be many persons in the world who keep up with
the whole range of musical literature as he does.
Liszt loved Tausig as his own child, and is always
delighted when we play any of his music. His
death was an awful blow to Liszt, for he used to say,
" He will be the inheritor of my playing." I suppose he
thought he would live again in him, for he always
says, "Never did such talent come under my hands."
I would give anything to have seen them together, for
Tausig was a wonderfully clever and captivating
man, and I can imagine he must have fascinated
Liszt. They say he was the naughtiest boy that ever
was heard of, and caused Liszt no end of trouble and
vexation ; but he always forgave him, and after the
vexation was past Liszt would pat him on the head
and say, "Carlchen, entweder wirst da em grosser
Lump oder ein grosser Meister (You'll turn out
either a great blockhead or a great master)." That is
Liszt all over. He is so indulgent that in considera-
tion of talent he will forgive anything.
Tausig's father, who was himself a music-master,
took him to Liszt when he was fourteen years old,
hoping that Liszt would receive the little marvel as a
pupil and proteg&
But Liszt would not even hear the boy play, " I
have had," he declared positively, " enough of child
prodigies. They never come to much." Tausig's father
apparently acquiesced in the reply, but while he and
LISZT IN CONCERT. Sol
Liszt were drinking wine and smoking together, he
managed to smuggle the child on to the piano-stool
behind Liszt, and signed to him to hegin to play. The
little Tausig plunged into Chopin's A flat Polonaise
with such fire and boldness that Liszt turned his eagle
head, and after a few bars cried, "I take him!" I
heard Liszt say once that he could not endure child
prodigies. "I have no time," said he, "for these artists
die WEBDEST wllen (that are to be) !"
WEIKAB, Septemeber 9, 1873.
This week has been one of great excitement in
Weimar, on account of the wedding of the son of the
Grand Duke. All sorts of things have been going on,
and the Emperor and Empress came on from Berlin.
There have been a great many rehearsals at the theatre
of different things that were played, and of course
Liszt took a prominent part in the arrangement of
the music. He directed the Ninth Symphony, and
played twice himself with orchestral accompaniments.
One of the pieces he played was Weber's Polonaise in
E major, and the other was one of his own Ehapsodies
Hongroises. Of these I was at the rehearsal. When
he came out on the stage the applause was tremend-
ous, and enough in itself to excite and electrify one.
I was enchanted to have an opportunity to hear
Liszt as a concert player. The director of the orches-
tra here is a beautiful pianist and composer himself,
as well as a splendid conductor, but it was easy to see
252 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
that lie had to get all his wits together to follow Liszt,
who gave full rein to his imagination, and let the
tempo fluctuate as he felt inclined. As for Liszt, he
scarcely looked at the keys, and it was astounding to
see his hands go rushing up and down the piano and
perform passages of the utmost rapidity and difficulty,
while his head was turned all the while towards the
orchestra, and he kept up a running fire of remarks
with them continually. "You violins, strike in sharp
here." " You trumpets, not too loud there," etc. He
did everything with the most immense aplomb, and
without seeming to pay any attention to his hands,
which moved of themselves as if they were independ-
ent beings and had their own brain and everything !
He never did the same thing twice alike. If it were a
scale the first time, he would make it in double or
broken thirds the second, and so on, constantly sur-
prising you with some new turn. While you were ad-
miring the long roll of the wave, a sudden spray
would be dashed over you, and make you catch your
breath ! No, never was there such a player ! The
nervous intensity of his touch takes right hold of you.
When he had finished everybody shouted and clapped
their hands like mad, and the orchestra kept up such a
fanfare of applause, that the din was quite overpow-
ering. Liszt smiled and bowed, and walked off the
stage indifferently, not giving himself the trouble to
come back, and presently he quietly sat down in the
parquet, and the rehearsal proceeded. The concert it-
self took place at the court, so that I did not hear it.
Metzdorf was there, however, and he said that Liszt
ANOTHER EXCURSION. 253
played f abulously, of course, but that he was not as
inspired as he was in the morning, and did not make
the same effect.
WEIMAB, September 15, 1873.
The other day an excursion was arranged to Son-
dershausen, a town about three hours' ride from Wei-
mar in the cars. There was to be a concert there in
honour of Liszt, and a whole programme of his music
was to be performed. About half a dozen of the
" Lisztianer " as the Weimarese dub Liszt's pupils
agreed to go, I, of course, being one. Liszt himself,
the Countess yon X. and Count S. were to lead the
party. The morning we started was one of those per-
fect autumnal days when it is a delight simply to live.
After breakfast I hurried off to the station, where
I met the others, everybody being in the highest spirits.
Liszt and his titled friends travelled in a first class
carriage by themselves. The rest of us went second
class, in the next carriage behind. We were very gay
indeed, and the time did not seem long till we arrived
at Sondershausen, where we exchanged our seats in the
cars for seats in an omnibus, and drove to the princi-
pal hotel. There were not sufficient accommodations
for us all, owing to the number of strangers who had
come to the festival, so Mrs. S. and I went to a smaller
hotel in a more distant part of the town to engage
rooms, intending to return and dine with Liszt and
the rest. Just as our noisy vehicle clattered up to the
inn and some of the gentlemen jumped out to arrange
matters, the solemn strains of a chorale were heard from
254 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
a church close by, with its grand and rolling organ
accompaniment, Somehow it made me feel sad to hear
it, and a sense of the transitoriness of things came
over me. It seemed like one of those voices from the
other world that call to us now and then.
After we had engaged our rooms, we drove back to
the hotel where Liszt was staying, and where we were
to dine immediately. It was in the centre of the town,
and directly opposite the palace, which rose boldly on
a sort of eminence with great flights of stone steps
sweeping down to the road on each side. It looked
quite imposing. An avenue wound up the hill to the
right of it. In the dining-room of the hotel a long
table was spread and all the places were carefully set.
My place was next Count S. and not far from Liszt.
So I was very well seated. Everybody began talking
at once the minute dinner was served, as they always
do at table in Germany. Toward the close of it were
the usual number of toasts in honour of Liszt, to which
he responded in rather a bored sort of way. I don't
wonder he gets tired of them, for it is always the same
thing. He did not seem to be in his usual spirits, and
had a fatigued air.
After dinner he said, "Now let us go and see FiHu-
lein Fichtner." FrSulein Fichtner was the young lady
who was going to play his concerto in A major at the
concert that evening. She is a well-known pianist in
Germany, and is both pretty and brilliant. We started
in a procession, which is the way one always walks with
Liszt It reminds me of those snow-balls the boys roll
up at home the crowd gathers as it proceeds ! When
LISZT'S CONCERTO IN A. 255
we got to the house we entered an obscure corridor
and began to find our way up a dark and narrow stair-
case. Some one struck a wax match. "Good !" called
out Liszt, in his sonorous voice. "Leuchten Sie voraits
(Light us up)." When we got to the top we pulled
the bell and were let in by Fr&ilein Fichtner's mother.
Fraulein Fichtner herself looked no ways dismayed at
the number of her guests, though we had the air of
coming to storm the house. She gaily produced all
the chairs there were, and those who could not find a
seat had to stand ! She was in "Weimar for a few days
this summer. So we had all met her before, and I
had once heard her play some duets by Schumann with
Liszt, who enjoyed reading with "Pauline/' as he calls
her. It is to her that Raff has dedicated his exquisite
"Maerchen (Fairy story)." She is a sparkling bru*
nette, with a face full of intelligence. They say she
writes charming little poems and is gifted in various
ways. Not to tire her for the concert we only stayed
about twenty minutes.
Going back, Liszt indulged in a little graceful badi-
nage apropos of the concerto. You know he has
written two concertos. The one in E flat is much
played, but this one in A yery rarely. It is exceedingly
difficult and is one of the few of his compositions that
it interests Liszt to know that people play. * I should
write it otherwise if I wrote it now/' he explained to
me as we were walking along. " Some passages are
very troublesome (haecklig} to execute. I was younger
and less experienced when I composed it," he added,
with one of those illuminating smiles " like the flash
of a dagger in the sun," as Lenz says.
256 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
When we reached the hotel everybody went in to
take a siestathat " Mittags-Schlaf " which is law in
Germany. I did not wish to sleep and felt like ex-
ploring the old town. So Count S. and I started on
a walk. Sondershausen is a dreamy, sleepy place, with
so little life about it that you hardly realize there are
any people there at all. It is pleasantly situated, and
gentle hills and undulations of land are all about it,
but it seems as if the town had been dead for a long
time and this were its grave over which one was quietly
walking. We took the road that wound past the
castle. It was embowered in trees, and behind the
castle were gardens and conservatories. The road
descended on the other side, and we followed it till
we came unexpectedly upon a little circular park.
Such a deserted, widowed little park it seemed ! Not a
soul did we encounter as we wandered through its paths.
Bordering them were great quantities of berry-laden
snow-berry bushes, of which I am very fond. The
park had a sort of rank and unkempt aspect, as if it
were abandoned to itself. The very stream that went
through it flowed sluggishly along, and as if it hadn't
any particular object in life. I enjoyed it very much,
and it was very restful to walk about it. One felt
there the truth of B.'s favourite saying, " It doesn't
make any difference. Nothing makes any difference/'
Count S. rattled on, but I didn't hear more than
half of what he 'said. He is a pleasure-loving man of
the world, fond of music, but a perfect materialist,
and untroubled by the "souffle vers le beau 7 ' which tor-
ments so many people. At the same time he is ap-
THE SONDERSHA.USEN ORCHESTRA. 257
preciative and very amusing, and one has no chance
to indulge in melancholy with him. We saun-
tered about till late in the af ernoon, and then returned
to the hotel for coffee before going to the concert,
which began at seven. The concert hall was behind
the palace and seemed to form a part of it. Liszt,
the Countess von X., and Count S. sat in a box, aris-
tocratic-fashion. The rest of us were in the parquet.
I was amazed at the orchestra, which was very large
and played gloriously. It seemed to me as fine as that
of the Gewandhaus in Leipsic, though I suppose it
cannot be. "Why has no one ever mentioned this
orchestra to me?" I asked of Kellermann, who sat
next, " and how is it one finds such an orchestra in
such a place ?" " Oh," said he, " this orchestra is very
celebrated, and the Prince of Sondershausen is a great
patron of music." This is the way it is in Germany.
Every now and then one has these surprises. You
never know when you are going to stumble upon a
jewel in the most out-of-the-way corner.
We were all greatly excited over Frttulein Fichtner's
playing, and it seemed very jolly to be behind the
scenes, as it were, and to have one of our own num-
ber performing. We applauded tremendously when
she came out. She was not nervous in the least, but
began with great aplomb, and played most beautifully*
The concerto made a generally dazzling and difficult
impression upon me, but did not "take hold" of me
particularly. I do not know how Liszt was pleased
with her rendering of it, for I had no opportunity of
asking him. She also played his Fourteenth Ehapsody
958 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
with orchestral accompaniment in most bold and
dashing 'style. Fraulein Fichtner is more in the bra-
vura than in the sentimental line, and she has a cer-
tain breadth, grasp, and freshness. The last piece on
the programme was Liszt's Choral Symphony, which
was magnificent. The chorus came at the end of it,
as in the Ninth Symphony. Mrs. S. said she was
familiar with it from having heard Thomas's orches-
tra play it in New' York. That orchestra, byfthe way,
from what I hear, seems to have developed into some-
thing remarkable. It is a great thing for the musical
education of the country to have such an organiza-
tion travelling every winter. And what a revelation
is an orchestra the first time one hears it, even if it
be but a poor one I Music come bodily down from
Heaven! And here in their musical darkness, the
Americans in the provinces are having an orchestra of
the very highest excellence burst upon them in full
splendour. What could be more American? They
always have the best or none !
At nine o'clock in the evening the concert was
over, and we all returned to the hotel for supper. We
were all desperately hungry after so much music and
enthusiasm. Everybody wanted to be helped at
once, and the waiters were nearly distracted. Count
S. sat next me and was very funny. He kept
rapping the table like mad, but without any success.
Finally he exclaimed, "Jetzt geti IOH auf Jagd
(Now Tm going hunting) !" and sprang up from
his chair, rushed to the other end of the dining-
room, possessed himself of some dishes the waiter?
AN UNHAPPY COUNTESS. 259
were helping, and returned in triumph. I couldn't
help laughing, and he made a great many jokes at the
expense of the waiters and everybody else. I could
not hear any of Liszt's conversation, which I regret-
ted, but he seemed in a quiet mood. I do not think
he is the same when he is with aristocrats. He must
be among artists to unsheathe his sword. When he is
with "swells," he is all grace and polish. He seems only
to toy with his genius for their amusement, and he is
never serious. At least this is as far as my observation
of him goes on the few occasions I have seen him in
the beau monde. The presence of the proud Countess
von X. at Sondershausen kept him, as it were, at a dis-
tance from everybody else, and he was not overflowing
with fun and gayety as he was at Jena. She, of course,
did not go with us to see FrSulein Fichtner, which
was fortunate. After supper one and all went to
bed early, quite tired out with the day's excitement.
This haughty Countess, by the way, has always had
a great fascination for me, because she looks like a
woman who " has a history." I have often seen her at
Liszt's matinees, and from what I hear of her, she is
such a type of woman as I suppose only exists in
Europe, and such as the heroines of foreign novels
are modelled upon. She is a widow, and in appearance
is about thirty-six or eight years old, of medium
height, slight to thinness, but exceedingly graceful.
She is always attired in black, and is utterly careless in
dress, yet nothing can conceal her innate elegance of
figure. Her face is pallid and her hair dark. She
makes an impression of icy coldness and at the same
260 MUSIC-STUDY IK GERMANY.
time of tropical heat. The pride of Lucifer to the
world in general entire abandonment to the individ-
ual. I meet her often in the park, as she walks along
trailing her " sable garments like the night/' and sur-
rounded by her four beautiful boys as Count S.
says, " each handsomer than the other." They have
such romantic faces ! Dark eyes and dark curling hair.
The eldest is about fourteen and the youngest five.
The little one is too lovely, with his brown curls
hanging on his shoulders ! I never shall forget the
supercilious manner in which the Countess took out
her eye-glass and looked me over as I passed her one
day in the park. Weimar being such a "Jcleines Nest
(little nest)/' as Liszt calls it, every stranger is immedi-
ately remarked. She waited till I got close up, then
deliberately put up this glass and scrutinized me
from head to foot, then let it fall with a half -dis-
dainful, half -indifferent air, as if the scrutiny did not
reward 'the trouble. I was so amused. Her arrogance
piques all Weimar, and they never cease talking
about her. I can never help wishing to see her in a
fashionable toilet. If she is so distingu&e in rather less
than ordinary dress, what would she be in a Parisian
costume? I mean as to grace, for she is not pretty.
But as a psychological study, she is more interesting,
perhaps, as she is. She always seems to me to be grad-
ually going to wreck a burnt-out volcano, with her
own ashes settling down upon her and covering her
up. She is very highly educated, and is preparing her
eldest son for the university herself. WTiat a subject
she would have been for a Balzac !
WHITING CANONS. 261
We stayed over the next day in Sondershausen, as
there was to be another orchestral concert this time
with a miscellaneous programme. Fraulein Ficht-
ner had already departed, but the first violinist played
Mendelssohn's famous concerto for violin. Not in
Wilhelmfs masterly style, but extremely well. We
took the train for Weimar about five P. M, Going
back I was in the carriage with Liszt. He sat opposite
me, and gradually began to talk. The conversation
turned upon Weitzmann, my former harmony teacher,
who, you remember, was so determined to make me
learn. Liszt remarked upon the extent of his knowl-
edge and said, " If I were not so old I should like to
go to school again to Weitzmann." He was talking
to Weitzmann one day, he said, and Weitzmann pro-
posed to him that he should write a canon. " I sat
down and worked over it a good while, but finally gave
it up. I know not why, but I never had any success in
writing canons. Weitzmann then sat down, and in
half an hour had produced two excellent ones." He
gave this as an instance of Weitzmann's readiness. A
canon, you know, is a sort of musical puzzle. The
right hand plays the theme. The left hand takes it
up a little later and imitates the right. The two
interweave, and the theme forms the melody and the
accompaniment at the same time, according as it is
played by the right or left hand something on the
principle of singing rounds. The difficulty consists
in avoiding monotony with this continual itera-
tion of the theme, which can be brought on at dif-
ferent intervals, inverted, etc., at will. It seems to be
262 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
more a mathematical than a musical style of compo-
sition. I should suppose that JBach could fire off can-
ons without end ! He developed it in every imagin-
able form. Liszt, however, is of rather a different
school !
"We got back to Weimar about eight in the evening,
and this delicious excursion, like all others, had to end.
But the quiet old town, with its musical name and its
great orchestra, will long remain in my memory.
Adieu, Sondershausen I
CHAPTER XXIL
Farewell to Liszt ! German Conservatories and their Methods.
Berlin Again. Liszt and Joachim.
WEIMAH, September 34, 1873.
We had our last lesson from Liszt a few days
ago, and he leaves Weimar next week. He was so hur-
ried with engagements the last two times that he was
not able to give us much attention. I played my Rubin-
stein concerto. He accompanied me himself on a
second piano. We were there about six o'clock P. M.
Liszt was out, but he had left word that if we came we
were to wait. About seven he came in, and the lamps
were lit. He was in an awful humour, and I never saw
him so out of spirits. " How is it with our concerto ?"
said he to me, for he had told me the time before
to send for the second piano accompaniment, and he
would play it with me. I told him that unfortunately
there existed no second piano part. "Then, child,
you've fallen on your head, if you don't know that at
least you must have a second copy of the concerto I"
I told him I knew it by heart. "Oh !" said he, in a
mollified tone. So he took my copy and played the
orchestra part which is indicated above the piano part,
and I played without notes. I felt inspired, for the
piano I was at was a magnificent grand that Steinway
presented to Liszt only the other day. Liszt was
seated at another grand facing me, and the room was
(263)
264 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
dimly illuminated by one or two lamps. A few artists
were sitting about in the shadow. It was at the twi-
light hour, " Vheure dumysrtre" as the poetic Gurickx
used to say, and in short, the occasion was perfect,
and couldn't happen so again. You see we always
have our lessons in the afternoon, and it was a mere
chance that it was so late this time. So I felt as if I
were in an electric state. I had studied the piece sc*
much that I felt perfectly sure of it, and then with
Liszt's splendid accompaniment and his beautiful face
to look oyer to it was enough to bring out every-
thing there was in one. If he had only been himself
I should have had nothing more to desire, but he was
in one of his bitter, sarcastic moods. However, I went
rushing on to the end like a torrent plunging
down into darkness, I might say for it was the end,
too, of my lessons with Liszt I
In answer to your musical questions, I don't know
that there is much to be told about conservatories of
which you are not aware. The one in Stuttgardt is
considered the best; and there the pupils are put
through a regular graded method, beginning with
learning to hold the hand, and with the simplest five
finger exercises. There are certain things, studies, etc.,
which all the scholars have to learn. That was also
the case in Tausig's conservatory. First we had to
go through Cramer, then through the Gradus ad Par-
nassum, then through Moscheles,then Chopin, Henselt,
Liszt and Eubinstein. I haven't got farther than
Chopin, myself, but when I went to Kullak I studied
026111/8 School for Virtuosen a whole year, which is
SCHOOLING THE FINGERS. 265
the book he " swears by." I'm going on with them this
winter. It takes years to pass through them all, but
when you have finished them, you are an artist.
I think myself the " Schule des Virtuosen" is indis-
pensable, much as I loathe it. First, there is nothing
like it for giving you a technique. It consists of pas-
sages, generally about two lines in length, which
Ozerny has the face to request you to play from twenty
to thirty times successively. You can imagine at that
rate how long it takes you to play through one page !
Tedious to the last degree ! But it greatly equalizes
and strengthens the fingers, and makes your exe-
cution smooth and elegant. It teaches: you to take
your time, or as the Germans call it, it gives you
" JRuhe (repose)/' the grand sine qua non ! You learn
to "play out" your passages (" aus-spielen? as Kullak
is always saying) ; that is, you don't hurry or blur over
the last notes, but play clearly and in strict time to
the end of the passage. I saw Lebert, the head of
the Stuttgardt conservatory, here this summer, and
had several long conversations with him, and he told
me he considered Bach the best study, and put the
Well-Tempered Clavichord at the foundation of
everything. The Stuttgardters study Bach every day,
and I think it a capital plan myself. I have begun do-
ing it, too. It was a great thing for me, that quarter
of Bach that I took with Mr. Paine in Cambridge,
and was one of your inspirations, when you "builded
better than you knew/' I never saw a person with
such an instinct to find out the right thing as you
have ! If it hadn't been for that, I should never have
266 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
got so familiarized with Bach, or got into the way
of studying him for myself, as I have done a great
deal. It is as great for the fingers as it is "good for
the soul." Lenz, in his sketch of Chopin, says that
Chopin told him when he prepared for a concert he
never studied his own compositions at all, but shut
himself up and practiced Bach !
However, I suppose it comes to the same thing in
the end if one studies Bach, Ozerny, or Gradus, only
you must Jceep at one of them all the while. The
grand thing is to have each of your five fingers go
u dum, dum," an equal number of times, which is the
principle of all three ! Tausig was for Gradus, you
know, and practiced it himself every day. He used to
transpose the studies in different keys, and play just
the same in the left hand as in the right, and enhance
their difficulties in every way, but / always found
them hard enough as they were written! Bach
strengthens the fingers and makes them independent.
Ozerny equalizes them and gives an easy and ele-
gant execution, and Gradus is not only good for fin-
ger technique it trains the arm and wrist also, and
gives a much more powerful execution.
I think that in all conservatories they have at least
six lessons a week, two solo, two in reading at sight,
and two in composition. Then there are often lec-
tures held on musical subjects by some of the Profes-
sors, or by some one who is engaged for that purpose.
All large conservatories have an orchestra, composed
generally out of the scholars themselves, with a few
professionals hired to eke out deficiencies. With this
THE STUTTGA.RDT CONSERVATORY. 267
the best piano scholars play their concertos once a
month, or once in six weeks. The number of public
representations varies in every conservatory. In the
Hoch Sohule in Berlin they have two yearly in the
Sing-Akademie. Kullak professes to have one, but he
has so little interest in his scholars that he omits it
when it suits his convenience. In Stuttgardt I be-
lieve they have four, I don't know much about the in-
terior arrangements of Kullak's conservatory, because
I only went to his own class. I lived too far away to
attempt the theory and composition class. Liszt says
that Kullak's Jpupils are always the best schooled of
any, which rather surprised me, because there is a cer-
tain intimacy between him and Stuttgardt, and he
always recommends scholars to the Stuttgardt con-
servatory.
The Stuttgardters do have immense technique,
and I think they are better taught how to study. It
strikes me as if Stuttgardt were the place to get the
machine in working order, but I rather think that
Kullak trains the head more. There is a young
American here named Orth, who studied two years
with Kullak, then he spent a year in Stuttgardt, and
now he is going to return to Kullak. He says he
thinks that not Lebert, but Pruckner, is the real back-
bone of the Stuttgardt conservatory, but that even
with him one year is sufficient FrSulein Gaul, on the
contrary, with whom Lebert has taken the greatest pos-
sible pains, thinks him a magnificent master, and cer-
tainly he has developed her admirably. It is probably
with him as with them all. If they take a fancy to
268 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
you, they will do a great deal for you ; if not, noth-
ing! Liszt is no exception to this rule. I've seen
him snub and entirely neglect young artists of the
most remarkable talent and virtuosity, merely because
they did not please him personally.
BERLIN, October 8, 1873.
Voilhl as Liszt always says. Here I am back again
in old Berlin, and if I ever felt " like a cat in a strange
garret," I do now, I left dear little Weimar two days
ago, and parted from our adored Liszt a week ago to-
day. He has gone to Rome. Never did I feel leaving
anybody or any place so much, and Berlin seems to
me like a great roaring wilderness. The distances are
so endless here. You either have to kill yourself walk-
ing, or else spend a fortune in droschkies. The
houses all seem to me as if they had grown. There is
an immense number of new ones going up on all sides,
and the noise, and the crowd, and the confusion are
enough to set one distracted, after the idyllic life I've
been leading. Ah, well ! JEs war eben ZTJ schon! (It
was too beautiful !)
Yesterday and to-day I've been looking about for a
new boarding-place. I've had two invitations to din-
ner since my return, but everybody and everything
seems so dull and stupid, prosaic and tedious to me,
that I declined them both, and haven't given any of
my friends my address until I have had a little time
to let myself down gradually from the delights of
Weimar,
LISZT AND JOACHIM. 269
Liszt was kindness itself when the time came to say
good-bye, but I could scarcely get out a word, nor
could I even thank him for all he had done for me.
I did not wish to break down and make a scene, as I
felt I should if I tried to say anything. So I fear he
thought me rather ungrateful and matter-of-course, for
he couldn't know that I was feeling an excess of emo-
tion which kept me silent I miss going to him inex-
pressibly, and although I heard iny favourite Joachim
last night, even he paled before Liszt. He is on the
violin what Liszt is on the piano, and is the only artist
worthy to be mentioned in the same breath with him.
Like Liszt, he so vitalizes everything that I have to
take him in all over again every time I hear him. I
am always astonished, amazed and delighted afresh,
and even as I listen I can hardly believe that the man
can play so ! But Liszt, in addition to his marvellous
playing, has this unique and imposing personality,
whereas at first Joachim is not specially striking,
Liszt's face is all a play of feature, a glow of fancy, a
blaze of imagination, whereas Joachim is absorbed in
his violin, and his face has only an expression of fine
discrimination and of intense solicitude to produce his
artistic effects. Liszt never looks at his instrument ;
Joachim never looks at anything else. Liszt is a com-
plete actor who intends'to carry away the public, who
never forgets that he is before it, and who behaves ac-
cordingly, Joachim is totally oblivious of it. Liszt
subdues the people to him by the very way he walks
on to the stage. He gives his proud head a toss,
throws an electric look out' of his eagle eye, and seats
270 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
himself with an air as much as to say, Now I am
going to do just what I please with you, and you are
nothing but puppets subject to my will." He said to
us in the class one day, " When you come out on the
stage, look as if you didn't care a rap for the audience,
and as if you knew more than any of them. That's
the way I used to do. Didn't that provoke the critics
though!" he added, with an ineffable look of ma-
licious mischief. So you see his principle, and that
was precisely the way he did at the rehearsal in the
theatre at Weimar that I wrote to you about Joachim,
on the contrary, is the quiet gentleman-artist. He
advances in the most unpretentious way, but as he ad-
justs his violin he looks his audience over with the
calm air of a musical monarch, as much as to say, ee I
repose wholly on my art, and I've no need of any
e ways or manners/" In reality I admire Joachim's
principle the most, but there is something indescrib-
ably fascinating and subduing about Liszt's willful-
ness. You feel at once that he is a great genius, and
that you are nothing but his puppet, and somehow you
take a base delight in the humiliation I The two
men are intensely interesting, each in his own way,
but they are extremes.
[Beside his playing and his compositions, what Liszt
has done for music and for musicians, and why, there-
fore, he stands so pre-eminently the greatest and the best
beloved master in the musical world, may appear to the
general reader in the following extract taken from a
translation in Dwighfs Journal, Oct. 23, 1880, of "Franz
Liszt, a Musical Character Portrait" by La Maxa, in the
LISZT'S NOBLENESS. 271
G-artenlaube : " We must count it among the excep-
tional merits of Liszt, that he has paved the way to
recognition for innumerable aspirants, as he always
shows an open heart and open hands to all artistic
strivings. He was the first and most active furtherer of
the immense Bayreuth enterprise, and the chief founder
of the Musical Societies or Unions that flourish through-
out Germany. And for how many noble and philan-
thropic objects has he not exerted his artistic resources !
If, during his earlier virtuoso career, he made his genius
serve the advantage of others far more than his own
saving out of the millions that he earned only a modest
sum for himself, while he alone contributed many thou-
sands for the completion of Cologne Cathederal, for the
Beethoven monument at Bonn, and for the victims of
the Hamburg conflagration so since the close of his
career as a pianist his public artistic activity has been
exclusively consecrated to the benefit of others, to artistic
undertakings, or to charitable objects. Since the end of
1847, not a penny has come into his own pocket either
through piano-playing and conducting, or through teach-
ing. All this, which has yielded such rich capital and
interest to others, has cost only sacrifice of time and
money to himself."] ED.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Kullak as a Teacher. The Four Great Virtuosi, Clara Schtt
mann, Rubinstein, Von Billow, and Tausig.
BERLIN,, November 7, 1873.
I've been in a sort of mental apathy since I got
back the result, I suppose, of so much artistic excite-
ment all summer. Of course I am practicing very
hard, and I am taking private lessons of Kullak again.
I played him my Eubinstein concerto two weeks ago
and told him I wanted to play it in a concert. He
says I need more power in it in many places, and by
practicing it every day I hope I shall at last work up
to it, as I've conquered the technical difficulties in it.
There were two pages in it I thought I never could
master. It is the same with all concertos. They are
fearfully difficult things to play, and far more difficult,
I think, than solos are, because the effort is so sus-
tained. They are to me the most interesting things
to listen to of all, and I can't imagine how you can
think that piano and orchestra are " not made to go
together." However, I never myself appreciated con-
certos until I came to Germany.
Kullak is the most awfully discouraging teacher
that can be imagined. When you play to him, it is
like looking at your skin through a magnifying glass.
All your faults seem to start out and glare at you. I
don't think, though/that I ever fairly do myself justice
(272)
LISZT AND KULLAK. 373
when I play to him, because he has a sort of benumb-
ing effect on me, and I feel to him something the way
that Owen did to old Peter in Hawthorne's story of
" The Artist of the Beautiful." I can't help acknowl-
edging the truth of his observations even when I am
wincing under them, and I yet feel at the same time
that he does not wholly get at the soul of the thing.
Kullak is so pedantic ! He never overlooks a tech-
nical imperfection, and he ties you down to the tech-
nique so that you never can give rein to your imagina-
tion. He sits at the other piano, and just as you are
rushing off he will strike in himself and say, " Don't
hurry, Fraulein," or something "-like that, and then
you begin to think about holding back your fingers and
playing every note even, etc. Now I never expect to get
that perfection of technique that all these artists have
who have been training throughout their childhood
while their hand was forming. Kullak's own technique
is magnificent, but now that I've graduated, as it were,
he ought to let me play my own way, and not expect me
to play as he does, and then I could produce my own
effects. That is just the difference between him and
Liszt, Liszt's grand principle is, to leave you your
freedom, and when you play to him, you feel like a
Pegasus caracoling about in the air. When you play
to Kullak, you feel as if your wings were suddenly
clipped, and as if you were put into harness to draw
an express wagon ! However, I don't think it would
be well to go to Liszt without having been through
such a training first, for you want to know what you
are about when you study with Mm. You must have
18
274 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY,
a good solid basis upon which to raise his airy super,
structures. Eullak I regard as the basis.
You ask me in your letter to write you a comparison-^
a summing up between Clara Schumann, Billow, Tau-
sig and Kubinstein, but I don't find it very easy to do, as
they are all so different. Clara Schumann is entirely a
classic player. Beethoven's sonatas, and Bach, too, she
plays splendidly; but she doesn't seem to me to have
any finesse, or much poetry in her playing. There's
nothing subtle in her conception. She has a great deal
of fire, and her whole style is grand, finished, perfectly
rounded off, solid and satisfactory what the Germans
call gediegen. She is a healthy artist to listen to, but
there is nothing of the analytic, no Balzac or Hawthorne
about her. Beethoven's Variations in minor are, per-
haps, the best performance I ever heard from her, and
they are immensely difficult, too; I thought she did
them better than Billow, in spite of Billow's being such a
great Beethovenite. I think she repeats the same pieces
a good deal, possibly because she finds the modern fash-
ion of playing everything without notes very trying,
I've even heard that she cries over the necessity of doing
it ; and certainly it is a foolish thing to make a point of,
with so very great an artist as Clara Schumann. If
people could only be allowed to have their own individ-
uality !
Billow's playing is more many-sided, and is chiefly dis-
tinguished by its great vigor; there is no end to his
nervous energy, and the more he plays, the more the
interest increases. He is my favourite of the four. But
he plays Chopin just as well as he does Beethoven, and
VON BULOW AND RUBINSTEIN. 275
Schumann, too. Altogether he is a superlative pianist,
though by no means unerring in his performance. I've
heard him get dreadfully mixed up. I think he trusts
too much to his memory, and that he does not prepare
sufficiently. He plays everything by heart, and such
programmes ! He always hits the nail plump on the
/lead, and such a grasp as he has ! His chords take firm
hold of you. For instance, in the beginning of the two
last movements of the Moonlight Sonata, you should
hear him run up that arpeggio in the right hand so lightly
and pianissimo, every note so delicately articulated, and
then crash-smash on those two chords on the top 1 And
when he plays Bach's gavottes, gigues, etc., in the Eng-
lish Suites, a laughing, roguish look comes over his
face, and he puts the most indescribable drollery and
originality into them. You see that "he sees the
point" so well, and that makes you see it, too. Yes, it
is good fun to hear Billow do these things. Perhaps
the best summing up of his peculiar greatness would
be to say that he impresses you as using the instru-
ment only to express ideas. With him you forget all
about the piano, and are absorbed only in the thought
or the passion of the piece.
Rubinstein you've heard. Most people put him next
to Liszt. Tour finding him cold surprised me, for if
there is a thing he is celebrated here for, it is the fire and
passion of his playing, and for his imagination and spon-
taneity. I think that Tausig, Billow, and Clara Schu-
mann, all three, have it all cut and dried beforehand,
how they are going to play a piece, but Eubinstein cre-
ates at the instant. He plays without plan. Probably
276 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
the afternoon you heard him he" did not feel in the mood,
and so was not at his best. As a composer he far out-
ranks the other three.
Tausig resembled Liszt more in that subtlety which
Liszt has, and consequently he was a better Chopin
player than anybody else except Liszt. I never shall
forget his playing of Chopin's great Ballade in G minor
the very first time I heard him in concert. It is a
divine composition, and his rendering of it was not only
all warmth and fervour; it was also so wonderfully
poetic that it fairly cast a spell upon the audience, and a
minute or two went by before they could begin to
applaud. It was like a dream of beauty suspended in
the air before you floating there and you didn't
want to disturb it. Tausig had an intense love
for Chopin, and always wished he could have known
him. I think that he had more virtuosity, and yet
more delicacy of feeling, than either Rubinstein or
Billow. His finish, perfection, and above all his touch,
were above anything. But, except in Chopin, he was
cold, at least in the concert room. In the conservatory
he seemed to be a very passionate player ; but, somehow,
in public that was not the case. Unfortunately, I had
studied so little at that time, that I don't feel as if I
were competent to judge him. He was Liszt's favourite,
and Liszt said, " He will be the inheritor of my playing ;"
but I doubt if this would have been, for the winter before
Tausig died, Kullak remarked to me that his playing
became more and more "dry" every year, probably on
account of his morbid aversion to " Spectakel," as he
called it ; whereas Liszt gives the reins to the emotions
TAUSIG'S ESCAPADES. 27?
When I was in Weimar I heard a great deal about
Tausigfs escapades when he was studying there as a boy.
They say he was awfully wild and reckless at that time,
and Liszt paid his debts over and over again. Sometimes
in aristocratic parties, when Liszt did not feel like play-
ing himself, he would tell Tausig to play, and perhaps
Tausig would not feel like it, either. He had the most
enormous strength in his fingers, though his hands were
small, and he would go to the piano and pretend he was
going to play, and strike the first chords with such a
crash that three or four strings would snap almost imme-
diately, and then, of course, the piano was used up for
the evening I
Tausig's father once procured him a splendid grand
piano from Leipsic, and shortly after, Tausig whittled
off the corners of all the keys, so as to make them more
difficult to strike, and his father had to pay a large sum
to have them repaired. Another time he was presented
with a set of chess-men, and the next day some one on
visiting him observed the pieces all lying about the floor.
"Why, Tausig, what has happened to your chess-men?"
" Oh, I wanted to see if they were easily broken, so I
knocked up the board." He seemed to be possessed with
a spirit of destruction. Gottschal told me that one time
when Tausig was "hard up" for money, he sold the
score of Liszt's Faust for five thalers to a servant, along
with a great pile of his own notes. The servant disposed
of them to some waste-paper man, and Gottschal, acci-
dentally hearing of it, went to the man and purchased
them. Then he went to Liszt to tell him that he had the
score. As it happened the publisher had written for it
278 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY,
that very day and Liszt was turning the house upside
down, looking for it everywhere.
At that time he was living in an immense house on
a hill here, that they call the Altenburg. Liszt oc-
cupied the first floor, a princely friend the second, and
the [top story was one grand ball-room in which were
generally nine grand pianos standing. They used to
give the most magnificent entertainments, and Liszt
spent thirty thousand thalers a year. He lived like a
prince in those days very different from his present
simplicity. Well, he was in an awful state of mind
because his score was nowhere to be found. " A whole
year's labor lost !" he cried, and he was in such a rage,
that when G-ottschal asked him for the third time
what he was looking for, he turned and stamped his
foot at him and said, "You confounded fellow, can't
you leave me in peace, and not torment me with your
stupid questions?" Gottschal knew perfectly well
what>as wanting, but he wished to have a little fun
out of the matter. At last he took pity on Liszt, and
said, " Herr Doctor, I know what you've lost. It is
the score to your Faust." " Oh," said Liszt, changing
his tone'immediately, "do you know anything of it?"
" Of course I do," said Gottschal, and proceeded to
unfold Master Tausig's performance, and how he had
rescued the precious music. Liszt was transported
with joy that it was found, and called up-stairs, "Car-
olina, Carolina, we're saved ! Gottschal has rescued
us ;" and then Gottschal said that Liszt embraced
him in his transport, and could not say or do enough
to make up for his having been so rude to him. Well,
TAUSIG- AS A COMPOSER 279
you would have supposed that it was now all up with
Master Tausig; but not at all. A few days after-
ward was Tausig's birthday, and Carolina took Gott-
schal aside, and begged him to drop the subject of
the note stealing, for Liszt doted so on his Carl that
he wished to forget it. Sure enough, Liszt kissed
Carl and congratulated him on his birthday, and con-
soled himself with his same old observation, " You'll
either turn out a great blockhead, my little Carl, or a
great master."
Tausig had a great ambition to be a composer, and
in his early youth he published a number of composi-
tions. Later on he became intensely critical of his
own work, and finally bought up all the copies he
could lay hands on and burnt them ! This is entirely
characteristic of his sense of perfection, which was
extreme, and may serve as an example to young com-
posers who are ambitious of saying something in
music, when very often they have nothing to say !
Indeed, I am often amazed at the temerity with which
men will rush into print, quite oblivious of the fact
that it requires enormous talent to produce even a
short piece of music that is worth anything. Only a
genius can do it.
Tausig, in my opinion, did possess exceptional
genius in composition, though he left but few works
behind him to attest it. Prominent among these are
his unique arrangements of three of Strauss's Waltzes.
He had a passion for philosophy, and was deeply read
in Kant and Hegel. These " arrangements " betray his
Metaphysical and tentative turn, and could only have
280 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
been the product of the highest mental force and cul-
ture. Calling the waltz itself the warp of the compo-
sition, then through its simple threads we find darting
backwards and forwards a subtle, complicated and
tragic mind, an exquisitely refined and delicate senti-
ment, and a piquante, aerial fancy, until finally is
wrought a brilliant and bewildering transcription
transfiguration rather of endless fascination and
tantalizing beauty, which no one but a virtuoso can
play and no one but a connoisseur can comprehend.
In a peculiar manner his music leaves a stamp upon
the heart, and to those who can appreciate it, Tausig,
as a composer, is a deep and irreparable loss. If he
had not original ideas of his own, he certainly pos-
sessed the power of putting an entirely nev face on
those of others.
ITH DEPPE,
(281)
CHAPTER XXIV.
Gives up Kullak for Deppe. Deppe's Method in Touch and
in Scale-Playing. FrSulein Steiniger. Pedal Study.
BERLIN, December 11, 1873.
Since I last wrote you I have taken a very import-
ant step, -which is this : After taking three or four
lessons of Kullak I HATE GIVEST HIM UP ! and am now
studying under a new master. His name is Herr Capel-
meister Deppe. I suppose you will all think me
crazed, but I think I know what I am about. He
seems to me a very remarkable man, and is to me the
most satisfactory teacher I've had yet. Of course I
don't count in the unapproachable Liszt when I say
that, for Liszt is no "professeur du piano" as he him-
self used scornfully to remark.
I made Herr Deppe's acquaintance quite by chance,
at a musical party given for Anna Mehlig by an Amer-
ican gentleman living here. I had often heard of
him, and was very anxious to know him, but somehow
had never compassed it. He is a conductor, to begin
with, and I have often seen him conduct orchestral
concerts. In fact, that was what he first came to Ber-
lin for, a few years ago to conduct Stern's orchestral
concerts during the latter's absence in Italy. Deppe
is an accomplished conductor, and I have never heard
Beethoven's second Overture to Leonora sound as I
have under his baton.
(283)
284 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
But it was Sherwood who first called my attention
to him as a teacher. He rushed into my room one
day, and said, " Oh, Fve just heard the most beautiful
playing that ever I heard in my life !" I asked him
who it was that had taken him so by storm, and he
said it was a young English girl named Fannie War-
burg, and that she was a pupil of Deppe's. "Well,
what is it about her that is so remarkable/' said I.
"Oh, everything! execution, expression, style, touch
all are perfect! I never heard anything to equal
her, and I feel as if I never wanted to touch the piano
again.' 5
This was such strong language for Sherwood, who
is generally very critical and anything but enthusi-
astic, that my interest was immediately excited. He went
on to tell me that Deppe had been training this young
English girl, now only eighteen years of age, with the
greatest care, for six years, and that he had such an
interest in her that he did not confine himself to giving
her lessons only, but set himself to form her whole
musical taste by taking her to the best concerts and
to hear the great operas, calling her attention to every
peculiarity of structure in a composition, and giving
her all sorts of hints which only a man of profound
musical culture could give. Sherwood said, moreover,
that in summer he made her go to Pyrmont, which is a
watering place near Hanover, where he goes himself
every year, and that there he heard her play every day
Mozart's concertos and all sorts of things. I thought
to myself at the time that the man who would take so
much trouble for a pupil as that, would have been
HEBB CAPELMEI8TER DEPPE. 285
just the one for me, for it was easy to see that Deppe
was teaching more for the love of Art than for loye of
money a rare thing in these materialistic days ! Af-
terward, you know, Miss B. spoke to me about him in
Weimar, and I wrote you what she said.
Well, as I was saying, I went to this musical party
given to Anna Mehlig, where there were a number of
musicians and critics. I was listening to Mehlig play,
when suddenly Sherwood, who was also present, stole
up to me and said, " Come into the next room and be
introduced to Deppe." At these magic words I started,
and immediately did as I was bid. I found Deppe in
one corner looking about him in an absent sort of way.
He was a man of medium height, with a great big
brain, keen blue eyes and delicate little mouth, and he
had a most cheery and sunny expression. He shook
hands, and then we sat down and got into a most ani-
mated conversation all about music. I told him how
interested I was by all I had heard of him how I had
returned to Kullak for a last trial how tired I was of
his eternal pedagogism, and how I should like to
study with him.
He asked me what my chief difficulty was, where-
upon I answered "the technique, of course." He
smiled, and said "that was the smallest difficulty, and
that anybody could master execution if they knew how
to attack it, unless there was some want of proper
development of the hand." I said I had studied very
hard, but that I hadn't mastered it, and that there was
always some hard place in every piece which I couldn't
get the better of. He said he was sure he could rem-
286 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
edy the deficiency, and that if I would show him my
hand without a glove, he could tell directly what I was
capable of. I wouldn't pull it off, however, because I
was afraid he might find some radical defect or weak-
ness in it, but I was so charmed with the way he made
light of the technique, and with the absolute cer-
tainty he seemed to have that I could overcome it,
that I promised him that I would go and play to him
the following Wednesday.
Accordingly on the following "Wednesday I presented
myself. I had expected to stay about half an hour,
but I ended by staying three solid hours, and we talked
as fast as we could all the while, too ! So you may
imagine we had a good deal to say. He lives in two
little rooms on the KOniggratzer Strasse, only four
doors from the W.'s, where I boarded for so long.
Now if I had only known I was close to such a teacher !
We must often have passed each other in the street,
and where was my good angel that he did not touch
my arm and say, ee There's the man for you?" Fright-
ful to think how near one may be to one's best happi-
ness, or even salvation, and not know it !
Deppe's front room was pretty much filled up with
a grand piano, which, as well as the chairs and most
other articles of furniture, was covered with music.
I glanced over the pieces a little, and there was nearly
every set of Etudes under the sun, it seemed to me, as
well as concertos and pieces by all the great com-
posers, fingered and marked with pencil in the most
minute way. It was enough simply to turn the leaves,
to see what a study he must have made of everything
A DISMAL PROSPECT. 28?
he gave his scholars. His inner room had double
doors to it to prevent the sound from penetrating. I
rapped at the outside one, and presently I heard a
great turning and rattling of keys, and then they
opened, and Deppe was before me. He put out his
hand in the most cordial and friendly way, and greeted
me with the most winning smile in the world. I took
off my things and began to play to him. He listened
quietly, and without interrupting me. When I had
finished he told me that my difficulties were principally
mechanical ones that I had conception and style, but
that my execution was uneven and hurried, my wrist
stiff, the third and fourth fingers* very weak, the tone
not full and round enough, that I did not know how
to use the pedal, and finally, that I was too nervous
and flurried.
"If possible, you must get over this agitation/' said
-he. "HorenSie Sich spielen (Listen to your own play-
ing). You have talent enough to get over all your
difficulties if you will be patient, and do just as I tell
you." " I will do anything," I said. "Very good. But
I warn you that you will have to give up all playing
for the present except what I give you to study, and
those things you must play very slowly."
This was a pleasant prospect, as I was just preparing
to give a concert in Berlin, under Kullak's auspices,
and had already got my programme half learned!
But I had "invoked the demon," and I felt bound to
give the required pledge. So here I am, after four
-years abroad with the "greatest masters," going back
. *In German, the fourth and fifth fingers.
288 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
,to first principles, and beginning with five-finger exer-
cises ! I had never been given any particular rule for
holding my hand, further than the general one of
curving the fingers and lifting them very high. Deppe
objects to this extreme lifting of the fingers. He says
it makes a JcnicJc in the muscle, and you get all the
strength simply from the finger, whereas, when you
lift the finger moderately high, the muscle from the
whole arm comes to bear upon it. The tone, too, is
entirely different. Lifting the finger so very high,
and striking with force, stiffens the wrist, and pro-
duces a slight jar in the hand which cuts off the sing-
ing quality of the tone, like closing the mouth sud-
denly in singing. It produces the effect of a blow
upon the key, and the tone is more a sharp, quick tone ;
whereas, by letting the finger just fall it is fuller, less
loud, but more penetrating. I suppose the hammer
falls back more slowly from the string, and that makes
the tone sing longer.
Don't you remember my saying that Liszt had such
an extraordinary way of playing a melody? That it
did not seem to be so loud and cut-out as most artists
make it, and yet it was so penetrating? Well, dear,
there was the secret of it I " Spielen Sie mit dem
Grewicht (Play with weight)" Deppe will say. " Don't
strike, but let the fingers fall. At first the tone will
be nearly inaudible, but with practice it will gain every
day in power." After Deppe had directed my atten-
tion to it, I remembered that I had never seen Liszt
lift up his fingers so fearfully high as the other schools,
and especially the Stuttgardt one, make such a point of
THE POSITION OF THE HAND. 289
doing.* That is where Mehlig misses it, and is what
makes her playing so sharp and cornered at times.
When you lift the fingers so high you cannot bind the
tones so perfectly together. There is always a break.
Deppe makes me listen to every tone, and carry it over
to the next one, and not let any one finger get an
undue prominence over the other a thing that is
immensely difficult to do so I have given up all pieces
for the present, and just devote myself to playing
these little exercises right.
Deppe not only insists upon the fingers being as
curved as possible, so that you play exactly on the
tips of them, but he turns the hand very much out,
so as to make the knuckles of the third and fourth
fingers higher than those of the first and second, and
as he does not permit you to throw out the elbow in
doing this, the turn must be made from the wrist.
The thumb must also be slightly curved, and quite free
from the hand. Many persons impede their execution
by not keeping the thumb independent enough of the
rest of the hand. The' moment it contracts, the hand
is enfeebled. The object of turning the hand outward
is to favour the third and fourth fingers, and give them
a higher fall when they are lifted. This strength-
ens them very much. It also looks much prettier
when the outer edge of the hand is high, and one of
Deppe's grand mottoes is, "When it looks pretty then
it is right."
After Deppe had put me through five-finger exer-
cises on the foregoing principles, and taught me to lift
*See p. 220.
19
290 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
each finger and let it fall with a perfectly loose wrist,
(a most deceitful point, by-the way, for it took me a
long while to distinguish when I was stiffening the
wrist involuntarily and when I wasn't,) he proceeded
to the scale. He always begins with the one in E
major as the most useful to practice. His principle in
playing the scale is not to turn the thumb under ! but
to turn a little on each finger end, pressing it firmly
down on the key, and screwing it round, as it were, on a
pivot, till the next finger is brought over its own key.
In this way he prepares for the thumb, which is kept
free from the hand and slightly curved. He told me
to play the scale of E major slowly with the right
hand, which I did. He curved his hand round mine,
and told me as long as I played right, his hand would
not interfere with mine. I played up one octave, and
then I wished to go on by placing my first finger on P
sharp. To do that I naturally turned my hand out-
ward, so as to make the step from my thumb on E
to F sharp with the first, but it came bang up against
Deppe's hand like a sort of blockade. " Go on/' said
Deppe. " I can't, when you keep your hand right in
the way," said I. " My hand isn't in the way," said he,
" but your hand is out of position."
So I started again. This time I reflected, and when
I got my third finger on D sharp, I kept my hand
slanting from left to right, but I prepared for the turn-
ing under of the thumb, and for getting my first finger
on F sharp, by turning my wrist sharply out. That
brought my thumb down on the note and prepared
.me instantly for the next step. In fact, my wrist car- -
THE "EGG OF COLUMBUS." 291
ried my finger right on to the sharp without any change
in the position of the hand, thus giving the most per-
fect legato in the world, and I continued the whole
scale in the same manner. Just try it once, and you'll
see how ingenious it is only one must be careful not
to throw out the elbow in turning out the wrist. As
in the ascending scale one has to turn the thumb un-
der twice in every octave, Deppe's way of playing
avoids twice throwing the hand out of position as one
does by the old way of playing straight along, and the
smoothness and rapidity of the scale must be much
greater. The direction of the hand in running pas-
sages is always a little oblique.
Don't you remember my telling you that Liszt has
an inconceivable lightness, swiftness and smoothness
of execution? When Deppe was explaining this to
me, I suddenly remembered that when he was playing
scales or passages, his fingers seemed to lie across the
keys in a slanting sort of way, and to execute these
rapid passages almost without any perceptible motion.
Well, dear, there it was again 1 As Liszt is a great ex-
perimentalist, he probably does all these things by in-
stinct, and without reasoning it out, but that is why
nobody's else playing sounds like his. Some of his
scholars had most dazzling techniques, and I used to
rack my brains to find out how it was, that no matter
how perfectly any body else played, the minute Liszt
sat down and played the same thing, the previous play-
ing seemed rough in comparison. I'm sure Deppe is
the only master in the world who has thought that
out ; though, as he says himself, it is the egg of Co.
lumbus "when you know it P
293 MUSIC-STUDY IN GTOATANT.
- - Deppe always begins the scale in the middle of the
piano, and plays up three octaves with the right, and
down three octaves with the left hand. He says that
all the difficulty is in going up, and that coming back
is perfectly easy, as all you have to do is to let the fin-
gers run ! He always makes me play each hand sep-
arately at first, and very slowly, and then both hands
together in contrary direction, gradually quickening
the tempo. After that in thirds, sixths, octaves, etc.
BERLIN, December 25, 1873,
As you may imagine, this is anything but a " Merf y
Christmas" for me, for I am simply the most com-
pletely bouleversee mortal in this world ! Here I was
a month ago preparing to give a concert of my own.
Then I have the good or bad luck to make Herr
.Deppe's acquaintance, and to find out how I "ought"
to have been studying for the last four years, I give
up Kullak and my concert plan, thinking I'll study
with Deppe and come out under his auspices. After
two lessons with him, comes your letter with the
news of this awful national panic in it. Could
anything be worse for a person who has really consci-
entiously tried to attain her object? Fm like the pro-
fessor who gave some lectures to prove a certain
theory, and when he got to the fourteenth, he decided
it was false, and devoted the remaining ones to pulling
it all down !
However, after practicing the scale on Deppe's prin*
ciples, I find that they open the road to an ease, ra-
SITTING LOW AT THE PIANO. 293
pidity, sureness and elegance of execution which, with
my stiff hand, I've not been able to see even in the
dim distance before ! One of his grand hobbies is tone,
and he never lets me play a note without listening
to it in the closest manner, and making it sound what
-he calls "bewusst (conscious)/' No more mechanical
" straying of the hands over the keys (as the novel-
. ists always say of their heroines) thinking of all sorts
of things the while/' but instead, a close pinning
down of the whole attention to hear whether one fin-
ger predominates over the other, and to note the effect
producer!. I was perfectly amazed to see how many
little ugly habits I had to correct of which I had not
been the least aware. It seems as though my ears had
been opened for the first time ! Such concentration
is very exhausting, and after two or three hours' prac-
tice I feel as if I should drop off the chair.
I forgot to say before, that Deppe enjoins sitting
very low that is not higher than a common chair.
He says one may have "the soul of an angel," and yet
if you sit high, the tone will not sound poetic. More-
over, in a low seat the fingers have to work a great
deal more, because you can't assist them by bringing
the weight of your arm to bear. " Your elbow must
-be lead and your wrist & feather." Of course the seat
must be modified to suit the person. I prefer a low
seat myself, and have even had my piano-chair cut off
two inches.
Before definitely deciding to give up Kullak and
come to him, Deppe insisted that I should hear one of
his scholars play, Fannie Warburg is in England on
294 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
a visit; so I could not hear her, but he has another
young lady pupil of whom he is very proud, named
Fraulein Steiniger. This young lady had been origi-
nally a pupil of Kullak's, and I had heard her play
once in his conservatory. She was a girl of a good
deal of talent, but not a genius. Deppe said that
when she came to him she had all my defects, only
worse. She has been studying with him in the most
tremendous manner for fifteen months, and he wanted
me to see what he had made of her in that time, She
was going to play in a concert in Lttbeck, and he was
to rehearse her pieces with her on Saturday for the
last time. He begged me to come then, and accord-
ingly I went.
I was very much struck by her playing, which was
remarkable, not so much for sentiment or poetry, of
which she had little, but for the mastery she had over
the instrument, and for the perfection with which she
did everything. There was a clarity and limpidity
about her trills and runs which surprised and delighted.
Her left hand was as able as the right, and had a way
of taking up a variation like nothing at all and run-
ning along with it through the most complicated pas-
sages, which almost made you laugh with pleasure !
There was a wonderful vitality, elasticity and snap to
her chords which impressed me very much, and a unity
of effect about her whole performance of any compo-
sition which I don't remember to have heard from the
pupils of other masters. The position of the hand
was exquisite, and all difficulties seemed to molt away
like snow or to be surmounted with the greatest ease.
"THE GREAT E PLAT." 295
I saw at a glance that Deppe is a magnificent teacher,
and I believe that he has originated a school of his
own.
Fraulein Steiniger played a charming Quintette by
Hummel, a beautiful Suite by Raff, a Prelude and Fu-
gue by Bach, and two Studies, and all, as it seemed to
me, exactly as they ought to be played. After she had
finished, we had a long talk about Kullak, She said
she staid with him year after year, doing her very best,
and never arriving at anything. At last, as he did
nothing for her, she resolved to strike out for herself,
and went to Deppe, who was at that time conducting
Stern's orchestral concerts, and asked him if he would
not allow her to play in one of them. Deppe re-
ceived her with his characteristic kindness and cor-
liality, but told her that before he could promise he
must first hear her in private, and he set a time for
the purpose.
She had prepared Beethoven's great E flat Concerto,
which everybody plays here. It is as difficult for
Deppe to listen to that concerto as it is for Liszt to
hear Chopin's B flat minor Scherzo. " We poor con-
ductors !" he will exclaim, " will the artists always
keep bringing us Beethoven's E flat Concerto? "Why
not, for once, the B flat, or a Mozart concerto? Then
we should say ' Ja, mit Vergnugen (Yes, with pleasure).'
Aber Jeder will grossartig spielen heutzutage (But
everybody wants to play on a grand scale now-a-days).
The mighty rushing torrent is the fashion, but who can
do the wimpling, dimpling streamlet 1 Nobody has
any fingers for the Jcleine Passagen (little fine pas^
296 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
sages). Sie haben, MlQ,Keine Finger (None of them
have any fingers)." He then winds up by saying he is
the only man in Germany who knows how to give
them " fingers/' " Ich weiss worauf es ankommt (2
know what it depends on) !"
Nevertheless, he listened patiently for the thou-
sandth time to the E flat concerto, as Steiniger played
it. He then quietly called her attention to the fact
that she had " no fingers/' and she was in perfect des-
pair. He saw that she was energetic and willing to
work, and he at once took her in hand and began to
drill her. She withdrew entirely from society and de-
TO ted herself to practicing, following his directions im-
plicitly. She is now a beautiful artist, and he chalks
out every step of her career. I don't doubt she will
play in the Gewandhaus in Leipsic eventually, which
is the height of every artist's ambition, and stamps you
as " finished." Then you are recognized all over the
world. Deppe does not mean to let her play here till
she has first played in many little places and suc-
ceeded. As he said to me the other day, " "When you
wish to spring over tall mountains, you must first
jump over little mounds (kleine Graben.)" Ha
counsels me to take a lesson of this young lady every
day for a time, so as to get over the technical part
quickly.
As for Deppe's young protegee, Fannie Warburg,
whom he has formed completely, everybody says that
she is wonderful. TrSulein Steiniger says that when
you hear her play you feel almost as if it were some-
. .thing holy, it is so perfect and so extraordinarily spirit-
STUDYING THE PEDAL 29?
ual. She is only eighteen. Deppe showed me the list
ol compositions that she has already played in concerts
elsewhere, and I was astonished at the variety and
compass of it. Every great composer was represented.
Among other refinements of his teaching, Deppe
asked me if I had ever made any pedal studies. I said
" No nobody had ever said anything to me about the
pedal particularly, except to avoid the use of it in
runs, and I supposed it was a matter of taste." He
picked out that simple little study of Cramer in D
major in the first book you know it well and asked
me to play it. I had played that study to Tausig, and
he found no fault with my use of the pedal ; so I sat
down thinking I could do it right. But I soon found
I was mistaken, and that Deppe had very different
ideas on the subject. He sat down and played it
phrase by phrase, pausing between each measure, to let
it "sing." I soon saw that it is possible to get as
great a virtuosity with the pedal as with anything else,
and that one must make as careful a study of it.
You remember I wrote to you that one secret of
Liszt's effects was his use of the pedal,* and how he
has a way of disembodying a piece from the piano
and seeming to make it float in the air? He makes a
spiritual form of it so perfectly visible to your inward
eye, that it seems as if you could almost hear it breathe !
Deppe seems to have almost the same idea, though he
has never heard Liszt play. " The Pedal," said he, "is
the lungs of the piano." He played a few bars of a
sonata, and in his whole method of binding the notes
298 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
together and managing the pedal, I recognized Liszt.
The thing floated ! Unless Deppe wishes the chord
to be very brilliant, he takes the pedal after the chord
instead of simultaneously with it. This gives it a very
ideal sound. You may not believe it, but it is true, that
though Deppe is no pianist himself, and has the fun-
niest little red paws in the world, that don't look as if
they could do anything, he's got that same touch and
quality of tone that Liszt has that indescribable
something that, when he plays a few chords, merely,
makes the tears rush to your eyes. It is too heavenly
for anything.
CHAPTER XXV.
Chord-Playing. Deppe no " Mere Pedagogue. 11 Sherwood.
Mozart's Concertos. Practicing Slowly,
The Opera Ball.
, January 2, 1874.
When I had got the principle of the scale pretty well
into my head, what should Deppe rummage out but
Czerny's " Schule der Gel&ufigkeit (School of Veloc-
ity)/' which I hadn't looked at since the days of my
childhood and fondly flattered myself I had done with
forever. (We none of us know what stands before
us!) After having studied Cramer, Gradus and
Chopin, you may imagine it was rather a come down
to have to take to the School of Velocity again ! And
to study it very slowly and with one hand only ! !
That was adding insult to injury. Deppe knows what
be is about, though. He began picking out passages
here and there all through the book, and making me
play them, stretching from the thumb and turning on
the fingers as often as possible. After I have mastered
the passages I am to learn a whole study, first with
sach hand alone, and then with both together !
Deppe next proceeded to teach me how to strike
chords. I had to learn to raise my hands high over
the key-board, and let them fall without any resistance
on the chord, and then sink with the wrist, and take
up the hand exactly over the notes, keeping the hand
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300 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
extended. There is quite a little knack in letting the
hand fall so, but when you have once got it, the chord
sounds much richer and fuller. And so on, ad infin-
itum. Deppe had thought out the best way of doing
everything on the piano the scale, the chord, the
trill, octaves, broken octaves, broken thirds, broken
sixths, arpeggios, chromatics, accent, rhythm all!
He says that the principle of the scale and of the
chord are directly opposite. "In playing the scale
you must gather your hand into a nut-shell, as it
were, and play on the finger tips. In taking the chord,
on the contrary, you must spread the hands as if you
were going to ask a blessing." This is particularly
the case with a wide interval. He told me if I ever
heard Eubinstein play again to observe how he strikes
his chords. "Nothing cramped about him! He
spreads his hands as if he were going to take in the
universe, and takes them up with the greatest freedom
and abandon!" Deppe has the greatest admiration
for Rubinstein's tone, which he says is unequaled, but
he places Tausig above him as an artist. He said
Tausig used, to come to his room and play to him, and
he took off Tausig's little half bow and way of seating
himself at the piano and beginning at once, without
prelude or wasting of words, very funnily ! He would
scarcely take time to say " Guten Abend (Good Even-
ing)." Deppe thinks Tausig played some things
matchlessly, but that in others he was dry and soul-
less. Clara Schumann, he says, is the most "musical'
of all the great artists and you remember how im-
mensely struck I was with Natalie Janotha, who is
her pupil, and plays just like her.
DEPPE NOT A PEDAGOGUE. 301
From, my telling you so much about technicalities,
you must not think Deppe only a pedagogue. He is
in reality the soul of music, and all these things are
only "means to an end." As he says himself, " I always
hear the music the people don't play." No pianist ever -
entirely suited him, and this it was that set him to
examining the instrument in order to see what was
the matter with it. He made friends with the great
virtuosi, and studied their ways of playing, and the
result of all his observation is that "Piano playing is
the only thing where there is something to be done."
He declares that there is so much musical talent going
to waste in the world that it is "lying all about
the streets," and he has a most ingenious way of
accounting for the fact that there are so many great
pianists in spite of their not knowing his method :
" Gifted people," he says, " play by the grace of God j
but everybody could master the technique on my
system ! ! "
To show you that it is not alone my judgment
of Deppe four of Kullak's best pupils, including
Sherwood! left him for Deppe, after I did. They
got so uneasy from what I told them, that they went
to see Deppe, and as soon as they heard FrSulein Stein-
iger play, they had to admit that she had got hold of
some secrets of which they knew nothing. Sherwood,
you know, is a positive genius, yet he is beginning all
over again, too. In short, we are all unanimous, while
Deppe, on his side, is much gratified at having some
American pupils. He flatters himself that we will
introduce all his cherished ideas into our "new and
progressive country."
302 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
Ah, if I had only studied with Deppe before I went to
Weimar ! When I was there I didn't play half as
often to Liszt as I might have done, kind and encour-
aging as he always was to me, for I always felt I
wasn't worthy to be his pupil ! But if I had known
Deppe four years ago, what might I not have been
now? After I took my first lesson of Deppe this
thought made me perfectly wretched. I felt so dread-
fully that I cried and cried. When I woke up in the
morning I began to cry again. I was so afflicted
that at last my landlady, who is very kind and sympa-
thetic, asked me what ailed me. I told her I felt so
dreadfully to think I had met the person I ought to have
met four years ago, at the last minute, so. " On the
contrary, you ought to rejoice that you have met him
at all? said she. " Many persons go through life with-
out ever meeting the person they wish to, or they don't
know him when they do." Sensible woman, Frau von
H. ! After that I stopped fretting, and tried to believe
that there is " a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-
hew them, how we may."
BEBLIN, February 12, 1874.
I am now taking three lessons a week from Fraulein
Steiniger and one lesson of Deppe himself, and he says
I am almost through the technical preparation, though
I still practice only with one hand, and very, slowly all
the time. Frftulein Steiniger says that she also prac-
ticed slowly all the time for six months, as I am now
doing. In fact, she completely forgot how to play
MOZART'S CONCERTOS. 303
.fast, and one day when Deppe finally said to her in
the lesson, "Now play fast for once/' she could not
-do it, and had to learn it all over again. Of coarse
she very soon got her hand in again, and now she has
the most beautiful execution, and can play anything
perfectly.
Deppe wants me to play a Mozart concerto for two
pianos with Praulein Steiniger, the first thing I play
in public. Did you know that Mozart wrote twenty
concertos for the piano, and that nine of them are
masterpieces? Yet nobody plays them. Why? Be-
cause they are too hard, Deppe says, and Lebert, the
head of the Stuttgardt Conservatory, told me the same
thing at Weimar. I remember that the musical critic
of the Atlantic Monthly remarked that "we should
regard Mozart's passages and cadenzas as child's play
now-a-days." Child's play, indeed! That critic,
whoever it is, "had better go to school again," as 0.
always says !
Deppe is remarkable in Mozart, and has studied him
more than anybody else, I fancy. Indeed, to turn
over his concertos, and see how he has -fingered them
alone, is enough to make you dizzy. He is always say-
ing, "You must hear Fannie Warburg play a Mozart
concerto. She can do it !" and, indeed, I am most
anxious to hear her.
It is ludicrous to hear Deppe talk about the artists
that everybody else thinks so great. Having been a
director of an orchestra for years, he has constantly
directed their concerts, and he weighs them in a re-
lentless balance ! The other day he gave me Mendels-
304 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
sohn's Concerto in G minor, and just at the end of the
first movement is a fearful break -neck passage for
both hands. <e There !" cried Deppe, " that's a good
healthy place. Nehmen Sie DAS/W Ihr tiigliches Gebet
(Take that for your daily prayer). When, you can play
it eight times in succession without missing a note,
I'll be satisfied. That is one of the places that when
the pianists come to, they get their foot hard on to the
pedal and hold on to it Herr Gott! how they hold
on to it and so lie themselves through," He said he
never heard anyone do it right except those to whom
he had taught it. Steiniger played it for me the other
day and it so astonished my ears that I felt like
saying, "Herr Gott!" too. It was as if some one had
snatched up a handful of hail and dashed it all over
me. Br-r-r-zip ! how it did go ! Like a bundle of
rockets touched off one after the other. And yet this
concerto is one of those things that everybody thrums,
and is one of the regular pieces you must have in
your repertoire. Deppe was quite shocked to find I had
never learned it.
My lesson usually lasts three hours ! Nothing Deppe
hates like being hurried over a lesson. He likes to
have plenty of time to express all his ideas and tell
you a good many anecdotes in between ! I usually
take my lessons from seven till ten in the evening.
Then he puts on his coat and saunters along with me
on his way to his " Kneipe," or beer-garden, for he is
far too sociable to go to bed without having taken a
friendly glass of beer with some one. Every block or
so he will stand stock still and impress some musical
GERMAN DANCI1TO. 305
point upon my, mind, and will often harangue me for
five or ten minutes before moving on. It seems to be
impossible to him to walk and talk at the same time !
In this way you may imagine it takes me a good while
to get home.
On Tuesday there is to be a grand ball at the
opera house which the Emperor and the whole court
grace with their presence, and lead o2 the first Polo-
naise. There are two of these grand public balls every
winter. The tickets are sold, and it is the sole occasion
where the public can have the felicity of gazing upon
royalty in close proximity. I have never been, though
all my German friends have been dinning it into my
ears for the last four years that I ought to go and see
it, for the decorations are magnificent. This year there
is to be but one, as the Emperor is not very well, and
I expect it will be as much as one's life is worth to get
in and get out again, such is the rush I
The* German officers waltz perfectly, and with great
spirit and elegance. Dancing is a part of their mili-
tary training and they are obliged to learn it. But
they are not very comfortable partners, for one rubs
one's face against their epaulets unless they are just
the right height, and jou've no rest for your left hand.
They take only two turns round the room and then
stop a moment or two to fan you and rest then they
take two more. The consequence is, one never gets
fairly going before one has to stop. At first I used to
think the effect of so many people whirling round in
the same direction dizzying and monotonous. But
when I became accustomed to it, the continual revers-
20
306 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
ing of the Americans who come to Berlin struck me
as angular, in contrast to the graceful German cir-
cling. It is not "the thing" here for the girls to look
flushed and disordered skirts torn, and hair out of
crimp as our belles do at the end of an evening.
They retire from the ball-room with their dresses in
faultless condition, so that going to parties in Germany
must cost the pater familias considerably less than
with us ! The floor is never so crowded with dancers
at one time, and as they are going in the same direction,
they don't run into each other as our couples do.
On the other hand, they don't have such a "good
time " out of it as do our girls, with their long five
and ten minute turns to those delicious waltzes !
Strange, that though Germany is the native home of
the waltz, and the Vienna waltzes surpass all others, the
Schottisch or Ehinelaender should be their favourite
dance. They dance it very gracefully ajid rythmically.
BERLIN, March 1, 1874.
I went the other evening to the Opera ball I wrote
you of in my last. The whole opera house, stage and
all, was floored over, and magnificently decorated with
evergreens, mirrors, fountains, and flowers. The
tickets are sold for some charitable purpose. Only
.nice people can get in, because the whole thing is
systematically arranged, and nobody can give their
tickets to anybody else. I got mine through Mr. Ban-
croft, and I went with two other ladies and a gentle-
man.
A COURT BALL. 30?
We went very early, so as to get a box to sit in, and
never shall I forget the first effect of the ball-room !
That immense polished floor stretching out like one
vast mirror or sheet of ice, the fountains flashing at
the sides, the walls wreathed with green, a big orchestra
sitting in the balcony at each end, and about a hun-
dred pairs of magnificently dressed ladies and gentle-
men descending the stairs into the rooms and prom-
enading about. Light, diamonds, colour, everywhere.
Oh, it was perfectly fairy-like ! The floor was built
over the tops of the chairs in the parquette, and the
entrance was through the royal bos, which is just
in the centre of the opera house, facing the stage.
This box is like a large recess, of course, and not like
the ordinary boxes. There was an entrance on each
side, coming in from the corridor, and a flight of broad
steps, carpeted, had been improvised, which led from
it down to the floor. It looked perfectly dazzling to
see the pairs come in from both sides at once and de-
scend the steps, and the ladies' dresses were displayed
to perfection. Such toilets I never saw. The women
were covered with lace, feathers, and diamonds. The
simpler dresses were of tarletane (mine included I)
but as they were quite fresh they gave a very dressy
air. We had a splendid box, first rank, and the second
from the proscenium boxes on the left, in which sat
the royal family. In the box between us and the latter
sat the wife of the French ambassador with the Coun-
tess von Seidlewitz and her sister, and behind them was
a formidable array of magnificent-looking officers in
full uniform, their breasts flashing with stars and
orders and silver chains.
308 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
The Countess von Seidlewitz is a famous court beauty
and is lady of honour to the Princess Carl (sister of
the Empress). She sat just next to me, as only the
partition of the box was between us, and she was the
most beautiful woman I saw perfectly imperial, in
fact white and magnificent as a lily. Her features
were perfectly regular, and she had a proudly-cut
mouth, and such dazzling little teeth! Then, her
arms, neck, and shape were exquisite. She wore the
severest kind of dress, and one that only such beauty
could have borne. It was a white silk, with an im-
mense train, of course, and without overskirt simply
caught up in a great puff behind. The waist was
made with a small basque, but very low, and with very
short sleeves. Bound the neck was a white bugle
fringe, and there were two or three rows of this fringe
in front, graduating to the waist, smaller and smaller,
and going round the basque. All the front breadth
of the skirt was laid in folds of satin, in groups of
three, and on the edge of every third row was the
fringe again, graduating wider and wider toward the
bottom. In her hair she wore a wreath of white ver-
benas or (snow-balls) and green leaves. Her sole orna-
ment was a magnificent diamond locket and ear-rings of
some curious design, the locket depending from a very
fine gold chain, which challenged all observers to no-
tice the faultlessness of her neck. One sly bit of co-
quetry was visible in two natural flowers, lilies-of-the-
valley, with their leaves, which she had stuck in her
corsage so that they should rest against her neck and
show that they were not whiter than her skin. You
THE EMPRESS. 309
see there were no folds anywhere, as there was no over-
skirt, but the whole dress hung in long lines and
showed the contour of the figure. Nothing but these
fringes (which gleamed and wayed with every motion)
relieved it not even a bit of black velvet anywhere,
for the lace round the neck was drawn through with
a white silk thread. There was another lady in the
same box whose dress was very beautiful, too, though
she herself was not. It was a green silk with green
tulle overdress puffed, and with ears of silver wheat
scattered over it. The tunic was of silver crape, the
bottom cut in scallops and trimmed with silver wheat.
A wisp of wheat was knotted round her neck for a
necklace, and a perfect sheaf of it in her hair. It was
an exquisite dress.
At ten o'clock everybody had arrived about two
thousand people. The orchestra struck up the Polo-
naise, and the court descended from the box to make
the tour of the floor (i. e., only the members of the
royal family with their ladies of honour). The Em-
peror was not very well, so he remained in his box,
but the Empress led off with the Duke of Edinburgh,
who happened to be here. She was dressed in laven-
der satin, covered with the most superb white lace.
Her hair was done in braids on the top of her head,
very high, and upon it was fastened a double coronet
of diamonds, stuck on in stars, etc., which flashed like
so many small suns. Bound her neck depended from
a black velvet band, strings of diamonds of great size
and magnificence. It really almost made you start
when your eye caught them unexpectedly ! The Em-
310 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
press is a very elegant-looking woman, and is every
inch a queen. She moved with stately step, bowing
and bowing graciously from side to side to the crowd
which parted and bent before her, and was followed
by the Crown Prince and Princess, the Princess Carl,
the Princess Friedrich Carl (a beauty) and her daugh-
ters, and I don't know who all, with their ladies of
honour. When the Countess von Seidlewitz came
along, with her fringes waving and gleaming in front
of her, she shone out from all the rest, and, in fact,
from the whole two thousand guests, like the planet
Venus among the other stars. Stunning !
The orchestra banged away its loudest, and it was
quite exciting. The three balconies were crowded with
people, and all the boxes. The box of the diplomatic
corps was just opposite us, and our gay little Mrs. F.
sat in it dressed in white satin. Some of my friends
came and stood under my box and tried to get me to
come down, but I would not, for I knew I should lose
my place if I did, and, indeed, I would not want to
dance there unless my dress were something superlative.
You see, all the swells sat in their boxes and gazed
right down on the dancers, who had a circular place
roped off for them. De Eilvas, the Spanish minister,
looked so fine, however, with his broad blue ribbon
across his breast and his gold cross depending from
his neck, that I should have liked very well to have
made the tour of the room with him.
CHAPTER XXVI.
A Set of Beethoven Variations. Fannie Warburg, Deppe's
Inventions. His Room. His Afternoon
Coffee. Pyrmont
BEKLIK, April 30, 1874.
I wish you were here now so that I could play you
a set of little variations by Beethoven called, "I've
only got a little hut." They are bewitching, and I
think I can now play them so as to express (as Deppe
says) " that he had indeed nothing but his little hut, but
was quite happy in it," In the last variation he dances
a waltz in his little hut ! I have learned a great deal
from these tiny variations, taught in Deppe's inimita-
ble fashion. When I first took them to him I began
playing the second of the variations which is rather
plaintive and seems to indicate that the proprietor of
the little hut had a misgiving that there might be a
better abode somewhere on the earth with a great
deal of "expression/ 3 as I thought. I soon found out
I was overdoing it, however, and that it is not always
so easy to define 'where good expression stops and bad
style begins. " Why do you make those notes stick out
so?" asked Deppe, as I was giving vent to my "soul-
longings," (as P. says). " Learn to paint in grosser*,
Flaechen (great surfaces)." He made me play it
again perfectly legato, and with no one note "sticking
, out" more than another. I saw at once that he was
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312 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
right about it, and that the effect was much better,
while it took nothing from the real sentiment of the
piece. It was one of those cases where a simple state-
ment was all that was necessary. Anything more de-
tracted from rather than added to it.
I have at last heard Fannie Warburg in a Mozart
concerto, for she has got back from England. How
she did play it ! To say that the passages " pearled/'
would be saying nothing at all. Why, the piano just
warbled them out like a nightingale! The last
movement had the infectious gayety that Mozart's
things often have, with a magnificent cadenza by him-
self. She rendered it so perfectly, and with such
naive light-heartedness, that none of us could resist
it, and we all finally burst into a laugh ! There was a
little orchestra accompanying, which Deppe had got
together and was directing. When she got to the
cadenza, he laid down his Mton, and retired to lean
against the door and enjoy it. She did it in the most
masterly manner, and 0, it was so difficult ! I thought
of the Boston critic, who considered Mozart's compo-
sitions "child's play." They are child's play that is,
they are nothing at all if they are not faultlessly
played, and every fault shows, which is the reason so
few attempt them. Your hand must be "in order,"
as Deppe says, to do it.
Fannie Warburg is a sweet little eighteen-year-old
maiden. A shy little bud of a girl without any vanity or
self-consciousness. She has a lovely hand for the
piano, and the way she uses it is perfectly exquisite.
It is small and plump, but strong, with firm little fin-
FANNIE WARBURG'S HAND. 313
;ers. Every muscle is developed, and indeed it could
Lot be otherwise, after such a six years' training. One
f Deppe's rules is that when you raise the finger the
:nuckle must not stick out. The finger must "sit
irm (fest-sitzeri) in the joint." Fannie Warburg's
ingers "sitzen" so "feat" that when she plays she
>ositively has a little row of dimples where her knuckles
iught to be. It looks too pretty for anything just
ike a baby's hand. She does not seem to have the
lightest ambition, however, and I doubt whether she
rill ever do anything with her music after she leaves
)eppe. Her mother was from Hamburg, and had
aken lessons of Deppe there when they were both
[uite young. She thought him such a remarkable
eacher that she declared her daughter should have no
ither master. So when Fannie was twelve years
ld she brought her to him, and he has been giving
ier lessons ever since something like Samuel's mother
ringing him to the Temple, wasn't it? and indeed
rhen I go into Deppe's shabby little room I always
'eel as if I were in a little Temple of Music I I like
o see the furniture all bestrewn with it, and Deppe
limself seated at his table surrounded with piles of
nanuscript, pen in hand, going over and arranging
hem, bringing order out of chaos. Other orchestra
eaders are always writing and begging him to lend
hem his copies of Oratorios, etc,
Deppe has all sorts of practical little ideas peculiar to
limself. For instance, he has invented a candlestick to
tand on a grand piano. In shape it is curved, like
hose things for candles attached to upright pianos, but
314 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
with a weighted foot to hold it firm. It is a capital
invention, for you put one each side of the music-rack,
and then you can turn it so as to throw the light on your
music, just as you can turn those on the upright pianos.
It is on the same principle, only with the addition of the
foot. It is much more convenient than a lamp, because
it doesn't rattle, and you can throw the light on the
page so much better. Then he always insists on our
having our pieces bound separately, in a cover of stout
blue paper, such as copy books are bound in. He entirely
disapproves of binding music in books, "Who will lug
a great heavy book along?'' he will ask, "and besides,
they don't lie open well"
The other day Deppe told me he wanted me to come
and hear FrSulein Steiniger take her lesson, as she had
some interesting pieces to play. I found her already
there when I arrived. Deppe was in an uncommonly
good humour, and kept making little jokes. She played
a string of things, and finally ended off with Liszt's
arrangement of the Spinning Song from Wagner's Fly-
ing Dutchman. Deppe- is dreadfully fussy about this
piece, and made some such subtle and telling points
regarding the conception of the composition, that they
were worthy of Liszt himself. I mean to learn it, and
when I come home I will play it to you as Deppe taught
it to Steiniger, and you will see how fascinating it is. 1
know you'll be carried away with it.
Toward the end of the lesson it was growing rather late,
and time also for Deppe's coffee, which beverage you know
the Germans always drink late in the afternoon, accom-
panied with cakes. He had just laid down his violin, as
DEPPE AT HOME. 315
he and Fraulein Steiniger had played a sonata together,
and had seated himself at the piano to show her about
some passage or other. Deeply absorbed, he was har-
anguing her as hard as he could, when the maid of all
work suddenly entered with the coffee on a tray, and
was apparently about to set it down on the piano in
close proximity to the violin. "Herr Gott, nicht auf die
Violin! (Good gracious, not on the violin) !" exclaimed
Doppe, springing frantically up and rescuing the beloved
instrument. "Where then?" said the girl. "Oh, any-
where, only not on the violin," She set it down on a
chair and vanished. There were only three chairs in the
room, and the sofa was covered with music. Fr&ulein
Steiniger occupied one chair, I the second, and the coffee
the third. Deppe glanced around in momentary bewild-
erment, and then sat himself plump down on the floor,
took his coffee, stretched out his legs, and began stirring
it imperturbably. "But Herr Deppe !" remonstrated
Steiniger. "Well," said he, with his light-hearted laugh,
"what else can I do when I have no chair?" There was
no carpet on the floor, which was an ordinary painted
one, and he looked funny enough, sitting there, but he
enjoyed his coffee just as well ! After he had finished
drinking it, the shades of night were falling, and it
occurred to him it would be well to illuminate his
apartment. He is the happy possessor of five minute
lamps and candlesticks, no two of which are the same
height. The lamps are two in number, and are about
as big as the smallest sized fluid lamp that we used in old
times to go to bed by. The three candlesticks are of
china, and adorned with designs in decalcomania
316 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
probably the handiwork of grateful pupils, for in Germany
there is no present like a " Hand- Arbeit (something
done by the hand of the giver)." It is the correct thing
to give a gentleman. When FrSulein Steiniger and I
only are present, Deppe usually considers the two lamps
sufficient. But if others are there and he is going to
have some music in the evening, he will produce the
three minute candlesticks, with an end of candle in each,
light them, and dispose them in various parts of the
room. When, however, as on great occasions, the five
lamps and candlesticks are supplemented by two more
candles on the piano in the curved candlesticks of
Deppe's own invention, the blaze of light is something
tremendous to our unaccustomed eyes ! Nothing short
of the Tuileries or the "Weisser Saal " at the palace here
could equal it !
BERLIN, May 81, 1874
This season with Deppe has been of such immense
importance to me, that I don't know what sum of money
I would take in exchange for it, By practicing in his
method the tone has an entirely different sound, being
round, soft and yet penetrating, while the execution of
passages is infinitely facilitated and perfected. In fact,
it seems to me that in time one could attain anything by
it, but time it will have. One has to study for months
, very slowly and with very simple things, to get into the
way of playing so, and to be able to think about each
finger as you use it to "feel the note and make it con-
scious.' 5 Deppe won't let me finish anything at present,
SHERWOOD. 31?
so I can't tell how far along I am myself. His principle
is, never to learn a piece completely the first time you
attack it, but to master it three-quarters, and then let it
lie as you would fruit that you have put on a shelf to
ripen ; afterward, take it up again and finish it. The
principle may be a good one, but it prevents my ever
having anything to play for people,and consequently I have
ceased playing in company entirely. In fact, I find it impos-
sible, and I don't see how Sherwood manages it. He has a
whole repertoire, and sits down and plays piece after
piece deliciously. But then he is a perfect genius, and
will make a sensation when he comes out. He has that
natural repose and imperturbability that are everything
to an artist, but which, unfortunately, so few of us pos-
sess. His compositions, too, are exquisite, and so poetical !
Mrs. Wrisley,* of Boston, and Frsulein Estleben, of
Sweden, who left Kullak when I did, are also gifted
creatures, whereas I think I am only a steady old poke-
along, who won't give up 1 Sherwood, however, is head
and shoulders above all of us.
[The following extract, taken from the report in the
Musical Review of Mr, Sherwood's address before the
Music Teachers' National Association in Buff alo, in June,
1880, would seem to show that whether this distinguished
young virtuoso, now by far the leading American con-
cert-pianist, gained his ideas on the study of touch and
tone from Herr Deppe or not, he certainly endorses
them in both his playing and his teaching: "It makes
a great deal of difference whether a piano be struck with
a stick, with mechanical fingers, or with fingers that are
full of life and magnetism. I have examined Eubinstein's
* Now Mrs. Sherwood.
318 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
hand and arm, and found that they are not only full of
life and magnetism, but that they are extremely elastic,
and the fingers are so soft that the bones are scarcely felt.
Can practice produce these qualities? I believe so, and I
make it a point both with my pupils and myself to prac-
tice slow motions. It is much easier to strike quickly
than slowly, but practice in the slow movement will
develop both muscular and nervous power. And the
tone obtained by this motion is much better than that
obtained by striking. The mechanical practice in vogue
at Leipsic and other European conservatories often fails
because the subject of aesthetics and tone beauties are
neglected." See pp. 288, 302-3, 331] ED.
My lessons with Deppe are a genuine musical excite-
ment to me, always. In every one is something so
new and unexpected something that I never dreamed
of before that I am lost in astonishment and admir-
ation. The weeks fly by like days before I know it.
Deppe gives me the most beautiful music, and never
wastes time over things which will be of no use to me
afterward. Every piece has an aim, and is lovely,
also, to play to people. Now, in Tausig's and Eul-
lak's conservatories I wasted quantities of time over
things which are beautiful enough, and do to play to
one's self, but which are not in the least effective to
play to other people either in the parlour or in the con-
cert-room as Bach's Toccata in 0, for example. Such
things take a good while to learn, and are of no prac-
tical advantage afterward. But Deppe has an organ-
ized plan in everything he does.
In my study with Kullak when I had any special
DEPPE A " MUSICAL SAVANT." 319
difficulties, he only said, " Practice always, ]?rulein.
Time will do it for you some day. Hold your hand
any way that is easiest for you. You can do it in this
way or in this way" showing me different positions
of the hand in playing the troublesome passage "or
you can play it with the lack of the hand if that will
help you any !" But Deppe, instead of saying, " Oh,
you'll get this after years of practice/ 7 shows me how to
. conquer the difficulty now. He takes apiece, and while
he plays it with the most wonderful^enessof concep-
tion, he cold-bloodedly dissects the mechanical elements
of it, separates them, and tells you how to use your hand
so as to grasp them one after the other. In short, he
makes the technique and the conception identical, as
of course they ought to be, but I never had any other
-master who trained his pupils to attempt it.
, . Deppe also hears me play, I think, in the true way,
and as Liszt used to do : that is, he never interrupts me
in a piece, but lets me go through it from beginning to
end, and then he picks out the places he has
noted, and corrects or suggests. These suggestions
are always something which are not simply for that
piece alone, but which add to your whole artistic expe-
rience & principle, so to speak. So, without meaning
any disparagement TO the splendid masters to whom I
owe all my previous musical culture, I cannot help
feeling that I have at last got into the hands not of
a mere piano virtuoso, however great, but, rather,
of a profound musical savant a man who has been a
violinist, as well as a director, and who, without being a
player himself, has made such a study of the piano, that
320 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
probably all pianists except Liszt might learn some-
thing from him. You may all think me "enthusiastic/'
or even wild, as much as you like ; but whether or not I
ever conquer my own block of a hand which has every
defect a hand can have ! when I come home and
begin teaching you all on Deppe's method, you'll
succumb to the genius and beauty of it just as com-
pletely as I have. You will then all admit I was
EIGHT!
July 22. I have finally made up my mind to go to
Pyrmont when Deppe does, and spend several weeks,
keeping right on with my lessons, and perhaps, giving a
little concert there. I have always had a curiosity to
visit one of the German watering places, as I'm told they
are extremely pleasant.
PYRMONT, August 1, 1874.
Here I am in Pyrmont, and there's no knowing where I
shall turn up next ! Frttulein Steiniger got here before
me, but Deppe has not yet arrived from Brussels, whither
he has gone to be present at the yearly exhibition of the
Conservatoire there. He has been appointed one of the
judges on piano-playing. Pyrmont is a lovely little
place. It is in a valley surrounded by hills, heavily
wooded, and has a beautiful park, as all German towns
have, no matter how small. The avenues of trees surpass
anything I ever saw. The soil has something peculiar about
it, and is particularly adapted to trees. They grow to
an immense height, and their stems look so strong, and
their foliage is so tremendously luxuriant, that it seems
as if they were ready to burst for very life !
PYEMONT. 321
FrSulein Steiniger went with me to look up some
rooms, Every family in Pyrmont takes lodgers, so
that it is not difficult to find good accommodations.
The women are renowned for being good housekeepers
and their rooms are charmingly fitted up, but the prices
are very high, as they live the whole year on what they
make in summer. People come here to drink the waters
of the springs, and to take the baths, which are said to
be very invigorating. My rooms are near the principal
"Allee" or Avenue, leading from the Springs. About
half way down is a platform where the orchestra sit -
and play three times a day at seven in the morning
(which is the hour before breakfast, when it is the thing
to take a glass or two of the water, and promenade a
little), at four in the afternoon, when everybody takes
their coffee in the open air, and at seven in the evening.
As I don't drink the waters I do not rise early, and am
usually awakened by the strains of the orchestra. There
is a little piazza outside my window where I take my
breakfast and supper. For dinner I go to "table-d'hote "
at a hotel near. It is a great relief to get out of
Berlin and see something green once more. I find the
weather very cool, however, and one needs warm clothing
here.
There are the loveliest walks all about Pyrmont that
you can imagine, and beautiful wood-paths are cut along
the sides of the hills. My favourite one is round the cone
of a small hill to the right of the town. The path com-
pletely girdles it, and you can start and walk round the
hill, returning to the point you set out from. It is like
21
322 MUSIC-STUDY IN" GERMANY.
a leafy gallery, and before and behind you is always this
curving yista. Whenever I take the walk it reminds me
of
" Curved is the line of beauty,
Straight is the line of duty;
Follow the last and thou shalt see
The other ever following thee."
It is the first time I ever succeeded in combining the
curved and the straight line at the same time because,,
of course, it is my duty to take exercise I
CHAPTER XXVIL
The Brussels Conservatoire. Steiniger. Excursion to Klein-
berg. Giving a Concert. Fraulein Timm.
PYRMONT, August 15, 1874
Deppe has got back from Brussels, and, as you may
imagine, he had much to tell about his flight into the
world, particularly as he had also been to London.
He had a delightful time with the professors of the
Brussels Conservatoire, who were all extremely polite
to 'him, and he heard some talented young pupils.
There was one girl about seventeen, whom he said
he would give a good deal to have as his pupil,
so gifted is she, though her playing did not suit him
in many respects. He said he could have made some
severe criticisms, but he refrained partly because he
felt the uselessness of it, partly because he says "it is
extraordinary how amiable one gets when young ladies
are in question P He was very enthusiastic over the
violin classes. "What a bow the youngsters do draw P
he exclaimed. Dupont, the great piano teacher inBrus-
sels, must be a man of considerable "esprit" judging
from the two of his compositions that I am familiar
with the "Toccata " and the "Staccato " I used to hear
a good deal about him from his pupil G-urickx, whom
I met in Weimar. Certainly G-urickx played magnifi-
cently, and with a brio I haye rarely heard equalled.
He is like an electric battery. Quite another school,
' (323)
324 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
however, from Deppe's the severe, the chaste and the
classic ! Extreme purity of style is Deppe's charac-
teristic, and not the passionate or the emotional. For
instance, he has scarcely given me any Chopin, but
keeps me among the classics, as he says on that side
my musical culture has been deficient. He says that
Chopin has been " so played to death that he ought to
be put aside for twenty years I" But if Chopin were
really sympathetic to him he could never say that! The
truth is, the modern " problem atische Natur" has no
charms for a transparent and simple temperament like
his.
Steiniger has been playing most beautifully lately.
She has given two concerts of her own here, and has
played at another. Then she rehearsed with orchestra
Mozart's B flat major concerto the most difficult
concerto in the world, and oh, so exquisite I Though
I had long wished to do so, I never had heard it
before, and as I listened I felt as if I never could leave
Deppe until I could play that! I wish you could have
heard it. It is sown with difficulties enough to make
your hair stand on end ! Steiniger played it with an
ease and perfection truly astonishing. The notes
seemed fairly to run out of her fingers for fun. The last
movement was Mozart all over, just as merry as a
cricket ! I doubt whether anybody can play this con-
certo adequately who has not studied with Deppe.
The beauty of his method is that the greatest diffi-
culties become play to you.
I love to see Deppe direct the orchestra when Stein-
iger plays a concerto of Mozart. His clear blue eyes
EXCURSION TO KLEINBERG. 325
dance in his head and look so sunny, and he stands so
light on his feet that it seems as if he would dance off
himself on the tips of his toes, with his baton in his
hand ! He is the incarnation of Mozart, just as Liszt
and Joachim are of Beethoven, and Tausig was of
Chopin. He has a marvellously delicate musical organ-
ization, and an instinct how things ought to be played
which amounts to second sight. Fr&ulein Steiniger
said to him one day : "Eerr Deppe, I don't know why
it is, but I can't make the opening bars of this piece
sound right. It doesn't produce the impression it
ought." "I know why," said Deppe. "It is because
you don't strike the chord of G minor before you begin,"
and so it was. When she struck the chord of 0-
minor, it was the right preparation, and brought you
immediately into the mood for what followed. It
fixed the key.
Aside from music, Deppe, like all artists, has the
most childlike nature, and I think Mozart is so
peculiarly sympathetic to him because he has such a
simple and sunny temperament himself. We made
a beautiful excursion the other dayin carriages, through
the hills, to a little village far distant, where we drank
coffee in the open air. Deppe, who knows every foot
of the ground about Pyrmont, which he has frequented
from his youth up, kept calling our attention to all
the points of the scenery over and over again with the
greatest delight, quite forgetting that he repeated the
same thing fifty times. " That little village over there
is called Kleinberg. It has a school and a church, and
the pastor's name is Koehler," he would say to me
326 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
first. Then he would repeat it to every one in our
carriage. Then he would stand up and call it over to
the carriage behind us. Then when he had got out
he said it to the assembled crowd, and as I walked on
in advance with Fraulein Estleben, the last thing I
heard floating over the hill-top was, "The pastor's
name is Koehler," so I knew he was still instructing
some one in the fact. "I wonder how often Deppe
has repeated that?" I said to Fraulein Estleben. "At
least fifty times/' said she, laughing. " I'm going back
to him and ask him once more what the name of the
pastor is." So I went back, and said, " By the way,
Herr Deppe, what did you say the name of the pastor
of that village is?" " IToehler," said dear old Deppe,
with great distinctness and with such simple good faith
that I felt reproached at having quizzed him, though
the others could scarcely keep their countenances, as
they knew what I was after.
I have been preparing for some time to give a concert
of Chamber Music in the salon of the hotel here, and ex-
pect it to take place a week from to-day. My head feels
quite lame from so much practicing, the consequence, I
suppose, of so much listening. I am to play a Quin-
tette, Op. 87, in E major, by Hummel, for piano and
strings, and a Beethoven Sonata, Op. 12, in E flat, for
violin and piano, and the other instruments will play a
Quartette by Haydn in between. It is a beautiful little
programme, I think every piece perfect of its kind.
If I succeed in this concert as I hope, I shall probably
listen to Deppe's implorings and remain under his
guidance another season, Deppe believes that one
GIVING A CONCERT. 327
must go through successive steps of preparation before
one is fitted to attack the great concert works. I've
found out (what he took good care not to tell me in
the beginning!) that his "course" is three years!!
and you can't hurry either him or his method. Tour
fingers have got to grow into it. I do not at all
regret, with you, not haying hitherto played in con-
cert ; on the contrary, I think it providential that I
did not. You see, you and I started out with wholly
impracticable and ridiculous ideas. We thought that
things could be done quickly. Well, they can't be
done quickly and be worth anything. One must
keep an end in view for years and gradually work up
to it. The length of time spent in preparation has to
be the same, whether you begin as a child (which is
the best, and indeed the only proper way), or whether
you begin after you have grown up. It is a ten years'
labour, take it how you wilL
PYBMONT, August 15, 1874.
My concert came off yesterday evening, and Deppe
says it was a complete success. I did not play any
solos, after all, though I had prepared some beautiful
ones, for Deppe said the programme would be too
long, and he was not quite sure of my courage.
";You'd be frightened, if you were a Herr Gottl" said
he ; but, contrary to my usual habit, I wasn't fright-
ened in the least, and I think I did as well as such a
shaky, trembly concern as I, could have expected, par-
328 MUSIC-STUDY Iff GEBMANY.
ticularly as my hands are two little fiends who won't
play if they don't feel like it, do what I will to "make
them ! My programme was & la Joachim ( !|) only
three pieces of Chamber Music :
1. Quintette, Op, 87, E major, - - Hummel.
2. Quartette, G major, - Haydn.
3. Sonata for piano and violin,) m m m Beet]lOYCn ,
Op. 12, E flat. )
Deppe arranged the whole thing most practically.
We had a large salle in the Hotel Bremen which was
admirably proportioned, and a new grand piano from
Berlin. Deppe had only so many chairs placed as he
had given out invitations, and the consequence was
that every chair was filled, and there were no rows of
empty seats. My "public" was very musical and
critical, and there were so many good judges there
that I wonder I wasn't nervous ; but a sort of inspi-
ration came to me at the moment.
The musicians who accompanied me were exceed-
ingly good ones for such a place as Pyrmont, and my
strictly classic selections were received with great
favour by the audience ! That quintette of Eummel's
is a most charming composition so flowing and ele-
gant and one can display a good deal of virtuosity in
the last part of it. I played first and last, and the
quartette in between was performed by the stringed
instruments alone. After I had finished the quin-
tette, Deppe, who was at the extreme end of the hall,
sent me word that I was "doing famously, and that
he was delighted," and this encouraged me so that my
THE GOAL AT LAST. 329
sonata went beautifully, too. When it was over, ever
so many people came up and congratulated me, and
FrSulein Timm, Deppe's head teacher in Hamburg,
even complimented me on my " extraordinary facility
of execution." I couldn't help laughing at that, with
my stubborn hand which never will do anything, and
which only the most intense study has schooled but
in truth I was quite surprised myself at the plausible
way in which it went over all difficulties ! Quite a
number of Deppe's scholars were present, all of them
critics and several of them beautiful pianists. Two
nice American girls, sisters, from the West, came on
from Berlin on purpose for my concert. They helped
me dress, and presented me with an exquisite bouquet.
One of them is taking lessons of Deppe, and the other
has a great talent for drawing, and has been two
years studying in Berlin. She says she has only made
a "beginning" now, and that she wishes to study
"indefinitely" yet. So it is in Art! I think her
heads are excellent already.
After the concert was over, Deppe gave me a little
-champagne supper, together with FrSuleins Timm,
Steiniger, and these two young ladies. When he
poured out the wine he said he was going to propose
a toast to two ladies ; one of them, of course, was
myself, "and the other," said he, "is in America,
namely, the friend of Fraulein Pay, whom I judge to
be a woman of genius, so truly and rightly does she
feel about art (I've translated H J s letters to him),
and so nobly has she sympathized with and stood by
. To Mrs. A.,whosejicquaintancel long
330 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
to make 1 "You may be sure I drank to that toast
with, enthusiasm. Ah, it was a pleasant evening,
after so many years of fruitless toil! The fat
.and jolly old landlord came himself to put me
into the carriage and to say that everybody in the
audience had expressed their pleasure and gratifica-
tion at my performance. I rather regret now that I
did not play my solos, but perhaps it is just as well to
leave them until another time, I have " sprung over
one little mound " to use Deppe's simile and got an
idea of the impetus that will be necessary to " carry
me over the mountain,"
PYBMONT, September 4^ 1874.
After the unwonted exaltation of the success of
my little concert, I have been suffering a cor-
responding reaction, partly because FrSulein Timm,
^Deppe's Hamburg assistant, with whom I am now
studying, began her instructions, as teachers always
do, by chucking me into a deeper slough of despond
than usual. Consequently, I haven't been very bright,
though I am gradually coming up to the surface
again, for I'm pretty hard to drown !
FrSulein Timm belongs to the single sisterhood,
but is one of the fresh and placid kind, and as neat as
wax. She's got a great big brain and a remarkable gift
for teaching, for which she has a passion. I quite
adore her when she gets on her spectacles, for then
she looks the personification of Sagacity ! She has
FRA.ULEIN TIMM. 331
been associated with Deppe for years in teaching, and
" keeps all his sayings and ponders them in her heart,"
Indeed, she knows his ideas almost better than he
does himself, and carries on the whole circle of pupils
that he left in Hamburg when he came to Berlin,
Every now and then he runs down to see how they
are getting on, gives them all lessons, reviews what
they have done, and brings FrBulein Timm all the
new pieces he has discovered and fingered. She also
comes occasionally to Berlin to see him, takes a lesson
every day, fills herself with as many new ideas as possi-
ble, and then returns to her post. Together, they
-form a very strong pair, and I think it a capital illus-
tration of your theory that men ought to associate
women with them in their work, and that " men
should create, and women perfect."
Deppe makes FrSulein Timm and FrSulein Steini-
ger his partners and associates in his ideas, and
the consequence is they add all their ingenuity to
impart them to others. This spares him much of the
tedious technical work, and leaves him free for the
.- higher spheres of art, as they take the beginners and
prepare them for him. Se has made them magnifi-
cent teachers, and they employ their gifts to further
him. I don't doubt that through them his method
will be perpetuated, and even if he should die it would
not be lost to the world. On the other hand, he
has given them something to live for. Curious that-
the practicalness of this association with women
doesn't strike the masculine mind of tener !
So I am going down to Hamburg to study for a
332 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
time with this FrSulein Timm, as I think she
develop my hand quicker than Deppe, even. Deppe
has always urged me to it, but I never would do it,
as I did not know her personally, and did not wish to
leave him. Now that I have tried her, however, I find
he was right, as he always is ! At present she is
throwing her whole weight upon my wrist, which I
hope will get limber under it ! She has an obstinacy
and a perseverance in sticking at you that drive
you almost wild, but make you learn "lots" in
the end, I think my grand trouble all these years has
been a stiff wrist and a heavy arm. I have borne
down too heavily on wrist and arm, whereas the whole
weight and power must be just in the tips of the
fingers, and the wrist and arm must be quite light
and free, the hand turning upon the wrist as if it
were a pivot.
Pyrmont is an exquisite little place, and I regret to
leave it. At first I almost perished with loneliness,
but now that I have a few acquaintances here I am
enjoying it. It is a fashionable watering place, but
chiefly visited by ladies. There are about a hundred
women to one man! The first week I was here I
lived at a Herr S.'s, but finding it too expensive I
looked up another lodging and' am now living with a
jolly old maid. I like living with old maids. I think
they are much neater than married women, and they
make you more comfortable. As the season is now
over, this one's house is quite empty, and it is ex-
quisitely kept. I took two rooms in the third story,
small but very cozy, and with a lovely view of the
hills.
AN ILLUMINATED FOUNTAIN. 333
"We have just had the loveliest illumination I ever
saw. It was one Sunday evening "Golden Sunday"
they call it here, though why they should call it so, I
know not. I accepted the information, however, with-
out inquiry into first causes, and went out in the even-
ing to promenade in the AH6e with the rest. The
A116e is not all on a level, but descends gradually
from the springs to a fountain which is at the op-
posite end. Rows and rows of Japanese lanterns
were festooned across the trees. As you walked down
the path, you saw the festoons one below the other.
The fountain was illuminated with gas jets behind
the water. You could not see the water till you got
close up, and at a distance only the rows of gas jets were
apparent. As you neared it, however, the watery veil
seemed flung over them, like the foamy tulle over
a bride. It was very fascinating to look at, and I
kept receding a few paces and then returning. As I
receded, the watery veil would disappear, and as
I approached it would again take form. It reminded
me of some people's characters, of which you see the
bright points from the first, and think you know them
so well, but when you draw closer, even in the mo-
ments of greatest intimacy, you always feel a veil
between you and them a thin, impalpable something
which you cannot annihilate, even though you may
see through it.
We walked up and down the Allee a long time list-
ening to the orchestra, which was playing. The
magnificent great trees looked more beautiful than
ever, with their lower boughs lit up by the lanterns,
334= MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
and their upper ones 'disappearing mysteriously into
shadow. At last the tapers in the lanterns burned out
one after another, the avenue was wrapped in gloom,
and we finished this poetic evening in the nsual
prosaic manner by returning home and going t<7 bed !
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Music in Hamburg. Studying Chamber Music. Absence
of Religion in Germauy. South Americans.
Deppe once more. A Concert
D6but. Postscript
HAMBUBG, February 1, 1875.
Hamburg is a lovely city, though I am having such a
dreadfully dreary and stupid time here partly because
my boarding-place is so intensely disagreeable, and
partly because I made up my mind when I came to
make no acquaintances and to do nothing but study,
I have stuck to my resolution, though I'm not sure it
is not a mistake, for there is a most elegant and lux-
urious society in this ancestral town of ours,*
. Life is solid and material here, however, and music is
at a low ebb. The Philharmonic concerts are -wretched,
and nobody goes to even the few piano concerts there
are. That little Laura Kalirer, now Fran Kappoldi, that
I heard in Weimar at Liszt's, has been wanting to come
here with her husband, who is an eminent violinist, but
she has not dared to do it, because all the musicians
tell her she would not make her expenses, She played
at the Philharmonic, too, but since then they won't
have any more piano playing at the Philharmonic.
*The writer's grandmother was the daughter of a leading Hamburg mer-
chant who fled with his family to America when Napoleon entered it.
(335)
336 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
Nobody cares for it, unless Btilow or Eubinstein or
Clara Schumann are the performers. I thought Frau
Rappoldi played magnificently, but I was the only per-
son who did think so. She made a dead failure here.
Everybody was down on her. As to the criticism, it was
about like this: "Frau Eappoldi played quite pret-
tily and in a lady-like manner, but she had no tone, -
etc." Poor thing! The next day when Schubert
went to see her she wept bitterly, and well she might.
Schubert is one of the directors of the Philharmonic,
and it was through him she got the chance of playing.
He, too, felt awfully cut up at her want of success.
"That is what one gets," said he to me, "by recom-
mending people. If they don't succeed, you get all
the blame for it." He felt he had burnt his fingers !
I think the whole secret of Frau Rappoldi' s want of
success was that she did not look pretty. She was so
dowdily dressed, and her hair looked like a Feejee
Islander's. People laughed at her before she began.
Too true Ithat "dress makes the woman."*
Deppe's darling Fannie Warburg'gave a concert here
last month, and she, also, got a pretty poor criticism,
and for the same reason,viz. : people haven't the musical
sense to appreciate her at least in my opinion. The
action of her hands on the piano is grace itself, and
the elasticity of her wrist is wonderful. Her touch
completely realizes Deppe's ideal of " letting the notes
fall from the finger-tips like drops of water," and she
executes better with the left hand, if that be possible,
than with the right I At any rate, there is no differ-
*Frau Eappoldi is now a celebrity.
THE DEPPE "SCHOOL" 337
ence. It is the most heavenly enjoyment to hear her,
and yon feel as if you would like to have her go on
forever. And yet, I don't believe she will make a great
career. She has not fire enough to make the public ap-
preciate the immensity of her performance. No rush
no abandon! She has no presence either, but is a
timid, meek, childlike little maiden docility itself, but
a made player, as it were, not a spontaneous one. Such
is life ! To me, her playing is the purest music "die
reine MusiK 9 and the bigger the hall the more that
tone of hers rolls out and fills it !
HAMBURG, Ifor ch 1, 1875.
I wish I could write up Deppe ? s system for publica-
tion, but it is a very difficult thing to give any ade-
quate idea of. Praulein Timm tells me it is only
comparatively recently that he has perfected it him-
self to its present point (though he has long had the
conception of it), and that accounts for its not being
known. He was completely buried in Hamburg,
,where there is no scope for art. I believe his ambition
is to found a School of this exquisitely pure and per-
fect and almost idealized piano-playing, which may
serve as a counterpoise to the warmer and more sen-
suous prevailing one sculpture as contrasted with
painting I
Ihavebeen'chiefly studying Xammer-Mu$i k (Cham-
ber Music) this winter that is, trios, quartettes, eta
FrSulein Timm is giving me such a training as I never
had before. She has the most astonishing talent for
338 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
teaching, and has reduced it to a science. I don't play
anything up to tempo under her always slow, slow,
slow. She really dissects every tone, and shows me
when and why it doesn't sound well. My whole atten-
tion is now bent upon tone. Ah, M., that's the thing
in playing ! To bring out the soul there is in the key
simply by touching it, as the great masters do. It is
the pianist's highest art, though amid the dazzle of
piano pyrotechnics the public often forget it.
I am just finishing Beethoven's third Trio, Op. 1.
The last movement is the loveliest thing ! It makes
me think of a wood in spring filled with birds. One
minute you hear a lot of gossiping little sparrows
twittering and chippering, and then comes some rare
wild bird with a sort of cadence, and then come other*
and whistle and call. It is bewitching, and the most
perfect imitation of nature imaginable ; gay so gay !
as only Beethoven can be when he begins to play.
Everything is on the wing. It is, of course, exceedingly
difficult, because, like all this pure, classic music, to
make any effect it has to be executed with the utmost
perfection, I am so infatuated with it that when I
. get through practicing it, I feel as if I were tipsy !
,. These Beethoven trios are a perfect mine in them-
selves. Each one seems to be entirely different from
all the rest. There are twelve in all/and Deppe wants
me to learn them all. Think what a piece of work !
This enormous amount of literature that you must
have to form a repertoire the trios, quartettes, quin-
tettes, concertos, etc., it is that makes it so long before
-one is a finished artist. And then you must consider
A DOMESTIC TYRANT. 339
the hours and hours that go to waste on studies, just
to get your hand into a condition to play these master-
pieces. Oh, the arduousness of it is incalculable ! I
often ask myself, "What demon has tempted me here ?"
as I sit and drudge at the piano. I play all day, take
a walk with L. in the afternoon, and at night tumble
into bed and sleep like a log that is, when my hardest
of beds and shivering room will let me sleep, That is
my life, day after day. I only see the people of the
house at meals.
I am the only lady in this family. All the other
boarders are yery young men, almost boys, who are
here to learn German or commerce. There are three
South Americans, one Portugese, one Brazilian, one
Eussian and one frenchman. I hear Spanish and
French all the while, but no English, and with the
German it is very confusing. I feel very sorry for all
these young fellows, their lives are so bare and disa-
greeable, and so wholly devoid of any influence that can
make them better or happier. As for our landlady, it
would take a Balzac to do justice to such a combination.
She is a good housekeeper. The cooking is excellent,
and my room (when warm) is pleasant. Indeed, the
Hamburg standard of housekeeping is much higher
than in Berlin. Things are much daintier. But her
power of making you physically and mentally uncom-
. fortable in other ways is unsurpassed. Were it not
that my stay is indefinite, and that I have already
moved once, I would not remain here. As it is, I pre-
fer putting up with it to the trouble and expense of
changing ; beside which, I have found that when once
340 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
you have left your own home-circle, you have to bear,
as a rule, with at least one intensely disagreeable per-
son in every house.
My opinion of human nature has not risen since I
came abroad, and I think that this winter has quite
cured me of my natural tendency to skepticism. I
now realize too well what people's characters, both men
and women, may become without religion either in
themselves or in those about them. I suppose there
is religion in Germany, but 7 have seen very little of
it, either in Protestants or Catholics, and the results
I consider simply dreadful ! You see, there is no ade-
quate motive to check the indulgence of any impulse
I have come to the conclusion that jealousy is the
national vice of the Germans. Everybody is jealous
of everybody else, no matter how absurdly or cause-
lessly. Old women are jealous of young ones, and
even sisters in the same family are jealous of each
other to a degree that I couldn't have believed, had I
not seen it.
HAMBUBG, Ea$Ur Sunday, 1875.
With regard to playing in concert, I find myself
doubting whether on general principles it is best to
get one's whole musical training under one master
only, as Fannie Warburg, for instance, has done ; for
my experience teaches me that though nearly all
masters can give you something, none can give you
everything. If, with my present light, I could
begin my study over again, I should first stay three
"CONCERT PLATING IS ROUTINE." 341
years with Deppe, in order to endow the spirit of
music that I hope is within me, with the outward form
and perfection of an artist. Next, I should study a year
with Kullak, to give my playing a brilliant concert dress,
and finally, I would spend two seasons with Liszt, in
order to add the last ineffable graces (for never,
never should an artist complete a musical course
without going to LISZT, while he is on this earth !)
The troiible is, however, that one master always feels
hurt if you leave him for another ! No one can bear
the imputation that he can't "give you everything."
But in truth I am getting very impatient to be
at home where I can study by myself, and take
as much time as I think necessary to work up my
pieces. Deppe and Fraulein Timm are like Kullak in
one thing. They never will give me time enough, but
hurry me on so from one thing to another, that it is
impossible for me to prepare a programme. So I
have given up my plan of a concert in Berlin this
spring. They have one set of ideas and I another,
and I see I shall never be able to play in public until
I abandon masters and start out on my own course.
Two people never think exactly alike. Masters can
put you on the road, but they can't make you go.
You must do that for yourself. As Dr. V. says,
If you want to do a thing you have got to keep doing
it. You mustn't stop certainly not !" Concert-play-
ing, like everything else, is routine, and has got to be
learned by little and little, and perhaps, with many
half -failures. But if the "great public" will only tol-
erate one as a pupil long enough, eventually, one
342 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY
must succeed. At any rate, IT is probably the best and
the only "master" for me now !
On Wednesday I return for awhile to Berlin, to the
American boarding-house, No. 15 Tauben Strasse,
whither you can all direct as formerly. This winter has
been rather a contrast to last, Then I lived entirely
among North Americans, whereas here I am almost
exclusively with South Americans. There are any r um-
ber of these latter in Hamburg, and you have no idea
how fascinating many of them are so handsome and so
bright. They all have a talent for music and dancing.
Their music is entirely of a light character, but they
have rhythm and grace in a remarkable degree*
When I hear them play I always think of George
Sands's description in her novel "Malgre-tout" of
the artist Abel the hero of the book, and a great
violinist. She says, " II racla un air BUT son molon
avec entrain" That is just what these South Ameri-
cans do " racier!" They all play the piano just as
with us the negro plays the fiddle, without instruction,
apparently, and simply because "it is their nature to."
I saw at once where Gottschalk got his Banjo" and
" Bananier," and the peculiar style of his compositions
generally, and since I've met so many South Ameri-
cans I can readily imagine why he spent so much of
his time in South America. I long to go there myself.
I think it must be a fascinating place for an artist.
One of the South Americans here at the house is a
boy of fifteen, named Juan di Livramento, or, I should
say, Juan Moreiro Aranjo di Livramento ! (They all
have about a dozen names in the grandiloquent style
A SPANISH AMERICAN. 343
of the Spaniards.) This boy is a curious youngster. He
is tall and lithe, with the most magnificent dark eyes
I ever saw or conceived, thick silky black hair, all in
a tumble about his head, a delicate and very expressive
face, and a clear olive complexion a perfect type of
a Spaniard. He seems born to dance the Bolero, like
Belinda, in Mrs. Edwards's novel. It is the prettiest
thing to see him do it and in fact he does it on
all occasions without any reference to propriety,
being an utterly lawless individual. He frequently-
gets up from the dinner-table, throws his napkin over
his shoulders, snaps his thumbs, and begins a dance in
the corner of the room, between the courses. It has
got to be such an every-day thing that nobody looks
surprised or pays any attention to him. We dine late,
and as there are a good many boarders, it takes some
time always to change the plates. Juan, who is like
so much mercury, never can sit still during these
intervals. When asked to ring the bell for the ser-
vant, he will spring up like a shot, give it a violent
pull, and then take advantage of being up to dance in
the corner, or at least to cut a few antics, fling his
leg over the back of his chair, and come down astride
of it. This is his usual mode of resuming his seat.
On the days when he doesn't dance, he keeps up a
continual talking. He will rattle on in Spanish till
Herr S. gets desperate, and tries to reduce him to
order. It is a rule that German must be spoken at
table, but Juan thinks it sufficient if he applies the rule
only so far as not to speak Spanish, his native lan-
guage. He goes to school where, of course, he learns
344 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
English and French, and he is always trying to get off
some remarks in these languages. He speaks all
wrong, but that does not cause him the least embar-
rassment. On Sundays especially is Juan perfectly
irrepressible, for then Frau 8. goes to dine and
spend the evening with her parents, and Herr S. is
left to maintain order. He is an indulgent old man,
and very fond of Juan, so that the latter has not the
least fear of him, and I nearly die trying to keep ray
face straight when they have one of their scenes.
" You shall tfOT speak Spanish at the table," said
poor old S. the other day, in a rage. Spanish is
jargon to him, and Juan had been talking it for some
time at the top of his voice across Herr S., to his
friend Oandido, who sat opposite. Juan knew very
well that that meant he must speak German, but
instead of that he began in foreign languages, and
said to Herr S,, in English, "Do you spoke Bus-
sish (Do you speak Eussian) ?"
Herr S., to whom English is as unintelligible as
Spanish, naturally making no reply to this brilliant
remark/Juan continued " ' Spring is Coming/ Poem
by James K. Blake," and then he began to recite with
much gesticulation
"Spring is coming, spring is coming,
Birds are singing, insects humming;
Flowers are peeping from their sleeping,
Streams escape from winter's keeping, etc."
I Von't pretend to say what the rest of it was, as his
pronunciation was utterly unintelligible. Herr S.
rolled tip his eyes and made no further protest, for he
SPANISH EYES. 345
found he only got " out of the frying-pan into the fire/'
Juan having a historical anecdote called " The Dead
Watch," which he occasionally substitutes for the
poem.
After dinner he generally has an affectionate turn,
and goes round the table shaking hands with those
still seated, or putting his arm aroiind their necks, and
then he seems like some gentle wild animal which
comes and rubs its head up against you, and it is
impossible to help loving him. As soon, however, as
T. or anybody thrums a waltz on the piano, he
instantly throws himself into the attitude to dance.
He is so very light on his feet that you don't hear
him, and often I am surprised on looking up, without
thinking, to see Juan poised on one toe like a ballet
dancer, and his great eyes shining soft on me like two
suns. It is most peculiar. There are no eyes like the
Spanish eyes. Not only have they so much fire, but
when their owners are in a sentimental mood, they can
throw a languor and a sort of droop into them that is
irresistible. This is the way Juan does, and though he
is too young to be sentimental, he looks as if he were.
One minute he is all ablaze, and the next perfectly
melting. The other day Frau S. took him to task
for his extreme animation. "Junge,'* (German for
"Boy")/ f you mustn't scream so all over the house. You
really are a nuisance." Juan was offended at this, and
began to defend himself. "Why do you scold me/' he
said. " I'm always in good humour. I never sulk or
find fault with anything. Ja, immer vergnugt (Yes,
always in a good humour), and ready to amuse every-
346 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
body, and I never get angry." Prau S. admitted
that was true, but at the same time suggested it would
be well for him to remember we were not all deaf.
Juan withdrew in dudgeon. Well, I suppose you are
tired of hearing about him, but these South Americans
are a type by themselves, and I felt as if I must touch
off one of them for the benefit of the family.
BEBLIN, April 18, 1875.
Since my teturn I have been enjoying extremely
what I suppose I must consider my last lessons with
Deppe. After studying with Frttulein Timm I know
much better what he is driving at. The technique
seems to be unfolding to me like a ribbon. So all her
maulings were to some purpose ! Yesterday I played
him a sonata of Beethoven's and he said, " God grant
that you may still be left to me some time longer !
Now you are really beginning to be my scholar." And
indeed, having studied his technique so long with Fr&u-
leins Timm and Steiniger, it does seem hard that I
have to leave him ! How I wish I could stay on in-
definitely and give myself up to his purely musical side
and get the benefit of all his deep and beautiful ideas.
There never was such a teacher ! If I could only come
up to his standard I should be perfectly happy. Lucky
girl that Steiniger ! Think of it ! She has nine con-
certos that she could get up for concert any minute.
That's the crushing kind of repertoire he gives his pu-
pilsso exhaustive and complete in every depart-
ment He knows the whole piano literature, and is
A " FRIEND IN NEED." 347
continually fishing up some new or old pearl or other
to surprise one with.
I find Deppe is getting to be much more recognized
in Berlin this year than he was before. He has just
been directing a new opera here which has created
quite a sensation, and he is continually engaged in
some great work. Fortunate that I found him out
when I did ! for he takes fewer pupils than ever. He
says he can't teach people who are not sympathetic to
him. The other day he presented a beautiful overture
of his own composition to the Duke of Mecklenburg,
who accepted it in person and sent Deppe an exquisite
pin in token of recognition. When simple little Deppe
gets that stuck in his scarf, he will be a terrific swell !
Now for a piece of news ! I was paying my French
teacher, Mademoiselle D., a call one evening last week,
and I played for her and for a friend of hers who is
very musical, and who gives lessons herself. She at
once said very decidedly that I "ought to be heard in
concert." Her brother is the director of the Philhar-
monic Society in a place called Frankfurt-an-der-
Oder a little city not far from here. What should
she do but write to her brother about me, and what
should he do but immediately write up for me to come
down and play in a Philharmonic concert there the first
week in May. As I have been so anxious to play in a
concert before leaving Germany, and yet have seen no
way to do it, I am going, of course, and am most grate-
ful to his sister for thinking of it. But it is always
the Unexpected that helps you out 1
348 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
BEKLIBT, May 18, 1875.
Well, dear, my little dbut was a decided suc-
cess, and I had one encore, beside being heartily
applauded after every piece. 1 went on to Frankfurt
on Monday morning, and when I got there Herr Oert-
ling, the Philharmonic Director, was at the station to
meet me with a droschkie. We drove to the Deutches
Haus, an excellent hotel, where I was shown into a large
and comfortable room. Here I rested until dinner
time, and after dinner, about five o'clock, Herr
Oertling came back. He took me to the house of
a musical friend of his who was to lend me his grand
piano, and there we tried our sonata. As soon as
Oertling touched his violin I saw that he was a supe-
rior artist, and that immediately inspired me. His
playing carried me right along, and I think I played
well. At all events, he seemed entirely satisfied, and
said, "We could have played that sonata without re*
hearsing it." After we finished the sonata, I played
for about an hour, all sorts of things. There were
quite a number of people present to judge of my
powers. Herr W., the owner of the piano, was a
remarkable judge of music, and made some excellent
criticisms and suggestions. We stayed there to sup-
per, but I went back to the hotel early and went to
bed about half -past nine, where I slept like a log till
eight the next morning.
After breakfast Oertling came to take me to try the
pianos of a celebrated manufacturer of uprights.
I played there three or four hours. The maker's name
THE WRITER PLAYS IN CONCERT. 349
was Gruss, and his pianos were the best uprights
I had ever seen ; nearly as powerful as a grand, and
with a superb tone and action. On the wall
a testimonial from Henselt, framed. It seems Hen-^ :
selt goes to Frankfurt every year to visit a Rus-
sian lady there, who is the grandee of the place
and a great patroness of artists. In the afternoon,
Oertling came for me to go and rehearse in the
hall. Everything went beautifully, and I returned to
the hotel in good spirits. By the time I was dressed
for the concert, which was to begin at seven, Oertling
appeared again, in evening costume, and presented me
with a bouquet. We drove to the hall through a pour-
ing rain. It was crowded, notwithstanding, for he
had had the assurance to print that the concert was
" to be brilliant through the performance of an Ameri-
can Virtuosin, named Miss Amy Fay. This young
lady has studied with the greatest masters, and has
had the most perfect success everywhere in her con-
cert tours ! " Did you ever ! You can imagine how
I felt on reading it and seeing that I was expected to
perform as if I had been on the stage all my life!
Oertling had arranged the programme judiciously.
Our sonata came first, so that I plunged right in and
didn't have to wait and tremble! Then came two
pieces by the orchestra; next, my three solos in a
row, and a symphony of Haydn closed the programme.
The sonata went off very smoothly. In my first solo
I occasionally missed a note, but my second was with-
out slip, and my third Chopin's Study in Sixths
was encored, though I took the tempo too fast. How-
350 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
ever, the Fran Excellency von X. said she had fre-
quently heard it from Henselt, but that I played it
"just as well as he did." That's absurd, of course,
though not bad considered as a compliment!' They
all said, " What a pity Henselt wasn't here !" I said to
myself, "What a blessing Henselt wasn't !" though I
would giye much to see him, as he is the greatest piano
virtuoso in the world after Liszt.
After the concert Oertling and some of the musi-
cians accompanied me to the hotel, where I was obliged
to sit at table and have my health drunk in cham-
pagne till two o'clock in the morning ! for you know
when the Germans once begin that sort of thing
there's no end to it. They drank to my health, and
then they drank to my future performance in the first
Philharmonic next season, and then they drank to our
frequent reunion, etc., etc. When they had finished
I had to respond. So I toasted the Herr Director and
I toasted the piano-maker, and I toasted the orchestra,
and what not. At last I was released and could go to
my room. The next morning I left for Berlin, which
I reached in time for dinner, and as soon as I appeared
at table the boarders saluted me with a burst of ap-
plause! I found it a very pleasant finale.
I translate for you the criticism from the Frank-
furter Zeitung und Allgemeiner Anzeiger for May 11.
Herr Oertling sent it to me yesterday :
" The Philharmonic concert which took plaoe last
Friday evening, must be considered as an excellent rec-
ommendation of the active members of that associa-
tion to the public. For not only did the playing of
A WORD OF WARNING. 351
the pianist, Frtalein Amy Fay, giye great pleasure to
all those who love and understand music, but there
was also no fault to be found with the interpretations
of the orchestra. * * * With regard to the
performance of FrSulein Fay, we were equally charmed
by her clear and certain touch and by her conception
of the various solo pieces she played. The concert
opened with the Sonata in E flat major for violin and
piano by Beethoven. The whole effect of the work
was a very sympathetic and satisfactory one, and
showed a thoughtful interpretation on the part of the
artist. The beauty of her conception was especially
evident in the Raff " Capriccio," and in Killer's " Zur
Guitarre," given as an encore upon her recall by the
audience, and we can but congratulate the teacher of
the young lady, Herr Ludwig Deppe, of Berlin, upon
such a scholar."
[Two weeks after the concert, the relative to whom
most of the foregoing letters were written, joined the
writer at Berlin, and the correspondence came to an
end. In the following September, after an absence
of sk years, my sister returned home. My sister
hopes that no American girl who reads this book will
be influenced by it rashly to attempt what she herself
undertook, viz. : to be trained in Europe from an ama-
teur into an artist. Its pages have afforded glimpses,
only, of the trials and difficulties with which a girl
may meet when studying art alone in a foreign land,
but they should not therefore be underrated. Piano
352 MUSIC-STUDY IN GERMANY.
teaching has developed immensely in America since
the date of the first of the foregoing letters, and not
only such celebrities as Dr. "William Mason, Mr. Wm.
H. Sherwood, and Mrs. Rive King, but various other
brilliant or exquisite pianists in this country are as able
to train pupils for the technical demands of the con-
cert-room as any masters that are to be found abroad.
American teachers best understand the American
temperament, and therefore are by far the best
for American pupils until they have got beyond the
pupil stage. Not manual skill, but musical insight
and conception, wider and deeper musical comprehen-
sion, and " concert style " -are what the young artist
should now go to seek in that marvellous and only
real home of music GERMANY.] ED.
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