(Idceejsiano
sminiscences a
ompe ancrra
&y <Jane flfarlin
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
M. STEINERT. {Frontispiece)
REMINISCENCES
OF
MORRIS STEINERT
COMPILED AND ARRANGED
BY
JANE MARLIN
ILLUSTRATED
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
Gbe Knickerbocker press
1900
COPYRIGHT, 1900
BY
MORRIS STEINERT
Ube fmfcfterbocfter preea, Hew ffiorfc
MUHC
HMIAftY
To MY BELOVED WIFE
CAROLINE DREYFUSS STEINERT
WHO STILL LIVES
ENSHRINED IN THE HEARTS OF HER HUSBAND
AND CHILDREN
THESE REMINISCENCES ARE DEDICATED
1C9839S
INTRODUCTION
IN presenting this volume to the public I intrust
its success to the fact that its story is not taken
from the unlimited and fanciful realms of fiction,
but, on the contrary, from the practical and well-
worn paths of the daily life that guide and influ-
ence the human family. It is the realistic which
forms the subject of my venture, the unusual events
that found their mainspring in my birth, sur-
roundings, and education, and which should lend to
this little book the charm, if any, of such quaintness
as may be partially found in the fanciful. Its cen-
tral force, however, lies in the very diminutiveness
of the beginning, and the moral which teaches us
to magnify to advantage the small forces and to
utilize them to a grander and more beneficent pur-
pose. It also aims to teach us how to accept all
influences, whether good or evil, in a spirit of
humbleness, and to train our hearts and minds to
enjoy what we have, and to be happy at any cost.
The results obtained in following this philosophy of
life will harden men to withstand the daily encoun-
ters, to overcome,them, and to derive such strength
as will lead them to broader and more successful
pursuits in life.
vi Introduction
In relating my experiences during a life which
covers nearly threescore and ten years, and which, in
view of the aforesaid, has offered many interesting
and varied incidents I have tried to sift out the best
of them for the benefit of my readers.
There is also an additional interest connected with
my lines which lies in and is taken from a hidden
world and lives in music. My early love for the
divine art has been my talisman through all of my
struggles and successes. The power of music, its
wholesome influence, and the charm which it lends to
the human heart, were early recognized by me, and
whatever of the material surrounded me, it has al-
ways been subject to music's infallible truth. With-
out this spiritual guidance my life would have been
wretched, while on the contrary it has been to me
an Eden. That is the reason why my leit motif
in this book is to be found in music, and that all
the things which radiate from it are but so many
satellites to its luminous power.
This volume would never have made its appear-
ance but for the urgent solicitation of my esteemed
friend, Mrs. Marlin, to whom I have dictated these
reminiscences, and who has compiled and arranged
them in their present form.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
Scheinfeld Coblenz Bad-Ems Dazian Kleinschrod . . i
CHAPTER II
Switzerland Berlin Journey by Sleigh into Russia Chavli
Riga 23
v
CHAPTER III
Dorpat Reval Pleskov A Short Trip to Finland . . 47
CHAPTER IV
St. Petersburg Return to Coblenz A Few Weeks in France
A Voyage on the Sailing Vessel Jenny Lind To
America Arrival in New York City Trip on Foot
through Eastern New York State Pittsfield and Lenox . 70
CHAPTER V
Sharon Springs, New York Engagement with Mario-Grisi
Opera Company, Castle Garden, New York City Buckley
Serenaders 94
CHAPTER VI
Business with Mr. Wolf Robbery Illness Tour with
Buckley Serenaders Music Club in Savannah, Georgia . 109
viii Contents
CHAPTER VII
PAGE
Teacher of Music in Thomasville, Georgia Visit to Colonel
Bailey's Plantation Tallahassee Athens, Georgia War
of the Rebellion 125
CHAPTER VIII
Wretched Days in New York City New Haven Formation
of Steinert's Orchestra 152
CHAPTER IX
Business 169
CHAPTER X
Return to Scheinfeld Collecting Old Instruments Death-
Violin First Lecture Tour in America .... 191
CHAPTER XI
Vienna Finding of Hass Harpsichord Purchase of Ruckers's
Double Spinet Chicago World's Fair Sharon Springs
Lecture in Springfield, Massachusetts . . . .212
CHAPTER XII
Brief History of the Pianoforte 230
CHAPTER XIII
Steinertone 251
IN MEMORIAM 257
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
M. STEINERT. ..... Frontispiece
HAUPT STRASSE VON SCHEINFELD .... 4
STREET LEADING TO CASTLE SCHWARZENBERG ; 6
TOWER OF THE STADT MUSIKUS . . . . l6
SQUARE PIANOFORTE. FOUR OCTAVES ... 32
[Once in the possession of the Princess of Turn and
Taxis in Regensburg.]
VERTICAL CONCERT GRAND. SIX OCTAVES . . 48
[Made by C. Mttller, Vienna, about 1780.]
SQUARE PIANO. SIX OCTAVES .... 90
[Made by A. Babcock, 1820.]
ENGLISH HARPSICHORD. TWO KEYBOARDS. FIVE
OCTAVES 112
[Made by Jacobus Kirkman, 1769.]
VERTICAL GRAND. SIX OCTAVES .... 122
[Made by Andre Stein, 1779.]
JOSEPH HAYDN'S CONCERT GRAND . . . 160
VIOLONCELLO l68
[Made by George Gemiinder.]
ENGLISH SPINET. FIVE OCTAVES .... 174
[Made by Johannes Hitchcock, 1750.]
UPRIGHT HAMMER-CLAVIER. FOUR AND ONE HALF
OCTAVES. 1780 184
x Illustrations
CLAVICHORD. FIVE AND ONE FOURTH OCTAVES.
" UNGEBUNDEN " . ... ipo
[Made by Michael Voit & Son.J
SCHEINFELD FROM THE DISTANCE .... 192
M. STEINERT AT CLAVICHORD . . . .196
SPINET. THREE AND THREE FOURTHS OCTAVES . 2OO
[Made by Andreas Ruckers, 1620.]
SCHLAFHAUSER AND HIS HORSES .... 206
CASTLE SCHWARZENBERG . . . 2C>8
RETURN FROM CLAVIER HUNT .... 208
LETTER FROM PRINCESS PAULINE VON METTERNICH. 212
HASS HARPSICHORD 2l8
THE SCIENTIFIC COMMISSION OF THE INTERNA-
TIONAL EXHIBITION OF MUSIC AND THE
DRAMA IN VIENNA, 1892 .... 22O
DOUBLE SPINET MADE BY HANS RUCKERS THE
ELDER . ... . . . .222
A. J. HIPKINS AT THE HARPSICHORD . . . 230
DECORATED CONCERT GRAND .... 244
[Made by Anton Walter in Vienna, about 1780.]
ACTION OF GRAND PIANO 252
[Built after the model of Johann Andreas Stein of
Augsburg. A facsimile of Mozart's Grand at
the Mozarteum, Salzburg. Five octaves. Two
knee-pedals.]
MRS. CAROLINA DREYFUSS STEINERT . . 258
REMINISCENCES
REMINISCENCES
CHAPTER I
Scheinfeld Coblenz Bad-Ems Dazian Kleinschrod
IN the little town called Scheinfeld, which is situ-
ated in the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, I am
told that I was born on the 9th of March, 1831. I
have not yet found out whether it was a mild or
stormy day when my good mother gave me birth,
nor have I ever inquired concerning the history of
that day, as to whether there was anything impor-
tant connected with the incident, but judging from
the phlegmatic nature of the townfolk, as shown by
the slow state of the few people who make up the
community of Scheinfeld, it must have been quite
an event. My impression is also based upon the
fact that, after an absence of thirty-five years from
my snug little nest, when I again entered the town
and looked about I found the line of houses in an
undisturbed condition, holding full sway upon the
land upon which they had been built some three
hundred years before, their weather-worn aspect
2 Reminiscences
bespeaking the solid workmanship which their build-
ers had put into them when they entered upon their
earthly mission. The crude architecture and the
mediaeval character given them being strongly mani-
fest. I am forced, however, to confess that the
spirit of time had made itself felt in the peaceful
town, for I was told and there was a ring of genu-
ine pride in the statement that during the period
of my absence two new houses had been erected.
I do not know but I wish with all my heart that
I did who the early settlers of my beloved birth-
place were; how they lived, loved, prospered, and
died. That they were a strong, hardy race I am
sure, for their offspring seem proof against Father
Time, and I was astonished when I met men still
enjoying life who were actually looked upon as long
past their prime when I left Scheinfeld thirty-five
years before, and who manifested scarcely any sur-
prise at seeing me again, extending the hand of
good-fellowship, and taking up the thread of con-
versation as if we had parted but yesterday. I
really began to philosophize a little as I walked
among them and compared their fresh, healthy
faces, their excellent appetite as shown in the enjoy-
ment of their simple meal, their genuine pleasure
over a stein of good Bavarian beer, which was to
their minds unequalled even by the heavenly am-
brosia and nectar of the gods. The comparison
became a serious one when I recalled the faces of
the people in the large cities where I had lived, and
I concluded that perhaps, after all, it were better to
go back to the humble town where the pure atmos-
phere and rather uneventful pursuits of life favored
Early Days 3
health and longevity, and I could but recall Gray's
\ines :
" To hie him home, at evening's close,
To sweet repast and calm repose.
From toil he wins his spirits light,
From busy day the peaceful night ;
Rich, from the very want of wealth,
In heaven's best treasures, peace and health."
The quaint and picturesque town must have
played an important part in the centuries past, for
a high, continuous wall and moat still surround the
place, while, from the wall, rise at equal distances
three strong watch-towers, guarding the town like
sentinels, each provided with big doors which used
to be closed and locked every night at nine o'clock
to keep all intruders out. In one of the towers
there lives to-day the Stadt Musikus town musician
whose duty it is to play at high mass every Sunday
with his orchestra, and also to play chorals upon
brass instruments at twelve o'clock noon, to call in
the reapers from the fields for their midday meal,
and in the evening to play an Ave Maria, summon-
ing the faithful to prayer. In the second tower
there formerly dwelt the herdsman of the town,
whose business it was to look after all of the cows,
while in the third tower resided the Gdnshirt of the
ducks and chickens.
There still exists the Nachtwdchter, with his old
lantern and horn, who calls out the hours of the night
in a quaint little rhyme, after which he blows his
horn. Near the market-place is the inn, a hostelry
that has in its history sheltered many a distinguished
4 Reminiscences
traveller, its old sign, showing a prancing white horse
with the inscription Das Weisse Ross, The White
Horse, creaking as it sways to and fro in the wind ;
while in the centre of the town is the Catholic
Church, and the ringing of its matin bell every
morning at four o'clock awakens the faithful not
only to prayer but to work, for in Scheinfeld the
townfolk are up with the lark; and at seven its
melodious pealing calls the dwellers to the church
for worship.
There is still standing, quite unchanged by time,
the Rathhaus where justice is meted out to the
wrong-doer with as much severity as in olden times,
a picturesque old building that has witnessed
many comings and goings. Every morning in the
market-place may be found a display of fresh vege-
tables offered for sale to the housekeepers, an
incident which is really the most exciting one of
the whole day.
There are seven different establishments where
beer is brewed and sold directly from the fass
and such beer as it is ! It may be that it, too, adds
to the longevity, but perish the thought! Then
there is the schoolhouse, literally divided in two, one
side for the large and the other for the small children ;
and, close by, the dilapidated and dingy hall where
stands the antiquated fire-engine, for which water
is supplied from the town pump, which pump also
furnishes water for the entire community, and which
is one of the centres of gossip for the female portion
of the neighborhood. Here the young women
meet and, as they fill their buckets with water, ex-
change the latest bit of news, the choicest bit of
Early Days 5
scandal. Back of the town rises the wooded hill
crowned by the castle of Schwarzenberg, one of the
ninety-nine castles owned by the Prince of Schwar-
zenberg, and connected with it is a monastery of
Capuchin monks and friars. The castle, which is
as strongly fortified and as impregnable as a fortress,
has room enough for a whole regiment of soldiers,
and houses for all of the officials whose business it
is to care for the thousands of acres belonging to
the vast estate, a whole community by itself, having
a school of a higher grade than the one in the town.
So much for a brief description of the little town of
Scheinfeld, for whose quiet, restful atmosphere I
daily sigh, and where I hope I may one day sleep
beside my sainted mother. Scheinfeld
" Where Resignation gently slopes away,
And all our prospects brightening to the last,
Our heaven commences ere the world be past."
I was born of poor parents, and the limitations of
their purse were in keeping with the early schooling
which I obtained. When seven years old I was sent to
the town school, and, shortly after, my father died,
leaving my mother with little in the way of worldly
possessions, but with a stout heart and indomitable
courage, and by rigid economy I remained at school
until my twelfth year. I cannot say that my mental
training consisted of anything more than learning
how to read, write, and spell, with perhaps a few
of the primary principles of arithmetic, for the
greater part of the time spent in school was devoted
to studying the catechism and tenets of faith as pre-
scribed by the Church. We were taught to rise en
6 Reminiscences
masse when the priest entered the schoolroom and
to cry out as a sort of welcome, " Praise be to the
Lord Jesus Christ."
While very young I found inherent within me a
great love for music and a longing to enter its fasci-
nating realm, and as my family were musically
inclined my yearning for this art and my desire to
master it found a ready response, and my brother
Louis, who is thirteen years older, noticing my in-
clination, immediately engaged the services of the
old cantor, who was the organist of the church, to
teach me the rudiments of clavier-playing, for there
was not at that time a pianoforte in all Scheinfeld,
but the cantor owned a clavichord upon which he
gave me lessons. In teaching me he pursued a very
peculiar method. He would call me into his little
room where the clavichord stood, and, without
bothering to teach me the printed notes, made me
acquainted with the keyboard, teaching me just
how to strike single notes and later on how to form
chords. After I had mastered this and had some
command over the keyboard, he would sit down and
play some easy tune for me, requesting me to re-
member it, and, after repeating the air several times,
I was expected to sit down and play it correctly for
him, which, I assure you, I was careful to do, be-
. cause, if I failed to catch and play it according to
his instructions he would give me a good spanking.
Often he would get up from the clavichord, saying:
" I am going out for a little while, Moritz, and I
shall expect you to play the tune perfectly when I
return. " He would take his hat, lock the door after
him, and go over to the beer-keller across the street,
Early Days 7
and after a few steins of cool Bavarian beer come
.back, saying, as he unlocked and opened the door,
" Now, Moritz, I am ready; let us have the tune,"
and I, having, as I said before, strong reasons for
complying with his request, usually managed to play
the little tune correctly. Being now fortified in my
musical knowledge by the severity of the old cantor's
instructions, I felt equal to availing myself of the
tutoring of the Stadt Musikus, who would teach me
the flute and the violin, and he appeared to be a more
modern teacher than "the old cantor, for I had to
learn how to read music. My instruction upon the
guitar, for I also learned to play upon that instru-
ment, I received from the chimney-sweep of the
town, who was considered not only an artist in
sweeping chimneys but also in sweeping his hands
across the strings of the guitar. I owe him much
for the leniency he showed me in the execution of
his art. It is to be presumed that I felt myself
by this time quite an expert in music, with all the
advantages derived from my various teachers, and I
went into the further study of it with my heart and
soul. I must state here that Wagner's music was
not then known, and Beethoven's compositions only
known to us by name, otherwise I might have had a
somewhat different opinion of my musical ability.
As I have already mentioned, there was an excel-
lent school up at the castle on the hill, and the
schoolmaster, by name Herr Schiitz, was considered
a fine musician, and, as he had a grand pianoforte,
my brother thought it would be an excellent oppor-
tunity for me to study music with him and learn the
pianoforte. His price, fortunately, was low, only
8 Reminiscences
six kreutzers; about three cents and in keeping
with my brother's pocket-book. Schiitz was really
a good teacher, and taught me by means of an in-
struction book, and in order to vary the monotony
of scale-playing, of which he was most rigid, he used
to write down little melodies for me, composing
them during the lesson, which, as may be judged, I
found an exceedingly pleasant diversion. There
was only one unpleasant circumstance connected
with my study with Herr Schiitz, and that was that
I must literally race up the hill to the castle after
school, for my lesson was from three to four o'clock,
and as I was not permitted to leave school one
minute before the closing time, which was three, I
had to run the entire distance, and I usually ar-
rived much out of breath, but having covered the
ground in remarkably quick time. One day when
I was at my lesson for Schiitz was not only the
schoolmaster but also the musical director of the
monastery church Padre Quartian happened in
and, after listening to my playing, complimented
me and told Schiitz that I had great ability. As
Padre Quartian was a fine musician himself, I was
delighted with what he said, but more so when at
the next lesson he again came in and offered to teach
me ecclesiastical music such as is used in the Catho-
lic Church. In thus getting his permission to sing
at mass, I became acquainted with the monastic
style of music, which differs greatly from the ordin-
ary service of the Church. The opportunities which
I enjoyed in having such musical advantages, and in
listening to the organ-playing of the Padre, as well
as the religious spirit that was so much a part of the
Early Days 9
good man, will ever remain fresh in my memory. The
musical services given by the orchestra, led by our
Stadt Musikus, differed greatly from their usual music
which they furnished for the dances of the peasantry.
When twelve years of age I was hired out to my
brother-in-law, who was by trade an optician, and
lived at Coblenz-on-the-Rhine. Great changes came
to me when I reached that city, then boasting of but
twenty thousand inhabitants, but which appeared
to me, by reason of its size, to be one of the seven
wonders of the world. My employer and master
owned and managed a small factory where he made
spectacles, microscopes, and telescopes. My occupa-
tion consisted, aside from grinding glasses, holding
the glass in one hand and turning the wheel with the
other, in making the fire in the stoves, carrying
the water, running errands, and, as I belonged to the
family and boarded with them, my spare hours were
given over to caring for my employer's children,
taking them for walks, and looking after them gen-
erally. In my strolls with the little ones I always
took advantage of the daily parade where I heard
the regiment band, which was a great treat to the
country boy from Scheinfeld who had never in his
short life listened to a good band. I must have
given satisfaction to my brother-in-law as apprentice
and to my sister Babetta as nursemaid, for one day
she said to me: " Moritz, you are a good boy, and
as your birthday is close at hand I have a great treat
in store for you. Here are five silver groschen ; go
buy yourself a ticket which will admit you to the
top gallery of the opera-house, where you will hear
Auber's great opera, La Muette de Portici."
io Reminiscences
This act of generosity on the part of my good
sister I have never forgotten, because it was the first
time I beheld the interior of an opera-house and
heard an orchestra and singers together. The effect
upon me was simply astounding when the musicians
struck the first chord of that magnificent overture ;
ajid when I heard tfye versified tone-coloring of that
orchestra, which came from instruments which I had
never seen nor heard before, I was transformed and
taken away from myself, transported for the time to
another sphere. The early love for the divine art
of music which had been given me from above, and
which had before lain dormant, awoke within me
and filled me with the most profound reverence and
respect, and I felt, for the first time, what a beau-
tiful, though hidden, world lay before me which
would henceforth unfold itself to my imagination.
But when the curtain rose and I saw the dramatic
action which was resting upon the wings of music;
when the powerful chorus burst forth into song, and
the action of the players spoke to my intellect ; when
the orchestra also spoke in words of tone, when
the voice of the soloist poured forth its pathetic and
emotional lyrics; then I felt that this was indeed a
happy day, and one of great rejoicing within my
young heart that I had been spared to enter the
enchanted realm of music. The laborious duties I
had been forced to undergo, the poverty, the domes-
tic hardships, were for the time forgotten, over-
balanced by the knowledge that I had at last found
a place that was so congenial to my better self as
to make heaven seem close at hand, and from that
hour I really enjoyed and loved my stay at Coblenz,
Early Days 11
and would have been perfectly happy had my
-education, even in the elementary branches, been
allowed to go on.
Day by day the thought that I was very ignorant
came to me with almost overwhelming force, for I
could only read, write, and spell, and do the simplest
sums in arithmetic. As I had no money, for it was
impossible to save anything from the pittance I re-
ceived for my work, I one day got command of my
courage and begged my sister to help me in this
direction. I found her more than ready to grant
my request, and a teacher was immediately pro-
cured, and I began to study with him. He taught
me the higher branch of arithmetic, the elements of
mercantile clerical work, such as bookkeeping, etc.,
and also a little French ; and I felt that my cup of
joy was full to the brim when my employer sent me
to Bad-Ems where I conducted an optical establish-
ment for him, in which I was very successful, making
money from the start. Being only fifteen years old,
all alone, and master, of my time, I took advantage
of it by leaving my shop to the care of my neighbors
for an hour morning and afternoon, while I ran over
to the Curpark to hear the orchestra, a band of
twelve musicians from Bohemia, who played mag-
nificently. I am afraid that my brother-in-law lost
many sales by my being away from the little shop,
but I am sure that I gained a great deal musically,
for it was at Ems that, encouraged by members of
this band, I wrote a number of pieces for orchestra,
which they played in the Curpark.
Ems is a great watering-place, and the nobility
from all over Europe come there yearly for the
12 Reminiscences
baths, and, in consequence, artists of renown also
gather there for rest or to fill engagements. It was
at Ems that I met Henrietta Sontag and Jenny
Lind. A little story concerning this latter famous
cantatrice seems not amiss in this sketch, so I will
recall it.
In the next booth to me there was a Tyrolian sell-
ing gloves. I think he was the handsomest specimen
of the genus man that I ever looked upon. He was
unusually tall, large, and commanding, and in his
picturesque dress for he wore the bright and at-
tractive costume of the Tyrol he was a perfect
Apollo. One day Jenny Lind came to the little
booth for gloves, and after trying on several she re-
quested him to accompany her to her hotel, bringing
along his wares that she might make her selection
there. Willingly he went, although he did not
know who his fair customer was. After buying a
dozen pairs of gloves, Jenny Lind said, " I have
heard that you people of the Tyrol are great singers ;
perhaps you will sing for me?" The Tyrolian,
who was really a fine warbler, and greatly pleased
with his singing, readily consented, and warbled
away for the queen of song for half an hour. . As
he was leaving, and wishing not to be rude, he said,
pointing to the piano, " Perhaps you will sing for
me." The beautiful woman smiled, and seating
herself at the piano sang for him several of her
bird songs, to hear which people all over the world
paid fabulous prices. As she finished and turned
around on the stool, expecting the most florid com-
pliments, the Tyrolian stood silently before her.
" What do you think of my singing ? ' ' questioned
Early Days 13
Jenny Lind. " Well," speaking slowly, " with the
exception of my sister, I think it 's the finest I ever
heard." Daily did Laimbeck visit Jenny Lind, and
daily did he warble for her and she for him, until
the gossips of Ems wove a pretty romance out of
their friendship and intimacy. While at Ems that
season Jenny Lind sang for Queen Victoria, then a
young woman, the guest of Frederick William IV.
at Stolzenfels. I was especially interested in this
private concert, for the flute player of the orchestra
chosen to accompany her was a friend of mine, and
together, we played duets after business hours. He
was a very pompous, bombastic fellow, with a high
idea of his ability as a musician, and, in speaking of
the coming event, said, " I don't want to go up to
Stolzenfels and play the flute with this Jenny Lind;
she probably can't sing true none of those artists
ever do and it is terrible to have them always off
the key." Well, he went across to the hotel and
presently I heard him begin his obligate. He
played but a few measures, then there was a lull in
the music, and so on for nearly an hour a little
music, then a long rest. Finally he came back
much crestfallen, his conceit quite taken out of him.
' Do you know, Moritz," he said, " that is a great
singer ? Why, I began an obligate for her, and
after I had played but a few bars she stopped me,
saying, ' You do not play true,' and so on during
the rehearsal, until I believe that I don't know any-
thing about the flute after all, and that I am the one
who plays out of tune." Happy am I to state
that my friend played for her, and the concert at
Stolzenfels was a great success.
H Reminiscences
For three seasons I remained at Ems, and became
a good salesman of optical goods. I could fit spec-
tacles to the blind and those who could not see, and
I made for myself quite a reputation. The knowl-
edge gained in showing microscopes and telescopes
to scientific men, and their warm words of praise
made me feel my importance; and after carefully
thinking the matter over I decided that I was quite
old and knew enough to go in business for myself,
for I was nearly eighteen, so I returned to Coblenz
and told my employer that I had resolved to strike
out for myself, which I did. As I had no money I
went back home Scheinfeld and told my good
brother Louis of my plan, and asked him to help
me. He thought well of my suggestion, and bought
for me a small line of optical instruments, and I
immediately started out for a tour through Bavaria
and Saxony. Unfortunately for me, the revolution
of 1848 broke out at that time and threw all Ger-
many into a state of great excitement. There was a
general depression in business everywhere, and as I
was especially unfortunate in visiting places where
daily riots occurred and there was no money to
spare, my trip was not a financial success, and I re-
turned to Scheinfeld greatly humbled. In one of
the places which I visited with my optical goods I
heard a great violoncello player named Kellerman,
and I fell in love with the tone of his instrument
and decided to learn it at my first opportunity.
Upon reaching Scheinfeld, and having time to
spare, I called upon the old Stadt Musikus, who was
considered an expert in the playing of all instru-
ments, as I did not have money enough to go to some
Early Days 15
city and study with a competent teacher, and, rely-
ing upon the reputation and manifold talents as-
cribed to him by the musical people of my native
town, asked him if he would teach me to play upon
the violoncello. Before answering me he began to
laugh, and I can see him now as he stood there in
his tower-room, his robust stature and smooth-
shaven, fleshy tace shaking and growing more florid
as he laughed, and finally exclaimed, between shrieks
of laughter and with emphasis: " You fool! You
want to play the 'cello ? Why don't you take some
instrument you can learn ? The idea of a chap of
your grade wanting to take lessons on the 'cello! "
and he continued to double up with laughter. " I
have heard a man play the 'cello magnificently,
and I have full confidence in my ability to learn to
play it; he learned why should n't I ? " I replied,
quite crestfallen at his apparent doubt of my musi-
cal ability. He looked at me a minute, stopped
laughing, and said: " Forgive me, Moritz, but the
man who would play the violoncello well must not
dabble with other instruments; the 'cello, my boy,
is the king's instrument; it is not for one who seeks
to gain a livelihood by playing it, rather is it for one
who has ample time to study it and is possessed of
a true musical spirit." After listening to his tirade,
I asked him whether he could play the 'cello, where-
upon he straightened up and said reproachfully, for
he took my words as an insult, " Why, I can play
every instrument, and if you insist upon it I will
give you lessons, and teach you all that I know."
I kept him to his word, and took my first lesson
then and there. Old Dazian brought out his violon-
1 6 Reminiscences
cello, put it on a chair, and calling me to him taught
me to draw the bow across the strings. As his fee
was no higher than that of Schiitz I could well
afford to keep up my lessons, but after twelve he
most respectfully told me that he could not teach
me any more, as I already knew as much about
the 'cello as he did. The little knowledge that I
then had of that beautiful instrument was of great
value to me, and I requested old Dazian to form a
string quartette where I could play the 'cello part,
which he did.
It is a sad thought, when one looks upon the life
of a man like Dazian, who was endowed with a great
musical talent, a talent which was worthy and strong
enough to receive the highest cultivation, and which
would have given the musical world a man of the
greatest genius, that he should have been cramped
by the limitations of Scheinfeld. Nature was very
liberal to him, but destiny was not equally kind,
and it seemed to me that what he termed his good
fortune was but his misfortune. But Dazian, gifted
musically as are few others, did not apparently no-
tice the omission, but enjoyed the few blessings he
had received and the opportunity that made him
Stadt Musikus of Scheinfeld. To me it was a sad
picture, and I have often wondered if he ever felt
conscious of what he had been denied. I sincerely
hope not, and that he died as supremely happy as he
was in the old days when he taught me to play the
violoncello. I never take up his 'cello now for by
a happy chance I was able to buy his collection of
instruments complete but that I recall his kind-
ness and encouragement to the lonely boy in the
TOWER OF THE STADT MUSIKUS.
Early Days 17
days when he knew what it was to suffer and to sigh
' for money with which to carry on the study of music,
and which seemed as far off as the bags of gold which
we are told hang from either end of the rainbow,
and which are ours if we can but catch and hold the
beautiful, fleeting thing of color.
Finding that I had plenty of unoccupied time
after finishing my 'cello lessons with old Dazian, for
the war put an end to my business plans, and realiz-
ing that in our little town there lived a man of the
highest culture and most peculiar characteristics, a
man whose sphere was totally different from that of
the musical men of Scheinfeld, I resolved to seek
his acquaintance ; and I must not overlook the time
I spent with him, for the sound philosophy he
taught me has been a help and inspiration all along
the rough road which I have had to travel. His
name was Kleinschrod, and he must at one time
have occupied a very high and prominent position
in the political affairs of the Bavarian kingdom ; in
fact, it was quietly whispered among those who had
the pleasure of his acquaintance that he once lived
in a large city, where he meted out justice in the
capacity of a judge.
He was fearless and righteous, a man of demo-
cratic and liberal ideas, and endowed with rare
qualities in his profession of jurisprudence, and be-
cause of his views, which were antagonistic to the
then existing regime, which was divided between
the Church and the Crown, he was in exile in
the little town of Scheinfeld. He probably gave
strong impulse to the rebellion of '48, for he was a
man who would not acknowledge the divine right
1 8 Reminiscences
of kings, and was especially opposed to Louis I.,
who, in view of his love for art, overloaded the
kingdom with expensive buildings, art collections,
monuments, etc. At that time, and even before
the revolution, the most outrageous scenes were
enacted, brought about by Louis's mad passion for
Lola Montez, whose stay in Munich is memorable,
and who, on account of her unlimited charms,
succeeded in leading the poetical-minded King into
eccentricities that worked fatally in court circles and
created scandals not to be tolerated, and which fi-
nally resulted in the abdication of the King from the
throne. The conduct of Lola Montez at that time,
in her position as paramour to Louis I., strongly
suggests the regime of Mme. de Maintenon and
Louis XIV. Kleinschrod must have uttered some
strong sentiments against the monarch and his ad-
herents, and that was probably the reason why he
was dismissed from his high position ; and even
when deprived of his office he was forbidden to
practice law in the kingdom.
Being thus cut off from gaining a livelihood in
this direction, he settled in Scheinfeld, and in a
secret way served the peasantry as counsellor at
law, picking up quite a little money, for the peas-
antry of that section were always at swords' points
and had no legal adviser, though my father, while
he lived, filled the position, giving them sound,
wholesome advice gratis. I felt, and naturally,
much sympathy for Kleinschrod, for I had gath-
ered enough experience during my youthful travels
to enable me to discriminate between men of or-
dinary minds and the few who really possessed
Early Days 19
superior intellect, those who stood out boldly as
men of strong character, and those who had no
mind of their own. It was this that made me ^eek
the acquaintance of this remarkable man; partly,
as I said before, from sympathy for him in his
exile, but principally to study with him and to
learn from him some of his rare qualifications. He
was not a man who could be easily approached, and
it took me some time to muster up enough courage
to call upon him.
Kleinschrod was a bachelor of advanced years,
a man of heavy stature, strong features, -and dark,
piercing eyes which expressed a world of passion.
Like many great men of his time he was clean
shaven, his complexion being sallow, while his
mouth, with its thin, straight lips, showed the cyni-
cism of the man of the world and at times the placid
look of a monk. His office was simply a small room
with an equally small bedchamber, and the four
walls of the office were bare of any decoration. He
could not have been a strong adherent of his Church,
for the customary crucifix with the small font for
holy water never missing in the house of a be-
liever was absent; while the furniture consisted
of a plain pine table, one three-legged stool, and a
rough wooden bench close to the wall. The bare
floor was strewn with' clean white sand, and a
wooden jug in one corner held the fresh water from
the town pump. I must confess that I felt rather
weak-hearted when I knocked at the door of the
office of this peculiar man, for I had a predilection
of his austerity, and I feared that the suavity which
I had acquired at Ems would be of little use to me,
20 Reminiscences
and my heart thumped violently against my vest
when in answer to my knock he called out in a rather
gruff voice, " Herein." I opened the door with
trembling hand and haltingly stepped into the room.
As I approached and stood before him all of my
fears increased, and the neat little speech which I
had prepared went like a flash from my mind, and
left me there a frightened, stammering lad. I was
again the poor Scheinfeld boy, all my acquired
learning having vanished. Kleinschrod understood
my awkwardness immediately, and it was my good
fortune that when I was speechless and in despair
he arose and coming to me offered his hand, and
with his cynical but fascinating smile, said, "Gruss
Gott." His voice, so musical and full of pathos,
gave me command of myself at once, and with it
came the assurance that I was not only in the pres-
ence of a great man, but one that was full of senti-
ment and remarkable goodness. He questioned me
closely concerning myself, whether I was in trouble,
and with evident astonishment remarked that it
seemed strange that a youth of my years needed
his services. I hastened to assure him, in a joking
way, that I was not in trouble and that I was not
looking for any, which latter remark seemed to in-
cline him more favorably towards me, and he said,
with that cynical smile, that it had been his experi-
ence that a man had not to seek trouble ; that it was
given to him gratuitously and in far greater propor-
tion than happiness. As he talked his expressive face
lighted up, his sallow skin reddened, and his eyes
sparkled under the strong emotions which surged
through him. I stood entranced, when suddenly
he changed the conversation, seized his long
pipe, filled it from a tobacco-jar on the table, and
lighting it with a taper blew out a cloud of smoke
which hid his face for a moment ; when it passed
away and he looked at me again he was the stern
advocate, and he at once repeated his question,
" What can I do for you, my friend ? " To which
I replied that I had called to see if it were possible
for me to study with him, and to pay in part for my
instruction by working as his amanuensis. He im-
mediately said that he would be more than willing
to help me, and it was a great day for me when I
entered his office and began my study and work
under his guidance.
I served him for several months, and found that
the briefs which I was called upon to write were
of great benefit to me, for his diction was beauti-
ful. Together we carefully read many of the Ger-
man classics, such as Herder, Wieland, Klopstock,
Richter, and the philosophical doctrine of Kant,
and from his comments I gathered many precious
pearls of thought which have been guiding stars
in my later years. His views on political econ-
omy, on statesmanship, on the ethics of life how
to live, how to suffer, how to enjoy life, and,
finally, how to die have been invaluable. These
thoughts, which came spontaneously, were imbued
with the power of a Socrates. Kleinschrod was
very poor, and the little money I was able to pay
him from time to time from my limited resources,
was so thankfully received that I could but look up-
on it as a deed of charity. I have dwelt at length up-
on my association with this remarkable man because
22
Reminiscences
the days spent with him have been of great
help to me all along the stony path to success, and
are, even now, when I have tasted the joys of pros-
perity, food for thought as I doze before my cheerful
grate fire on a chilly winter's night. Kleinschrod,
the remembrance of whose life never fades, Klein-
schrod, who opened for me two beautiful flowers,
Confidence and Hope.
CHAPTER II
Switzerland Berlin Journey by Sleigh into Russia Chavli Riga
BECOMING weary of my enforced idleness, I
resolved to try my fortune in Switzerland,
and one day I set out with my case of optical goods
for St. Gall and the land of eternal snow. St. Gall
is the capital of the canton, and one of the largest
business centres of Switzerland. The ancient walls
and moat, the Benedictine Abbey, founded by St.
Gallus, an Irish monk, and at one time one of the
greatest seats of learning in Switzerland, and having
a wonderful library, I found most interesting, and,
while I did not grow rich, I managed to more than
pay my way.
From St. Gall I went to Chur, for I had made up
my mind to pay a visit to the famous Engadine
Thai, believing that at St. Moritz and Pontresina I
could do quite a profitable business with the invalids
forced to go there for the winter months. Chur is
delightfully situated on the banks of the Plessur in
the Rhine valley, and there my sales were excellent.
From Chur I went to Silvaplana by the Julier Pass,
in company with a teamster who was carting an im-
mense cask of wine across the pass to the town. He
23
24 Reminiscences
sat on one end of the long sled and drove, while I,
with my satchel and case of optical goods, rode on
the other. When we were thirsty, as we often were,
he used to take out the bung of the cask, insert a
couple of tubes, and together we would pull away
at the wine. The trip was most interesting, for the
view of the snow mountains of the Bernina was
magnificent, and, lower down, the whole valley of
the Upper Engadine from St. Moritz to Sils lay
stretched out before us, and we had an exciting run-
away down the winding descent.
From Silvaplana I went to St. Moritz, a charming
village on Lake St. Moritz, and one of the most
frequented and favorite resorts of the Engadine,
the water being considered very beneficial for con-
sumption and stomachic complaints. My business
at St. Moritz was not all that I could desire, but I
had a capital time with a jolly party of young people
whom I met, and borrowing a guitar we went ser-
enading nightly and frolicking generally. After a
stay of two weeks I went to Samaden, the largest
village in the Engadine, where the chateau of the
old Engadine families of Sali and La Planta is
located. These families have taken a prominent
part in the history of the canton for the past ten
centuries. At Samaden I remained some time,
meeting many pleasant people, and one day I at-
tended a wedding. After the festivities were over,
and the bride and groom ready to start for the
groom's home, a little town up the mountain called
Ponte, several of the guests in double sleighs set out
to accompany them. When about half-way there,
the bride and groom and the next two sleighs were
Germany and Russia 25
buried by an avalanche of snow, and I only escaped
death by being in the last team. The sadness of
that event quite spoiled the Engadine for me, and
after a visit to Pontresina, where I was entertained
by a wealthy chocolate manufacturer named Jost, at
his beautiful house just out of the village, I left for
Churwalden, and from Churwalden went back to
Chur.
Thinking that, as long as I was in Switzerland, I
might as well see some of the large cities, I went to
Zurich, where I spent a month very profitably.
From Zurich I travelled to Zug and Lucerne, then
to Berne by the Emmenthal, then on to Bienne,
Basle, Schaffhausen, and finally back to St. Gall,
where I decided to go home, for there I received a
letter from my brother-in-law and former employer
at Coblenz, stating that he was about to start on a
journey through Germany and Russia, his mission
being twofold, for he was to lecture and exhibit
the telegraph, together with electricity in its appli-
cation to telegraphy, and to show and sell optical
goods. He begged me to accompany him as his
assistant, and as he was more liberal in his offer than
when I worked for him at Coblenz I resolved to
return home and go with him. Accordingly, I set
out for Scheinfeld, and in a few weeks joined him at
Coblenz, and we started on our eventful journey,
I with a feeling of deep joy that I was to see some-
thing of the world, and have the opportunity of
hearing great musical artists, for while I had heard
considerable music in the small cities I had visited,
and such operatic performances as were in the reach
of those places, I had never enjoyed the privilege
26 Reminiscences
of hearing grand opera in the residential cities of
Europe, nor had I ever heard large orchestral
performances.
The study of Beethoven's works was in its infancy,
while Mendelssohn was hardly known. Berlioz had
just completed a triumphal journey through Ger-
many, introducing his grand compositions, but
Liszt's orchestral works and greater vocal scores
were still lying in the cradle. Schubert and Schu-
mann were considered extremists, and the good pub-
lic of Germany revelled in sweet repose, comfortable
in the possession of the works of Haydn and Mozart.
It is true that Paganini's work was over, and that
his tremendous execution upon the violin stood
boldly out upon the horizon of virtuosity; that De
Be>iot, Spohr, Ernst, and Vieuxtemps, were well
known among those deeply interested in violin
music, but their efforts were not fully appreciated
by the public at large. The large cities of Europe
were naturally the favored ones, and they were
given the privilege of hearing Liszt, Mendelssohn,
Schumann, Henrietta Sontag, Jenny Lind, Wachtel,
Stigelli, Mario, Grisi, and many other famous artists.
The oratorios of Mendelssohn, the Ninth Symphony
of Beethoven, the Passion Music of Bach, and the
resurrection of the latter master's great works by
that genius, Mendelssohn, were to be heard in the
large cities of Europe only. Of Beethoven I scarcely
knew anything, his Second Symphony in D being
the only number of the nine which had gained a
hearing in the small cities, and I longed to become
initiated in the great wealth of the tone-world, so
apart from the financial side of the question I
Germany and Russia 27
eagerly seized this opportunity of travel, feeling
that a beautiful world lay before me in the realm of
music. It was about this time that the Mtiller
Brothers quartet created a furore, but there were few
other string quartets that could be heard publicly.
Our first stopping-place en route to Russia was
Berlin, and in this city I heard grand opera; listened
to Liebig's and Henning's symphony orchestra,
while for lighter music there was Pliesner's orches-
tra, whose excellent playing gave me great delight.
In Berlin I also heard Joseph Gungl'. With such
advantages I gained a knowledge of the composi-
tions before named, having the opportunity of hear-
ing the world's greatest artists upon the violin,
violoncello, clarionet, French horn, and the flute.
The work in which I was professionally engaged
brought me in contact with men of science and learn-
ing, such as professors of astronomy, chemists, and
men of mechanical knowledge generally, and I con-
sider the time spent in Berlin of the greatest im-
portance in a musical and business way.
During my stay I lived in the house of a shoe-
maker, the first floor of the dwelling being given
over to the shop, while the family and lodgers oc-
cupied the rest of the house. When I went to live
there, the shoemaker and landlord had just buried
his wife, and the management of the shop and
household was in the hands of Pauline, a niece of
his departed Frau. It was Pauline to whom I ap-
plied for a room. It was Pauline who received me
cordially and showed me the one room which was
for rent ; and while I did not like the location or the
appearance of the little room, I was induced to take
x
28 Reminiscences
it because I saw Pauline, and a piano in the parlor
which the pretty young landlady assured me I could
use when I pleased. This decided me, and I took
the room then and there.
Pauline was a happy, vivacious Berlin child of
about eighteen summers, a pronounced blonde, with
limpid blue eyes and a head covered with masses of
long wavy, golden hair. She was inclined to be
tall, was well built, and had really aristocratic hands
and feet. Her skin was exquisite, and every time
she laughed which she did very often she showed
a set of white, even teeth. She was always amiable,
and, as in Berlin the low and even the middle classes
are possessed of an unlimited amount of humor, I
must confess that with the shop, the room, and,
best of all, the piano, Pauline appeared to me at
that moment as a very attractive person.
When I was settled and was busily engaged play-
ing my scales and exercises one evening, a spirit of
meditation stole over me, and in this poetical state
of mind I began to improvise. It was twilight, and
Berlin for the moment was a quiet, peaceful town,
for everything was still and reposeful. As I played
I noticed the door slowly and silently open, and,
glancing out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the
golden head of Pauline appear. She stepped lightly
into the room, closed the door softly, and, coming
to the piano, stood looking down at me from over
my shoulder, and, as I finished my improvisation
and turned around on the stool, she expressed to
me in soft and tender words her high appreciation
of the music which she had heard while standing
outside the door. She begged me to forgive her
Germany and Russia 29
for coming in uninvited, assuring me that she could
not resist the temptation to enter and express to me
her admiration for the soul-filling harmonies which
she had just heard. Of course I thanked the pretty
maid for her words of praise, and, wishing to appear
gracious, I asked her if she was interested in playing
the piano. She replied, that while she was not her-
self a performer, she was passionately fond of music,
especially singing, and that she sometimes sang.
To my sorrow, and out of deference to music
which is produced by the human voice and whose
instrument is the throat, I must confess that vocal
music has little attraction for me. I have always
looked upon song as a conglomeration of words
and tones, and instead of enhancing either one or
the other, the production of a musical tone that
has underlying words for its rhythmical existence
appears to me antagonistic to the pure tones which
have no words, viz., those belonging to the violin
tribe, or such sounds as are emitted from a wind
instrument under the same conditions. I have
always thought that the domain of the human voice
included a larger circle, and encompassed in that
circle many emotions of the human heart and an
unlimited wealth of thought that finds its means of
expression through the medium of the tongue, but
when it is associated with the musical tone and is
dependent upon the word, its functions and charms
vanish, and unlike the tone of a musical instrument
which is free from this incumbrance, its vibrations,
being independent, are therefore of a more musi-
cal nature.
This thought in itself did not put me in the mood
30 Reminiscences
to be in perfect harmony with the ecstasies which
Pauline expressed over my work ; still, as I desired
to show my appreciation for her art, I asked her to
sing something for me. She readily consented,
adding, however, that her uncle was deeply inter-
ested in her of late, and she thought it would be
more prudent for her to sing for me when he was
out of the house, as he was inclined to be jealous,
and that she would come in some evening when he
was absent.
A few nights after the above conversation, she
came and offered to sing for me, her uncle being
away for the evening. Her selection of songs had
a strong leaning toward the love ditties and senti-
mental ballads which half a century ago served the
musically inclined. I looked the collection over,
finally taking Abt's When the Swallows Homeward
Fly as the least sentimental of the lot. She had
sung but a few bars when I discovered that she
possessed too much feeling, too great pathos, too
little intelligence, and, above all, no consideration
as to tone-production and true pitch. She began
in the key of C, and while advancing eight bars her
voice was transposed into higher regions, and while
pursuing her flight she reached the twentieth bar
safely a tone higher on D. Of course I politely
followed, transposing for her, and as she sang with
so much expression and so earnestly this beautiful
effusion of Abt, she flew still higher until she was a
minor third from her original start. Up she went to
E, then to F, F sharp, and, my good Lord ! she was
soon a fifth above. In following her rapid flight
she evidently felt perfectlyly at ease, feeling sure of
Germany and Russia 3 1
herself until finally she was rudely awakened from
her musical enthusiasm by discovering that the high
notes of the song were no longer within her reach,
and she utterly collapsed, and the poor swallows
which were expected to fly homeward fell to earth
with a crash on the last note.
I was amazed and in agony. Beautiful Pauline
of yesterday was no longer an ethereal being to en-
chant me with her charms, and rising from the piano
I abruptly left the room. I shall never forget When
the Swallows Homeward Fly, and how fair Pauline
made them soar and soar until, when finally they
found their nest, they must have been quite as mis-
erable as I was when trying to follow their rapid
flight. I am sure that they would have much pre-
ferred to rest than do as I did after hearing their fate
from the pathetic and somewhat ambitious voice of
Pauline, for in my unhappy state of mind I decided
to say adieu to my musical muse, at least for the
present, and to enjoy and revel in an art which had
equally interested me in my early life when living
among the priesthood of Bavaria in the cloisters of
the monks. I was tired of music, and I wandered
away to look at the churches of Berlin, for I had
always entertained a fondness for ecclesiastical
architecture.
There is certainly a distinct difference in the state
of the fine arts between the people of Northern and
those of Southern Germany. The main cause may
be found in the religious state of these two sections,
but, above all, in the distinct climatic conditions,
for the style of architecture of Northern Protestant
Germany, with its simplicity of interior decorations,
32 Reminiscences
and the Catholic churches of Southern Germany
may be easily distinguished. The churches of Ber-
lin fifty years ago did not speak so powerfully to my
imagination, and did not, therefore, afford me that
rest and quiet which had come over me when look-
ing at the domes of Wiirtzburg, Speyer, Bamberg,
and, especially, the grand domes of Regensburg,
Augsburg, and Cologne. In looking at Berlin's
beautiful churches, the hidden forces that controlled
my musical state gave me rest and courage to
again enter the house of " La cantatrice des hiron-
delles," and entering my room I threw myself upon
my couch while my imagination occasionally carried
me to the swallows of Fraulein Pauline.
The success of my employer in Berlin was pro-
nounced, and our stay had to be prolonged on that
account. The city was still in a state of siege, and
remained so for many years. One day while walk-
ing through the streets I approached a public place,
called the Molken Markt, and as I drew near, I
heard a great noise, the clamoring of several thou-
sand people, principally workingmen. There was
a tremendous tumult which seemed to me very
much like a revolt, and as I entered the Markt and
inquired into the disturbance for it was unusual in
broad daylight and in a public place I was told by
one of the rioters that the release of Jacoby from
prison was about to take place. This man Jacoby
had been imprisoned because of the speeches he
had made to the good people of Berlin during the
revolutionary days, and on account of the princi-
ples promulgated. Jacoby was one of the repre-
sentatives of the Chambers, and he enjoyed great
SQUARE PIANOFORTE. FOUR OCTAVES.
Once in the possession of the Princess of Turn and Taxis in Regensburg.
Germany and Russia 33
popularity and respect among the Liberals and those
who were actively interested in bringing on the
revolution of '48.
I had been presented, before leaving home, with
a peculiar and most conspicuous kind of an over-
coat, which was known among the few as a capuze.
It was a long coat with a hood or cowl, and was
made of heavy woollen cloth of a blue color. This
coat must have looked very strange, if I am to judge
by the frequent remarks which were thrown at me
as I walked along the streets of Berlin. But to
return to the riot. My curiosity prompted me to
hasten on and join the shouting mob, and, as I was
forcing myself into their very midst, I suddenly felt
a grip upon the cowl of my coat with one hand, while
I was struck in the side with the butt of a heavy
army musket, which, I assure you, had the effect of
arousing me from my curious state of mind. Turn-
ing, I saw a big gendarme who had placed me under
arrest, and I was quickly led away from the howl-
ing mob, and although I found a few defenders who
tried to save me from the burly gendarme, they
were unsuccessful, because my captor was immedi-
ately reinforced, and the squad, charging with
bayonets into the crowd, quickly scattered them.
I was literally dragged away and not allowed to halt
until I was safe in the arms of the police depart-
ment. There I was ushered into the presence of
several officials, charged by my captors with having
been a rioter. A number of civilians had followed
me to the station, and while the gendarmes were
trying to drive them from the building one gentle-
man of fine address forced himself into the room,
3
34 Reminiscences
and told the officer in charge that he had witnessed
the whole affair, and that he could truthfully testify,
though I was a stranger to him, that I was not
actively engaged in any of the manifestations that
gave force to the riot, either by action or words.
This voluntary witness must have held some official
position of importance, because his word was imme-
diately taken, and I was permitted to go free, and
I thank my lucky stars that I was able to get off so
easily from the clutches of German law, the cause
of which was not due so much to my peaceful atti-
tude, as to the cut of my coat, and- 1 offered a silent
prayer to the genius of the tailor who had fashioned
the capuze.
My love for Berlin cooled down somewhat after
this adventure, and I consulted with my employer
upon the advisability of an early departure from the
city, and as he, like myself, was not over courage-
ous, and imbued with the mild tendencies of good
and peaceful citizens, I found little difficulty in con-
vincing him that it was better to move on and try to
find more congenial fields for our work. Having fi-
nally decided to leave Berlin the next day, I returned
to my room and called in Pauline. She looked very
handsome that evening, and could not have been
aware of the impression made upon me by her sing-
ing when she put to flight the swallows ; rather must
she have been favorably impressed by my abrupt
manner of leaving, for she was more coquettish than
ever. I told her that I was to go away on the mor-
row, whereupon she burst into tears, and, throwing
herself into my arms, implored me not to leave her;
to stay in Berlin, to settle there, and marry her. She
Germany and Russia 35
did not love her uncle, she could not be left to his
mercies ; she had it all arranged. We would elope
that very night, and she felt sure that great happi-
ness and success would follow our union, and that
in a musical way we would be of great benefit to
each other.
I must confess that never before had I found my-
self in such a trying position, and while the swallows
still fluttered about in my brain, I felt great sympa-
thy for the pretty child, and, as I could not find
any means of consoling her in her grief, I assured
her that I should always remember her sweet face,
the friendly interest she had taken in me, the many
little acts of kindness I had enjoyed while under her
roof. I also assured her that as long as I lived I
should remember her singing, and that at some
future day I might settle down in Berlin, and, if so,
I would return for her and in some measure try to
repay the true affection which she had so profusely
showered upon me. She seemed content, and we
parted the best of friends. Happy am I to state
that, like all little girls, she was won with a new
doll, and when next I visited Berlin I looked her up
and found her married and caring for a family of
two little golden-haired tots, the image of their fair
mother.
After leaving Berlin we visited Danzig and Ko-
nigsberg, and finally arrived in Tilsit upon our jour-
ney towards Russia. In all of the cities where we
stopped we met with unexpected success, and after
a profitable week in Tilsit we started upon our
memorable trip into Russia.
The winter of '49 was an unusually severe one in
36 Reminiscences
that section of the country, where severe winters
always prevail, and we were told that travel in
Russia was of a very perilous nature, for there were
no railroads of note at that time on the line of
route which we had mapped out, and as the ground
was covered with snowdrifts, it was out of the ques-
tion for us to find the road. As it was not possible
to obtain vehicles of any kind we had to supply our-
selves with a large covered wagon which we caused
to be fitted out on a long sleigh. Travel then de-
pended upon our obtaining fresh horses at the post-
stations along the route. For this purpose we had
to get a permit and certificate from the Russian
Government at the frontier, which not only enabled
us to get horses as we needed them at each post-
station, but also included competent drivers. The
horses furnished were quite small and untrained,
unlike the domestic horses of Germany, and as the
banks of snow were very high, and no definite road
could be followed, it required as many as six and
sometimes eight horses to pull our caravan through
the drifts. One driver led the horses by means of
a lash, whipping them continually, while two men
on the backs of the others had to manage them.
The post-stations, then located far apart, did not
offer lodging or food, and it was therefore necessary
for us to carry with us sufficient provisions to keep
us from starving, while at night we were forced to
sleep in our covered sleigh in front of the station.
Our party consisted of my employer, Mr. Aisch-
mann, an assistant by the name of Oscar Richter,
and myself, and I do not like to recall the hardships
which we were forced to endure upon that long,
Germany and Russia 37
tiresome journey. To keep from freezing we were
covered from head to foot with furs, and thus pro-
tected we managed to reach the first post-station,
after covering some twenty miles. It was night
when we arrived, and bitter cold, and, although
wrapped up in fur blankets, we were chilled to the
bone. After a conversation with the agent, who
knew but a few sentences of the German language,
we made out to understand that it would be fool-
hardy for us to continue the trip, as the snowbanks
were treacherously deep and the road proper could
not possibly be found. If, however, we insisted
upon proceeding, it would be well for us to take, in
addition to the drivers we already had, two extra
men on horseback who were familiar with that section
of the country, to ride ahead and give the drivers
some little knowledge of the course to be followed.
The agent said that he would be one of them, while
he had a Polish Jew who knew the country well who
would go with him. I did not like this man's face.
There was something very sinister about the expres-
sion of his dark eyes, and I told my employer that I
feared that the men would lead us into some corner
and, after robbing us, leave us there to die. My sus-
picion proved correct, because when we commenced
to make preparations to start next morning it was
snowing and blowing a gale, and nothing could be
seen ten yards ahead save the immense banks of
snow the agent advised us to wait until the storm
ceased. As we could not see anything wrong in
this, we consented to stop over at the station, and
it was afternoon when we ordered the horses and
again got ready to resume our journey. The wind
38 Reminiscences
had subsided, but the air was full of snowflakes.
As we were leaving, the agent came and told us that
it would be impossible for him to go with us, as he
had business of an important nature to attend to,
which he had forgotten the night before, but that
the Jew had a brother who was quite as well ac-
quainted with the roads as he was, and that this man
would take his place as guide. I objected strenu-
ously, but my employer did not heed my advice,
and the two hard-looking fellows accompanied us.
The days in the north are short, and after we had
travelled through the snow for a few hours, we found
that night was upon us, though we were still some
distance from the next station, which we had been
told was a village. As the darkness increased I over-
heard a conversation between the two men ahead,
which they carried on in Hebrew, evidently thinking
that there was no one in our party who understood
that tongue. To my horror, I learned that these
men were in compact with our drivers, and that they
intended to rob us of our goods and money and leave
us upon the road to perish, and, if we gave them any
trouble, to kill us, because there was at that time in
that section no law to punish them. I immediately
called a council of war, and informed my employer
and Mr. Richter of what I had overheard. We
talked the matter over in our caravan, and it did
not take us long to decide what to do. My em-
ployer and Richter were strong and courageous,
much more so than I was, and as we were provided
with good pistols we took them out and, calling a
halt, ordered the two men ahead to come to us, osten-
sibly to talk over the continuance of the journey.
Germany and Russia 39
As they rode up, my employer covered one with
his pistol, as did Richter the other, commanding
them to dismount. Trembling they obeyed, and
standing in the snow they were told that we
knew all about their plot to rob us, and that unless
they immediately gave up their arms they would be
shot down like dogs. The villains denied that they
had any intention of harming us, that all they had
said was a joke. We were not to be deceived, how-
ever, and we made them hand over their weapons,
and watched them carefully as we proceeded in the
darkness to Chavli, which we finally reached without
further adventure.
It is not within my province to give a vivid de-
scription of Chavli and its inhabitants. It would
be hard to tell how many people lived there, or how
they eked out an existence ; where they came from ;
whether they ate and drank as do others ; what was
their color and how they loved one another; neither
can I give a sworn evidence as to whether there
were streets or houses which were inhabited, and
whether they were built of stone, wood, or mud;
whether there was ever a summer day when the
warm rays of sunshine stole over the village and
warmed the cockles of their old hearts; whether
there were shops, churches, factories, schools, scan-
dals, or milkmen to wake you at 3 A.M. ; and, finally,
any rag-peddlers to call out in musical Russian,
" Cash paid for rags." These and many other
things I could not find out when I entered Chavli,
because it was night. Naturally, every intelligent
man who dwells upon subjects of this kind painfully
and hopefully awaits the break of day to look about
40 Reminiscences
and find evidences and solutions to such illusory
problems, and when at last the dawn of day broke
upon the horizon, I hastened to peer out and, to
my sorrow, I found that all of my ideas of little
Chavli were as naught, for the entire village lay
buried in snow.
It is possible that my powers of seeing and com-
prehending may have been in a weak condition
when I here relate my experience of that Nachtlager
of Chavli. When we reached the village, we were
directed towards a hut which was kept by a Jewish
family who were accustomed to accommodate the
few travellers who visited the place. The family
consisted of a very old man, close on to one hun-
dred, his two sons in the sixties, and a woman who
must have belonged to one of them, her age being
no index. To describe the little old woman I must
have had a powerful magnifying-glass to see what
her charms were, and as to her color, stature, and
dress I cannot speak authoritatively, because the
room, lighted by a single lard lamp, was so dark
that I could not see her distinctly. My attention
was principally directed towards the very old man,
who was seated at a table upon which was the lamp,
and before him lay an open book from which he was
reciting sentences without referring to the book,
these recitations being accompanied by some musi-
cal tones that did not rise beyond the compass of a
third or a fifth. His shrunken, sallow face and
deep-set eyes, his little corkscrew curls which hung
down upon either side of his wizened cheeks, his
claw-like hands spread out upon the book, made a
picture that I cannot forget. Upon either side sat
Germany and Russia 4 1
the two old men, his sons, and they, too, murmured
or chanted in an antiphonic style, alternately with
their father.
This melodramatic performance in the little dingy
hut, which was utterly destitute of furniture, made
a powerful impression upon my mind, and I felt
inclined to investigate the nature of this peculiar
proceeding, so I stepped up to the trio and asked
them in German what it all meant. One of the
sons, pointing to the old man, told me that he was
the father, and being a rabbi was intensely interested
in the study of the Tora, while they were engaged
in studying the Talmud, Mishna, and Gemara.
They must have been, philosophical works concern-
ing the Hebrew faith which they practised, partly
as a glorification of the mercies of Jehovah, and also
the wisdom and guiding principles of the Hebrew
in this world.
When I compare the wretched condition of the
hut, the mode of living, and the village in which
this trio dwelt ; when I consider the poverty they
must have endured from the time they entered upon
their earthly existence into a world that could offer
them almost nothing either politically or religiously,
having no social pleasures or those things that lead
men and women to a higher state of civilization, I
am astounded that under such conditions the very
philosophy of life should be practised, religious
tendencies which stood in strong bas-relief in this
wretched hut ; and when the old rabbi sang in his
declining and feeble tones of the glories of Jehovah,
he did more, I say, than that holy father who dwells
in a palace in the Vatican, surrounded by everything
4 2 Reminiscences
beautiful and, unlike the filial assistants of the rabbi,
guarded by a regiment of cardinals, archbishops,
and priests, can ever do to demonstrate to enlight-
ened Christendom religion and its intrinsic purity.
If the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope would
search for a birthplace, let it look to the hut of the
rabbi and his two apostles in far-away Chavli as not
an unsuitable one.
We were tired and hungry, and therefore appealed
to the rabbi for shelter and food. Our request in
this direction was not as eagerly anticipated as our
religious demands might have been, and we were
directed to the old woman for information as to
what there was for us in the way of lodging and
food. She opened a door leading off from the room
in which the rabbi and his sons were chanting, and
disclosed a small room having a partial floor of rough
boards, the rear being entirely uncovered save for a
few bundles of straw. This she kindly offered to
us for the night, which offer my emp^yer and Mr.
Richter thankfully accepted while I had to sleep in
the wagon, it being my night as watchman. Some
hot drink, which they called tea, and some coarse
bread made of straw, formed our evening repast,
after which I went out to the wagon where I passed
the night.
The storm had entirely ceased when morning
broke, but it left upon the ground an enormous
amount of snow, and when we appealed to the post-
master of the village for horses, in conformity with
our contract with the Government, he informed us
that the horses were too small to drag our heavy
caravan through the snow, and that we must be
Germany and Russia 43
content to make the next stage of our journey with
oxen, which we did. We were not given breakfast
at the hut, but were told that some few miles farther
on we would be able to get something. Trust-
ing in Providence, we started for the next post-
station, and fortune indeed smiled upon us, for
when we halted we were generously fed with meat,
bread, potatoes, and really good coffee. I must
confess that we all felt like giving thanks to the
Creator who had so far guided us through a wilder-
ness and desert of snow, preserved our life in sundry
places, and, finally, brought us to a haven of rest
where steaming hot coffee, bread, and excellent
potato soup were to be had for the asking.
Having partaken bountifully of our meal we
started on, refreshed in mind and body. The mid-
day sun now reappeared and its rays shone brightly
upon the virgin snow until it sparkled and glis-
tened like a field of diamonds, while the wind, keen
and cold, ever and anon blew the particles into little
mounds of fantastic shapes, the rays from which
were almost blinding.
We were all in a very happy mood, and, while we
were meditating on a better time in the near future,
we were by no means disheartened. Suddenly, in
that wilderness of snow we heard the sound of
music, and beheld, approaching us in the distance,
a forlorn Italian with an organ on his back, and
with him another equally forlorn being, holding,
cuddled close in his arms, a poor little monkey,
whose naturally hairy skin was covered with a big
fur coat, his wizened, wrinkled face and little beady
eyes mournfully peeping out at us from under the
44 Reminiscences
close-fitting hood, as much as to say, ' ' What are you
doing here ? " I must say that, while I have heard
many symphony orchestras and enjoyed the per-
formances of grand opera and oratorio, the dulcet
tones which came from that little organ, and the
appearance of the artists and management of the
band of musicians moved me far more than had
the others. The symphonic music which filled the
air sounded heavenly in the quiet snow-clad space,
and when the monkey appeared in his role, garbed
in a little red cap and gown, very much bespangled
and hung with tiny tinkling bells, choosing our
wagon for a stage upon which to show his art, I
could not fail to recognize and call to mind pictures
of the drama of mediaeval times, when prose, poetry,
action, and music found its stage in the open air with
the blue vault of heaven for its dome.
Finally we reached Riga, the capital of Livonia,
and, with the exception of St. Petersburg and
Odessa, the most important port of all Russia;
Riga, whose walls have been converted into prom-
enades; Riga, with St. Peter's church, built in
1406, and its tower 470 feet high. The effect of
the night's stay in the room at the house of the
old rabbi had weakened my employer, and he had
to go to bed at Riga with a severe attack of rheu-
matism, brought on by sleeping in the straw upon
the floor of the hut. Fate was indeed kind to me,
and though I was forced to spend the night outside
in the wagon as watchman, I was in perfect health,
while those whose lot I really envied were, the one
in bed, the other scarcely able to crawl about. I
immediately sent for a doctor, and in a few weeks
Germany and Russia 45
Mr. Aischmann was able to be up. During his ill-
ness I lectured and sold optical goods in the city.
While Riga was not at that time a large city, its
splendid position on the river Duna gave it a certain
amount of prestige, and I found it a most delightful
place of residence, apart from its commercial im-
portance. It boasted of many titled inhabitants,
both in military and civil circles, and the sciences
and arts were cultivated. In consequence of this,
I must mention the existence of a very good opera-
house where an excellent company were employed,
and whose standing received the indorsement of
Conradin Kreutzer, the great composer of Das
Nachtlager in Granada, who, with his daughter, re-
sided there until his death, which occurred a few
months before my arrival. This was a source of
great regret to me, as I was a profound admirer of
Kreutzer's work and the overture of the above-
named opera which found a place upon every concert
programme the world over. Riga, with its operatic
and dramatic performances, I enjoyed immensely,
and I did not regret the extra work which my em-
ployer's illness caused me, because it gave me such
opportunities in a musical and dramatic way, and
even later on, when our business became so success-
ful that we decided to tarry for some months, I
rejoiced in the thought that I was to hear some mag-
nificent performances, both operatic and dramatic.
On account of the social importance of Riga,
many celebrities in the artistic world visited the
city, and gave evidence of the immense amount of
work done by Kreutzer and the influence he cast
over the field of musical culture. I obtained the
4 6
Reminiscences
loan of a pianoforte and availed myself of the in-
struction of a fine teacher, and when I left Riga I
had improved greatly in my pianoforte playing. I
had also the opportunity of playing chamber music
with members of the orchestra, where I played the
'cello part in trios and quartets.
CHAPTER III
Dorpat Reval Pleskov A Short Trip to Finland
AT the end of our stay my companions moved
on to St. Petersburg, and, as my employer
deemed me capable of carrying on the work in the
immediate places between Riga and St. Petersburg,
he left me one day and I went to Dorpat, or Derpt,
a town northeast of Riga on the river Embach. Dor-
pat is noted for its university, founded in 1632 by
Gustavus Adolphus, and connected with it is an
astronomical observatory which had at that time a
tremendous telescope, made by Frauenhofer of
Munich, which stood hardly second to any instru-
ment of that kind in the world. This, of course,
was of great interest to me, and I soon called
upon the Professor of Astronomy, Mr. Madler, who
received me cordially and showed me over his
magnificent observatory. He was also a great
musician, and his wife was considered the finest
pianist in that section. By his kind invitation I
went to his home, and there became acquainted
with a most delightful and cultivated family, and
through his influence I was presented to a body of
musicians, members of a string quartet employed
47
48 Reminiscences
by a nobleman who lived upon a large estate near
Dorpat. The members of this quartet were four
of the most eminent musicians in Germany, and
their work consisted in playing string quartets for
the nobleman. I shall always remember my visit
to his castle and the picturesque and romantic
location of it, but especially the marvellous playing
of the four artists at a matinee, and from that time
I became more and more possessed with the fascina-
tion of quartet playing.
Our perilous journey into Russia, and the many
changes that had come to me in a business way, as
well as my researches in the musical world for I
had at all times sought to gain knowledge finally
told upon my rugged constitution, and after visiting
a few small places I became ill, and by the advice of
a physician I went to Reval, a seashore resort on
the Gulf of Finland, for the purpose of building up
my health, and to rest and recuperate. My princi-
pal object, however, was to obtain more instruction
upon the violoncello, for I had been told that at
Reval there lived a good 'cello player, connected
with the orchestra, who would give me lessons. I
wanted to get away from business, and intended to
devote my time for a few weeks exclusively to the
study of the pianoforte and violoncello.
Reval at that time was a port of great importance,
and having a delightful situation it attracted annu-
ally large numbers of tourists who came there for
health and rest. At the hotel where I was staying I
was informed that a travelling company of dramatic
artists, by name the Muller family, were to give a
series of performances, to consist of recitations from
VERTICAL CONCERT GRAND. SIX OCTAVES.
Made by C. Miiller, Vienna, about 1780.
Russia and Finland 49
the classics of Lessing, Schiller, Goethe, and others,
while a part of the program would be given over
to vocal selections by Fraulein Marie Muller, who
was a remarkable vocalist, enjoying a reputation
all over Europe as a ballad-singer. I had a piano-
forte in my room upon which I practised daily, and
it happened that the Muller family were assigned
rooms adjoining mine, and from time to time I
heard delightful strains of music, a voice singing
solfeggio exercises, while later I heard Beethoven's
Adelaide sung most intelligently by a female voice.
The invisible music which was wafted to my
ears, and the charm that was hidden in its peculiar
timbre, excited my curiosity, and at the same time
commanded my attention, there was so much culti-
vation connected with it, and it was so different
from Pauline's warblings. On the other hand, the
sound of my piano and 'cello must have reached
the Muller apartment. I felt very anxious to know
something about the possessor of that voice which
had moved me so strongly, and so appealed to my
musical sense. As I could not intrude myself upon
therr privacy, I resolved to watch them as they
passed down the hall.
Just as I was opening the door, Mr. Muller,
with his wife and daughter, stepped into the corri-
dor, and in my anxiety to see the artists, I hastily
wished them " good-morning," whereupon Mr.
Muller thanked me, and as he glanced into the room
through the open door and saw my piano, which
stood just opposite against the wall, he mentioned
to me his pleasure in having heard me improvise,
paying me a few sincere and agreeable compliments.
50 Reminiscences
I immediately invited him into my humble room,
which invitation he accepted, entering with his
family. After we had chatted a few moments he
told me that he intended to give a series of per-
formances in Reval, and this opened the way for me
to express my delight in having heard the sweet
tones of a voice in his apartment, and to add that it
would give me great pleasure to hear it again. At
this Mr. M tiller told me that the singer was his
daughter Marie, and I felt constrained to pay her
my just acknowledgment of the pleasure I had de-
rived from her singing, and to congratulate her upon
her art.
The impression made upon me by Fraulein Marie
was one which affected me powerfully. She was a
superlatively beautiful woman, with Titian coloring,
tall, slight, and willowy, with quantities of wavy
hair which she wore brushed off from her forehead
and gathered loosely in a coil high upon her head.
Her eyes were amber, and in them lay a world of
hidden meaning. There was a peculiar charm about
her figure, and she moved as gracefully and noise-
lessly as a fawn. She was perfectly gowned in the
fashion of that period, her dress having evidently
been suggested by her coloring. " She was withal
so fair as to take the breath of men away who gazed
upon her unaware." When she responded to the
few words which I addressed to her, and I heard
the faultless pronunciation of the German language,
which could only have been gained by a careful
study of elocution and the most intimate knowledge
of rhythm, I felt that she possessed a charm aside
from her musical voice such as I have never since
Russia and Finland 51
experienced. Her facial expression as she spoke,
the opening and closing of her lips disclosing her
regular white teeth, and the expression of her eyes,
completely entranced me. Marie appeared to me
like a Venus, and when I associated her personal
charm with her musical genius I became her slave.
It took me some seconds to collect myself so as
not to appear as the weakling, and in a fortunate
moment I threw myself into the arms of music and
spoke to her of Beethoven's Adelaide, which I had
but a short time before heard her render. I told
her of my profound love for this wonderful composi-
tion, and remarked that the proper medium, so it
seemed to me, of interpreting such a love-song was
only to be found in a tenor voice ; that I had never
before heard it attempted by a soprano, and that
even though the words of the song expressed manly
love for woman, I could but admit that never had
I listened to that song with greater pleasure and
admiration, with more devotion for the master, than
when she intoned its musical strains. Marie, in a
dignified manner, bowed her lovely head in acknowl-
edgment, and with charming self-possession thanked
me. I then invited her to sing for me, and she
graciously consented. Going to her room, she
shortly came back with a group of songs and re-
quested me to accompany her upon the piano. I
must have used good judgment despite my embar-
rassment, for I have never been able to understand
how the strong pulsations of my heart permitted my
fingers to strike the chords, and how I kept my mad
passion from running away with them, but when we
had finished she spoke most encouragingly to me,
52 . Reminiscences
telling me that I had great musical ability, and that
she had never sung with such a perfect accompanist.
Before I had time to thank her for her words of
praise, she interrupted me with the most determined
and urgent request to play her accompaniments at
the recital to be given by her parents. This, as
may be conjectured, was a great boon to me, and
while I made some few excuses as to my inabil-
ity to do justice to such an artist, I accepted the
proposition. After this arrangement Marie visited
me for rehearsals, and out of this friendship ripened
a devotion between us, and through it all I believe
I was guided by the right spirit of the musical work
assigned me.
There certainly was much talent in the Miiller
family, and while I do not know the history of their
career, I could not fail to recognize the earnestness
of both the father and mother, the keen appreciation
which they showed for the work of the author, the
careful study and schooling which they must have
undergone; while their expression of dramatic in-
tensity marked the full stage acquaintance with their
art. There was a remarkable clearness and distinc-
tiveness in the way in which they rendered each
author; the emotional tendency of Schiller, the un-
bounded intellectuality of Goethe, the lyric hue
imbued in Heine's exquisite poems, and even when
they touched upon less important and severe dra-
matic bits, even those in a humorous vein, the artist
betrayed itself and proved that there existed the
most intimate familiarity between them. It was
really the artistic work of these performers that
brought forth the hearty applause of the somewhat
Russia and Finland 53
critical audience, and they were in a satisfied and
happy mood when Marie appeared as the songstress
of the evening.
The young artist must have been in a highly
nervous state when she stepped out upon the stage,
for I observed with some trepidation her timidity
and nervousness as shown by the trembling of her
hands that held the music, but on account of her
familiarity with, and being perfectly at home upon,
the concert platform, she regained her composure
instantly. The first attack of the musical tone that
formed the melody of her song was influenced in
its nature by her mental condition, which gave em-
phasis and young life to the creation of it, and her
first triumph as a great artist was achieved. The
love of her art, the delight which she must have ex-
perienced in the euphonious tone that consisted of
the highest and most diversified colors, her grada-
tion of this tone when she entered into the melodi-
ous mosaics of the melody, the warm nature of the
poet, all these elements like garlands of flowers
encircled her vocal art, converting it into a most
profound work of tonal ecstatics. As she proceeded,
and as rier nature brightened up in harmony with
her exultation, she cast an electric magnetism over
her hearers, which held them spellbound, and when
she finished her song the audience was tumultuous,
and amidst deafening applause a profusion of flowers
was showered upon her. Her triumph also con-
quered my poor heart, " for, after all, there is no
arrow for the heart like a sweet voice," and when
she finished I felt that life without her would not be
worth the living. I realized at that moment how
54 Reminiscences
insignificant was my beloved violoncello, and all
the art that I had fancied was within me. I was
crushed, the abject slave of a voice, and when I
sought my couch that night after the concert, my
restless spirit kept vigilant watch over my brain ; and
all the ideas which had for years ruled me, all the
plans which I had made, lay shattered before my
eyes. I was as helpless as a rudderless ship at sea,
and in my uncontrollable will I absolutely decreed
that I would cast everything to the four winds and
drift in the tide of Marie's affections. Such was my
mental attitude when finally my physical nature
gave way and I fell asleep.
The next day I told Marie of my love ; and while
she admitted that she loved me in return, that with-
out me life would lose half its brightness, she said
she was wedded to her art, and had taken a solemn
oath to remain single until her voice left her, or be-
came too thin and worn to longer gain for her a hear-
ing. Of course I begged her to reconsider, and many
wretched days followed. She was firm, however;
and I must here state that her words were prophetic
of their own fulfilment, for she died several years
later upon the stage of the Vienna Opera House, in
the midst of a triumphal song, from heart failure,
resulting from fright at the cry of fire, and her life-
less body was borne from the scene of her late
triumph, the crashing of burning wood, the falling
of heavy timbers, chanting her requiem. Fair
Marie !
" Round thee blow, self-pleached deep,
Bramble roses, faint and pale,
And long purples of the dale.
Russia and Finland 55
These in every shower creep,
Thro' the green that folds thy grave."
Marie's verdict influenced me to leave Reval, and
as I did not care to live in cultured and artistic
circles I determined to undertake a journey to that
ultra-Russian city called Pleskov. In the absence
of notes, and because of the unfortunate position I
was in at that time, I cannot recall any of the inci-
dents of the journey from Reval to Pleskov ; all that
I remember concerning it is that I had to choose
as the vehicle of my transportation a cart without
springs or seat, a few bundles of straw forming a
cushion between the body of the cart and myself.
It was in the summer season, and the roads were
hilly and in wretched condition, and I was assured
by the post-agent, who provided me with horses
and driver, that three horses would be none too
many to take me and my goods, together with a
skilful driver, to the next station on the way to
Pleskov.
When I compare my ideas, which were so richly
represented in my brain, with the external shocks
.given to the rest of my body, as we bumped along
over the stony, hilly road, I consider myself a most
attractive subject for a dime museum, for the out-
side influences of the joggling cart brought me in
touch with life and the early struggles which I had
undergone at the hands of the old cantor in Schein-
feld. It was agony, I thought, learning how to play
the clavichord ; but when I compare the hopefulness
of my situation when under lock and key in the old
cantor's room, and I had only to appeal to my
56 Reminiscences
memory to save me from the promised spanking,
with the uncertainties of some day gaining the hand
of Marie, when her voice would, despite all of my
earnest pleadings, say " Farewell," I feel that I
have kept good track of all of the foreordinations
of my Creator when I entered this world.
My driver, who spoke some indistinct German,
interrupted my chain of thought, and informed me
that we were nearing a village, which announcement
gave my shattered nerves and bones some relief.
We entered the little place, and I asked my driver
whether there was a tavern or not, and, if so, to
drive me there for the night, whereupon he told me
that he was not acquainted in the village, but that
he would try to find a place for us. After making
several inquiries, he came to me with the cheering
information that there was no inn, but that when a
stranger happened to visit the place shelter was
offered by the priests, there being a dozen or
more scattered about the village. This hamlet I
found had no regular streets, but a series of little
crooked alleys and cross-roads, leading to small
stone houses, whose architectural style seemed to
be in perfect harmony with the dwellers, for there
was one door which was very narrow and low, while
the windows reached almost down to the alley, and
were divided into different sections. They were
very small, and some broken glasses were boarded
over. The roof came slanting down to meet the
windows, and projected over them, forming a close
proximity to the floor. All around the lower edges
of the house were troughs, which must have served
to catch the rain-water for the use of the family,
Russia and Finland 57
and as I saw a number of pigs, both large and
small, quenching their thirst therein, it seemed to
me a very sensible and ingenious contrivance, quite
different from the modernized methods of obtain-
ing water, saving the landlord lots of bother and
expense.
One unpleasant feature was that there was no dis-
tinct division made in the trough which would point
to an aristocracy between swine and men, and as I
saw in the distance a few cows also availing them-
selves of this clever device, I formed a most emphatic
opinion of the democracy of Russia under a despotic
government. I was very curiously affected, and
desiring to compare the interior of the house with
the exterior arrangements, I entered one of the
houses, and found the floor made of laths, separated
from each other by about two inches and elevated,
so that in washing the floor the water could find an
escapement. The walls, for the purpose of keeping
out the cold, were made of some kind of cement
filled with hair and straw, and this cement was
thickly put on. There were no chairs or movable
tables, nor could I perceive any bedsteads. There
were, however, rough benches of wood, built along-
side the four walls, which not only answered for
chairs, but at night served as bunks, while for a
table there was a wide board suspended from the
ceiling by means of ropes long enough to reach any
of the benches, so that it could be moved at will
from bench to bench. In one corner there was an
altar, with a statue of the Virgin Mary, holding in
her arms the Christ-child, very lavishly decorated
with paint, so that her face appeared in a roseate
58 Reminiscences
hue, while the child, in lighter color, lay in swad-
dling-clothes across her lap. Next to the Virgin,
and to the right, was a statue of St. Joseph, while
on the left there was a fanciful figure which must
have been intended by the artist to represent a
donkey. A lamp, made of a wick floating in a glass
bowl of oil, hung in front of the Holy Family,
throwing a faint ray of light upon the statue. This
lamp, I was told, burned day and night. When we
approached the altar, the proprietor and my driver
reverently crossed themselves and bent the knee.
After a few moments of religious meditation they
arose, and I was shown to another part of the abode,
which was a large room opening into a courtyard,
and without any flooring whatsoever. This room
was used as a stable for the domestic animals, such
as cows, pigs, hens, etc., with the customary straw
and hay scattered about. As I could not speak the
Russian language, I could not make my wants
known to my host, and I therefore appealed to my
driver, telling him to ask the man whether he could
give us food and shelter. The priest kindly con-
sented to keep us, and informed me, through my
interpreter, that there was a room upstairs for
strangers which was very comfortable, and which
generally served him as his study, for he kept his
books and writing materials there, this room he
courteously offered me.
The owner of the house was one of the dozen
priests of the village, and as he arranged some sort
of a couch for me in the study I immediately took
possession of it. Our evening meal consisted of an
excellent cup of tea, some smoked venison, a saucer
Russia and Finland 59
of delicious honey, and the usual straw bread. The
samovar and the little canteen which contained the
vodki were displayed with the other viands upon
the swinging table. The priest and his wife for it
is a well-known fact that the priesthood of the
Greek Catholic Church are permitted to marry
having blessed the food, the children, of which there
were eight or nine seated in different corners of the
room, having murmured a short prayer and crossed
themselves, we were served. I must not forget to
mention a most comfortable and ingenious arrange-
ment which was used at the tea-drinking. Suspended
from the ceiling were two or three small strings to
which were tied lumps of sugar which were passed
around to be sucked in turn by each member of the
family.
Being quite exhausted and covered with bruises,
and aching in every bone, for I was literally a
tattooed man from my long ride in the jolting cart,
I needed no narcotic, and a few minutes after my
head touched the pillow I fell asleep. When I
awoke early the next morning I sa\v the priest
standing before the little altar, which was close by
my couch, going through some kind of matin service
in the most religious and devout way. As I could
not understand in what his supplications consisted,
and for what happiness and joy he gave thanks to
ais God, I arose and greeted him in 2 reverent
and obedient manner, while he, advancing towards
me, blessed me, pressing a kiss upon my forehead,
giving me to understand that I was absolved. I
then tried to make him understand that I had been
very comfortably housed, and desired to pay him
60 Reminiscences
for his hospitality. He would accept nothing, and,
in return for his kindness, I made my offering at
the altar of the Virgin Mary, leaving two roubles,
and departing with the assurance that I was in no
way indebted to the priest or the deity he served.
That night I reached Pleskov. Should I describe
the city of Pleskov by anything which stamps it as
differing from any other Russian city which I have
visited, and if I should choose a name to distinguish
it, I should call Pleskov, like Brooklyn, N. Y., "A
City of Churches," not mentioning its narrow
streets, inartistic buildings and dwellings, the dull-
ness of its atmosphere and those who breathe its air,
the lazy tread of young and old alike, the sallowness
which was then so noticeable upon every face, the
lack of cleanliness that pervaded the whole city, and
which detracted from the religious ardor which
existed everywhere. Pleskov, half a century ago,
was alive with churches, prayer-houses, and temples,
the streets being literally studded with them. At
that time at every hundred feet there was some
little building scarcely wide enough to admit three
persons at a time, and only a few yards long, which
contained an altar at one end with the eternally
burning lamp swinging before it, a little bench upon
which the devout visitor could say his prayer un-
disturbed, and a picture or two of some patron saint
or saintess. Such is an accurate picture of the inte-
rior of one of the Pleskov prayer-houses.
It is customary for the Russian to never pass a
place of worship, however small, without entering
it, crossing himself, kneeling down and silently
offering a prayer. He then goes on his way, entering
Russia and Finland 61
the next prayer-house en route and repeating
the performance, until his walk abroad is accom-
plished. This indomitable zeal of the Russian was
of the utmost interest to me, and I therefore found
great pleasure in visiting the largest church in the
city. I was surprised, as I entered its wide portals,
to see the stream of humanity that wandered in
quite aimlessly : men with their kits of tools and in
the garb of the workshop, women with baskets
heaped high with fresh vegetables to be sold later
on. These, one and all, reverently knelt about the
vast edifice, praying in front of either pictures of
the Holy Family, which seemed to have been
painted by the most unskilful artists, or small
statues roughly hewn from stone, quite unlike the
artistic ones which are to be found in the Roman
Catholic churches in other parts of Europe.
While I am not acquainted with the calendar of
the Russian Church, and therefore do not know the
history of that vast collection of saints, or what they
did when actively engaged in this life ; what moral
characteristics they possessed and what heroic deeds
they performed which entitled them to such ever-
lasting peace and prosperity ; should I judge their
greatness from their appearance, I am forced to
admit that I do not think that they are fair subjects
for the Elysian and congenial companionship of such
noted beauties as Venus and Apollo. The most
important attraction in this really remarkable col-
lection was a large coffin of stone directly in front of
the altar, and in it the patron saint of the church,
completely covered with gold and precious stones,
about which crowds of devotees surged, sprinkling
62 Reminiscences
it with holy water and crossing themselves in the
most devout manner.
The service of the Greek Church then consisted
of much chanting by a number of priests, unaccom-
panied by organ. A continuous tolling of the bells
in the tower above served the purpose, and quite
covered up the absence of this more sonorous in-
strument. While there was something very monot-
onous and unusual about it, I do not believe it would
be a great inducement to converts generally.
The guide who accompanied me was very versa-
tile, speaking German, French, and English besides
his native Russian. He explained at great length
to me the attractiveness of the Greek Church and
its form of service, and, calling my attention to the
bells, he suggested a visit to the tower, which he
said contained a large number of bells which were
named, each for a patron saint. As these bells
were never rung for their intonation, but were tolled
by men and boys singly and in concord, and as it
was time for them to be set in motion, I decided to
follow him to the belfry. To reach this high place
we had to mount a narrow spiral staircase, and every
seventy-five steps there was a small platform where
we could stop and get our breath and peep out upon
the city below, for small windows admitted light at
these landings.
When I looked at my guide, before making the
ascent, I felt a little doubt as to whether I had not
better go up alone, for there was something very
sinister in his swarthy face and his dark eyes which
never met mine squarely ; but finally, when I had
taken a few steps up the uncanny stairs, I concluded
Russia and Finland 63
to trust to my usual good luck, and, stepping down,
I commanded him to lead the way. He, prompted
by servitude and extreme politeness, stepped aside,
and with a wave of his hand motioned me to go
first, and thus we started up the dark, narrow stair-
way. When we had passed the first landing, where
I did not stop, he rudely pressed himself between
me and the rope which served as a rail, under the
pretext of seeing if the blinds on the window at the
next landing were open, and in doing so I felt a tug
at my watch-chain. There was nothing unusual in
this, however, owing to the limited space in which
he had to pass, and I thought nothing of it until we
reached the second platform. Arriving there, I was
somewhat out of breath, and as it was light I un-
consciously reached for my watch to see how long
we had been in making about half the distance.
To my horror, it was gone! I remembered well
having looked at it just before we left the church
below, and I was therefore fully convinced that I
must have lost it while making the ascent. Like a
flash it dawned upon me that my dangerous-looking
guide had robbed me of it when he pressed by me
on the dark stairway, and that the tug which I had
felt had been made when he jerked the watch from
my pocket.
Knowing the insecurity of travel in Russia, and
the peculiar methods of the country, I never went
unarmed, and a loaded pistol was always in my
pocket, so I did not hesitate as to what I should do,
but turning to the man I said, " You scoundrel!
you have taken my watch, and you had better hand
it over to me at once," whereupon the man grew
64 Reminiscences
angry and lifted his arm as if to strike me. As he
did so I whipped out my pistol and covered him ;
his arm fell, and he, too, for that matter, and seizing
me by the knees he fairly begged me not to shoot
him, kissing my feet in his fright, and at the same
time he offered me my watch and chain. I did not
continue my ascent up to the belfry, but taking my
watch, I commanded the trembling thief to rise, and
at the point of my pistol I made him precede me
down the stairs.
Feeling now that I would enjoy a visit to some
country located near the sea, and as I was very tired
of Russian caviare, onions, tea, and the frequent
use of vodki, I went to Pernau, and took passage on
a vessel bound for Finland, where I hoped to sell
lots of spectacles and study music. I had been told
that Helsingfors was much of a musical centre, and
that certain celebrities in that line were residing and
working there, so that apart from business I had the
promise of a pleasant and instructive visit. One
bright, beautiful day in summer I sailed away across
the Bay of Finland for Helsingfors. The un-
fortunate affair in the belfry at Pleskov, and my
love episode at Reval, for my heart still ached,
had something to do with the highly nervous state
in which I found myself as we sailed over the bay;
but the cool breezes, so pregnant with salt, invigor-
ated me, acting like a powerful tonic, and I must
confess that I felt very well satisfied with my posi-
tion in life. It was a complete rest, and as I re-
clined upon the deck of the ship, smoking my
long-stemmed pipe, which was filled with fragrant
Turkish tobacco, and in the quiet and peaceful
Russia and Finland 65
atmosphere, I threw myself into a state of profound
meditation, thinking always of one who appeared
before my imagination as in a halo, and I drifted
on and on quite aimlessly, caring little where I
landed or what goal I reached.
There was actually no perspective point ahead, no
hopeful thought to materialize, but I knew that the
future would bring me somewhere, and I concluded
to drift on, for I had nothing more in life all my
youth and happiness seemed gone. I deemed it
wise, however, to stop at Helsingfors, and as we
were nearing that port I heard from the lower deck
the tones of a violoncello, and at once I discovered
that the player, whoever he was, was a very skilful
one. After listening a while the impression became
stronger, and when I stepped down the stairway and
stood in front of the cabin from which the magical
strains seemed to come, I realized that it was the
grandest 'cello playing I had ever heard. While the
tones of the instrument were of a powerful and elastic
quality in the adagio in which the artist indulged, I
was enraptured when a movement of the most rapid
passages and runs greeted my ears.
I heard the ringing of the bell signalling our
arrival at Helsingfors, and warning me that if I was
to disembark I had no time to lose; but I stood
there spellbound while the invisible 'cello player
must have been so wrapped in his playing as not to
have noticed the signal, for he kept on with his
music. Again the bell rang out, and it was now for
me to decide whether to step off the ship or to
stand in front of the cabin door and listen to the
magical player; and as he increased his virtuosity,
5
66 Reminiscences
and as I felt more and - more interested in his play-
ing, I concluded to pursue my journey to Abo-
Bjorneborg. As our ship glided out of the port
the tones of the 'cello grew more and more pathetic,
and I stood entranced, rooted to the spot.
Finally, the music ceased, and I heard the heavy
footsteps of a man walking around the cabin. The
door almost immediately opened, and there stood
before me he whose playing had so moved me. I
stepped up to him at once, introduced myself, and
in a voice tremulous with emotion expressed my
admiration and delight for his wonderful playing.
He received me most graciously and, after thanking
me for my kind expressions, invited me into his
cabin, showing me his beautiful Cremona violoncello
which he considered as dear to him as life itself. I
shall always remember how he handled that instru-
ment, his love and reverence for it ; how he fondled
and caressed it as his hand glided over its beautiful
neck, and when his bow began to vibrate across the
strings how he spoke, with an almost childlike love,
of its exquisite tone; how the quality charmed his
ear, soothed his heart, and pacified the longings of
his soul.
He certainly was a musician by the grace of God,
who had in some immaculate form entered into the
depths of the very nature of the instrument, and
who must have trained his fingers into the weary
hours of the night. I asked him his name, and he
told me it was Karl Gradener, that he was Musi-
cal Director of the University at Keil, and was
on a visit to his native city, Helsingfors ; so I said :
" Herr Kapellmeister, why did n't you then stop at
Russia and Finland 67
Helsingfors ? ' ' He looked at me with great sur-
prise, opening wide his dark-blue eyes, as he re-
plied, " Stop at Helsingfors! Why, what do you
mean ? I have put up my 'cello to make ready to
disembark." Then I told him that we were some
distance from the port, and that I, enchanted by
his playing, had concluded to follow him and his
'cello. He seemed pacified, for, grasping my hand,
he thanked me again and again for my words of
admiration and my sacrifice to art, and expressed
himself as fully rewarded for failing to get off at
Helsingfors. We chatted, and he played for me
until Abo was reached, and I was for the time the
happy Scheinfeld boy again.
At Abo we said good-bye, he going back to Hel-
singfors and I up into the quaint town, which in-
terested me greatly as I walked along its streets.
To divert : By a strange coincidence, when in Vienna
in 1892, I was one day talking with a number of
musicians on the Prater when the Kapellmeister of
the orchestra and also Professor in the Conservatory
of Music was presented to me. His name, Hermann
Gradener, awoke within me the memorable trip to
Finland, and I told him of it, asking if the magical
'cello player was a relative. Whereupon he told
me that the man was none other than his father,
and that he had died in Hamburg in 1883.
But to return to Abo: Everything appeared
clean and inviting, the shops were filled with attrac-
tive goods, and, above all, I was surprised to find
both sexes of light complexion ; not one dark-haired
person did I meet. I have since thought that Fin-
land would be an Eldorado for the gentlemen of
68 Reminiscences
the bald-headed row of our New York playhouses
where the bill is of the burlesque order, for the Abo
maidens had hair of all shades of yellow, from a
light gold to a vivid flame color, the red head being
much in evidence, though without the accompany-
ing white horse. The bald-headed theatre-goers
would, in addition, find ample opportunity to study
those blue-eyed maidens, who were at the time of
my visit as merry as the little mountain maids in
Adonis. I immediately proceeded to fall in love,
not with one, but with the entire collection, and I
made up my mind that I would devote a small share
of my musical art to the glorification of the beauti-
ful blondes of Abo, Finland.
I found a good hotel, where I had excellent ac-
commodations, and as evening came I was greatly
surprised to find that obstinate day remained, with-
out giving Luna a chance to display her charms and
displace old Sol. There is no night in the Finland
summer, and words are inadequate to describe the
pleasure which I felt in thus turning night into day,
and unconsciously I spent the entire first night of
my visit serenading the blondes, accompanied by a
flute player whom I met at the hotel and who was
enamored of their charms.
My short stay in Finland was of untold value to
me, as I did a remarkable business in fitting the
blondes with spectacles and lorgnettes, so that when
the time came for my departure I felt loath to leave
a country where there was such a maximum amount
of pleasure for a minimum outlay of the coin of the
realm. My mental buttons were, however, so bright
from the fish which had formed the principal part of
Russia and Finland 69
my diet, that I felt myself equal to any emergency,
and decided to join Aischmann and Richter in St.
Petersburg, where their business had flourished, and
from whom I had received several notices, telling
me that I was needed in their shop in that city.
Without further delay I hastened to the Russian
capital, which pleased me greatly when I beheld it
in the distance, and much more when I wandered
about its streets and mingled with its people.
CHAPTER IV
St. Petersburg Return to Coblenz A Few Weeks in France A
Voyage on the Sailing Vessel Jenny Lind To America Ar-
rival in New York City Trip on Foot through Eastern New
York State Pittsfield and Lenox
THE world-renowned street, the Nevski Prospekt,
which begins at Admiralty Square, is one of
the finest in Europe, and is 130 feet broad and about
four miles long. It is lined upon either side with
trees, palaces, colossal buildings, public institutions,
temples, and churches all vying with one another
in their splendor, and showing the outgrowth of a
modern style of architecture. Here I for the first
time saw modern pavements.
Our establishment was situated upon the fascinat-
ing Nevski Prospekt, in one of the largest buildings,
with an interior courtyard. There must have been
hundreds of families residing there, for connected
with the establishment was a director who looked
after the dwellers. He was the first person to call
upon me, for the purpose of having me enter my
name in the house-register. I was told that this
register would be handed to the Police Department,
and that I would soon receive a notification to appear
before Count Orloff.
70
St. Petersburg and America 7 1
The summons came shortly, and I hastened to
present myself before this august personage. The
great official into whose presence I was admitted,
and who had already been informed of my national-
ity, age, business, and the probable length of my
stay, spoke to me very kindly, looking me over from
head to foot, and asking me numerous and pointed
questions. These interrogations caused me no
surprise, as I knew that I was in the domain of the
great Nicholas I., who was the ruler of many mil-
lions of freemen and more slaves, for serfdom was
then in existence. I evidently satisfied the official,
for I left the building with a certificate endorsing
me from the secret police, and I at once proceeded
to the Police Department proper, where I was given
a document permitting me to stay in St. Petersburg.
I have briefly explained the means of obtaining
this precious paper, but I must add that I was put
to considerable trouble and expense, for not only
the first official had to be liberally feed, but so on
down the long line, passing seven or eight different
stations before reaching the goal where the permit
was finally awarded.
Our shop was a very attractive one, and we re-
ceived calls from the highest circles, for we were
really experts in our line, and our fine goods soon
obtained a favorable recognition among the lite of
the city. It is a strange thing that prominent men
and women, influenced from birth by the highest
motives as to morality and good breeding, should
ever deviate from their original intentions and
actions so as to fall from grace, and it is a surprising
fact that what I have to relate here should be in
72 Reminiscences
concord with the foregoing. A Major-General of
the Imperial Russian Army one day entered our
shop for the purpose of buying a pair of eye-
glasses. The General was a man of advanced years,
and his appearance proclaimed him a member of the
nobility. His commanding presence, his handsome
military coat, covered with numerous and costly
decorations, showed him to be a person of impor-
tance in military as well as court circles. The Gen-
eral addressed us in French, and asked Mr. Richter,
who, by the way, was a brilliant French scholar, to
show him some eye-glasses. Mr. Richter, recogniz-
ing in the General a most distinguished man, took
from the show-case a tray of expensive eye-glasses
and lorgnettes mounted in heavy gold frames the
tray containing several dozen pairs. The General
tried on first one pair, then another, but did not find
what he wanted, and asked to be shown some that
were mounted in tortoise-shell. Mr. Richter turned
to another section of the place, in the rear of the
store, leaving the tray of goods he was showing on
the counter, and while he was engaged in taking
out a tray of tortoise-shell eye-glasses I, standing
near him but facing the General, saw the General
take two of the most expensive lorgnettes from the
first tray, and in a nonchalant manner slip them into
his coat pocket.
I was astounded, and it was with difficulty that I
restrained my impatience until Mr. Richter had
secured the tray for which he was searching. As
he started to take it to the customer I motioned
to him to step into a corner away from him, and
I then mentioned what I had seen. Richter was
St. Petersburg and America 73
much older than I was, and a man of cool and de-
liberate mind, and he whispered that it was all right
and that he would attend to it. Going back to the
General, he showed him the tortoise-shell mounts,
but they were not just what he wanted, and so he
left without making a purchase, promising to call
again another day. As he was going out of the
door, Mr. Richter, in a most polite and obedient
manner, requested him to leave his name and address,
which he did, taking out his visiting card and hand-
ing it to him. After the General's departure I said
to Mr. Richter, " Why did you allow him to leave
without paying for those lorgnettes ?" whereupon
Richter began to laugh, saying: " That 's nothing,
Moritz; he is a well-known thief, and will not be
surprised or offended when he receives a bill for the
lorgnettes to-morrow morning, and he will promptly
settle by sending his check. To call his attention
to the theft at this time would never bring us the
money, but would rather bring our firm into many
legal controversies which would cost us twice as
much as the articles are worth and involve us in in-
explicable complications which would prove disas-
trous to our future business." Just as Richter said,
the General sent us a check a few days afterwards,
and we were not troubled by him again.
I must now recall the well-known fact that the
winter and even the early spring days are frightfully
cold in St. Petersburg, and while people in conse-
quence drink the strongest liquors, a good cup of
tea is a very desirable and popular beverage ; and for
this reason St. Petersburg has a large number of tea-
houses where people sit and enjoy a cup of the best
74 Reminiscences
tea in the world. These tea-houses are also pro-
vided with pipes with long stems and a jar of fine
Turkish tobacco, and along with the cup of tea it is
quite au fait to smoke and indulge in a game of
billiards, for every tea-house has several fine billiard
tables. Every visitor to St. Petersburg finds this a
delightful recreation, and spends an hour or more in
the tea-house daily, reading the papers, smoking,
and forming pleasant acquaintances and friendships.
I always spent some portion of the day in a tea-
house, and one evening I entered one of the more
fashionable ones. I was quite alone, though I
noticed as I left my house that a gentleman was
leisurely but carefully following me. I would prob-
ably not have observed him had he not been a man
of unusual appearance, and one who controlled his
actions in accordance to mine. His presence was
readily perceived when I entered the tea-house, and
even more when he seated himself close to me and
almost immediately opened conversation with me.
I recognized in him a gentleman of refinement, and
he must have known that I was a stranger in the city
because he called my attention to the fact, and
offered his services should I ever wish to avail my-
self of them. I thanked him for his kindness and
interest, and admitted that I was a stranger, where-
upon he asked me where I resided, what was the
motive of my visit to the capital, and, finally, my
nationality. Like a flash my suspicions became
aroused, but I was guided by the fact that at that
time there existed in Russia an intolerable system
of espionage, and that every man must expect to
be accosted and called upon to give some personal
St. Petersburg and America 75
account of his doings. It was this that prompted me
to respond affably to his questions, conveying to
him the fact that I was entirely without hidden
motives. I am inclined to think that my investiga-
tor received a healthy impression of my intentions,
for when we had finished smoking our pipes he
wished me good-evening and left the tea-house.
Easter dawned in the beautiful capital cold and
dreary, for the Russian calendar prescribes an early
Easter. As I walked up the Nevski Prospekt I met
a big fellow, a tea-seller, who had a large tray hang-
ing in front of him, which was suspended from straps
around his neck, and upon which was a samovar full
of steaming hot tea. With a glad cry he rushed at
me, and before I could collect myself kissed me
again and again, embracing me with his long arms
as much as the tray in front would permit of his
doing, and crying out greetings in Russian. Greatly
annoyed, I was about to knock him down for his
impertinence, when it was explained to me that
upon Easter every one has the privilege of kissing
one another and that I must expect many such en-
counters if I promenaded the Nevski Prospekt.
St. Petersburg offered many and manifold attrac-
tions pertaining to art and science, and there I heard
the most wonderful and unique musical performance
I have ever listened to. It was a concert by a Rus-
sian brass band which was entirely Russian in its
characteristics. When I tell you that it was artistic
I do not mean that every performer was a skilful
player upon his instrument, for he could play only
one note, and this band, therefore, had fifty per-
formers, each instrument giving out just one single
76 Reminiscences
tone. It was artistic, however, in its skilful manipu-
lation, consisting in that each performer must be on
the watch so as to be ready when called upon to
produce his note, for if there was a chromatic it re-
quired just thirteen people to play it, and as the
obtaining of that note must have been facile, it
must, to speak paradoxically, have been difficult
for the performer to get in at the proper time.
These one-toned performers were not musicians, but
they must have been trained by an artist; and, if
my memory is not much at fault, their leader was
none other than Joseph Gungl'. Though the diffi-
culties of such a performance may be easily under-
stood, I was greatly charmed with the tone coloring
and really skilful execution of national airs, waltzes,
dances, and marches which they rendered. The
members of the band were Russian peasants or serfs,
who were undoubtedly not initiated in the art of
music.
I had also the opportunity of attending some fine
performances at the Opera Italianski, hearing among
other operas Meyerbeer's Robert Le Diable, and what
a magnificent performance it was ! The great Fanny
Persian! as prima donna, Mme. Grisi as second
donna, Mario as tenor, and some other well-known
singers of that time whose names I have forgotten ;
and such a fine orchestra under the baton of Maurer!
It seemed to me that every musician was an artist,
and as the opera was entirely under the patronage
and support of the Emperor, these musicians re-
ceived a pension for life after a limited service in
the orchestra. I formed the acquaintance of sev-
eral of the members of this remarkable band, and
St. Petersburg and America 77
played at various times the cello' part in string
quartets, while I was fortunate in receiving a few
lessons from Carl Schubert, the great violoncellist.
On account of the perilous journey into Russia,
the health of my employer, Mr. Aischmann, became
broken, and the severity of the Russian climate
had already made such inroads upon his weakened
constitution that he was told by his physician that
it would be suicide for him to remain longer, so he
sold out his business to advantage, leaving Mr.
Richter with the purchaser as manager, while to-
gether we left for Germany. It was early in the
spring when we set out from St. Petersburg by dili-
gence, our accommodations having previously been
booked, Mr. Aischmann occupying an inside seat
for which he was forced to pay double, while I rode
outside by the driver. The proceeds of the sale of
the business were carried by Mr. Aischmann in a
leather bag, hung from a belt around his waist.
We had been travelling some few days and nights
when we drew up before a station for dinner. We
alighted, and Mr. Aischmann, unbuckling his belt,
took off the bag containing his money, and placing
it upon a chair beside him sat down and enjoyed his
dinner.
As the time was limited, we hastened our meal,
and when the horn of the postilion gave the signal
for the start, Aischmann hurriedly swallowed his tea
and made for the diligence. I followed, and with a
blast from the horn and a crack from the long whip
the fresh horses started and we galloped away, the bag
of money left behind upon the chair in the station.
We had covered perhaps a mile of the road when we
78 Reminiscences
were brought to a standstill by a blood-curdling cry
from inside the diligence. Stopping and running
back, expecting to find some one dead, we beheld
the pallid face of Aischmann, who told us that he
had left his money at the station, and he implored
the driver to turn around and drive back for it. His
distress was so great that it excited the sympathy
of the other passengers, and a general request was
made to the driver ; but he remained obdurate, de-
clining to go back, giving as his reason that he
would receive a heavy fine if he did so, besides los-
ing his position. A gentleman who understood the
Russian language thoroughly then made another
strong appeal to the man, and by means of a large
bribe and the promise to keep the affair quiet, we
returned, and my employer and myself in a state of
great excitement rushed into the room where we
had but a short time before dined, and greatly to
our surprise and joy found the table undisturbed, no
one in the room, and the money-bag upon the chair
where Mr. Aischmann had placed it.
After a long and tedious journey, day and night,
we finally reached the German frontier. I felt very
happy when I realized that I was away from the
kingdom of the Czar, and as my brother Louis with
his family had moved from Scheinfeld to Coblenz, I
directed my steps thither in the company of my late
employer. As I was about twenty-two, and had
accumulated some money, and as I was fond of
roving about, I concluded to engage in the hop busi-
ness with my brother. I asked him one day if he
did not think that I might make a profitable trip
through France, visiting the cities where there were
St. Petersburg and America 79
large brewing establishments, where I had been
told hops were in demand. Louis agreed with me,
and I started out as a dealer in hops. I must
confess right here that I was not a success, for
to be successful in the hop business one must be
able to drink a lot of beer, and though I was not
adverse to drinking beer in moderate quantities,
I could not be a professional beer-drinker and pre-
serve my general health ; so that while I did not
lose money I did not make any, and I returned to
Coblenz after visiting Strasbourg, Lille, Tours, Poi-
tiers, Rheims, Paris, Orleans, and other cities.
In Paris I had a most delightful time, revelling in
art and music, and meeting many artists in the
dramatic and musical world. One day, when I was
strolling along the Boulevard des Italiens, looking
into the attractive shop-windows, I felt a heavy
hand on my shoulder and heard the words, " Gott
set dank! " and turning I beheld my old friend,
Herr Jost, the chocolate manufacturer, whose mag-
nificent estate I had visited in Switzerland. The
old gentleman fairly embraced me, and told me that
he had lost his pocket-book, and had no one to
whom he could apply for funds: he was in despair
and begged the loan of a small sum of money.
Gladly I gave the rich old gentleman from the
Engadine what he asked for, and he told me to
meet him at nine the next morning at one of the
cafe's for breakfast and for the return of the loan.
I was there at the appointed time, and Herr Jost
and a friend whom he had fortunately found enter-
tained me royally, and I received back my loan.
Returning to Coblenz, I decided to rest for a while,
8o Reminiscences
as there seemed to be no more worlds for me to con-
quer in Europe. While living there, assisting my
brother, I met a most accomplished young woman,
a Miss Dreyfuss from Alsace-Lorraine, a governess
in an American family, and I was quite charmed
with her dignified presence and intellectuality. We
frequently met at the house of mutual friends, and
while I admired her I did not feel inclined to settle
down just then, and Marie still held possession o:T
my heart. One day, in a restless state of mind, I
told my good mother, who lived with my brother
Louis, of my unrest, adding that I thought that fate
had decreed that I was not to taste the joys of pros-
perity. She was at that time reading Uncle Toms
Cabin, which had just come out, and she must have
been somewhat affected by the graphic descriptions
of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, for she pointed to
America and the United States as a land that would
perhaps recompense a young man who was earnestly
inclined to work, and while she loved me as a good
mother loves her son, she showed courage in deny-
ing herself the privilege of having me near to soothe
and comfort her latter days, in advising me to sail
across the ocean and seek my fortune in the United
States.
It is perhaps an astonishing fact, that while I had
been a constant traveller, I could not find rest for
any length of time anywhere ; in fact, to look at the
same faces, to hear the same voices, to live in any
one place was, for me, simply an impossibility, an
ardent desire for travel driving me on without aim ;
so I concluded to take passage on the sailing vessel
Jenny Lind, bound for New York. Through the
St. Petersburg and America 81
intercession of my relatives in Coblenz, I succeeded
in obtaining a berth in the captain's cabin, and also
such privileges as went with it, food from his table,
etc. The ship was crowded with emigrants, princi-
pally families of peasants and mechanics, going to a
new land to seek their fortune. We had a very
stormy passage, and were a month in crossing the
ocean. I was hardly upon the water when, having
paid my tribute to Neptune, I was seized with an
intense longing for home and, in spite of the hard-
ships endured in Switzerland and Russia, I cried in
my loneliness, and longed to again set foot upon
my native soil. A tremendous rain-storm set in as
we entered the port of New York, and it was still
pouring when we landed. The confusion of the
restless passengers in securing their goods, such as
were packed in rude chests, trunks, baskets, boxes,
and bags was simply frightful, and the officers could
not control them, and this must have been the
reason that my luggage either became lost or was
taken by mistake before I could claim it. My search
for it in the drenching rain and my anxiety to find
it will never be forgotten. Fortunately, on account
of the honesty of one of the peasants, I finally suc-
ceeded in recovering my trunk, but the gift of my
good sister Babetta, which was a large hamper of
Seltzer water from the original spring, put up in
stone jugs, was lost, and I hope it gave great pleas-
ure to the fellow who took it away.
The state of my purse after paying my passage
and investing a certain sum in optical goods was
very meagre, and when I stepped on shore in New
York City I had but five francs in the world, and
6
82 Reminiscences
was a stranger in a strange land, while my knowl-
edge of English was quite in keeping with my
purse. After securing my trunk I sold my mattress
which I had used on the passage, and then, directed
by some runner, I started for Greenwich Street. I
must say, that while I had been in many poor hotels
during my travels over Europe, aside from the rude
hut at Chavli, my lodging in Greenwich Street
was incomparable, for it was simply wretched. The
next day I decided to pawn my watch and with the
money seek respectable lodgings. Consequently I
hastened to a pawnshp kept by a man named
Simpson, and, securing a loan of ten dollars, directed
my steps to East Broadway, where I was told I
would find a good boarding-house. There I found
a charming home presided over by a woman of re-
finement, who had recently arrived in this country
with her husband from Munich, where he had been
engaged in the banking business, but on account of
various reverses had lost the greater part of his
fortune. Mrs. L., who was of a kind and sympa-
thetic disposition, and who also had a fine family of
children of about my age, gave me the assistance and
the motherly advice which I needed in a land where
I was homeless, friendless, penniless, and alone.
The many experiences gathered in the Old World,
and the sorrows which I had been called upon to
pass through and which had never before embodied
themselves to such an extent as to overpower me,
now stood before me like grim spectres, and their
sadness simply crushed me. There seemed to be
no hope to guide me, and I must ever remember the
good landlady who, when all seemed so dark, spoke
St. Petersburg and America 83
tender words of encouragement and expressed her
confidence in my ability to succeed. Being com-
fortably settled and housed, I had to make my plans
for my support: this consisted in knowing that I
possessed a limited stock of optical goods, which I
feared I would have difficulty in selling, and also
a musical knowledge, which I might utilize.
After carefully thinking the matter over, I decided
to try and dispose of some of my wares, which, as
I had anticipated, was no easy matter, for I could
not speak English, and I realized by this time
that success in selling goods depended very largely
upon the way they were offered to the buyer. I
therefore appealed to the daughter of my good
landlady, asking her to teach me a few sentences of
English which would serve me in a business way.
Having obtained a very diminutive knowledge of
that language, I sallied forth down-town with the
object of searching out German names upon signs,
where I could offer my goods in my native tongue.
I think that I acted wisely in selecting places kept
by German merchants, and, while I did not meet
with unbounded success, I sold a few pairs of eye-
glasses before night, and my profits enabled me to
defray the few expenses I had incurred. I did not,
however, grow rich, and the very method I had to
pursue in entering offices was disgusting to me; and
as the warm days of spring approached and the heat
of the metropolis affected me, I concluded that I
could follow my vocation in a more dignified and
agreeable manner in the adjacent country.
There was living- at the same house with me a
young lad who had but recently arrived in this
84 Reminiscences
country, and his social position and knowledge of
English was in keeping with mine. The similarity
of our positions prompted me to talk over the situa-
tion with him ; and as Mr. Rau sympathized with me
as much as I did with him we soon became firm
friends, and having no incumbrances, we concluded
to travel together. He had a small supply of fancy
goods, while I had my case of optical goods, a fine
combination surely. Fortunately, at that time there
was a strong competition between two boats run-
ning between New York City and Albany, and as
each of them was determined to outdo the other in
carrying a large number of passengers, we were told,
by those who were in position to know, that for the
cheap class of travellers free passage was given by
one of them. So one day we embarked from New
York City, taking the boat that charged noth-
ing, reaching Albany early the next morning. Leav-
ing the boat, we at once started out into the
country.
It was a beautiful day, and as we walked along
we felt privileged to have been able to get away
from the heat of the city. We carried our wares
with us, I having my spectacles in a case, and my
companion his fancy goods in a small black box.
Our English teacher had written out a list of sen-
tences such as " Good-morning, sir, or madame,"
to be used when we entered a house, and " Good-
bye," when leaving. Then as we offered our goods
I should say, " I sell spectacles," while Mr. Rau's
speech was, " I sell fancy goods." The first farm-
house we came to was chosen by us as the place
where we should try and make a sale, and at the
St. Petersburg and America 85
same time put in practice our English. It was quite
a task, I assure you, and we found it hard to decide
who should be the first to approach and speak to
the inmates, and as it really made no difference who
was the spokesman, Mr. Rau expressed his willing-
ness to have me go first. I took courage, and going
to the door knocked. A buxom country lass of
about twenty summers, with laughing blue eyes and
curly hair, opened the door, and I, taking off my
hat and bowing, entered the room, followed closely
by Rau. The mother sat at a table sewing, and I
immediately started in to explain my business.
With great respect I said, " Good-bye, I am spec-
tacles," whereupon she began to laugh, and I, quite
embarrassed, stepped back, and Rau, advancing,
said, " I am fancy goods."
It is needless to say that we did not make a very
good impression, and the women, thinking we were
a pair of escaped lunatics, made us understand that
our room was better than our company, and we de-
parted, much cast down and very hungry. This was
indeed a bad beginning, and we walked on for a few
miles without daring to make another call. Finally
we got command of our courage, for our stomachs
were clamoring for food, and we entered another
house and met with better success. I saw a piano-
forte in the parlor, and I tried to make the farmer
understand that I could tune it if it needed it,
whereupon he said that he did n't know anything
about it. I opened the piano, sat down and im-
provised a little, then I examined the instrument
carefully. My music must have appealed to the
good gentleman and his wife, for he signified his
86 Reminiscences
willingness to have me tune the piano, after which
he requested me to play for him.
As I left the instrument he asked me how much
he owed me, whereupon I made him understand
that I should be perfectly satisfied if he would give
Rau and myself our dinner, which he seemed to
think an exceedingly good bargain, but I very much
doubt if the same feeling existed after we had
finished eating, for I am inclined to think that we
came out ahead after all. We moved on, greatly
refreshed by our wholesome meal of ham, eggs,
coffee, and bread. At our next stopping-place I
was unsuccessful, as there was no piano and the
people were all blessed with good eyes; Rau, how-
ever, sold a few yards of ribbon, a little lace, and a
pair of gloves, which paid our way. We stopped
with farmers all along our route, and as they were
not in the habit of keeping lodgers, we usually paid
our bill with fancy goods or a cheap pair of spec-
tacles. - There was no sale for my line of goods, and
my influence as partner consisted mainly in tuning
pianos, but I managed to make more than Rau.
One hot, sultry day while on the road, we were
nearly famished, and our purse was very light.
As evening came on, we found that all we had in
the world was a few pennies. The night was beau-
tiful ; it was moonlight, and cool after the intense
heat of the day, and as we came to a large orchard,
I felt that we could with safety sleep under one of
the trees and save our pennies to buy something to
eat next morning. I therefore told Rau of my pur-
pose, and he, after a moment's thought, entered into
my plan, and we made our way into the orchard.
St. Petersburg and America 87
Throwing ourselves down upon the grass, with our
satchels for pillows, we slept until the dawn ; and
now that I enjoy one of the best beds in the world,
I question whether I have ever slept more peacefully
than that night on the grass, with the blue, starry
canopy of heaven for my cover.
We travelled east from Albany, following what I
think must be the route of the Boston and Albany
road, and one day neared Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Before entering that town we decided to dissolve
partnership, Rau to go his way and I mine, for we
found that our profits did not enable us to live with
any degree of comfort, so I entered the town alone,
Rau going on. While walking aimlessly along the
principal street, I heard some one tuning melodeons,
and as -I had never seen such an instrument, I made
bold to enter the building from which the sound
came, and found myself in a melodeon factory.
Among the workmen there were several Germans
with whom I could converse, and I soon made
known the object of my visit, and one of them
kindly explained the sweet-toned little instrument
to me. In Germany I had never seen a melodeon,
and as I was anxious to try one I asked permission,
which was granted. It took me but a few minutes
to learn how to operate the pedals which supplied
the intoning power for the reeds, and as I continued
to play I, having been accustomed to live on wind
of late, conceived a great liking for the instrument.
Having finished my improvisation a man ap-
proached me, extending his hand, telling me in
German that he was a musician and a violoncello
player of great renown, introducing himself as Herr
88 Reminiscences
Lenzen. He was a man of colossal stature, his
short neck supporting an unusually large head which
was nearly bald. He was clean shaven, with a strong
mouth, from which his underlip projected boldly.
His eyes were deep-set, and his heavy eyebrows,
which met over his eyes, were thick and shaggy,
while his eyelashes swept his cheek, making the
eyes seem dark although I could not distinguish
their color. His arms were short and very muscu-
lar, while his hands, large and bony, did not look
like the hands of a musician. They were almost
black from exposure to the sun, and were covered
with coarse black hair and freckles. His feet were
flat, and he walked with a rolling, shuffling gait.
His coat and vest were of the cheapest, coarsest
kind of cloth and altogether too heavy for the season,
while his trousers were of duck which had once been
white.
His whole appearance was unclean, and as he
stood excited and perspiring before me I doubted
his assurance of being a great musician and violon-
cellist, and I cannot say that I was pleased when he
said: " I am going to give a concert here to-night
upon the violoncello, and as I have no accompanist
you shall be the man. I was told that one of the
workmen in the factory would be capable, but I
have searched the place over and was just about to
give up in despair when I met you. My good fel-
low," he continued patronizingly, " I am a musician,
an artist, and I am in distress and must have some
money, and unless I give a concert, for which I have
already made arrangements, I shall die. Young
man," he exclaimed excitedly, " you are a godsend
St. Petersburg and America 89
to me ; you cannot, dare not, refuse to accompany
me, for you have not the heart to say no to such an
artist, to a countryman who is in need of assistance."
I finally cut short this harangue by saying that I
was not there for that purpose, that I had business
of my own, I wonder if this statement was true?
and that under no considerations would I lend my
services for the proposed concert, adding that I was
entirely out of practice and did not, therefore, feel
inclined to appear in public. My remarks had the
effect of exciting Lenzen still more, and he seized
me by the shoulder and violently shook me as he
continued imploring me not to leave him in such
straits. The effect was so sudden and soul-stirring,
that I finally gasped out between shakes that I
would consider it, provided he would show me the
music which he wished to play, so that I might look
it over; whereupon he began to laugh in the most
hilarious way, dancing about the room like a mad-
man, and exclaiming between shrieks of laughter,
Music! Music! That 's too rich! The idea of
an artist like me having music! Why, my boy, I
play without notes, and you must accompany me
by ear. Come right along with me to the house of
a friend who owns a piano, and I shall run over my
solos with' you." I reluctantly followed him, and
together we entered the house of a well-to-do German
who had offered this fellow the hospitality of his
home.
Lenzen took out his 'cello and began to play, I
having previously requested him to play alone so
that I might hear and catch the composition and
form an opinion as to the scope of my duties as
90 Reminiscences
accompanist. To my great surprise a remarkable
violoncello player sat before me. He had marvel-
lous execution, an unlimited control over his finger-
board, and his powerful arm and iron hand carried
his bow over the strings, giving a tone that was rich
and full of color, while his conception of the com-
position was highly artistic. The wretched-looking
being of a few moments before was transformed into
a god. His selection showed great judgment, and
when he had finished, and being lost in his art, he
arose from his chair, saying, " Beethoven is my
god, I love him, I adore him," and approaching
the piano where there was a lot of music scattered
about, seized a piece and holding it before my eyes
said, " See this! See the name! It is Beethoven's
great love-song Adelaide ; let us play it," and placing
the score upon the rack he fairly carried me to the
stool, seized his 'cello, and began the haunting
melody. To describe the fervor and passionate
tone which came from the strings of his 'cello, the
trembling and sighing notes that echo Beethoven's
heart, interwoven with the glorious words of the
soft breezes of the night and the rustling of the
leaves that live in the sounds of Beethoven's Ade-
laide, the grief and sorrow which gave birth to the
marvellous song which was wavering throughout the
humble little room, no greater tribute was ever paid
to the great composer than that of the poor tramp
'cellist that day in Pittsfield. After that magnifi-
cent performance I was bound to help him, and after
an hour's practice I felt myself ready to accompany
him.
That evening we gave our concert in a small hall
co "-3
n
i <
< >.
St. Petersburg and America 91
before a goodly audience. Lenzen sat before the
door and took the money, and when the people
were seated we gave a really fine program. The
room was lighted by candles which cast a flickering
and uncertain light over the place, and in that weird
and barren hall we gave as the opening number an
improvisation by myself, followed by two 'cello
solos; then Lenzen sang the Marseillaise and The
Old Folks at Home with 'cello accompaniment. The
next number was a Strauss waltz for piano and
'cello, then a guitar solo, The Spanish Fandango,
by myself, and Variations on Yankee Doodle and Old
Dog Tray on 'cello ; the last being a song with piano
accompaniment and 'cello obligato. The proceeds
of the concert, while comparing unfavorably with
those of Paderewski, were to our minds satisfactory,
for after paying for the use of the hall there was
about fifteen dollars left, which the artist wanted
to share with me, but which I declined to
accept.
Lenzen was in high glee and proposed to me to
accompany him on a concert tour to Lenox and
Stockbridge. I found out after the concert that
while he was an artist of ability, he was addicted to
drink, spending every penny for liquor, and when
we met the next morning he was still in a semi-
intoxicated state from his debauch of the night be-
fore. I therefore told him that I would not go with
him ; but he insisted and bothered me so much that,
finally out of compassion, and reverence for his art,
I consented to go to Lenox and accompany him
there, provided we could secure a hall; and as he
added that there was a young ladies' seminary there
92 Reminiscences
where we might possibly be able to give a concert,
I set out with him one fine morning. Lenzen feared
that it would be difficult to obtain a piano in the
little village, and I borrowed a guitar from his
friend, the German, so that I might use it to ac-
company him in case we could not get a piano. We
walked the entire distance, Lenzen with his 'cello
and I with my borrowed guitar. On the road we
made a halt close by a little running brook in a
pretty valley, and under the shadow of the tall trees,
with the birds for an audience, we had a fine re-
hearsal. Never shall I forget the Adelaide which
Lenzen played for me by request after the rehearsal,
how its soulful melody echoed through the trees,
and how the little babbling brook seemed to catch
and murmur the beautiful refrain !
Arriving in Lenox we found that there was no
hall to be had, but we were offered some kind of a
building with a low ceiling which was used for
town meetings. This was offered gratuitously, and
as a means of advertising Lenzen got the village
storekeeper to print some notices on common brown
wrapping paper, which we tacked up on the trees
and barns in and around the village, also leaving a
few of these placards at the seminary. Sorry am I
to state that the concert was a big fizzle, both musi-
cally and financially,as there were not enough people
in the town to make it profitable had they turned out
en masse, but as less than a dozen came we played a
few selections for them, then dismissed the congre-
gation, giving them back their money. This fiasco,
together with various reasons which my readers will
readily understand, ended our concert tour, and
St. Petersburg and America 93
wishing old Lenzen good luck and bidding him fare-
well I departed for Sharon Springs, New York,
having been told that it was a fashionable place,
noted for its baths, and that it would be a good
location for the sale of my wares.
CHAPTER V
Sharon Springs, New York Engagement with Mario-Grisi Opera
Company, Castle Garden, New York City Buckley Serenaders
I REACH ED Palatine Bridge by rail, and footed it
some nine miles to Sharon Springs, which forty
years ago enjoyed great popularity and, aside from
Saratoga Springs, was the most fashionable resort
in the East, the many seashore hotels and splendidly
appointed mountain retreats that are nowadays so
much frequented being practically unknown. At
that time a summer vacation was not deemed neces-
sary for the middle class, and wealth and prosperity
had just begun to dawn upon the nation. For this
reason Saratoga and Sharon Springs were visited by
those who were physically in need of the water or
baths, and Sharon boasted of the largest sulphur
spring in America, and its baths were famous. I
cannot say that I was suffering from a torpid liver
or chronic indigestion from high living, nor would
I appear very truthful should I claim a gouty or
rheumatic ailment brought on by too much wine
and lack of exercise ; these motives did not, there-
fore, enter into my mind when I selected Sharon as
a good place to spend the summer. There were
94
Musical Experiences 95
various and equally strong reasons which prompted
me to go there, viz., the information that around
the baths I would find a Mecca for the sale of eye-
glasses and spectacles, my informant evidently bas-
ing his theory on the fact that rheumatic affliction
affected the eyesight.
It was a hot afternoon when I entered the little
village, nestling, as it does, in a wooded valley
nearly fifteen hundred feet above the level of the
sea. I had made provision for a long stay at the
Springs, and had forwarded my trunk, which con-
tained my worldly possessions, consisting of my
clothes and several musical instruments, by stage.
As I walked down the one street I saw that it was
lined upon either side with large hotels, and all of
them seemed full of guests. I kept on to the baths,
trying to find a place within my means, finally walk-
ing up the hill to the Pavilion Hotel, which I found
to be the most exclusive hostelry of the village, and
from whose piazza. I looked out upon the beautiful
Mohawk Valley with the Adirondacks for a back-
ground. Turning back I again strolled through the
street, finally selecting a small boarding-house which
seemed the most inviting of the lot and quite in
keeping with my financial condition. I was fortu-
nate in my selection, obtaining a good room, and as
there was a small farm connected with the establish-
ment, the table was always supplied with fresh
vegetables.
After brushing up I went down to the baths and
obtained permission to show my goods on the mor-
row, retracing my steps and stopping at the Eldridge
House to buy a cigar. The guests must have been
g6 Reminiscences
at supper, and as there seemed to be no one on the
large piazza I drew up a chair, and seating myself
proceeded to enjoy my cigar. My thoughts car-
ried me back to my beloved Vaterland, and as I re-
called the many adventures I had passed through, a
longing to again hear Beethoven's Adelaide came
over me, and with it the image of sweet Marie whom
I had regretfully left in far-away Russia ; of her love
for divine music, and I felt my eyes grow moist as
I brooded upon cruel fate which had cast me in
this distant land so far from home and friends.
With it came the many talks I had enjoyed with
my good mother in Coblenz, the few achievements
which were subject to my hopes of bettering my
position, and the great sadness and loneliness of my
present life ; for my successes in the Old World had
been followed by the most cruel and bitter dis-
appointments in this, the New, and my sadness be-
came greater when I could not see any prospect of
prosperity ahead.
After a while I felt better, and having finished my
cigar I arose to go when, happening to look through
the door into the parlor, I saw a pianoforte standing
in one corner close to the wall. All at once my
musical nature awoke and I longed to touch the
keys of that instrument, and as I saw no guests
around I quietly slipped into the parlor, and before
I knew it I was seated at the piano and improvising.
Quite forgetful of time, place, and my surroundings
I played on, pouring out all the longings, all the
pent-up anguish, of my soul. Suddenly I became
conscious of the presence of others, and, turning, I
was amazed to find the room quite full of ladies and
Musical Experiences 97
gentlemen. With cheeks aflame I started to leave,
when I was seized by two young men, carried back
to the piano, forced upon the stool, and commanded
to play. Glancing over my shoulder I saw the
guests formed for a quadrille, and with my two
strong guards standing over me I played, and they
danced for nearly two hours, when I was allowed to
get up. As I was leaving, one of the young men
thrust something into my vest pocket, and before
I could remonstrate I was pushed out of the room
and into the street.
I went home in the most distracted and disheart-
ened manner, and taking the note from my vest
pocket was surprised to find that it was a new five-
dollar bill. I was so upset over the adventure, so
disgusted with myself for belittling my art by play-
ing for that madcap dance that I could not rest, and
next morning I went, in a somewhat disheartened
condition, to the spring, and placing my wares upon
a table under a tree stood there patiently waiting
for customers. I was not fortunate that day, for I
did not sell anything, and I began to think I had
again made a mistake in coming to Sharon Springs.
Had I not had the five dollars in my pocket I am
afraid I should have packed up and left then and
there, and while the way of earning it was not an
acceptable one I felt somewhat proud of my ability,
though it seemed a disgraceful act to sacrifice what
to me was sacred and to so prostitute it by playing
for dancing, that, no matter what the need, I re-
solved never to do it again.
That evening I feared to go to the hotel, but I
wanted to smoke, and before I knew what I was
9# Reminiscences
doing I was standing before the glass case in the
office of the Eldridge House selecting a cigar. As
I was leaving, two gentlemen came to me and gave
me to understand that my services were again
wanted to furnish music for the merry dance, and
when I positively declined to be the musician they
seized me, one upon either side, and fairly dragging
me into the room put me on the piano-stool, and
standing over me commanded me to play. This
peculiar performance on my part called forth a roar
of laughter from the dancers, who were already
formed for the Virginia Reel. Under the surveil-
lance of this guard I was kept playing the whole
evening, and it is needless to say that another five
dollars found its way to my vest pocket in return
for my services. My music must have pleased
them, because the guests from the large hotel across
the street came over and joined in the dance, and
the Eldridge House became the centre of attraction
of the place, Brown's Hotel opposite being prac-
tically deserted.
I found after several long and tedious days be-
hind my stand at the spring that I could not sell
any spectacles at Sharon, so I consented to play
each evening for dancing at Eldridge's. One day
Mr. Brown, the owner of the rival hostelry, ap-
proached me and offered me more money and my
board if I would play each night in the parlor of his
hotel, which offer I declined. Finding that he could
not induce me to leave the house which had given
me my first hearing, he finally entered into arrange-
ments with Mr. Eldridge, and I played half the
week at his hotel and the other half across the street,
Musical Experiences 99
receiving five dollars a night for my services. I
spent a month or more at Sharon Springs; and
having one hundred and twenty-five dollars in my
pocket, and as the season was drawing to a close
I thought of Pauline's song, When the Swallows
Homeward Fly, and now, being a man of means, I
returned to New York City full of hope and in the
best of spirits.
Arriving in the metropolis I went to Mrs. L.'s,
where I found a letter from Germany, telling me
that a cousin of mine was living in the city and that
he was a prosperous manufacturer. His address
was also sent, the letter stating that he had recently
been in Coblenz on a business trip, had called upon
my mother, and hearing that I was in New York had
requested that I come to see him. Acting upon the
suggestion I called upon Mr. Heineman in Henry
Street. He received me very cordially, and told
me that he had crossed the ocean with Max Maret-
zek, the orchestral leader, and that he had spoken
to him of me, telling him that I .was an excellent
'cello player, and that Mr. Maretzek had told him
that he would give me a place in his orchestra if I
would call at his office. Through some unfortunate
circumstance, Mr. Maretzek did not conduct that
season, for another opera company, with Arditi as
conductor, and Mario and Grisi as stars, began an
engagement at Castle Garden ; though when I called
at the address given me by my cousin I did not
know of this change of management. I was, how-
ever, offered a position in the orchestra as 'cello
player, which I accepted.
Our contract called for three performances a week,
ioo Reminiscences
for which I received five dollars a performance.
After several rehearsals, we opened on a warm eve-
ning in early September, giving a great performance
of Norma Mario and Grisi being enthusiastically
received. I must not forget to say that when I ap-
peared with my three-quarter 'cello for my first
rehearsal I was greeted with shouts of laughter from
the orchestra, and, greatly embarrassed, I resolved
to buy another at once, although I was very fond
of my little instrument, which had been made by
Scheinlein of Langenfeld, one of the last of a family
of celebrated violin-makers. I therefore called on
the great George Gemiinder, the world-renowned
violin-maker, and asked him for a good, regular-
sized violoncello. I found that he had an excellent
instrument of his own make, and I bargained for
it, giving my three-quarter Scheinlein and all the
money I had earned playing for dances at Sharon
Springs during the summer. I now felt to be my-
self again, having spent my money, which had
burned a hole in my pocket and given me many
sleepless night.
After a dozen performances at Castle Garden the
orchestra was told that the Academy of Music had
been finished, and that we should assemble there for
a rehearsal at ten o'clock the next morning for the
purpose of testing the acoustics of the new house,
which we did, finding that the orchestra was too
low, and a platform was therefore built so as to get
more tonal power. I must here state that Theodore
Thomas was one of the first violins of that orchestra.
The opening night at the Academy was a grand
event, and the opera was, if my memory serves me
Musical Experiences 101
right, Semiramide. Mario, the handsome silver-
toned tenor, was in excellent voice, and Grisi, as
prima donna, succeeded in captivating the cultured
audience present.
I cannot recall those days without remembering
an old violoncello player who sat beside me in the
orchestra, and who also for a time boarded with me
at Mrs. L. 's, and whom I shall call Ladymeyer. He
was a good orchestral 'cello player, having played in
the royal chapel for the King of Hanover. Lady-
meyer was a man of about fifty-five years, a blond,
though his fine golden hair was streaked with silver.
He was greatly pleased with himself and his playing,
and I took a few lessons of him while he was at
Mrs. L. 's. He was very effeminate, and having a
vivid imagination he believed that every woman
who attended the opera and sat near him was en-
amored of his personal charms and his marvellous
'cello playing. His sublime conceit and attitude
while playing were most offensive to the majority of
the orchestra, for he was always trying to get up a
flirtation with the ladies in the boxes and front rows,
and used to call my attention to some one at every
performance, until I, too, became quite disgusted
with him. He would carry his flirtation to such an
extent as to try to find out who the lady was, and
if successful, as in some instances, he immediately
sent her love poems, expressing his admiration
and declaring his love. These characteristics were
very noticeable when he had some small solo part
to play, for he would invariably render it in a most
love-sick manner.
Ladymeyer was also a poet, writing love lyrics
102 Reminiscences
which he set to music and sung in quite as artistic a
manner as did Pauline long ago in Berlin. Every
evening after dinner, when we did not have a per-
formance, he would insist on playing for me his chef-
d'oeuvre, a composition which he called Mein Adagio
mit den Glockchen, which he would render with the
most languishing looks, while with one finger he
would pick the strings, producing a harmonic which
was intended for the Glockchen. Ladymeyer was
very fond of eating, and as he was fastidious in his
tastes he concluded, after a short stay at Mrs. L.'s,
to take rooms for himself and do his own cooking
so that he might at least have good coffee. The old
fellow was in love with his niece, who was a singer,
and as Ladymeyer considered himself a great vocal-
ist he undertook to teach her his art, and as he really
loved her quite as much as he did himself, he finally
married her.
Mrs. Ladymeyer had much the same musical
ability as her husband, and when I heard her sing
years after, at a concert given by them in New
Haven, Connecticut, he playing ^Q Adagio mit den
Glockchen, and she warbling the most inane love
songs, I felt my old affection for Ladymeyer and
his art return. As this musical Beau Brummel
always leaned towards the youthful side of life, and
although he was a man of fifty-five when we played
the 'cello together with the Mario-Grisi company,
unless some unforeseen circumstance has come over
him, figuring on that basis, he must still be alive,
playing the Adagio and singing his love poems in
declining tones.
While thus engaged in playing for the opera three
Musical Experiences 103
evenings a week, and having time to do something
else, I one day took out my case of spectacles and,
strolling down town, entered a wholesale house and
was showing my wares when a man stepped up to
me, saying, " Hullo, there, Steinert, I didn't know
that you were an optician," and turning I saw Herr
Boehm, the first clarionet player in the orchestra.
Without another word I closed my case and left
the shop, and never again did I peddle spectacles.
As a pastime for the evenings when disengaged I
formed a string quartet, and really enjoyed our
meetings. One afternoon, when we were practis-
ing, a gentleman came in and was presented to me
as Mr. Buckley, the manager of Buckley's Sere-
naders, and a fine violinist. Mr. Fred Buckley was
much interested in our work, and asked to be
allowed to play first violin occasionally when that
member of the quartet was absent. This favor was
granted, and as Mr. Buckley found great enjoyment
in quartet playing and the class of music we studied,
we soon became well acquainted, and he finally
offered me an engagement as violoncello player in
his theatre on Broadway. As the operatic season
was drawing to a close, and I had no engagement,
I accepted his offer and joined the " Buckley Min-
strels." The orchestra was made up of a pianist,
one first violin, one second violin, viola, 'cello, and
double bass, and the members were not obliged to
black up, being independent of the ebony-faced
artists playing the songs and the last part of the
programme, which was usually an operatic burlesque.
This engagement was for a while very pleasant, and
I had plenty of time to improve myself otherwise.
104 Reminiscences
The pianist of our orchestra, a Mr. Blftz, was a
most gifted musician, possessing a love for his art
that stamped him as an extraordinary artist. Blitz
had a face that suggested Rembrandt, or I might
say the faces of the Netherland School of artists.
He was of medium stature, well built and muscular,
having the most beautiful hands, which were always
well kept. His conceit was as sublime as Lady-
meyer's, for he thought that he was the Adonis of
the universe. While his ambition in art was most
commendable, I must say that the force in the
direction of his beauty was looked upon by him as
far beyond his art, and therefore he felt himself to
be the great attraction of our show, and did not
hesitate to say that the ' ' Buckley Serenaders, ' ' with
their jokes and shining carbon faces, with their
dramatic art in burlesque, with their banjo playing
and their remarkable dancing were nothing, and that
he, with his beautiful head, his lustrous, expressive
eyes, and fine appearance, was the central focus of
the entertainment. In his contract with Mr. Buck-
ley he stipulated that his grand piano should be
placed upon an elevated platform so that his profile
would be seen, feeling sure that if he should deign
to turn and show his full face he could captivate
the fair sex instanter. So sure was he of his great
importance that he would gaze at the ladies with
his languishing, expressive eyes, frequently taking
one of his beautiful hands from the keys to sweep
back his long hair, which hung far down on his
neck. After every performance he used to tell me
of his conquests, which I could not deny, because,
sitting as low down as I did playing my 'cello, and
Musical Experiences 105
with my back to the audience, I knew that I could
not in any way compete with him, although in
those days I, too, affected long hair. Once I tried
to look around and sweep back my hair as I so
often saw Blitz do, but greatly to the detriment of
my 'cello playing, and though I did not give up in
despair I submitted in a lamblike spirit, bewailing
the fate that made me a sawer of catgut instead of
a manipulator of the ivory keys. Blitz, because of
his fanciful conquests, made himself very disagree-
able to Mr. Buckley, making the most absurd de-
mands, which were usually granted because he was
such an excellent pianist.
I must, however, state that Blitz was not alto-
gether the attraction of the show, and that while the
ensemble helped to make the name of the " Buckley
Serenaders " household words, the man who really
was in himself a whole attraction was Mr. Fred Buck-
ley, the leader and violinist of the orchestra. Young
Buckley was undisputably handsome, very modest,
and with it all a remarkable artist. He had an
advantage over Blitz and the rest in that he went
upon the stage and played solos upon his violin, and
it cannot be denied that he made many conquests
among the fair sex, for he daily received dozens of
love-letters from those who had listened to his mar-
vellous playing. Blitz never could understand why
the ladies of the negro minstrel audience could be
so ignorant as to prefer Buckley, who was only a
violinist, to him, so that a feeling of rivalry sprang
up between them which was to the disadvantage of
the pianist; in fact it soon attained such magnitude
that Blitz resigned upon several occasions, and only
io6 Reminiscences
through the diplomacy and judgment of his rival
resumed his place in the orchestra. Blitz came of
an excellent family, having, besides his parents, two
brothers and a sister.
While living with Mrs. L., I became acquainted
with an elderly gentleman, by name Dr. F. He
was an old bachelor and would have been a suit-
able character for a monastery. In his early life he
had been a school - teacher, and later on, while
residing in Munich, the tutor of Mrs. L.'s children.
He combined with the characteristics of the teacher
much pedantry ; and as school-teachers often, on
account of mingling with children instead of men,
have a tendency to judge the world from the stand-
point of the inexperienced, and are inclined to revel
in the thought that they are the leaders of the world,
influenced by their autocratic position over a class
of humanity that is unripe and unused to the battles
of life, so Dr. F. looked upon the great world
from a juvenile pedestal, and in this respect he was
not unlike Blitz when he considered his beauty.
Dr. F. found something in me to interest him,
and he gave me much wholesome advice, speaking
to me in a fatherly way, telling me what it was best
for me to do to acquire a position in business and
society. As I had been trained from my youth
to receive even the smallest favor with gratitude,
I listened to his teaching and profited by it. He
told me that I must mingle more in society, and
advised me to frequent the gatherings of the many
German families held weekly, and finally suggested
that I marry and settle down. Through his inter-
cession I attended Certain social entertainments held
Musical Experiences 107
Sunday evenings, where dramatic, literary, and
musical programs were rendered which were not
of a strictly professional character, but given by
young men and women in private life who possessed
some talent. The gathering-place was in Orchard
Street, in a medium-sized hall up one flight of stairs.
The hall was long and narrow, with low ceiling, and
at one end was a low stage which could be removed.
Here our amateur performances were given, and
these entertainments were very popular, and being
free, the hall was usually filled to overflowing, and I
met many pleasant people.
One Sunday evening I entered the hall a little
late, and I had to stand away back by the door,
where I could hear but could not see the stage.
There were recitations, followed by a piano solo,
one or two songs of ordinary musical merit, when
all at once I heard the sound of a soprano voice
which reverberated like magic through my whole
body a voice that was clear, soft, and elastic, with
a tone gradation that was simply marvellous. I
immediately recognized the voice as one that I
had heard before ; even the enunciation, which
was so faultless and poetically wedded to those
magical tones, was familiar to me. In a state of
ecstasy I lost my intellectual powers, which should
have guided me and allowed me to discriminate be-
tween right and wrong. In fact all that pertained
to thought vanished, and I knew I was listening
to Beethoven's Adelaide, which seemed the theme
of my life. Had peerless Marie come across the sea
to cheer me in my loneliness ? Had her love for me
finally conquered her love for art ? These questions
io8 Reminiscences
took possession of me, and I tried to see the fair
singer. Greatly excited, I forced my way through
the ranks until I could see her. Alas! my hopes
were shattered. It was was not Marie, it was only
her voice that spoke to me through another medium,
for I had never looked upon the face of the singer
before.
As I stepped towards the platform I was amazed
to find Blitz at the piano, and with great emotion I
asked him the name of the woman who had so ex-
quisitely rendered the Adelaide. In a cool and
phlegmatic way he answered, "It is my sister."
The young woman was petite and dainty. She
had big soulful eyes and soft wavy hair which was
as black as a raven's wing. With my heart beat-
ing wildly I begged an introduction, and I never
can remember the words of our conversation, for my
soul was full of the haunting melody of the Adelaide.
I accompanied her home after the concert, and for
weeks frequented the house, in love with her mar-
vellous voice. After a suitable time I asked her
hand from her parents and brother ; but as I was a
poor struggling 'cello player, they would not con-
sent, and ; so without ever tailing her of my love, I
ceased to visit the house, and in my despair sighed
for that peace and consolation which seemed to
vanish and leave me to drift aimlessly along in the
current of misfortune.
CHAPTER VI
Business with Mr. Wolf Robbery Illness Tour with " Buckley
Serenaders " Music Club in Savannah, Georgia
A LTHOUGH I had a fair income from my work
f\ with the minstrel company, I did not now enjoy
it, for there was a certain monotony connected with
it which was at variance with my tastes, and which
would have acted similarly upon any one in my
position, for I had to listen every night to the same
jokes, the same songs, the same burlesque, the same
applause, in fact I anticipated the laughs and knew
just what to expect at the end of each number, until
the responsiveness of the audience became almost
mechanical to me. For instance, I knew just when
the interlocutor would ask the end man, " How do
you feel to-night, Johnson ?" and the reply, " I
feel high."" How high ? " " Shanghai." This
was one of the jokes that I heard nightly for two
years.
I now lived farther uptown in a very excellent
house which was presided over by an English-
woman, a Mrs. W., who claimed to be a widow.
It was there that I made the acquaintance of a fel-
low boarder by the name of Wolf, a man some
log
1 10 Reminiscences
years my senior, who was very fond of music, and
who, unfortunately for me, played on the violin.
I have not to this day made out whether it was
lack of talent or insufficient training that made
him such a disagreeable player. I tried hard to
pity the poor man, while I found some consolation
in the fact that he was an awfully nice fellow, full
of sentiment and kindness. I could never under-
stand why he was so fond of me. It may have
been my good looks (?), my humor, or possibly the
way I played the violoncello. To judge him by
his musical abilities, I am forced to admit that he
considered me a good player, and I rejoice in the
fact because he was an exception to the rule. Our
landlady, who was exceedingly good-looking, tried
very hard to interest us by her amiability, and while
she was loath to bemoan the fate which left her
a lone widow in a lone world, I am inclined to think
that her husband when alive might also have be-
moaned the fate which tempted her to leave a life of
single blessedness. During our residence under her
roof she flirted with us both, ready to accept the
first bidder. Finally, in her anxiety to clinch the
bargain, she became so persistent that we decided
that it was best to leave before it was too late.
Mr. Wolf was a travelling man in the interest of a
large wholesale establishment, and commanded a
good salary, and as he was anxious to increase his
income, he suggested that we go into partnership in
the optical goods business, he to furnish the capital
and I the experience. I always had an eye to busi-
ness, and that morning I had two, and we closed
the bargain by renting a store on Sixth Avenue
Business and Minstrelsy in
between 26th and 2/th Streets, and immediately took
possession of it. The location was considered a fine
one, and we expected to do a great business, but
after two months we decided that while the location
was all right, something was wrong with the busi-
ness. Mr. Wolf invested about six hundred dollars
cash in the enterprise, while I turned over all of the
optical goods which I possessed in addition to my
services, while we had on consignment a lot of hand-
some goods, given not on account of our financial
standing, but because the dealers believed in our
honesty. During the day I waited upon the few
customers, playing with the minstrels each night.
Our shop was divided into two sections, consisting
of the shop proper, while the space behind the parti-
tion was utilized as my living apartments. The
limitations of my purse did not permit of my buying
a carpet, but I invested in a small iron bedstead,
with cheap mattress and the necessary bedding, two
chairs of wood, and a washstand with the required
toilet articles. The only artistic element was a
thundering big old-fashioned grand piano, which I
rented, a music-stand, and my violoncello thus
giving to the humble room something of a musical
atmosphere. While I did not attract many custom-
ers I enjoyed a number of visitors, musical confreres,
who found pleasure in a cigarette, cigar, or pipe, and
music. Everything was on the temperance plan,
and, besides the social element, our congeniality
found expression in the playing of quartets, duets,
and trios.
One Sunday evening, returning from a quartet
expedition held in the room of a friend, I found
ii2 Reminiscences
that during my absence our entire stock of optical
goods had been stolen, thieves having entered and
taken everything except the bedroom furnishings.
This was indeed a great blow, and I well remember
how bitterly I bewailed our loss, and the satisfaction
I felt in the small amount of money in my pocket-
book, which I counted and put back in my trousers'
pocket just before going to bed. I was awake for
some time, but finally sank int6 a deep sleep. When
I awoke the next morning the sun was streaming in,
and I was astonished to find the window open.
With a crushing sense of loss I hurriedly dressed,
happy that I had sufficient money left to provide
myself with food for the week ; but to my horror,
when I put my hand into my trousers' pocket I
found that my money was gone, and in my unfortu-
nate position I threw myself upon the bed and wept
like a child. As I did not have a cent of money in
the world with which to buy myself a breakfast, I
appealed to the good German restaurateur who had
supplied me with my meals since leaving Mrs.
W.'s, and who gladly trusted me for the amount
of my breakfast. After that I hastened to the
opticians whose goods we had on consignment, told
them of the robbery, and assured them that my
partner and myself would try from time to time to
repay them for their loss.
Mr. Wolf returned in a few days to find that we
were bankrupt. Upon hearing of the robbery he
extended to me his kindness and sympathy. De-
tectives had in the meantime been put upon the
track of the thieves, who were finally captured, and
several valuable articles such as gold-mounted opera-
ENGLISH HARPSICHORD. TWO KEYBOARDS. FIVE OCTAVES.
Made by Jacobus Kirkman, 1769.
Business and Minstrelsy 113
and eye-glasses and lorgnettes were found and re-
stored to the opticians.
The misfortunes which befell me, together with
my hopeless love for the singer of the Adelaide
reacted, and I found myself in a very serious state
of mind, so I concluded to stay with the minstrels
and to live in accordance with my limited salary, for
I knew that I was in duty bound to repay my obliga-
tions. I therefore set out to find a room, and as
the bass player of the orchestra, a Mr. Fritchie, oc-
cupied a flat on the fifth floor of a large tenement
house on Orchard Street, I appealed to him, and he
rented me a small room.
One Sunday morning shortly after the robbery I
invited my string quartet there for the purpose of
enjoying a substantial quartet feast. And it was
one, for we sat down at nine A.M. and played until
midnight, stopping only to eat and drink an occa-
sional glass of beer. After my friends left I threw
myself upon the bed exhausted, and the quartet
feast was followed by one of the most restless and
wretched nights I have ever spent. The excitement
of playing and my unfortunate position resulted in
a severe illness, for when morning dawned I could
not get up, and I was burning with fever. Being
unable to play at Buckley's, my financial resources
stopped, and as I needed medicine and medical as-
sistance my position was far from an enviable one.
I suffered agony for a few days until my good land-
lady, Mrs. Fritchie, finally found a doctor in the
neighborhood who pronounced my case one of
typhoid fever, and for several days I lay at death's
door, and I am sure that I would have died had it
1 14 Reminiscences
not been for the care of this good woman. And
after the delirium had passed my customary will
power reasserted itself, and I was enabled to throw
off the disease, and finally to get up and about
again. When convalescing I remembered that, by
the advice of Dr. F., I had joined a society which
promised to care for its members in sickness and
death, and so I wrote the doctor, telling him of my
helpless condition, and he succeeded in obtaining a
twenty-dollar gold piece which he brought to me.
My complete recovery followed slowly, and I ac-
cepted Mr. Buckley's offer to travel with his band
for the next five months over a large section of
country.
We opened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, playing an
engagement the next night in New Haven in Brew-
ster's Hall on the corner of State and Chapel Streets.
I had, residing at that time in the "City of Elms,"
a friend by the name of Mrs. Feldman, whom I had
met at Mrs. L.'s some time before, and who re-
quested me to call upon her should I ever visit New
Haven. After we arrived and were comfortably
settled at the Tontine Hotel, I remembered the in-
vitation and was on the point of leaving the hotel to
make the call when I met one of the orchestra, who
told me that Blitz, the pianist, had absolutely refused
to play again and had already left for New York, and
that Mr. Buckley feared that the performance could
not take place, as there was no one to play the piano.
I thought the matter over for a moment, then went
to Mr. Buckley and told him that I knew something
about the pianoforte and would play that evening.
Mr. Buckley evidently doubted my ability, but as
Business and Minstrelsy 115
there was no one to play the solos of Mr. J. R.
Thomas, the composer and ballad-singer, and Mr.
Simpson, the tenor, who had no end of work, to say
nothing of our soprano, Miss Miller, he called a
rehearsal with me at the piano. I must have given
satisfaction, for at the close of the rehearsal Mr.
Buckley was most profuse in his compliments, and
we agreed that for the road performances I should
play the piano, and a 'cellist was immediately sent
for from New York, and he joined us in New Haven.
It was a little after eleven when I left the hall,
and I at once set out to make the promised call
upon Mrs. Feldman. She received me cordially
and invited me to dine with her and meet her hus-
band, which I did. At dinner both she and Mr.
Feldman told me that I should marry and settle
down, and added that they had a most charming
acquaintance in the city to whom they would be
delighted to present me. Her name was Miss Caro-
lina Dreyfuss, and she was a teacher of French in
Miss Bingham's fashionable school on York Square.
I expressed my willingness to meet her, but de-
murred because of my shabby clothes, whereupon
Mr. Feldman said that he had a clothing store on
State Street, and perhaps he might be able to fit
me out. I therefore went with him to his estab-
lishment, agreeing to return for Mrs. Feldman at
three o'clock. I bought a dark-green coat, cut
according to the fashion of that period, and a hand-
some yellow satin vest. With this I wore white
trousers and a high stock with flaring, pointed ends
which stuck out far beyond my chin. With my
silk hat and cane I felt that I was most correctly
u6 Reminiscences
and elegantly dressed, that is, all but my shoes; so
leaving Mr. Feldman I entered a little shoe store of
Isaac Strauss, and giving him my old ones to patch,
I purchased a new pair, and with a most important
air called for Mrs. Feldman, and together we set
out for York Square.
We were kept waiting for a few moments in the
parlor, then Miss Dreyfuss entered, and when I arose
to greet her I was amazed to find in her the agree-
able governess whom I had so often met in Coblenz.
Miss Dreyfuss was delighted to see me again, and
when I left she accepted an invitation to attend our
performance that evening. I called for her, and
she, with Mrs. Feldman, thoroughly enjoyed the
evening of mirth, minstrelsy, and song, and as we
were walking home after the entertainment I told
her that I had resolved to marry and settle down,
and asked her if she would marry me then and
there. With becoming modesty, she said that she
would think it over and let me know, and with this
understanding we parted.
While on our journey, being in the neighborhood
of New York, we were assigned one week for rest,
and to arrange for a new burlesque ; but one day we
received notice that we would play a night stand in
Newark, New Jersey. The company carried a man
whose business it was to look after the transporta-
tion, so that all we were expected to do was to be
on hand at the train at the time scheduled for
leaving, Mr. Short, for that was his name, looking
after the music, etc. We were told upon reaching
Newark that the burlesque that evening would be
Sonnambula, and as we were a little late in arriving
Business and Minstrelsy 117
we proceeded at once to the hall and took our places
in the orchestra. The parts were all arranged on
the racks, but we did not take the trouble to look
at them. Mr. Buckley came in shortly, took his
place, and as it was nearly time to ring up the cur-
Lain, picked up his score. A cry of horror came
from his lips, and with a white, set face he turned
around and told us that the parts on the racks were
those of the Bohemian Girl instead of Sonnambula.
It was a critical moment, for the rest of the music
was in New York, and the company was dressed
and ready to go on in Sonnambula. What was to
be done ? Mr. Buckley, who possessed a wonderful
memory, and whose duty it was to rehearse the
orchestra, knew every opera by heart, and said that
he knew his part, but that he did not expect the rest
of the orchestra to play the score without notes.
It was in this state of suspense that I assured him
that I would trust to my memory to play the piano
part if I could rely upon his guidance and assist-
ance. As there was nothing else to be done, we
played the entire opera together, and I am happy to
state that the performance went with great tclat.
We played for five months, travelling as far west
as Cincinnati, returning to New York in time for the
opening of the season. During all this time I had
heard nothing from Miss Dreyfuss and my proposal,
and in fact I had not thought much about it, for we
had travelled constantly, and my mind had been
taken up with other matters. One day, while stand-
ing talking with several members of the company
in front of the theatre on Broadway, three ladies
passed, and in one of them I recognized my friend
n8 Reminiscences
Miss Dreyfuss. Of course I hastened to speak to
her, and she presented me to her sisters, following
the introduction with an invitation to call, as she
was then living with her family in the city. I
availed myself of her cordial invitation, and soon be-
came a frequent visitor at her home, and a suitor for
her hand. Her father consented to an engagement,
and I now determined to settle down and become a
serious-minded citizen; so, after carefully thinking
the matter over, I resigned my position with the
minstrels and selected Baltimore, Maryland, as the
city for my work as a music-teacher, being assured
that it was an Eldorado for a good piano teacher.
I was also encouraged by the fact that I had a
cousin residing there who conducted a large fur
establishment. I advised him of my plan to settle
in his city, and he kindly offered me a home with
him free of charge.
I left New York full of hope, and arrived in Balti-
more, where, despite my efforts and those of my
cousin, I was unsuccessful in obtaining pupils, and
after spending three most trying months there I
received a letter from a gentleman in Savannah,
Georgia, who owned a large musical establishment
in that city. The letter stated that while North on
a business trip the writer had asked Mr. Schirmer,
the great music publisher, to recommend an efficient
young man to fill the position of clerk in his store,
and that Mr. Schirmer had spoken very highly of
me. Mr. Berg thereupon offered me the position,
with a salary of six hundred dollars a year, and also
said that he had arranged for me to play the organ
in the Whitaker Square Baptist Church, with an
Business and Minstrelsy 119
additional salary of three hundred dollars. This
offer seemed a munificent one to me, and I ac-
cepted it, starting for Savannah early in the fall,
and for the first time in my life I appeared in the
role of music clerk, piano salesman, and repairer of
accordions, banjos, guitars, and violins.
Savannah was even at that time quite a musical
centre, having musicians who played orchestral in-
struments, and one day there arrived in our midst
Carl Vieweg as organist at Christ Church. He was
an excellent violinist, and the musicians of the city
under his direction formed an orchestra called the
Mozart Club. There were perhaps twenty-five
members, and all of the orchestral instruments were
represented except the oboes and bassoons. As
there was only one French horn player, I attempted
to play the second French horn instead of the 'cello,
for there were besides myself two excellent 'cello
players in the organization. Our concerts were well
patronized, and the 61ite of that exclusive Southern
city interested themselves in the club, and it was a
financial as well as an artistic success. My em-
ployer, Mr. Berg, was a fair viola player, and with
Mr. Vieweg's assistance as first violin, another friend
as second violin, and myself as 'cellist, we formed a
string quartet, and enjoyed many delightful hours
together.
There resided in Savannah at that time a wealthy
cotton merchant, a Mr. Niles Haversham, who was
a flutist and a musical enthusiast. His wife was a
pianist of marked ability, and it was at his splendid
mansion that we spent many musical evenings, play-
ing quintets and sextets. While I did not have the
i2O Reminiscences
pleasure of meeting Mr. Haversham after our last
musical evening, which occurred over forty years
ago, it is a deplorable fact that, on account of the
war and the misfortunes which followed, my noble
host lost his entire fortune.
I shall never forget the kindness shown me at this
time by several gentlemen who resided in Savannah
but who were born and came to the United States
from Burg-Haslach, a town adjacent to Scheinfeld,
viz., the three brothers Meinhard. Many a time
did we sit together in remembrance of the beautiful
country which gave us birth, and as they, like myself,
were not born with golden spoons in their mouths,
and, similarly to me, had to struggle for their very
existence in a far-off country, away from the influ-
ence of home and the sweet family ties, our meet-
ings were imbued with the hopes which bring men
and women to greater success, and our association
is one of the pleasant memories of my life in the
sunny South.
Being now comfortably settled in Savannah, I
concluded to marry, and requested my fiancee to
come South for that purpose, which she did, and
the /th of January, 1857, was set for our wedding.
I had quite forgotten that upon that evening the
Mozart Club was to give one of the season's con-
certs, and as I would not think of postponing the
happy event, and as the bad second horn player was
of as much importance to the success of the concert
as of the wedding, I decided to play my horn on the
very evening when I entered upon the happy state
of wedlock. After the ceremony I invited the
bridal party to the concert, and the day will ever be
Business and Minstrelsy 121
a memorable one in my domestic and musical life.
It will not be amiss to state here the dowry brought
me by my wife, which consisted of the sum of
twenty-five dollars. As for myself, I could not offer
quite as much, for my financial condition was con-
siderably below par. Through the assistance of my
employer, Mr. Berg, I obtained enough furniture to
fit out our small house, and we started housekeeping
with great promise, and were very happy.
While my good wife did not possess such musical
abilities as to be in perfect harmony with the musi-
cal side of my nature, I found in her a woman of
superior intellect, strong character, modest in her
bearing, and having a full complement of those
requirements that contribute to a happy home.
She had undoubted literary ability, being well ac-
quainted with the literature of all periods, and as
she combined with it the sweetness and tenderness
of a true and affectionate helpmate, she brought to
my life much peace and happiness. She, like my-
self, had been forced to struggle from her girlhood
to improve her mind under conditions the most try-
ing, teaching school in France when hardly out of
her teens, and when she grew older she had been
called upon to help in the support of her parents.
She was charitable and religious, a devoted daughter
and wife. In appearance, she belonged to the
brunette type, having dark and expressive eyes,
with a sweet mouth which showed great firmness and
strength of character. She was blessed with a lot
of patience and forbearance, and while her face in
conversation was animated and vivacious, in repose
it was haunted by a look of unutterable sadness.
122 Reminiscences
She was a beautiful, graceful woman, with a low,
sweet voice that was always musical. She was
fully aware of the path that lay before us, but she
looked with admiration upon my abilities and knew
how to stimulate them in a masterly but womanly
way. While there was but little hope as to our
future prosperity, we both looked at least with
bright eyes and cheerful hearts to the far-off bless-
ings which we felt sure lay before us, and even in
our very poverty we were happy.
The state of musical culture which then prevailed
in that section of the South was not in keeping with
the musical culture which I had found in my travels
in Europe, and for that reason what I am about to
relate did not surprise me. One day a young man,
by the name of Farrell, applied to me for instruc-
tion upon the pianoforte. He was about twenty-one
years old, and was associated with his brother in the
grocery business. He was also the leader of the choir
in the church where I played the organ, and under
whose auepices I was engaged, so I undertook to
teach him the art of piano playing. I have always
looked upon Mozart's Don Juan as the gospel of
lyric opera, and for that reason I kept the score of
this immortal work on my piano, and every day I
revelled in the beauty of the heavenly composition.
One evening when Farrell came in for his lesson,
he noticed the score on my music-rack, and in an
inquisitive way said, as he pointed to it, " What is
that, Professor?" a title which I must have ob-
tained from the University of the Grocery. I told
him that it was a musical composition of great merit
by Mozart, whereupon he said, "Who is this Mozart?
VERTICAL GRAND. SIX OCTAVES.
Made by Andre Stein, 1779.
Business and Minstrelsy 123
Does he live in New York?" I hastened to en-
lighten his ignorance by saying that Mozart was
born in Salzburg, that he had died many years ago,
but that his name was known all over the world as a
great musician. " Great musician, eh ? " said Far-
rell. ' You are a great musician, too. Now then,
what 's the difference between you and Mozart ? "
I tried in vain to explain the small difference that
existed between us, but I fear it was useless, for
Farrell continued to look upon me as a musician
quite equal to the master.
My good fortune in thus obtaining pupils turned
out in the end to be my misfortune, for I must state
that my employer, Mr. Berg, was also a music-
teacher, devoting most of his time to teaching, and
as some of his pupils came to me for instruction, a
feeling of rivalry sprang up between us which endan-
gered my position, and as it increased every day my
situation was made decidedly unpleasant for me.
One day I told Mr. Berg, for it was near the end of
my first year with him, that I wished to resign,
having with sincere regret noticed the unpleasant-
ness which of late had come between us, and for that
reason I had decided to devote all of my spare time
to the teaching of music. This bit of news seemed
to give Mr. Berg great uneasiness, for he probably
expected that I might be a strong competitor in a
field which he had so long enjoyed alone ; but when
I added that I would not choose to remain in Savan-
nah ; that as my wife was a fine French teacher I had
decided to try and get a position in some ladies'
seminary where she could also teach, he seemed
relieved, and kindly offered to find such a place for
124
Reminiscences
me. Through his good offices I was offered the
chair of music in a young ladies' school at Thomas-
ville, Georgia, and as it seemed to be just what I
was looking for, I hastened to accept it. Before
leaving Savannah my wife presented me with a son,
Henry, and as she was unable to accompany me, for
the trip was at that time a tedious one, being made
partly by stage, I left her in Savannah and started
out for Thomasville alone. When I saw the place
I felt the keenest disappointment, and regretted
that I had ever left Savannah.
CHAPTER VII
Teacher of Music in Thomasville, Georgia Visit to Colonel Bailey's
Plantation Tallahassee Athens, Georgia War of the Re-
bellion
THOMASVILLE was at that time a little town
which I felt could offer me nothing, accus-
tomed as I was to living in populous cities; and
when I was directed to the seminary proper, I was
simply amazed, for I saw before me a single brick
house, which contained several recitation rooms for
the day pupils, those coming from out of town
having to find board in the village. The school
buildings stood upon an elevation, surrounded by a
wooded grove, and quite apart from the town, while
the music department was a small frame building of
one little room, about one hundred feet away from
the seminary. Despite my feelings, I hastened to
present myself to the principal of the school, a
maiden lady by the name of Hansel. She received
me cordially, telling me that she had a dozen pupils
whom I should instruct in pianoforte playing, and
that my fee would consist in so much money for each
pupil; but noting my look of disappointment, she
hastened to assure me that if I proved as competent
125
i26 Reminiscences
an instructor as my predecessor, Mr. Gibson, the
number of pupils would be appreciably increased.
I cannot say that I was greatly pleased with my
prospects, but I felt that I must make the best of it,
and take my first step in the profession I had deter-
mined to follow ; so swallowing my pride I began my
teaching. I found that my pupils were young women
who had never studied the pianoforte, and that their
interest in its study was simply for the purpose of
learning how to play a few pieces for their own
amusement and the pleasure of their friends. I as-
sure you that at no time was my position an enviable
one, and I was greatly disturbed one day when Miss
Hansel came to the studio and politely informed me
that she did not approve of my method of teaching ;
that my pupils had scarcely advanced and were
unable to " play a piece " ; that Mr. Gibson's way of
teaching was entirely different, he having trained
his pupils especially for the quarterly exhibition,
where they were expected to appear with credit to
themselves, every pupil being able to play or sing
acceptably. She further stated that upon this enter-
tainment depended very largely the success of the
school, and unless my pupils were ready to appear
and do credit to themselves at the coming exhibition
she would have no further need of my services.
Before leaving she told me that Mr. Gibson always
accompanied each pupil upon some instrument,
which not only gave the pupil greater confidence
but also gave more tone color to the performance.
Our conversation terminated by Miss Hansel giv-
ing me strict orders to begin training the pupils
at once, which I agreed to do, but I made up my
Southern Life 127
mind then and there to sever my connection with
the school as professor of music at the end of the
quarter. I decided, however* that as a grand finale
I would show the worthy maiden lady my ability as
a useful assistant to my unskilful pupils. I remem-
bered full well old Dazian's instruction in Scheinfeld,
and I thought that he would have found a congenial
field for his teaching in Thomasville. The next day
I brought out my violin, violoncello, flute, accordion,
guitar, banjo, and cornet, and immediately my pupils
became interested in the one simple piece I taught
them. To my joy, when the day for the exhibition
arrived they carried off the honors, and at the close
of the performance Miss Hansel and the patrons of
the school congratulated me on my unprecedented
success, I was the great musician of Thomasville,
Georgia, a worthy successor to Mr. Gibson, and I
was offered the position for life.
Although my professional life was far from en-
viable, my domestic and social condition was equally
bad. I boarded with a man named Tyson, the
family consisting of the old gentleman, who was
about sixty-five, a son, and a daughter, and, while I
had a comfortable room, the table differed greatly
from that offered in Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg, or
New York, and as the use of the cooking-stove was
not in vogue the culinary department was very
primitive and did not permit of many delicacies. A
building detached from the living apartments and
having a big fireplace was used as a kitchen, and
connected with the fireplace was a large brick oven
for roasting the meat which we occasionally indulged
in. Over the fire, suspended from a crane, was a
128 Reminiscences
large pot, which was used one day for bacon and
greens, the next for greens and bacon, while our
bread consisted of a mixture of corn-meal, molasses,
and salt, which was baked in the pot. Soup was an
unknown quantity, while fresh meat, as I have al-
ready stated, was a luxury, and depended upon the
killing of a steer in the neighborhood and the buying
of a quarter of it, which after a few meals was usu-
ally salted and kept for the use of future genera-
tions. As for vegetables, aside from the tomato,
sweet potato, cabbage, and an occasional dish of
Irish potatoes, there was nothing else to be found
in the gardens of Thomasville. Granulated sugar
was not known in those days, but the beverage
called coffee, and which was indistinctly related to
that product, was sweetened with brown sugar or
molasses ; in fact, the latter was a very popular
sweet, and was eaten in large quantities with the
morning hoe-cake. Occasionally a chicken was sac-
rificed to vary the monotony. Pies were also in-
dulged in, but I did not consider it advisable to
tempt Providence by trying them, although I 've
since regretted that I did not take one piece and
note the effect for the benefit of my successor if
nothing more.
Had it not been for a German confectioner resid-
ing there, I am sure I would have shrivelled up and
blown away. This man derived a fair income by bak-
ing and selling bread, increasing his yearly earnings
by selling fancy goods and temperance drinks. This
good German I felt to be my only friend, for Mr.
Stark in his early days before coming to Thomas-
ville had been initiated in the art of soup-making,
Southern Life 129
and he had heard of a beefsteak with onions. He
was a bachelor ; and as once upon a time he had been
a barber, and in consequence knew how to play the
guitar, his love for the divine art I do not now
refer to his tonsorial but to his musical art caused
him to appear in the role of an humanitarian. When
one day in despair I told him the condition of my
inner man, which Tyson's table had brought about,
he seized his guitar and played a fandango, thus dis-
playing his virtuosity, and I, being the audience and
realizing what there was in store for me if I praised
his efforts, found plenty of neat and pretty compli-
ments at the close of his performance. In exchange
for my liberal praise I never failed to receive a
hearty repast, consisting of a plate of good rich soup,
and a deliciously browned pfannekuchen, while, if
I went into ecstasies over the fandango, he felt con-
strained to go to his little stove-=-the only one in all
Thomasville and cook me a beefsteak smothered
in onions. I have since regretted this deception,
but it was at that time my only chance, and so I
sacrificed Mr. Stark that I might live to inflict upon
you these reminiscences.
My wife having now recovered from her illness, I
felt a longing to see her and my infant son, so I
wrote her to come to Thomasville, which she did.
As my boarding-place at Mr. Tyson's could not
afford us sufficient room, I started out in search of
a small house which I might rent and go to house-
keeping. I found a little one-story cabin in the
woods, and as it seemed the best house within the
limits of my pocketbook I rented it on the spot.
The building was raised above the ground on stumps
i3 Reminiscences
of trees and was not boarded up, leaving a space of
some feet underneath for additional coolness in
summer and also to keep the place from becoming
damp. As I have already stated, the little cabin
stood away from the town in the pine woods, and
although I feared that it might at times be lonely,
we sent for our household furniture in Savannah,
and were soon settled in our new abode. The front
steps led directly into the living-room, a door
communicated with another apartment a little
smaller, while in the rear there was a space evidently
intended as a storeroom. A large fireplace served
to furnish us with heat, and was also used for cook-
ing, for it had the customary long iron bar from
which was suspended the iron pot. We had plenty
of bacon, corn-meal, coffee, eggs, and chickens, but
there was a dearth of fresh beef, which was scarce
and high, and which was brought irregularly to the
town by the planters, who used to halt under a little
summer-house in the centre of the principal street,
and ring a bell to let the beef-eaters know of their
arrival. I always made it a point to stand on the
corner on the days when one was expected, so as
not to trust to the ringing of the bell and perhaps
get left after all. My good wife knew how to con-
form to the limitations of the provisional govern-
ment then extant, and I shall never forget the really
fine steaks she prepared for me after my return from
an onslaught on the beef market. One day while
reading I was startled by a cry from the front room
where my wife was engaged in preparing supper.
Throwing down my paper I rushed to her and found
her dress a mass of flame, her light gown having
Southern Life I3 1
caught fire from the blazing log over which she was
cooking. I ran back, seized the bedding from the
bed, threw Mrs. Steinert down on the floor, and
quickly enveloping her in the blankets smothered
the flame, and she escaped with a few slight burns.
By a strange coincidence the same thing had hap-
pened at the seminary but a few weeks before,
when one of my pupils who was standing in front
of the fireplace found her thin muslin dress on fire,
and I saved her life by covering her with a large
floor rug. Miss Jones, for that was her name, in-
stead of being grateful to me for saving her life,
seemed to take an intense dislike to me, and from
that day she became my bitterest enemy.
The mode of life in our cabin in the sunny South
lost much of its charm because we were constantly
annoyed, especially at night, by a perfect stampede
of pigs under our house, and this, with its lonely
location in the woods, quite away from neighbors,
and the necessity of carrying all of the water for
some distance, made us decide to move. We gave
up housekeeping and went to live with a widow,
a Mrs. Foster, who furnished us with comfort-
able lodgings in her pretty home in the village.
Mrs. Foster's family consisted of a charming grown
daughter and a young son, and the daughter took
guitar lessons of me in part payment for our board,
thus reducing our expenses.
One day, while giving Miss Foster her guitar les-
son in the sitting-room, her brother Bertie, a lad of
about eight or nine years, entered, and, crossing, dis-
appeared through the door into an adjoining room,
where in one corner stood an old army musket which
132 Reminiscences
was loaded. Happening to glance up, I saw the
boy in the door with the gun in his hand, which he
could not lift, as it was very heavy. Before I could
rise and go to him the gun exploded, and the bullet
lodged in the ceiling directly over my head; and
when another and more serious shooting affair hap-
pened the Sunday following I decided that I was
never to die by accident. It was a lovely, balmy
afternoon, and I was walking down the wide village
street, leisurely smoking my cigar and speculating
upon the future, when I was startled by a sharp re-
port, and I felt a bullet whiz past my face. I
stopped and looked across the street, where I saw a
man greatly excited again loading his gun, and as I
looked he ran towards me, and I dodged and barely
escaped the second shot. Without a word I turned
on my heel and started on the run up the street, the
man in hot pursuit. Finally he caught up with me
and exclaimed excitedly, " Oh, I beg your pardon.
What did I do ? Are you hurt ? I am so sorry, but
I thought you were the scoundrel who ran away with
my wife, and I had made up my mind to kill you.
Thanks to my poor markmanship, you are safe."
He was very profuse in his apologies, but I was not
to be pacified so easily, and had him arrested, for I
believed him a dangerous man to be at large. After
a mock hearing he was allowed to go free because
no one was killed, though it was not his fault that
there was n't.
While boarding with Mrs. Foster I met some
pleasant people, and, among others, a man by the
name of Perkins who conducted a large store in the
village, and who visited New York City yearly for
Southern Life 133
the purpose of purchasing goods. Returning from
such a visit he came in to tell us all about it. We
greeted him cordially, delighted to have news of the
metropolis, and I asked him how he had enjoyed his
trip. He replied that he had had a fine time and
hated to come home. I thereupon said, " What
did you see ? " He answered that he had attended
a large revival where he had heard some powerful
speakers and seen hundreds of men converted.
' Did n't you see anything else ?" I interrogated.
" Oh, yes, I attended a shooting-gallery one eve-
ning." " But," said I, impatiently, " I suppose
you went to the theatre?" To this he assented,
and, as I read the Herald daily and knew that the
opera season was at its height and that Lucrezia
Borgia was being magnificently sung, I further
queried, " And how about the opera did n't you
hear Lucrezia Borgia f " He thought a second,
then said " Lucrezia Borgia ! Lucrezia Borgia! No
I did n't go she was out of town the week I was
there."
Having severed my connection with the seminary
in the woods, I had to look around for some other
means of support ; and, while I had a few private
pupils in the village, my earnings were not sufficient
to support my family, so I again embraced my
little tuning-hammer, and occasionally found some
old-fashioned piano that needed my skilful assist-
ance. The first tuning I did was for Mr. Tyson,
where I formerly boarded. He had an old piano
that must have enjoyed sweet solace and silence for
many years, because when he sent for me to examine
it and asked my opinion as to whether it was in need
134 Reminiscences
of tuning, and I* told him that it was sadly in need
of it, he replied, " Why, that 's strange, Mr. Stein-
ert; I had it tuned only twenty years ago." I must
have had an eye to business when I became a piano-
forte tuner, for one morning a negro slave came
galloping into Thomasville astride a handsome
thoroughbred horse, and stopping at Mr. Foster's
dismounted and inquired of me, for I was on the
piazza., if ' ' the Professor ' ' lived there, and if he was
at home. Smiling at the title, but feeling rather set
up to be thus addressed, I said, " You are standing
before the Professor; what can I do for you ? "
" Marse Bailey/' said he, " done gone and sont
me yere to tell yo' to come right out to de planta-
tion an' fix up de pianner fer him, 'cause de Missus'
chillun comin' from New York to-day, an' dey mus'
have de pianner fixed."
" Where does Marse Bailey live ? " I asked.
" Oh, on de plantation over in Flurridy, 'bout
thirty miles from here, an' Massa tol* me to say dat
yo' should come right 'long with me. He sho' did."
My wife who had been silently listening to the
conversation said to me in German that I should
not think of going on such a wild-goose chase and
to pay no attention to the fellow. As she had by
this time trained me to entire submission I felt my-
self considerably in the minority, even had I dared
to visit a plantation in Florida, and thus enjoy a
horseback ride of thirty miles through an unknown
country with a negro slave for my companion ; so,
in keeping with my position, I informed the slave
that I would not go, whereupon the negro was
dumfounded, and said : " I reckon yo' don' know
Southern Life 135
Marse Bailey, suh. Why, he say dat yo' mus' come,
and, golly! yo' oughter know what dat means. I
'low yo' don' know Marse Bailey." I again sub-
missively appealed to my wife, but she most em-
phatically said no, and the negro, protesting, rode
off without me.
A few days after this episode the fellow returned
and told me in the most imperative and impressive
manner that his master was ' ' powerful ' ' angry when
he came back without me, and that unless I came at
once to the plantation and fixed the piano he would
come for me himself, and that there was bound to
be a fight if he did. In this somewhat trying posi-
tion I looked into the soulful eyes of my wife who
sat upon the steps of the piazza, with our young son,
silently pleading with her to be allowed to go. As
she still objected, I told her that I was certain of
bringing home a large sum for my services, and that
it might lead up to considerable business among the
wealthy planters in the vicinity. Mrs. Steinert was
a practical woman, and she valued money more than
I did ; so she meditated upon the business side of
the transaction, and after a while graciously con-
sented, and I went with the slave to the stable for a
good saddle-horse upon which to make the journey.
The proprietor told me that he had just what I
needed, and that he would have her saddled and at
the door in fifteen minutes, so I went back, and,
putting a few necessary articles in a strap, went to
the gate and waited for the horse.
You can imagine my surprise when I saw a negro
approaching astride a big, lank, brown mule, the ex-
pression of whose face and the drooping of whose
136 Reminiscences
long ears was anything but reassuring ; whereupon
the following conversation took place, the slave
upon his handsome thoroughbred grinning with
suppressed laughter.
" But, Sam, I thought that your master would
provide me with a horse, not a mule, for this long
journey ? "
" Why, Marse Steinert," he said, as he dismounted
and walked around the creature, that stood with her
fore feet firmly planted, " I reckon yo' don' know
Hannah why she 's de likeliest mule in Thomas-
ville, dat she is, suh, an' she '11 get yo' over de
groun' fas'er dan any horse in dis yere town, suh
Hannah 's a great mule, Professor, an' yo' don'
have to frail 'er, suh."
That may be, but Hannah looks as if she had a
mind of her own. But I '11 try her anyway. Just
strap this package on the saddle, Sam, and I '11
mount." I handed the negro my small parcel
which he proceeded to strap to the saddle.
' You '11 fin' Hannah all right after yo' get
'quainted with her," he said reassuringly; "she
ain't much fer style, sho' nuff, but if yo' want a
right steady critter that can go right 'long an' nebber
give out, Hannah is de mule for yo'."
Hannah had stood stock-still during this conver-
sation, never saying a word, her ears laid back and
her deeply sunken, elephant-like eyes calmly taking
me in. After several attempts to mount I found
myself on Hannah's back, and I felt nearer heaven
than I have ever felt since, for she was the tallest
mule I have ever seen. I seized the reins, while
Sam whispered some magical words in her ear, and
Southern Life 137
presto ! we were off like the wind, the crowd that had
collected shouting ' ' Good luck ! ' ' All I could do was
to hold on as Hannah flew after the dark leader, but
when we were about a mile from the town we came
to a fork in the roads, whereupon Hannah laid her
ears back and abruptly bolted, and I, having a
loose rein, quickly shot over her head like a ball and
landed in the middle of the road in a mud-puddle.
The negro was some distance ahead, and I hallooed
like a wild man before I succeeded in making him
hear. Finally he stopped, turned around, came back,
and helped me into the saddle again, Hannah stand-
ing with her feet firmly planted like a rock. For a
half-hour we did our best to make her go on down
the road, but not one step would she take, and, after
standing on her hind feet and kicking with her fore,
and then, to vary the monotony, standing on her fore
feet and kicking with her hind, as the negro plied the
whip and swore and I held on, she calmly lay down
in the mud, and I managed to scramble out unhurt
from under her. After lots of whipping, coaxing, and
much swearing on the part of the negro we finally
got her on her feet, and headed her for Thomas-
ville, and as I would not mount her again I took the
negro's horse and he climbed upon old Hannah and
we started for town, the mule going like the wind,
braying with glee to find that she was going back to
the stable. The owner seemed much grieved and
quite crestfallen over our remarks concerning his
pet Hannah, and said: " You did n't understand
her, Professor ; if you had just whispered ' oats ' in
her ear she would have carried you to the end of
the world." Whereupon I ventured to remark that
138 Reminiscences
she had nearly carried me there as it was which
remark he did not seem to understand.
As we had lost over an hour, I cheerfully mounted
the mild -eyed, stiff -legged animal which he now
brought out, assuring me that he was the safest and
best saddle-horse in the barn and had once been a
race-horse. " He will give you no trouble," said
he, " and, what 's better, will do the last mile
quicker than the first." And I found that 'he was
right, for it was with difficulty that I got " Ram-
rod " started, for the venerable animal had a spavin
on his right hind foot which had just been blistered,
and was blind in one eye and nearly so in the other,
and as I crept along after my negro guide, I felt that
I might better have taken my chances on Hannah.
After a few mfles, " Ramrod's " stiffness seemed to
disappear, and I was just congratulating myself on
my mount when we entered Monticello, where we
were to have dinner and rest, and where I had de-
cided to try to get a few pianos to tune. As we
passed a church the bell began to ring, and its
clanging evidently awoke in "Ramrod's" mind
memories of the race-track, for he pricked up his
ears, and with a snort took the bit and dashed down
the street. I quite forgot the owner's caution " not
to pull on the reins if he started," for I had landed
on his neck when he plunged off and was holding
on to the reins for dear life when we dashed past the
hotel, and my hat flew off as I tore along down
the principal street like John Gilpin. After a mile
I saw that the street ended in a large establishment
of some kind, and as I ceased to^pull on the reins,
" Ramrod " slackened his pace, and seeing no
Southern Life 139
further course ahead, he abruptly wheeled around
and started up the street as docile and meek as a
cow. I rode up to the hotel, where I dismounted
before the laughing crowd, covered with mud, and
disgusted with the four-footed beasts of Thomasville.
After dinner I went out in search of business, and
as there was a young ladies' school in the village I
called there and found several pianos that needed
my attention, and when I returned to the hotel I
had quite a snug little sum for my afternoon's work.
We had about ten miles more to ride before we
would reach the plantation, and with much trepida-
tion I again mounted old "Ramrod," and we set off,
and happy am I to state that we entered the plan-
tation gates without more adventure. The estate
was a magnificent one, consisting of thousands of
acres of land and great numbers of slaves, and we
were fully an hour riding up the beautiful avenue
of live-oaks through the vast possessions. The
mansion was a large colonial one, and I found the
Colonel and his wife upon the steps to welcome
me. On entering I was presented to the lovely
Misses Bellamy, who had just returned from New
York City where they had been attending school,
and who were at the very moment overseeing the
unpacking of a magnificent Steinway " Grand."
' You are just in time," said Colonel Bailey, " to
superintend the setting up of our new piano," and
feeling that I had reached a congenial place I went
to work with a will, and soon the beautiful instru-
ment was in position in the drawing-room, and
before I knew it I was improvising, the family
gathered around me, and the pleasant reception I
Reminiscences
had received was enhanced. My work at the plan-
tation consisted in tuning the new piano and also
putting into shape an old " Chickering." After
spending three or four delightful days, playing and
enjoying the hospitality of this cultured Southern
family, I again mounted " Ramrod," who was
quite sleek and active from his liberal supply of
oats, and rode down the avenue with a generous
remuneration in my pocket, and a cordial invitation
to bring my wife and son and my beloved violon-
cello, and spend the Christmas holidays on the
plantation, which invitation I gladly accepted, the
noble Colonel sending his family carriage to Thomas-
ville for us. We had an ideal visit, and I shall
always remember these charming people, their beau-
tiful home, and, above all, the kindness they showed
us during our stay with them.
Encouraged by my financial success, and by a
number of letters to several wealthy planters given
me by Colonel Bailey, I concluded to call upon
these people at their plantations, and my next
visit was to an immense estate owned by General
Wingfield, where, upon the strength of my letter
from Colonel Bailey, I tuned a piano and repaired a
melodeon, for which I received a liberal fee. The
General sent me to the plantation of a friend living
some distance from his estate and offered me his
horse for the trip, which offer I accepted. I found
it a long, hard ride through the woods, and I was in
the saddle from early morning until late at night ;
but I found plenty of work and was consequently
happy. Returning to General Wingfield's, and fi-
nally to Thomasville, encouraged by the money I had
Southern Life 141
earned, I looked towards Tallahassee, Florida, as a
Mecca for a piano-tuner, and one day we packed up
our worldly possessions and left for that city for an
indefinite stay. The place was a good field, and
I was successful beyond anything I had dreamed
of, tuning, repairing, and buying old pianos, which
latter I fixed up, revarnished, and sold again at an
excellent profit. In Tallahassee I had the pleasure
of meeting the family of Mr. Ames, who held a high
social position and was prominently identified with
the Episcopal Church. He was devoted to music,
and at his house I met many delightful people,
and gave several musicals, which were attended by
the elite of the city. I was no longer looked upon
as a poor piano-tuner, and my star was in the as-
cendant when Mr. Ames invited me to give an
organ concert in the church, at which the Bishop of
Florida was an honored guest. After the concert I
was presented to Mrs. Vietch, a widow from Athens,
Georgia, a fine singer, and on several occasions I
played the 'cello obligate for her songs. Mrs.
Vietch urged me to settle in Athens, where she
promised me not only the position of organist in
the Episcopal church but a large class of pupils,
assuring me that as there was no music-teacher
there of note, I could not fail of being successful.
After talking the matter over with my wife we
decided to go to Athens, and left at once for our
new home. Reaching Union Station we changed
cars, having a short wait there before proceeding on
our journey. In the waiting-room of the station I
overheard two men conversing, and as they spoke
German I made bold enough to introduce myself,
Reminiscences
excusing my presumption on the plea that I could
not resist the temptation to speak my native tongue.
During our conversation I was told that they were
bound for Athens, for the purpose of establishing
Mr. Hintz as a piano and singing teacher there,
Mr. Hintz's companion being a Mr. Barth of At-
lanta, who was a piano dealer and tuner in that city.
Here was a pretty kettle of fish ! Two teachers for
Athens, Georgia, where I had been assured I would
be quite alone in the race. After telling me of their
plans they, quite naturally, inquired where I was
going, and when I told them that I, too, was bound
for Athens, where I was under contract to play the
organ in the Episcopal Church, and that I expected
to have a class in piano and 'cello playing, our new-
formed friendship changed to a feeling of rivalry,
and I believe that we were both possessed of the
same spirit as we jolted along towards classic
Athens. Reaching the city I immediately called
on my patroness, Mrs. Vietch, and she appeared
somewhat dejected when I explained the situation
to her, but she received me in a most affable man-
ner and tried to console me, promising me a good
class and success.
To my sorrow I found that there was still another
music-teacher in Athens, a Mr. Lennert, who had
resided there for many years. He was a queer
genius, and lived in a very small cottage in a
grove a little distance from the city,. Mr. Len-
nert also came from Germany, and was a man about
fifty-four years of age, of unprepossessing appear-
ance and quite devoid of the qualities which go to
make up a successful pianoforte teacher, being of an
Southern Life 143
extremely modest and quiet disposition. Mr. Len-
nert was not accustomed to mingle much in society,
neither did he court the good-will of a capricious
public ; and I have since thought that he was quite
sensible in living the life of a recluse. He was a
bachelor, and it is to be presumed that he did not
belong to the army of adventurers sometimes re-
cruited from the ranks of musicians; in fact, he did
not at all resemble a musician, but he might have
been taken for a schoolmaster in the old country,
who, without any aim, had drifted to the little
grove in Athens, Georgia.
Quite naturally, a man of such absolute independ-
ence did not court the sympathy of the community,
neither did he attempt to gain their good-will, and
yet he was a person of some influence, and he had
many friends who admired him, and who were always
willing to champion him. What I knew of him
made me judge him as a man of modest bearing,
utterly without conceit, and these noble qualities
which were so much a part of this simple man
had sufficient force to make him well liked among
those who knew him intimately. Having dwelt
upon his qualities as a man, the question arises,
What of his qualities as a musician ? These I could
never discover, as he certainly was not a player, and
to judge him by his pupils he could not have pos-
sessed much musical taste, but he must have imbibed
and drunk deep draughts from the fountain of a
good musician, as he taught Clementi and Hummel
principally, and indulged occasionally in a few of
the early sonatas of Mozart. When I heard some
of his pupils play a Clementi sonatina, it did my
1 44 Reminiscences
heart good to discover in their rendering of it cer-
tain evidences of a lost school of teaching, which ap-
peared rejuvenated in the quaint little house in the
grove, so that in justice to music, I must say that I
was a silent admirer of Herr Lennert and his art.
As for Mr. Hintz, my other competitor, he was
diametrically opposed to Mr. Lennert. He was a
tall, handsome blond, with heavy, carefully dressed
mustache, long wavy hair, a fine complexion, and
he wore gold-mounted eye-glasses, which gave him
a scholarly air. He walked with a slight limp, was
very dignified in his bearing, having, if I remember
rightly, served as an officer in the German army. He
was not a good pianist, but he possessed an exceed-
ingly fine tenor voice, and he rendered his German
songs with much warmth and expression; in fact,
he sang as he looked. He was not possessed of the
lamblike nature of old Lennert, neither did he need
the assistance of his friends to fight his battles ; in
fact, he was very aggressive, and became one of my
bitterest enemies. While I was the prottgt of Mrs.
Vietch, who represented the leading lights of the
Episcopal Church, Mr. Hintz's patroness was a lady
of higher standing socially, and of greater influence^
as she was a prominent member of the Presbyterian
Church, which was considered the ultra-fashionable
church of Athens, the Episcopal denomination
being comparatively new and having only one or
two wealthy members. In view of the influence
of the Church upon social conditions, I soon dis-
covered that I had the worst part of the bargain.
The quarrels between the friends of my champion,
Mrs. Vietch, and Mr. Hintz's champion, Mrs.
Southern Life 145
Stevens, and, above all, the loyalty of the adherents
of the Lennert faction, became a subject of much im-
portance among the good people of Athens, and the
climax was reached when Mr. Thomas Cobb estab-
lished a large seminary for young women, liberally
endowing it in memory of his only daughter, Lucy,
who had died when a young girl.
Mr. Cobb was the most prominent lawyer in
Georgia, a brother of Howell Cobb, who was Secre-
tary of the Treasury under President Buchanan.
The establishment of this institution required the
appointment of a director for the music department,
and, as it may be presumed, the three music-teach-
ers became very apprehensive, fearing that all of the
pupils would seek instruction at the Cobb Institute,
so Hintz and I immediately applied for the position.
Mr. Cobb, influenced by the musical war, told us
that he would not take any of the local teachers, and
that he had already engaged a man for the position
by the name of Dr. Wurm, who at that time was
musical director in a school at La Grange, Georgia.
Dr. Wurm assumed his duties immediately, and
I asked him to give me the position of assistant ;
this he declined to do, and appointed a gentleman
by the name of Kalliwoda, a nephew of the great
composer Kalliwoda, Kapellmeister of the Prince of
Fiirstenberg of Donaueschingen.
Dr. Wurm was credited with being a master of all
instruments, and if the reports I heard of him were
true, I think that he would have surpassed my be-
loved old Stadt Musikus, Dazian, in his musical
knowledge. I was not privileged to make a com-
parison, as the good Doctor displayed as much
Reminiscences
modesty in showing what he could do as did Len-
nert in his little home in the grove. I must, how-
ever, add the very interesting fact that Hintz,
Dr. Wurm, and myself claimed to be great violon-
cello players, and I very much regret that a careful
examination of our claims was never made. Dr.
Wurm played the organ in the Presbyterian Church,
and while he received the full patronage and in-
dorsement of his manifold talents, it leaked out that
he was not a very good organist, and it was even
said that the organist of the Episcopal Church
played better, and with more taste and judgment.
These remarks soon resulted in two musical factions
being formed, the Wurm and the Steinert, and it
was n't a passing event, and became quite turbu-
lent when I was offered the position of organist by
the most prominent members of the Presbyterian
Church, led by Mrs. Robb, a daughter of the Presi-
dent of Franklin College, a lady of great beauty,
refinement, and undisputed influence in every city
where she resided, for she spent part of the year in
New Orleans and Washington and New York. Mrs.
Robb was a pupil of mine and a strong admirer of
my musical abilities. The position being formally
offered me, with an increase of salary, and over the
head of the Principal of the Lucy Cobb Seminary,
was a flattering one, and I naturally felt inclined to
accept it in view of the conditions under which I
lived, and I did so. It turned out that this offer
was made during the absence of Mr. Cobb and with-
out his consent, and when he returned to the city
and was told of the change of organist in the church
he was very indignant, and said that he would never
Southern Life H7
give his consent to my playing in the church, and
that he would withdraw his support if I persisted in
accepting the position. My friends were equally
stubborn, saying that they would leave if Dr. Wurm
remained at the organ; so it was decided that
neither of us should play, and for many months
there was no organist in the Presbyterian Church.
Having resigned my position in the Episcopal
Church, for which I brought upon myself the
animosity of some of its members, which I have
always regretted, I must confess that it was a good
thing, for a prestige was created in my favor as a
musician, and as Mr. Hintz was not sufficiently
fortified to enter the arena in the great musical con-
test between Dr. Wurm and myself, he gathefed
together his traps, folded his tent, and one day, like
the Arab, silently stole away; while poor honest
Lennert must have been lost to the world, for I can-
not now remember what became of him. From that
day my reputation as a teacher of music was well
established, and I had a large number of pupils,
made up of the most prominent young ladies of
Athens and the neighboring towns, and I became
prosperous.
During this period a little daughter had been born
to me, Heloise, and I felt blissfully happy and con-
tent. I rented a large house and furnished it attrac-
tively, bought six acres of land adjoining the Lucy
Cobb Institute, a horse and carriage, and invested
quite a sum in the pianoforte business, having for
my partner Mr. William Talmedge, a local jeweller.
For the first time since my arrival in America my
musical success was in the ascendant, and I felt
148 Reminiscences
that it was time to demonstrate to the parents of
my pupils and their friends to what state of musical
culture they had advanced under my guidance. I
therefore arranged for a complimentary recital where
they could all play or sing, and as this was quite an
event in the city, and created much interest among
the aristocracy, an invitation was sent to Mr. Alex-
ander Hamilton Stephens, later on Vice-President of
the Confederacy, to attend the concert, which invita-
tion he accepted. The hall was filled, and the affair
was not only a social but an artistic success, and at
the close Mr. Stephens, in a happy speech, presented
me with a handsome silver service, the gift of my
pupils, and I felt that, even though I had not been
allowed to play the organ in the Presbyterian
Church, I was held in some importance by the
people of Athens.
I must in some way have received some creditable
mention among the colored race, for one day a
handsome young mulatto, the body-servant of Mr.
Hull, came to me and begged me to give him les-
sons upon the violoncello, " violinsolo " he called
it, saying that his master had given him permission
to secure such instruction. While I did not look
upon him as a pupil, I felt inclined to help the poor
fellow, who was considered a musical genius, and
who led a brass band of colored men and wanted to
form a string band from among the musicians. I
therefore brought out my violoncello and tried to
teach him the names of the four strings, A, D, G,
C, but found that he could not possibly comprehend
what I was talking about, and after several attempts
I was just about to give up in despair when it
Southern Life 149
occurred to me that his master had four horses of
different colors, and that I might possibly use them
to advantage in illustrating my meaning. So I said,
' Wilson, your master has a chestnut horse which
we shall call the first string, A ; his roan saddle-horse
shall be the second string, D ; the gray pony the third
string, G ; while the white carriage horse shall be the
fourth string, C. " As he knew the color of the horses
he soon learned the strings, and while I regret to say
that Wilson did not become a great artist upon the
violoncello, and was often " off his base," he learned
to play very well, and was soon quite prominent
among his color as a virtuoso of ability.
On March 14, 1861, my wife gave birth to another
son, Alexander, and on April 12, 1861, the first gun
of the Civil War was fired upon Fort Sumter, thus
beginning the war between the North and the South.
For some months previous, ever since the secession
of South Carolina in December, my business had
begun to fall off, but it had been impossible for me
to leave, owing to the condition of my wife. Now
everything was excitement, and I was daily asked
by my pupils if I was ready to go to war and help
them fight the Yankees. I did not dare to answer
negatively, as any one at that time who declined to
fight the Yankees was looked upon as a traitor and
was in danger of lynching. As I had very little
sympathy for the Southern people when they wanted
to fight the great and glorious flag which I love so
much, I had sufficient cause to feel uneasy, and
finally decided to leave the South, which was in a
state of rebellion and with scarcely any government.
I told my good wife to hurry up and get well, which
150 Reminiscences
she did, and we quietly prepared to leave Athens.
I found that it was not an easy task on our part, be-
cause, with our three children, we were comfortably
housed, had a nice horse and carriage, a number of
pianos and other instruments, besides an interest in
the piano business with Mr. Talmedge.
The hateful spirit of the Southern people towards
the Northerners had reached a very high state, and
the Northerners and foreigners who were at that
time living in the South were either looked upon as
friends if they stayed, or enemies if they left.
These were the reasons which prevented me from
disposing of my property, or even attempting to
collect the money due me, as it would have appeared
to the hot-headed Southerners that I intended to
leave for good, and I would have had to suffer, many
indignities at their hands. Although I had worked
very hard all my life to accumulate a little some-
thing, I could not see the advantage to be gained
by staying in the South and saving my property at
the cost of surrendering myself to fight for a cause
which I could not believe in. I managed to collect
about three hundred dollars, and by telling the
people that after taking my family North I should
return and look after my property, and as I did not
dispose of anything, and my dealings while there had
established a feeling of confidence in me, we were
permitted to leave Athens unmolested.
We had scarcely crossed into North Carolina
when the terrors of war began to manifest them-
selves, and when we entered Richmond, Virginia,
the excitement of the Southern people knew no
bounds, and we were in the most trying and
Southern Life 151
dangerous position. Soldiers were everywhere, and
they would rush into the cars with drawn bayonets
looking for deserters, so that my wife and children
were in a constant state of nervous excitement
bordering on terror. We found all communication
cut off when we reached Delaware, and travelled to
Washington, D. C., by stage and wagon. I shall
never forget the hardships we passed through in
trying to reach New York City, and I was in the
most dejected and disturbed state of mind when we
finally landed in the metropolis, having but little
money left, for our journey had taken nearly all I
had collected in Athens.
CHAPTER VIII
Wretched Days in New York City New Haven Formation of
Steinert's Orchestra
I WAS forced to look to my wife's relatives for
help, and for this reason we went to the house
of her father, who was very poor and who lived in
a few rooms in a tenement-house on Sixth Street.
He received us kindly and offered to share with us
his rooms and humble fare, but I felt my position
keenly; and our sufferings in the hot, stuffy New
York tenement-house, after our attractive Southern
home, were frightful. We tried to make the best
of it, and every day I hoped that I might find some-
thing in the way of work to keep the wolf from the
door, but it was impossible, because the city was in
a state of great excitement, and general business
was upset, the theatres nightly playing to empty
benches. There was absolutely no chance for me,
and when the cry of war extended all over the coun-
try, in obedience to that memorable and grand proc-
lamation of the noble Lincoln, calling for seventy-five
thousand men, New York became a big camp where
people of all classes rushed to the recruiting office
to be enrolled in the Grand Army of the Union.
152
Steinert's Orchestra 153
Looking over the situation and the misery I was
forced to endure, I visited the playhouses over
and over again, trying to get some position in the
orchestra. I also called upon orchestral leaders and
conductors for some employment, but there was
no opening for me in New York; and my hopes
perished when I saw a notice in a German paper
stating that five of the greatest musicians of Amer-
ica were playing in a beer saloon as a means of sub-
sistence, among them Carl Anchiitz as pianist,
Carl Bergmann as 'cellist, and three others equally
prominent in the musical world, whose names I do
not now recall. I could not believe my eyes, and I
immediately walked over to Steuben Hall, a beer
saloon on the Bowery, and there I found these men,
and heard them play for a lot of Germans drinking
beer and smoking their long pipes. From that day
I did not look for an engagement in New York,
knowing how fruitless it was.
My children, on account of the intense heat, be-
came ill with cholera infantum, and as I was in a
desperate state of mind I resolved to leave the city
even at the risk of my life. Mrs. Steinert had a sis-
ter residing in New Haven, and in our distress my
wife wrote to her, telling her of our troubles. Mrs.
Bretzfelder was a woman of refinement and good-
ness of heart, and, influenced by her sympathy for
us in our great need, she wrote my wife at once,
inviting us to come to her in New Haven and to
stay with her during the summer, or until I could
find something to do. Under ordinary circumstances
I might have hesitated to accept an invitation for
a family of five and for an indefinite time, but the
154 Reminiscences
dire need of a temporary home for my wife and sick
babies was uppermost in my mind, and with feelings
of deep gratitude I wrote her that we would come,
and we left for New Haven at once. The change of
air was indeed a godsend to my little ones, and they
picked up immediately, as did my good wife, who
had been far from well since the birth of Alexander.
Comfortably housed on Congress Avenue, it was
my first duty to earn a little money, as I had nothing
left, so I tried to obtain a few pupils in the city, but
was unsuccessful. Then, acting upon the advice of a
friend, I went out to Centreville, a village close by,
hoping to find something in the boys' school there,
but I was told that on account of the advanced sea-
son there was nothing for me. I went to Naugatuck,
Bethany, and all the near-by towns, but with like
result, and for a time I was absolutely unable to find
anything to do. Finally I was given the position of
substitute organist in Dr. Cleveland's church on
Church Street now the Public Library for which
I received one hundred dollars a year. I also suc-
ceeded in obtaining some German workmen in Mr.
Treat's melodeon factory as pupils on the melodeon,
violin, and flute, thus having an assured income of
about six dollars a week, which was a great boon
to me.
Feeling that we were an incumbrance upon Mrs.
Bretzfelder, and having a fair chance to work, I
rented a few rooms in York Square and began house-
keeping; and after paying my rent I had about
three dollars left for provisions. The precarious
condition of my pocketbook must have been
noticed by the proprietor of a grocery and meat
Steinert's Orchestra 155
store on the corner of York Square and Broad-
way, Mr. Cornelius Pierpont, with whom I daily
traded, paying cash for the few things I was able to
buy, for one day he presented me with a large, juicy
beefsteak, prefacing the gift with a little speech
which expressed to me a nature full of noble gen-
erosity and kindly impulses, and which appeared
to me an act never to be forgotten. I thankfully
accepted the gift, and I have never regretted it
the only like gift I have ever received. Mr. Pierpont
little knew how much that delicious bit of meat
meant to my family, and I have never eaten a steak
that tasted so good in all my life.
One day, which I shall always look upon as a red-
letter day, the position as organist at St. Thomas's
Episcopal Church was offered to me, and with it the
munificent salary of $i 50 a year. Having now quite
a number of pupils I looked for a larger and more
commodious rent, and finding a double brick house
on Crown Street, near Church, I took half of it and
moved in. Through the influence of Dr. Beardsley,
the rector of St. Thomas's, I was appointed music-
teacher in the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire,
under the Reverend Dr. Horton, while Mrs. Steinert
secured the position of French instructor in the
same institution. We went to Cheshire twice
weekly : on the days that Mrs. Steinert taught, I
kept house and looked after the children, while she
resumed management of the household on the days
set apart for my work. In addition to this, I had
a class at the Russell Military School on Woos-
ter Place, and was therefore in prosperous circum-
stances, and felt correspondingly happy.
156 Reminiscences
Feeling a longing to take up my musical work
again, I looked about and finally suceeded in form-
ing a quartet, which was made up of the following
named gentlemen : Mr. W. Dexter Anderson, now
a prominent physician residing on Temple Street,
but who was then a student at Yale, as pianist ;
Mr. Carl Wehner, violin; Charles Chapman, viola;
and myself, violoncello. We met several times each
week and played quartets and trios from the old mas-
ters, and finally gave a public recital in Bull's piano-
forte warerooms in the Cutler Building on Chapel
Street. We had a good audience, and I think that
they appreciated and enjoyed our music. Mr. Ander-
son, our pianist, possessed great musical ability as to
technique and expression, and was extremely well
qualified for that school of music which requires not
only a musical nature but a love for the divine art ;
and in having a pianist of such rare qualities, and
one who was withal so modest in his art, our quartet
could not help but be successful. Mr. Wehner was
a fair violinist, and while his limited technique and
control over his instrument might have been due to
his profession as a piano teacher, which did not
permit of his practising much upon the violin, he
was a musician of refined taste, an excellent reader,
and full of devotion to the class of music we played.
Mr. Chapman was an amateur on the viola, but a
good pianist, and, while he found it rather diffi-
cult to conquer the technicalities of his instrument
he worked hard, and as he was a musical enthu-
siast, and actually lived for music, the little he
could do upon the viola carried with it these noble
qualities, and he did as well as he could. As for
Steinert's Orchestra 157
the violoncello player, he was in close affinity with
the viola.
My next step in a musical way was the organizing
of an orchestra, which was not an easy task, as the
woods were not then full of musicians who could
play upon orchestral instruments. I began re-
cruiting, however, and found a number of poor
violinists, both firsts and seconds, with Chapman on
the viola. The rest of the instruments were in
keeping with the fiddlers, and such delicacies as
French horns, oboes, and bassoons had to be im-
agined, for they did not materialize. I called this
band together one day, and while I played the
violoncello I also conducted, using my bow as a
baton. Our rehearsals were simply frightful, and
what we could not attain in harmonic beauty we
made up for in discord and such noises as to frighten
the horses which were kept in a livery stable next
door, and which immediately signified their displeas-
ure by violently kicking against their stalls in rhythm
with the scrapings of the fiddles, the windy tones of
the flutes, the squeaky harmonies emitted from the
yellow clarionets that cried out in despair for further
assistance from their brazen brothers, the trumpets
and trombones, giving to the "City of Elms " and
the seat of the great University of Yale a pande-
monium of tones that has never been equalled in
any cultured city of the globe. My band was really
in earnest when in active service, and the vol-
ume of tone which the men succeeded in bringing
out of their instruments reminded me of the heavy
artillery and lamentations of the wounded at that
time congregated upon the battlefield of Bull Run,
158 Reminiscences
which was quite as disastrous to. our army as my
little Yankee and Dutch band was to the peaceful
neighborhood of Crown Street.
But my musicians were so devoted to the new
orchestra that they imagined that the citizens of
New Haven would be anxious to exchange their
quarters for their tone production, and unanimously
voted to give a concert in Music Hall. I, as their
leader and promoter, and the most intense sufferer
at that period, was in the minority when I told them
that while they were a good band of brothers, full
of friendship and love, they were a d d bad lot of
musicians, and I looked upon them, when profes-
sionally engaged, as children of Hades; and as I had
always thought of New Haven as a city of brotherly
love and full of religious sentiment, I cautioned them
not to thus expose themselves to the ridicule of these
good people. If, however, they insisted upon inflict-
ing themselves upon an unsuspecting public, to go to
Meriden and give a concert there, which they did.
I must confess that the people of that city and
myself differed greatly as to the efficiency of the or-
chestra, because they turned out en masse for the con-
cert, and after the performance they expressed their
enjoyment of the evening's program, giving such
encouragement to the band as to cause them to go
on with their work. The financial success was also
considerable, because we had three dollars apiece
after paying expenses a dividend which was in
keeping with the character of our efforts and so
delighted were we that we went out serenading after
the concert, calling upon the notables of the city;
and I am happy to state that, although we made
Steinert's Orchestra 159
the night hideous with our noise, none of us were
arrested.
One day while in Cheshire I was called upon to
tune the piano of Deacon R. It was a terribly hot
day, and I must say that my temperament was in
keeping with the temperament of the deacon's
piano, which was frightfully out of tune. I almost
forgot that I was in lovely Cheshire, felt transported
to Scheinfeld, and I suddenly remembered the seven
beer-stuben, and longed for a glass of the elixir of
Gambrinus. In my desire for the beer I looked at
the old Deacon while I made a good stretch on the
treble string of his piano, and my German nature
asserted itself, and I calmly asked him whether he
had any beer in the house or not ; whereupon he
put his hand behind his ear, as a reflecting resonator
for his musical tympanum, and in a high, squeaky
voice, said, " Beer! Beer! You mean root beer,
eh ? " " No," I shouted, " I mean lager beer, plain
lager beer, fresh and cool; have you got any ?"
This expression was evidently a new one to him,
for he continued, " No, we have n't any root beer
in the house, but I can give you a glass of cool
water with ginger in it," which drink I accepted.
I mention this incident simply in connection with
a business deal which I had with the good Deacon
later on, for it was only a few weeks after that he
offered to sell me his piano, saying that his wife was
ill unto death, and that as he had no children at
home, there would be no one left to play upon it.
As he offered it to me for $140, I decided to take it,
and paid him the money, agreeing to leave the piano
there until after the death of his wife, when he was
160 Reminiscences
to notify me and I was to send for it. The good
woman soon passed away, and the Deacon wrote me
of the sad fact, telling me that I could move the
piano any time, so I sent a team for it, and it was
soon set up in my Crown Street house. A week
later the Deacon drove up in his antiquated chaise,
drawn by a lame, lanky mare, for the purpose, as
I supposed, of paying me a call. I invited the
worthy gentleman in, whereupon he told me in a
very polite and dignified manner that he had
called to collect a small amount due him. I was
dumbfounded, for I did not know that I owed him
anything, and horrified when he said that he had
notified me by letter of his wife's death, telling me
that I could call for the piano, that the outlay
amounted to three cents, and that he would like it.
I put my hand in my pocket, drew out a handful of
pennies, and counting out three gave them to him,
and he departed quite satisfied. I then appreciated
his liberality in giving me a glass of water with half
a spoonful of ginger in it.
My experiences with my numerous landlords
would fill a book in themselves, for forty years ago
rents were scarce and high in New Haven, and the
landlords that had houses to rent lorded it over
their tenants. I was at one time the tenant of a man
who was really accommodating, for on the first day
of the month he called on me as early as 8 A.M. to
collect his rent, thus relieving my mind from all
anxiety for the rest of the day. Occasionally the
first of the month fell on Sunday, and as he was a
minister, and therefore could not desecrate the holy
Sabbath by any dealing whatsoever, he used to
JOSEPH HAYDN'S CONCERT GRAND.
Steinert's Orchestra 161
spend Saturday afternoon walking up and down
past my house until I noticed him, and, if I had
the money, went out and paid him. He would never
accept anything but a check, because it served as a
receipt, and he thereby saved the two-cent revenue
stamp required at that time not only upon checks
but upon receipts as well. Another man, to whom
I one day applied for a house, told me that he had
one but that he must have some references as to my
ability to pay my rent. I gave him the names of
several prominent men in the city who knew me,
and after calling upon them he sent for me and told
me that he had made inquiries concerning me and
found that I was all right. Whereupon I said, " I,
too, have made inquiries about you." With great
eagerness and much curiosity he inquired what had
been said of him, and although I hesitated, he finally
forced me to tell him, that while I had heard that he
was all right I had also been told that he was the
meanest landlord in the city. Without another
word he said, " Mr. Steinert, you may have the
house."
My little Dutch-Yankee band were as much in-
terested as ever in their playing, and I was equally
anxious to have an orchestra even if a bad one
in the city. I worked hard, and finally, by
weeding out a lot of bad players and substituting
others, had a good orchestra, and we decided to
appear before the public under the name of the
" Steinert Orchestra," and I felt very happy when
I heard them play Haydn's Symphonies, several
overtures, operatic selections, and Strauss waltzes.
As I knew that the orchestra could not live without
1 62 Reminiscences
some financial basis, I made an engagement for them
with the officers of the " Young Men's Institute,"
who gave a series of lectures each winter in Music
Hall, with such celebrated speakers as Wendell
Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, Anna Dickinson,
John B. Gough, and many other well-known orators.
Mr. Edwin Marble, the President of the Association,
engaged us to play a concert program of one hour
before the lectures, and I must say to the credit of
the orchestra that our music gave general satisfac-
tion, and may perhaps be called the corner-stone of
the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, which now
affords so much pleasure to our cultured citizens in
a series of concerts given each winter in the Hype-
rion Theatre.
Among the musicians there was a peculiar charac-
ter, a violinist by the name of Fischer. He was a
bachelor, a countryman of mine, coming from Ba-
varia, where he was originally a blacksmith. With-
out going into details concerning his peculiar
characteristics, I shall only say that Peter Fischer
celebrated his birthday twice a year, and had a good
time semi-annually, for he was not a temperance
man, loving his beer as much as his music, and no
one can deny that he loved the latter with his whole
heart and soul. While Peter always enjoyed his
beer, the banner days of the year were his birthdays,
when he would invite his friends and he had a
great number of them and they would assemble in
a beer-stube in a basement on Church Street, kept
by Moebus. Fischer expected his friends to come
early and stay late. He would usually, gather his
forces together in the morning and open the banquet
Steinert's Orchestra 163
by ordering beer to be served in different-sized
glasses. With these glasses before him on the
table and his friends close at hand, he would form a
miniature company of soldiers, the officers being
represented by the larger glasses, and after giving a
few orders the guests would each seize a glass, drink
the beer, put the vessel back on the table in its
original position, whereupon Fischer, after several
more commands, would sweep the glasses to the
floor as a finale of the military manoeuvre. It was
an unfortunate day for the conductor of the " Stein-
ert Orchestra " when one of Fischer's birthdays oc-
curred on the day when the orchestra was engaged
to play a concert program before Cough's lecture,
and it was still worse for the great conductor that
he did n't know of it.
A little before seven I entered Music Hall loaded
with music and my violoncello, and, as it was about
time for the men to make their appearance and not
one of the band came in, I grew cold with anxiety,
and almost embraced Mr. Briggs, the second-horn
player, when he entered. " Where are the others ? "
I questioned, whereupon he burst out laughing and
said, " Why, don't you know that to-day is Fischer's
Geburtstag, and that the orchestra is down in Moe-
bus's cellar celebrating ? " It did n't take me long
to run over to Moebus's, where I found my orchestra
in a state of great hilarity and mirth, for Fischer
had been drilling his soldiers all day. Immediately
I put my head in the door Fischer rushed at me and
in a maudlin way embraced me, expressing his great
love for me, offering me wine or beer in honor of the
happy day. While I would have enjoyed Fischer's
1 64 Reminiscences
hospitality upon any other occasion, I was in despair
when I looked around and saw the condition of my
little band and, knowing their musical state when
sober, I naturally felt that the engagement to play
for the lecture that evening would be connected
with great risk. I issued a call upon them never-
theless to follow me to the hall, whereupon they
began to laugh, and informed me en masse that
they would not play, that it was Fischer's Geburtstag,
that they were invited there by him to celebrate the
happy event, and that they would never desert him.
For a moment I was staggered. It was nearly
time for the concert, and here were my men in a
semi-intoxicated condition, refusing to play. Sud-
denly a happy thought came to me, and in the most
chummy manner I said, " All right, boys, let 's
have a round of beer in honor of the event." The
beer was immediately served, and lifting my glass I
drank- to the health of Peter Fischer, our colleague.
While waiting for another round I said that the
glorious day could not be brought to a nobler close
than by an hour of music, and again drinking to
Fischer and the orchestra, I emptied my stein, and
while waiting for another I led up to the concert
which we were pledged to play at Music Hall, to
the disgrace if we failed to appear and do our duty,
and by the time the third stein had been emptied
the entire band voted to follow me to the hall, and
with Fischer at the head we started.
It was fortunate that the beer-stube was so near,
otherwise we might never have reached the hall,
owing to the uncertain condition of some of the
artists. They managed to take their places upon
Steinert's Orchestra 165
the stage, however, and began at once to manipu-
late their instruments. The program arranged for
the evening opened with a Haydn symphony, fol-
lowed by Auber's overture to Crown Diamonds, but
when the men attacked the symphony, and I, sitting
in the middle, conducting and playing, was called
upon once or twice to save the swaying double-bass
from falling, while the violins gave forth the most
doubtful tones, the flutes and clarionets emitted the
most blood-curdling cries, the horns croaked pain-
fully, and the trombones brayed incoherently, I
found that Haydn was not ''in it" on Fischer's
birthday, and we abruptly came to a general pause.
Wishing to fill in the time to our credit, I called for
a German march which they knew by heart, and
which I hoped might serve my temperance audience
for Haydn's symphony. Being now initiated in the
musical state of my orchestra, I kept them playing
simple pieces which they knew, for on that memor-
able evening they could not trust to their eyes. I
was just congratulating myself upon the success of
the affair, and we were on the last waltz, when the
double-bass utterly collapsed and fell to the floor,
his big instrument on top of him. A storm of ap-
plause came from the audience; in fact, the per-
formance of my artists that evening would have
made the most solemn dyspeptic laugh. The fall
of the bass was the finale, and we scrambled off the
stage, to be followed by Gough, who delivered a
powerful lecture on temperance. I regret to say
that we were not re-engaged.
I now felt that my position as organist at St.
Thomas's was not paying me enough, so I asked for
1 66 Reminiscences
an increase of salary, and as it was not forthcoming
I decided to make a change, and applied for the
organ at St. Patrick's. My early training at the
monastery at Scheinfeld had well fitted me for the
work required, and I was appointed to the position
with a salary of three hundred dollars a year. I
soon gave Mozart's Twelfth Mass with orchestra,
this being the first time in the history of the State
that a mass with orchestra was sung in church. If I
am to judge by the crowd that entered the church
on that memorable Sunday morning, and the im-
mense gathering that stood outside the building, it
must have been an event of some importance.
The excitement and work that rested upon me at
that time brought on a run of typhoid fever, and I
was ill for over four weeks and nearly lost my life.
My good wife, noticing the immense amount of
work which I did, and the small returns, suggested
that I change my profession, and I began to look
about for something else to do, finally deciding to
go into the manufacturing of hoop-skirts, having
acquired a certain knowledge of the business here
and in Birmingham. Just as I was ready to open
my establishment, I was told that the business had
seen its best days, and that I had better try some-
thing else. As I had already rented a store, which
was built for me on Grand Avenue, and as I was
determined to give up teaching, I took the advice
of Mrs. Steinert to open a music store, Mrs.
Steinert basing her advice on the fact that I had
two second-hand pianos and a lot of fiddles, and that
as I could tune and repair pianos, she felt sure that
I could sell them. I never stopped to consider;
Steinert's Orchestra 167
what my good wife advised was law to me and,
without more ado, I moved my two second-hand
pianos, fiddles, tuning-hammer, and whatever I had
in musical wares into the store on Grand Avenue,
and hung out my shingle.
About this time I began to receive letters from
my friends in Athens asking me to come back and
resume my profession; but in addition there also
came letters from my former pupils whose parents
were looked upon as rich before the war, and
who now, on account of the emancipation of their
slaves and the destruction of their property, were in
a precarious condition. These pupils wrote, me,
asking me to advise them regarding the teaching of
music, feeling that in their distress they must make
use of the instruction which they had received from
me. They also told me that my property had been
confiscated, and that unless I came South at once
and claimed it, I could expect nothing. Under
such conditions I decided to let it go, although I
greatly mourned the loss of my violoncello which, in
my hasty flight, I had left in the house of a Northern
family by the name of Meeker. I felt that Mrs.
Meeker would guard it carefully; but I knew what
war meant, and as the months passed and I heard
nothing from her, I concluded that my Gemunder
'cello had gone with the rest of my property.
One morning I received a letter from Mrs. Meeker
telling me that she was now living in New York
City, and that if I would call upon her during the
week she would be delighted to restore my violon-
cello, as Mrs. Meyer, who had kept it since she left
Athens, was coming to New York on business, and
1 68 Reminiscences
would bring it with her. I hastened to New York
on the appointed day, and found Mrs. Meyer at the
Meekers', and my beloved 'cello was given to me.
After many questions, Mrs. Meeker told me that
after the people knew that there was no prospect of
my coming back, and in their anger had seized my
household effects, they remembered that I had an
expensive violoncello, and began to look for it,
finally coming to her and demanding it. She de-
nied all knowledge of it, though it was hidden away
in a secret closet in the garret. After questioning
her persistently, they evidently believed that she
was telling the truth, for they went away leaving
her in possession of the instrument. During the
second year of the war her family was destitute and
in a starving condition, and she made up her mind
that she must either sell my 'cello or the pet cow
which she had raised by hand from a calf, and of
which she was very fond. After thinking the mat-
ter over for some time, she went up-stairs and took
the 'cello from its hiding-place, resolved to sacrifice
it instead of the cow, but as she passed her hands
over the strings they began to vibrate, and to her
excited mind seemingly spoke, begging to be spared.
Without a moment's hesitation she put it back in
the closet, sent for the butcher, and sold her cow.
In telling the story she said that the reproachful
tones of the 'cello so moved her that she would
have starved rather than part with it. With my
eyes swimming with tears I received again my be-
loved companion, for its loss had filled me with
deep sorrow. My esteemed friend, Mr. John D.
Jackson, of New Haven, Connecticut, an amateur
'cellist of ability, now possesses the instrument.
VIOLONCELLO.
Made by George Gemiinder.
CHAPTER IX
Business
IT was in the year 1865 that I opened the store
on Grand Avenue. Besides my two second-
hand pianos and small musical instruments I carried
a stock of sheet music ; and as it was nearing the
holiday season I added a small stock of Christmas
goods. My wife proved to be an excellent sales-
woman, her genial disposition being appreciated by
the customers that frequented our shop. She also
had a keen business sense which stood us in good
stead, and our humble little music store soon be-
came quite a popular and attractive centre, though
its location was not what I could wish, nor was the
establishment quite what I had pictured in my
dreams. As my brother-in-law, Mr. Bretzfelder, had
advanced me the few hundred dollars he could spare,
and as I had only a limited credit with music dealers
in New York, I did not like at that time to attempt
anything larger or more pretentious. We were very
fortunate, and I soon disposed of my two second-
hand pianos, while, through the influence of my
temperance band, I sold a number of fiddles, flutes,
and fiddle-strings, building up quite a following
l6q
1 70 Reminiscences
among the musicians of New Haven ; and in con-
sequence I made money, paying off my indebted-
ness to my brother-in-law, and clearing about three
thousand dollars in the first four or five months.
Of course I felt very uneasy, for prosperity at that
time tended to make me uncomfortable, so I decided
to manufacture pianos. As this venture required
more capital than I could possibly invest, I per-
suaded some of my German friends to go in business
with me, and we started a company with a capital of
twenty-five thousand dollars, calling it " The Ma-
thushek Pianoforte Company." Mr. Mathushek,
an eminent piano-builder, residing in New York,
permitted us to use his name and accepted the
superintendency of the concern, and we began to
manufacture pianos in quite an extensive way on
Orange Street between Chapel and Crown Streets,
on the site now occupied by The Armstrong Furni-
ture Company.
While this may appear as a wild and foolhardy
venture, I must state that about thirty-five years
ago the manufacture of pianos rested in the hands
of a few men, and on account of the little competi-
tion and the increasing demand for their instruments,
it was difficult for a small dealer like myself to ob-
tain the agency for the sale of the pianos made by the
manufacturers who had a wide reputation, partly
because of the superiority of their goods, and partly
because of the popularity gained by their extensive
advertising. These piano-makers had sufficient out-
put for their instruments in the large cities, and they
could therefore snub the dealers in the small cities;
and it was considered somewhat of a monopoly to
Business 171
be allowed by these piano parents to buy their goods
at any price. The small dealers, therefore, humbly
submitted and served these feudal lords o the trade
according to the autocratic methods which they
dictated. The terms of these parents were in keep-
ing with the popularity which their instruments en-
joyed, and as the public then, and even now, know
but little concerning the merits of musical instru-
ments, they were guided and influenced mainly by
the reports which came to their ears from time to
time of the superiority of one maker over another.
The course pursued by these parents was a most
original and expensive one, for they would engage
celebrated artists to play upon their pianos in pub-
lic, having the name of the maker of the piano in
large letters in front of the instrument, while the
program was filled up with testimonials from cele-
brated musicians, praising the piano and detailing its
excellence over all others. To enhance still further
this popularity, large concert halls were built where
the piano made by the builder was exclusively used.
In manufacturing the " Mathushek Piano," under
conditions so different from those employed by the
great parents, viz., having had no experience in
manufacturing or in advertising, and not possessing
or being imbued with the artificial and conniving
ways of the mighty ones, I was at a disadvantage
in placing our pianos and giving to our production
the prestige and heavenly halo that was so much a
part of a piano sale at that time. Thus certain dif-
ficulties regarding our Superintendent, and the fear
of my German partners lest they lose their money,
made " The Mathushek Pianoforte Company,"
1 72 Reminiscences
as created by us, short-lived; and as we were all
weary of the venture, we virtually presented our
successor with the stock, providing that he would
assume our responsibilities. This was, indeed, a
losing game on my part, and, as I was poorer than
ever in pocket but richer in experience, I decided to
hang on to the coat-tail of one of the parents, and
I found it a greater undertaking than starting the
" Mathushek Pianoforte Company," and losing my
money besides.
After a long council with my wife, in which we
went over the situation carefully, she suggested that
I try to obtain the agency of one of the well-known
piano houses, and as her advice always seemed in-
fallible, I started, one fine fall day, for the great
metropolis. I was conscious of the many obstacles
before me in gaining an audience, and was not,
therefore, surprised when I entered the establish-
ment of a well-known maker to be looked upon with
indifference by the first chap I met. A little em-
barrassed, I hastened to tell him who I was, where
I came from, and what I wanted; whereupon he
looked me over from head to foot, and evidently not
seeing much in me in the way of profit nonchalantly
directed me to the next man, to whom I meekly re-
peated my little speech, and he, having to deal with
persons of importance, simply said " Umph," and
sent me along down the line to the next fellow. By
this time I knew my story very well, and I rattled it
off with the speed of an accomplished linguist to the
man who was occupied in counting immense rolls of
bills, and as he was standing next to the safe, I de-
cided that he was the guardian of the treasury. He
Business 173
was a stern-looking man, clean-shaven, with a square,
firm jaw. His complexion was florid, but his dispos-
ition was not, for he was as cold as a cucumber, and
he looked to me, as he stood there, like a figure hewn
out of marble. My speech must have had the effect
of paralyzing his vocal chords and, in consequence,
he was unable to utter a word, so he turned his head
and pointed to the man behind him By this time
I decided that the fault lay in my speech, and as I
approached the man who was seated at a desk, I
had a new one ready. When I stood before him
and looked him over, I decided that the new speech
was altogether too good to be wasted upon him, for
he looked like a workman, and quite out of place in
the House of the Barons. He was a different chap
from the rest, because when I addressed him he un-
graciously turned away his head and, as I finished
talking, he whirled around in his chair and expressed
himself most indignantly, demanding of me to ex-
plain what had prompted such unwarrantable intru-
sion. I meekly tried to tell him all over again,
whereupon he said: " We are not in need of an
agent in New Haven, Connecticut ; the State is
altogether too small for our extensive province in
the pianoforte business. Besides, we have a man
who looks after the occasional demand for a piano
in that section, and you need not trouble to inquire
further." It did not take me long to understand
my man, and instead of bothering to stop at station
number five, I turned to the other scribes and asked
to see the Baron himself.
Now any one who dared to make such a de-
mand was looked upon as a great man, and I was
174 -Reminiscences
immediately treated with respect, and politely di-
rected to a gentleman who sat in a small inclosure at
the farther end of the room. I used my new speech
this time, and succeeded in stating my case quite
clearly, but I was told in a short and concise manner
that there was no opening for me. I left the house in
disgust and took the first train back to New Haven,
telling my good wife of my experience. I was so
indignant at the treatment I had received that
I took a solemn oath never to approach them
again, but Mrs. Steinert after a time pacified me
and I made up my mind to try it once more, and
started again for the House of the Barons, accom-
panied by Mrs. Steinert, and supplied with a num-
ber of letters from prominent men in New York
City as to my ability and integrity. I also took
with me my journal, showing my sales of " Mathu-
shek " pianos, and the prices which I had received
for them. These letters and the presence of Mrs.
Steinert gained immediate admission to the Baron,
who, after reading the letters and looking over my
sales, consented to sell me pianos, the conditions
being that I must furnish a bondsman and pay cash
every thirty days on my purchases ; which terms I
gladly accepted and carried out. I did a good busi-
ness for the house and, as I also sold pianos of other
makes, my sales were considerable. By this time I
had outgrown my little Grand Avenue store, and
I leased a desirable one on Chapel Street, New
Haven's most attractive business centre.
After \.\\e fiasco of my Dutch-Yankee band at the
Gough temperance lecture I felt that orchestral
music in New Haven had received a crushing blow,
ENGLISH SPINET. FIVE OCTAVES.
Made by Johannes Hitchcock, 1750.
Business 175
but as I was deeply interested in music, I organized
a string quartet, and while we did not make any
pretensions to greatness, when compared with such
quartets as existed in New York and Boston, it
would be an injustice to the artists should I call it
an apology for a quartet, for we certainly played in
good tune and time and with some timbre, though
our technique and its resulting tone-production was
of a diminutive kind. We gave a number of recitals
which were really creditable, and which were also
successful financially. There were even then in
the city some true patrons of music of the class
we interpreted, who attended our rehearsals and
gave us encouragement to go ahead with the work
we were interested in studying, and among the
most prominent and helpful ones I must mention
Mrs. Larned, wife of Professor W. A. Larned of
Yale, and most especially a charming young lady of
the highest literary attainments and musical culture,
Miss Justine Ingersoll, daughter of former Governor
Ingersoll of Connecticut. These quartets were given
yearly, first in Brewster's Hall and afterwards in the
Athenaeum on Church Street. I also gave a series
of orchestral concerts every Monday night in Brew-
ster's Hall, the orchestra made up of musicians from
Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven.
Being now fully initiated in the music business
I determined to make it a success, and having no
capital I had to think of some plan to carry on a
large business and make good profits without it.
This problem was a serious one, but I looked at the
main principle underlying my future plans, and
found that it was made up of two words, Good
176 Reminiscences
Credit. In other words, I decided to avail myself
of the greatest amount of credit possible from piano-
forte manufacturers ; to buy their pianos at the low-
est figure, less than that usually given for a cash
sale, and on very long credit ; to sell them as quickly
as possible and at the largest profit ; with this money
to meet the first month's payment, but always to
have four or five months ahead, or whatever time I
was able to obtain, and with the money for the sales
invest in other pianos which could be sold for less
money, and on credit or the instalment plan. I
made " Credit " my god, and did a remarkable
business until the hard times of 1869, when, like ev-
ery one else, I was for a time in a critical financial
condition. Still I was hopeful, for I found that I
could always find friends who, for the sake of their
great interest in me, would lend me money at from
twelve to fifteen per cent., and when I could not get
what I needed at the bank I permitted them to
thus generously befriend me.
As the hard times increased and business fell off
and ray notes came due, I awoke to the realization
that something must be done. " Sell at smaller
profits," said my clerk; but I knew that I could not
pay my notes with less profit, and as all I had in the
world was my credit, I decided to try and sell
pianos, not for smaller but larger profits to sell
them to the hard men, the money-bags, who never
buy luxuries unless they think that they are buying
them cheap. I had hardly framed this resolution,
when one day a man whom I knew to be very rich
and very penurious, came to me and said: " I want
to buy a piano for my daughter. I suppose they are
Business 177
cheap now, Mr. Steinert ? " " Cheap ! " I replied.
' You can buy them at your own price to-day."
Whereupon he selected one of the best instruments
in the store, and asked me the price, and I, know-
ing my man and remembering my plan, named a
price which would give me a large profit, and, after
considerable bargaining, he bought the piano at
about fifty dollars above the usual asking price.
He was only one of a class of hard-fisted men who
endeavored to take advantage of the stagnation in
business and buy things that, under other condi-
tions, they would never have thought of buying,
and from them I made a good profit which helped
me to keep my credit afloat.
But that was not enough ; and I called forth every
ability within me, and, organizing a small orchestra,
I played every night for dancing, finally looking at
my growing family to find if possible among them
something that I could utilize. There I found my
daughter, Heloise, and my son, Henry, and I im-
mediately determined to put them into the harness
and let them help. I trained them to play concert
music with me, and we played classical music for
piano, violin, and violoncello, each one appearing as
soloist on the respective instruments, Heloise the
piano, Henry the violin, and I the violoncello; and
we played every Sunday night for the German soci-
eties, while every Monday evening, Henry and I,
with our orchestra, played for dances, my cook and
chambermaid being among the happy, pleasure-
seeking company, for, even if I worked all day and
all night and had no capital, I lived like a prince.
Upon several occasions my cook and her partner
1 78 Reminiscences
came to me and asked me to play a Strauss waltz,
or my chambermaid wanted a polka, which I cheer-
fully called upon the orchestra to play, as, for the
sake of my god, " Credit," I was their servant on
Monday nights, while they belonged to me for the
rest of the week.
I did a large business with- all the manufacturers,
and they considered me a remarkably successful
agent, and my credit became absolute, Unlimited.
With all this, having a large and growing family,
for there were now nine children to be clothed and
fed, I could not see, with all my work, any road
ahead that led to riches, and I had promised myself to
be a rich man. If I did not, therefore, get rich, there
must be something wrong with my business meth-
ods ; so I surveyed the territory about me, and asked
myself whether I were not too big a gun for the
small community where I lived, and, as I always
thought I was a little smarter than the next man, I
concluded that my coat was too small for me, and
I looked for a larger one. I was fond of New
Haven, but I fancied that there might be other
cities where the inhabitants were more liberal and
could be of greater benefit to me than my townfolk.
I well knew that my success in life depended upon
what I could gain from the people, so I concluded
to branch out and enlarge my business by going to
another city, and at the same time to keep the foot-
hold I had gained in New Haven. To do this I had
to have assistance, and I made use of my sons,
Henry and Alexander, who were respectively nine-
teen and seventeen years of age. I therefore har-
nessed them into my business van, and with them
Business 179
I went to Providence, Rhode Island, where I rented
a store for three thousand dollars a year, stocked it
with pianos and musical wares, which I obtained on
credit, advertised the business, and left my boys in
charge, spending three days there every week drum-
ming up trade, and from the very beginning I made
money, and a good deal of it too. Influenced by my
success in Providence, I turned my eyes towards Bos-
ton as a good field for an enterprising man, and, using
my credit still further, I went to the " Hub," where
I met with even greater success. The Boston house
I gave to the management of my second son, Alex-
ander, who, with the assistance of his brother
Frederick, soon made an inroad into the pianoforte
business of the " Hub." Boston proved to be a
more lucrative place than Providence and New
Haven together, and as my sons became partners
when they reached their twenty-first birthday, we
felt that we were a very happy family. The con-
servative ways of Boston music dealers made it an
easy task for Connecticut hustlers, and we soon let
them know that we were in the city, and as we had
no other aspiration than to make a reputation and
money we were satisfied. At the beginning of this
chapter I said that I was determined to be a success
as a business man, and both my sons and myself
looked to this motto as the principle of our business
life.
My early struggles, and those that were even at
this time surrounding me, taught me that the man
who has no money has nothing to say in this world,
while the man who has money has everything to
say, not that I look upon money as the elixir of life,
i8o Reminiscences
or that I love it, or love to work in order to make
it; not that I became a piano-dealer by the grace
of God, or that I admired that particular profession.
Not at all ; I simply selected it as a means of sup-
port, and thought it a good way of making money
even when I should become disgusted with it and
resolved to work no more. I never believed that
money was the root of all evil, but rather looked
upon it as a tree upon which grew the sweet flowers
of comfort, pleasure, and happiness. From experi-
ence I knew what it was to be without money, and so
for variety's sake, if nothing more, I wanted to know
what it was to have plenty of it. For these reasons
I determined to utilize every ability to that end,
honestly, conscientiously, and in keeping with the
highest ideal of morality. To speak plainly, I
wanted to exchange pianos for money, and at a good
profit, for it was for large rather than small profits
that I worked. I well knew that I was dependent
upon the large amount of business I could do to feed
the hungry wolves of manufacturers, so I used their
money as credit while I appealed to the generosity
and good-will of the public for such profits as would
keep me from bankruptcy and despair. I also real-
ized that I was dealing with a liberal and cultured
class of people ; I understood the social position of
the New Englander, knew that he liked good things,
and that he was always willing to pay for them, and
I thought that I was the chosen one to gratify his
demands.
I had trained my sons from their boyhood in the
art of music. They lived in a musical atmosphere,
having it served to them morning, noon, and night;
Business 181
so when I put them into active service they were com-
petent, for I had laid quite as much stress upon their
being able to play the piano well as upon their abil-
ity to give the customary " gush " that accompanies
a sale; in other words, they had been taught to let
the piano speak for itself. I availed myself person-
ally of certain musical gifts which I possessed, playing
my instrument in accordance with the characteristics
which were inherent in my customer. Having some
knowledge of human nature, I preferred to use my
influence through the medium of tone, harmony,
and rhythm, playing such music as would appear in
keeping with the emotional nature of the purchaser,
interesting him, if possible, in the mysteries of tonal
art, and holding him spellbound. I fully realized
that as a piano dealer I had many competitors, but
in my peculiar method of disposing of an instrument
and in controlling my customer, I felt that I had
few. Such an assertion from one who writes his
own experience may sound immodest, but better
appear immodest than admit that I did not fully
understand myself and my talents.
There is hardly a human being that is not fond of
music, for as the human eye is either charmed or
horrified as it looks at things spread out before it,
and experiences pleasant or unpleasant sensations,
so the human ear, with its mysterious work, receives
sensations which come from another world than that
which exists for the eye. A world of greater spirit-
uality and more profound happiness belongs to the
little organ which we call the ear, and though many
things greet it unpleasantly, like the discharge of a
cannon or the sudden noises that are created by
1 82 Reminiscences
nature or circumstances, it is also treated to delight-
ful contrasts, such as the euphonious sounds of
speech, the musical tones found in song, the un-
speakable wealth of a stringed instrument, the
refined vibrations that enter the tube of a flute, clar-
ionet, French horn, or oboe, which when created
and properly controlled by a virtuoso cannot fail to
move the heart of the listener, and especially the un-
initiated, who hears its hypnotizing effect for the first
time. Like the orator or the actor, the musician, by
means of the musical tones under his control, can
more greatly appeal to and influence such classes of
humanity as do not belong to the chosen ones who
worship at the shrine of Orpheus, and so I must
confess that the power given to the true musician to
move the world was used by me for purposes so
vulgar and of^uch a nature as the furtherance of my
business. If I look upon the humorous side when I
applied my hypnotizing art upon the different sub-
jects that exchanged their good money for my poor
pianos, my great results as a musical salesman, and
the bargains I made with them, I must admit that
there was not only money but lots of poetry in the
pianoforte business after all. In order to fully
illustrate the modus operandi that served me
through music as the handmaid to my pocket-
book, I will let my readers look at my art openly
and squarely, and should I succeed in creating
a new school for the unfortunate pianoforte seller,
I think I would serve both art and salesmanship
honestly.
First on my list is the churchman, a man who had
served his apprenticeship in the Sunday-school.
Business 183
My appeal to him had to be made through suitable
music. For instance, I usually prayed Shall We
Gather at the River ; but if my man was of middle
age, having grown gray in his holy work, I substi-
tuted one of the tunes that once upon a time gave
such hope and prospective happiness to the young
Christian, as Jesus, Lover of My Soul ; this, played in
the key of F, always clinched the bargain with the
devoted citizen. Such program music to the Irish-
woman who carried the price of the piano with her
in her stocking would have acted very disastrously
upon her merry temperament, for it is the Irish
dance rhythm found in reels and jigs that interests
her, and all I had to do was to keep my eye on her
foot, and the moment she began to move her light
fantastic toe in time to the jig I was hammering out
of my instrument, the piano was sold^md I had her
money. The German piano customer is of a differ-
ent class, and had to be subjected to an entirely
different course of treatment. The Sweet Bye and
Bye or The Irish Washerwoman " cut no ice " with
him. He is a patriot ; he loves his Kaiser and his
beer. His movements in the dance are subject to
the rhythms of the gliding waltz, and he who has
once served as a soldier in the glorious army of the
Kaiser still retains the echoes of martial music, and
the German, not the Sousa March, is in his brain;
and The Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz, Die Wacht
am Rhein, or, as he is always a member of the Man-
nerchor Singing Society, he aspires high and envelops
himself in Kreutzer's Es ist der Tag des Herrn, or
Die Kapelle. If I gave my instrument such em-
phasis as to bring out the patriotic, the heroic, and
184 Reminiscences
the gemuthliche feeling of the Teutonic purchaser,
the shekels ran into my coffers.
But the poetical forces, the refinement of the
musical salesman can be beautifully demonstrated
when an American woman of any age enters the
wareroom in search of a piano, she who dearly
loves music, and hastens to assure you that she
invariably falls asleep to its soothing strains; that
she is so passionately fond of it that she can
go without eating or drinking if she can only
listen to sweet music, and that she never tires of
it. She loves the opera, and she thinks singing
quite beyond anything else in the world, some-
thing simply grand. She has listened to all the
operas she has ever heard of, and she can hum
them all by ear or play them on the piano, and it
is really not remarkable that she can do this be-
cause she so dearly loves music. She assures you
that Paderewski's playing is heavenly, that she
is simply dying to meet him, and that she would
willingly walk ten miles to hear him play and pay
five dollars for her ticket besides. She thinks that
any one who has not heard Paderewski play does
not know or appreciate what life is. She is so
earnest in her love for the divine and heavenly art
that she places her fingers caressingly on the keys
of the piano and plays some snatches of Chopin,
looking into your eyes the while, and growing more
friendly. Finally, in a burst of confidence, she tells
you that she comes from a very musical family ; her
father, who just died she stops her soulful playing
to brush away a tear was a great musician, and
leader of the choir, while her mother was one of
UPRIGHT HAMMER-CLAVIER. FOUR AND A HALF OCTAVES. 1780.
Business 185
the loveliest alto singers in the State, that her
voice was so powerful and yet so sweet and mellow,
that it could be heard half a mile away, and fur-
thermore she has now commenced to play the
Chopin C-sharp-minor nocturne that she has in-
herited her talent from her father's side, for her
grandfather was a great performer on the bugle,
and he also played the bass viol in the choir for
fifty years. These and many more such assurances
from the accomplished musician convince me that
'most any piano will do, and it is the cheapest
plan to let her revel in her glorious art. Let her
sit and play, for she will not permit any rivalry,
and if I attempt to show her that I, too, can play
on occasions, she immediately becomes angry and
the sale is lost. After many years in the business,
I assure you that all you have to do with such a
customer is to praise her efforts, assure her that
she is a great musician, and keep her playing. If
you are careful not to say anything in praise of
the piano, nine times out of ten you will get her
money if she has any, which is doubtful.
Then there is the Hebrew, who, having made a lot
of money in America, wants to buy a piano for his
daughter, and buy it cheap. For forty years I have
tried to find some style of music that appeals to
him, and although I have patiently gone through
the entire list of composers, starting in with songs
sung long before Moses wrote, or did n't write, the
Pentateuch, I must admit my failure to ever, for a
second, hypnotize him by music of any class. The
Hebrew never looks beyond the polished case and
the price. He wants the largest, by all means; so
1 86 Reminiscences
to those who are to come after me, I shall say, when
the Hebrew comes in to buy a piano, show him one
that is conspicuous by reason of its size and high
polish, and then talk. Never mind opening the in-
strument, or playing upon it, or telling him the
name of the maker. It 's the price he wants, and
if you are blest with the gift of gab, and if you have
started in with a price sufficiently high to admit of
many reductions, you may be able to drive a bargain
before night, that is, if you are sharper than he is.
Being now fully initiated in the workings of the
trade, and being considered a prosperous man among
the New Englanders, I cast my eyes upon the
Western horizon, for I remembered the old German
saying that Hinter den Bergen wo/men auch Men-
schen y " Behind the mountains there are other
people," and as I had heard of the fortunes made
in the Western country, I prevailed one day upon
the Barons and the plebeian pianoforte manufactur-
ers to give their consent to be represented in Cin-
cinnati. I had seven sons and could safely spare
a few to harness to the Western end of the business
van. So I selected my eldest son, Henry, and his
brother William for the missionary field, placing
Edward in charge of the Providence house. I gave
the boys a handsome stock of instruments, and
along with them my blessing, and they opened a
large establishment in Cincinnati. As I was not
there with them, I cannot say whether they ever
established a busiriess, but can only state that their
letters were hopeful and naturally gave me great
encouragement. I soon realized, however, that the
practical results were not in keeping with their let-
Business 187
ters, and after a year or two, and after going there
myself and investigating the cause of our non-suc-
cess, I decided that the West, unlike the East, did
not show blind loyalty and allegiance to the Barons,
and while they were always ready to listen to a pianist
who travelled through that section advertising the
Baron's pianos, they were disinclined to buy and pay
the price demanded for the instrument upon which
he played. So while the hired man was paid by
the Barons to show their pianos, the public took
stock only in his playing, and bought their pianos
from another maker, and the Barons were at the
disadvantage of advertising for others.
My non-success in Cincinnati did not have a
soothing effect upon the House of the Barons in
the East, and in consequence many slurring re-
marks were made by them to me. They were,
however, well aware of my oath of allegiance and
my sincerity, and felt sure of my loyalty towards
them, and while I could not guarantee such loyalty
from my dear offspring, the thought that I was all
right was comforting to me. I finally appealed to
my boys, telling them to forcibly introduce and
sell the art production of the Barons in the West,
but I was told by them that the Western men failed
to see the superiority of the baronial wares over
those of more plebeian make; and inasmuch as the
West was quite aware of her ability to produce fine
instruments in response to the demands of the
people, she felt herself capable of making as good
pianos as any one else in America or Europe. She
was also aware of her ability to produce them at
a fair price, and, as she was confident of the
1 88 Reminiscences
support she would receive, to make a good profit be-
sides. This information was hardly calculated to
be imparted to the Barons, as it carried with it quite
a little treason, and as I wanted to be on good terms
with them I advised them of my willingness to with-
draw from the Western market, and sell out to any
one who could work to greater advantage for them.
My suggestion found a ready response, and soon a
large and old Western house which had been in the
business for over sixty years bought my interest,
and I took my money and gracefully withdrew, re-
turning to my peaceful Eastern abode. There was
great rejoicing East and West when this deal was
consummated, and hope again dawned upon the
baronial horizon, for my successors invested largely
in their pianos. But alas ! after a few years of hard
work and many sacrifices, this Western firm made
an assignment. Not yet satisfied with the failure
of their goods in the West, the Barons put their
own shoulders to the wheel, and established busi-
ness houses in all of the large cities of the West,
under their own management, and after trying
their fortune and undeniable skill they repeated
my success (?) and finally withdrew their forces.
Having lost some money in my Western experi-
ment, and being a little cast down thereat, Dame
Fortune came to me one day and in her sweet man-
ner beckoned to me with her magic wand, and with
her angelic voice, like the siren song of the Lorelei,
told me that she had come to cheer and console me,
and that her horn of plenty was running over with
bright, shining gold pieces which would roll into my
lap if I felt inclined to receive them. I threw her a
Business 189
kiss, bowed my knee to her as she vanished, and her
words were followed by an offer of two hundred
thousand dollars for the renouncement of the lease
of my Boston store. This offer was made by a syn-
dicate who intended to build a mammoth hotel upon
the site, to be called the " Touraine." Mr. Alex-
ander Porter made to my son, Alexander, an initia-
tory offer of fifty thousand dollars, raising his offer
to one hundred thousand dollars almost immedi-
ately, and when my son submitted the proposal to
me, I deemed myself the chosen one to step in for
further hearing. Mr. Porter told me that his syndi-
cate was very anxious to have the place, and that
they would willingly pay me one hundred thousand
dollars; whereupon I answered him that in consid-
eration of this two hundred thousand dollars would
be the right figure, and my offer was accepted.
Up to this time I had fully accomplished my pur-
pose of making a lot of money out of the pianoforte
business and the people who bought that instrument,
and while I thought that I had done nobly so far as
I was concerned, I felt somewhat inclined to doubt
whether the people who bought the pianos and paid
me good profits had received the full value which
they honestly bargained for. When I considered
the musical deficiency of the piano in comparison to
its prototypes, such as the clavichord, harpsichord,
and very early hammer clavier, and the claims made
by the Barons as to its value, I concluded that "some-
thing was wrong in Denmark." I well remembered
the sweet and soft tones of the clavichord that once
upon a time belonged to my teacher, the old cantor
of Scheinfeld, and which after his death had come
190 Reminiscences
into my possession. I also recalled a harpsichord
that stood silent in the little cell of my good and
noble instructor, Padre Quartian; while ever and
anon, I heard the silvery tones of an early hammer
clavier that rested in the sacristy of the old monas-
tery at Schwarzenberg. While these old friends
did not speak in brazen tones, while they lacked the
clash and noise that is found in the domicile of the
baronial instrument, they were subject to the sym-
pathetic touch of the player and responded to the
poetical emotions, to grief and sorrow, to joy and
gladness, in fact, they were capable of expressing
the very sentiments that are inherent and find their
resting-place in the heart of the sufferer and those
who enjoy the noble influences given us so freely.
I therefore resolved to find again my old clavichord
that quaint little instrument with its silent tones,
its mysterious whisperings, its intimate and soulful
response always evoked from it by the fingers of the
tone poet.
O -^
Q -c
CHAPTER X
Return to Scheinfeld Collecting Old Instruments Death-Violin
First Lecture Tour in America
IT was after an absence of almost forty years that
I took passage on a steamer for Bremen, accom-
panied by my wife and daughter Mollie, partly to
avail myself of medical advice for Mrs. Steinert,
who was stricken with the primary symptoms of
paralysis agitans, and partly to again visit Schein-
feld and find my beloved clavichord.
It is not necessary to dwell upon the vicissitudes of
the journey occasioned by my wife's health, and after
consulting several of the most eminent physicians in
France and Germany, I left my family in Heidelberg
under the care of Professor Erb and started for
Scheinfeld.
As I approached the little village the scenery ap-
peared to me like an old friend, on one side the
little clump of woods, fragrant with the odor of the
pine, on the other a rye-field dotted here and there
with blue corn-flowers which courtesied to me as I
passed ; here a cross-road with the image of the
Holy Virgin holding her child in her arms, and be-
fore me in the distance the church spire, white and
solitary amid the leafy green trees.
191
192 Reminiscences
As I entered the hamlet the church clock struck
twelve, and the reapers, ready for their midday
meal, came trooping in from the meadows, their
scythes on their shoulders, the women bearing on
their broad backs baskets heaped high with fresh-cut
grass.
My arrival created a sensation, for a carriage with
a gentleman in it was an unusual sight, and I could
see by the faces of the townfolk as we drove past
that they were curious to find out who I was and
what I was doing in Scheinfeld. I approached the
inn, " Zum Ross," and there got out. The honest
wife of the innkeeper was no less curious than the
rest of the villagers, and she courtesied as she greeted
me with the words, " Griiss Gott," and assisted me
with my luggage. But she was quick-witted, I as-
sure you, for no sooner was my back turned than
she questioned the driver, and learning that I was
an American traveller named Steinert, she ran to
me holding out both hands, crying out in her joy:
' ' Heilige Maria, Mutter Gottes, da ist ja der Herr
Steinert ! Where do you come from ? We have
expected you for a long time. The whole village
waits for you, and if I had known it before, I would
have killed a little gosling and roasted for you the
partridge which my good man shot but this morn-
ing. Ach Gott ! I am so happy. Babetta !
Babetta! Go bring a tankard of beer for Herr
Steinert." This was my welcome home.
I entered the " Ross." Everything was just as
it was fifty years ago when as a boy I used to get
beer for the folks at home: the old stove in the
middle of the room, the same wooden benches nailed
M. Steinert Collection 193
along the wall, the tables with their claw-like legs,
the small windows, even the white sand upon the
floor had not given way to a carpet. To the door I
ran, and looking behind it I saw the old cracked
slate with the little piece of chalk suspended by a
bit of string, and still serving as a ledger for the
nightly gatherings. In fact, the little hamlet was
exactly the same as when I left, with the exception
that two or three new houses had been built.
If the place had changed so little, I could not say
the same of its impression upon me, for as I walked
down the street, which to my boyish eyes had ap-
peared so broad and long, and looked at the houses
which I had always thought extremely large and
commodious, I rubbed my eyes to see if I were really
awake, for everything had become so small, the
streets so narrow, so primitive. I looked around
for the people that used to swarm its streets, then at
the church, whose spire, I remembered, had seemed
lost in the clouds. Alas! I had just come from
Cologne and the Dom, and the quaint white build-
ing with the cross had shrivelled up and the steeple
dwindled down to almost a toy one. My school-
mates, formerly giants in strength, alone seemed
unchanged. True, they had grown old, and their
eyes did not sparkle with the fire of youth, and
their fresh, young faces were seamed and wrinkled,
but their laugh was as hearty, their heart as young,
and their enjoyment of life even keener than when
I left them thirty-three years before. The grand-
children of the pretty maidens I used to play with
in the goose meadow, and for whom I wound
wreaths in the spring of their youth and beauty,
'3
194 Reminiscences
now brought me fresh nosegays from the dale and
twined garlands for me as their grandmothers had
done in the sweet past. Oh, it was all so beautiful !
Home, sweet home ! from whose idyllic quiet I have
been too long absent. Thou art still the little
modest village, safe in thy isolation from the pro-
gress of the world. In thy arms I again find all
that is sweet and beautiful. In thy holy rest, long-
forgotten memories are awakened and live again.
When I retired that evening the pictures of the
day reappeared before my eyes, and I know they
will never again forsake me as long as memory lasts.
As I lay awake and went over the events of my life,
I realized that every one is the bearer of his luck or
his ill-luck, that each man through his brain and his
will can create a world, and that he has it in his
power to make life a happy one. As I meditated,
a voice was borne to me from out the still night, and
I could make out the words:
" Hort Ihr Leut und last euch sagen
Die Uhr hat Zehn geschlagen
Bewart das Feuer und das Licht
Das euch kein Ungliick g'schlicht
Gelobt sei Jesus Christus."
It was the old night-watch, and springing from my
bed I ran to the window, threw open the lattice.
As his horn echoed three times from the hill of
Schwarzenberg, and, chanting his little rhyme, he
passed on down the street, I stood lost in the flood
of sweet memories, and that night in the little
" Ross " I was again the happy Scheinfeld boy in
the home of my sainted mother.
M. Steinert Collection 195
After a few days in my native town, I began the
search for my clavichord, which, according to in-
formation received from my brother Louis, then
residing in Coblenz, had been left in Scheinfeld, as
it was so old and dilapidated that he considered it a
useless piece of furniture ; he also stated that he had
no record of it. I was not daunted, however, and
after a day's search I succeeded in tracing it to the
tower abode of old Dazian, who must have taken it
after my brother left. I was told that Dazian had
died many years before, that his successor, his
brother Joseph, had also passed beyond, and that
Herr Bayer now held the position of Stadt Musikus.
Going to the tower, I mounted the steep, winding
stairs to the living-rooms, in search of Herr Bayer.
Very much out of breath, I knocked at the door
and inquired of the pleasant-faced elderly woman
who opened it for the Herr Stadt Musikus, and was
told by her that he was in the field hoeing potatoes.
Descending, I hastened to him, and recognized him
as the flute-player of old Dazian's band. He was
now a man of seventy-five years, aged and bent.
We exchanged greetings, for he well remembered
-me as the boy taught by his uncle, and he also knew
that I now lived in America. Herr Bayer had be-
fore him a large basket which was full of potatoes,
and which, by my help, he strapped upon his
back, and together we started for his tower home.
Upon asking him about my old clavichord, he told
me that his uncle had an old clavichord which must
have belonged to the Steinert family, that he
had kept it for many years, using it to compose
and arrange music, and that it was in the old
196 Reminiscences
tower. Again I mounted the steep stairs, the old
musician in advance with his potatoes on his back,
and entering the principal living-room saw the old
clavichord standing in one corner. With my heart
full of joy I purchased the instrument, and, what is
more, the violoncello upon which I took my first
lesson, half a dozen violins, and several violas, all
instruments which belonged to and were loved by
my old instructor, Dazian.
I was deeply interested in collecting old instru-
ments that were used in the past, and that must
have served the great composers of the seven-
teenth, eighteenth, and early part of the nineteenth
century, and I based my work upon a closer in-
vestigation than the accepted view of our mod-
ern musicians, who think that the compositions
of these classical tone poets sound better when
played upon the present pianoforte. With this
opinion I could not agree, and I ascribed their
wrong views on the subject to their ignorance and
unacquaintance with the instruments I speak of, and
though the modern musician uses the pianoforte un-
questioningly as the proper tone vehicle, I was firmly
convinced that the old instruments were the right
ones for a true interpretation of the old masters, and
that the pianoforte was not adapted to the poly-
phony of that time. I was, however, well aware of
their limitations in tonal power, and that for this rea-
son they were not consistent with the requirements
of the modern age. I was not looking for develop-
ments, but for the germs of the instrument that gave
expression to the musical effusions of the old mas-
ters, and that with inexpressible sweetness, elasticity
M. Steinert Collection 197
of touch, indescribable color, contained sufficient
power to demonstrate to the music lover and enthu-
siast the spirituality that lay inherent in Bach,
Handel, Scarlatti, and even Haydn and Mozart.
In the soft and sweet-toned clavichord I recog-
nized a germ of tremendous power, a germ which,
if properly developed and brought out, would give
to the world an instrument that would cover, not
only the requirements of the past, but the demands
of the present as well. This was one of my thoughts
when I began my investigation upon the quaint and
dilapidated clavichord in the small, dark, and un-
friendly room of the Stadt Musikus in far-away
Scheinfeld, and which thought had haunted me for
many years, and has occupied my waking moments
ever since. It was an idea that found its cradle in
the movement of the bow held in the hand of a
player, rubbing a string, and which in its rude tech-
nique refines and produces vibrations which are
capable of moving the human heart in all its
changeable moods. I also remembered the magical
tones of the French horn, its subdued and muted
color, differing so greatly from those sounds that
underlie another tone-production such as is found
in the reed instruments, the clarionet and the
oboe, and while all are subject to their construc-
tive nature, they are endowed with characteristics
of their own which give color and expression
to a living tone. I was also aware that the
pianoforte was incapable of doing this, being color-
less and inexpressive, and I wanted to alleviate the
condition of the pianoforte, to lift it out of its cold
and unsympathetic state, and to transform it also
198 Reminiscences
into an instrument full of warmth and poetic dainti-
ness. I knew that time had supplied it with a
robust nature, that it revelled in its manly strength,
that it had great boldness and courage stored away
in its body ; in short, that it was essentially mascu-
line in its defiance to nature's elements; that it
lacked femininity, tenderness, and sympathy; that
it did not possess the soft and soul-inspiring ele-
ments that come from another world than the one
to which it belonged.
To get at the root of the evil, I wanted to enter
into the state of a keyed instrument of the fore-
going ages, to see the instrument as it came from
the hands of one who was not a skilled artisan, but
rather a musician who built his own instrument in
requirement to his needs, as did old Bach. I
therefore looked for such as were constructed by
cabinet-makers, by watchmakers, by geniuses of all
trades, so that I might have a kaleidoscopic picture
of what the human mind conceives in one direction.
I wanted to throw myself into their very midst, to
stand upon the same stage with them, but with the
object of serving the modern age.
For this I needed many instruments, and as
Scheinfeld was so happily located as to its geo-
graphical position as well as its historical and re-
ligious state, I did not miscalculate in finding the
very spot which would unfold before my eyes hidden
treasures of great value in my researches, geo-
graphically, because Scheinfeld and its surrounding
country is situa.ted away from large cities, in a sec-
tion where the spirit of time has as yet made no in-
roads ; historically and religiously, because it is rich
M. Steinert Collection 199
in the possession of numberless monasteries and
convents of a time when the priesthood had full
sway over the civil powers and destinies of its citi-
zens ; for the priests were the rulers, and these
priestly princes fostered the fine arts, cultivating
music, especially, in their lonely cells, for art then
rested in the bosom of the Church, and such an instru-
ment as the clavichord must have been akin to their
spiritual nature. I also knew that about a hundred
years ago a new spirit of freedom had come over
the people living in that country, and that saintly
men and women were obliged to fly from the per-
secutions of the promoters of the new regime, and
that in their flight they had left behind the very
treasures that gave them such solace and endeared
them so greatly to the people. These treasures
were either confiscated or came into the possession
of the common people, principally the peasantry,
and they, having passed away, their descendants had
lost sight of them, especially when they were stored
away in such places as were never frequented by
the family.
With the possession of such knowledge I began
my search for old instruments, and I am happy to
say that I found all I wanted. I found them hid-
den away under the eaves of many an old house, in
the debris of a barn or cow-shed, often in the dove-
cotes, and many treasures were unearthed from the
damp cellar where for years they had rested in a
thick coat of mould. As the owners were unaware
of such treasures, the difficulty on my part was in
convincing them that old instruments were really
somewhere on the premises, and as they were bound
200 Reminiscences
to deny such ownership, I was equally bound to
strengthen my assertion by a search for them, for
which permission was reluctantly granted me after
such inducements as the offer of a glass of beer or a
cigar, and I was allowed to take a candle and accom-
pany them all over the place. I usually found one
and sometimes two to add to my collection, and
the price, I assure you, differed greatly from that
demanded for baronial productions.
I must herein state that these instruments were
totally unfit for use, that they were broken in body
but rich in soul, though they no longer had strings.
The fascination connected with my hunt for old
clavichords, harpsichords, and hammer claviers,
cannot be described in its quaintness and romantic
interest, or in its humorous side, for many a rare old
spinet or clavichord, as I play upon it to-day, seems
to have become imbued with the humorous episode
connected with its final acceptance of my heart and
home.
One morning when, with the exception of the
feathered songsters, everything appeared wrapped
in silence, I walked down through the meadow,
blue with waving corn-flowers, and stopped to watch
the villagers at work close by, their faces beaming
with content as they swung their scythes and talked.
My heart was stirred by the peaceful scene spread
out before me, and when I walked across the bridge
which spans the rippling brook, and which is the
dividing line between the villages of Scheinfeld and
Schnodsenbach, and reached the latter and looked
upon the mediaeval houses, I felt that the rural
landscape was complete.
. .
<; u o * i A
SPINET. THREE AND THREE QUARTER OCTAVES.
Made by Andreas Ruckers, 1620.
M. Steinert Collection 201
It was noon, and I heard the melodious tones of
the mid-day bell. All else was silent, and yet
what tones are wafted to my ear ? Musical sounds ?
Yes, surely, and amazed I quickened my steps and
approached the little hut from which the sounds
seemed to come, and as I drew near I recognized
the magical tones of the violin, though the player
fell far short of being a virtuoso, and his repertoire
was not made up of classical music, but the simple
soulful folk-songs.
Was it in consequence of my own mood, or of that
of the performer, that I noticed a strange ring in the
tone ? The violin resounded in such tender strains,
breathed in its notes such pain and unfulfilled long-
ing, that I involuntarily stepped into the living-room
of the cottage. The player was seated upon a rude
wooden bench, his wife beside him, while two chil-
dren played upon the floor. As I entered he put
down his violin, and in an embarrassed manner rose
and bade me welcome. I offered him my hand, spoke
to him, and after a moment we were talking quite
familiarly. He told me that he was a wagon-wright,
and that the little house served as his workshop and
dwelling. Poverty looked out from every corner,
and there was an absence of such furniture as is
deemed necessary by even the poorer classes, and yet
he had been playing upon a violin worthy to grace a
royal palace. What a contrast ! The violin, like the
hut, was the very picture of poverty, for its once
shapely neck was bent and it was in a nude condition,
its rich dress of varnish having entirely disappeared,
though it still bore traces of its former noble beauty.
Was this perhaps the reason why it had sung its
202 Reminiscences
song in so feeble and plaintive a tone, or had it but
indulged in memories of its youth, when, fresh and
young and exquisitely beautiful, it had emerged
from the hands of its creator, when its raiment
shone with bright color and the sunlight delighted
to kiss it and to mirror itself in its entrancing love-
liness ? , Was it, perchance, revelling in the memory
of the clasp of the artist and his glance of fond love
and admiration as he stroked its exquisite neck and
its Medusa-like head ? Many years have elapsed
since that day, was my thought, as I questioned its
owner as to whence it had come into his possession.
" The violin," said he, " is a legacy from my father,
who, in his day, played dances upon it for the vil-
lage youths and maidens. Yet," and he thought-
fully rubbed his brow, " there is another history
connected with the instrument that goes back to the
time when my grandfather owned it, for he, like my
father, played the violin. I can tell you the story,
if you care to listen ? " and he looked at me ques-
tioningly. " By all means," I replied, rousing my-
self from my revery, for I was lost in the memo-
ries of the past. After a slight pause he continued :
" Many years ago when the enemy with flaming
sword laid bare this peaceful country and when it
fell into the hands of its oppressors, there came
here with the other hostile soldiers one who became
dangerously ill'in consequence of the hardships of
the campaign just ended. He had dragged his
weary limbs to our village, hoping to find shelter,
but he was an enemy, and it was everywhere denied
him. After being turned away from every door, sick
and helpless, he sank down before my grandfather's
M. Steinert Collection 203
gate, overcome by his exertions. Here my grand-
father found him, his head pillowed upon his
knapsack. He was moaning piteously and calling
for water, for his lips were parched with fever, and
grandfather, going to the spring, filled a cup and,
bringing it to the dying man, lifted his head and gave
him a drink. Then, moved to pity by his suffering,
he took him into the house and cared for him until
he breathed his last.
" A few hours before his death he asked for his
knapsack, and grandfather brought it to him.
' Open it,' he said, ' and you will find my violin,
which you will please give me ; I want to speak to
it once again before I die.' Grandfather opened
the knapsack, and taking out the violin handed it to
him. The dying soldier seized it eagerly, and press-
ing it again and again to his lips, wept like a child,
then with a last fond kiss he handed it to my grand-
father, saying : ' Please accept this violin as a proof
of my gratitude to an enemy. It has been my
faithful and devoted companion ever since I was a
boy and learned to express the language of art
through its voice, for I have devoted many days and
long sleepless nights to gain the power of calling
forth from its heart the slumbering strains of truth
and love. It has been my comfort and consolation
in all my sorrows, and with its lovely song I, too,
have often soared to another world. With its melo-
dies I have entranced the great and mighty dwellers
in princely halls, and beauteous dames of haughty
demeanor have bowed their noble heads to the
music of its voice, and wafted it greetings and
kisses. I possessed the gift of stirring my listeners
204 Reminiscences
to mirth as well as woe, and my name once re-
sounded through all lands on account of the violin's
ravishing power; you may, perchance, have heard
my name spoken, it was but what matters now? it
is already enrolled in God's book, and you would
not know or remember it if you heard it. One day
all was changed, for the trumpet of war rang out
throughout the land, calling men to fight for their
homes. Taking my violin I left home, parents,
sweetheart, to offer up my young life here in a
hostile land. Upon the bloody battlefield my violin
was my consolation.' Saying this, he again took
the violin and, with trembling fingers, passed the bow
over the strings, calling out tones of sadness and
pain. Sadder and sadder grew the strains, until but
a tender breath, like an angel's whisper, floated out
upon the air, and with this last sigh the violin fell
from the grasp of the beatified soldier, and he sank
back, dead! It was the violin's ' swan song,' as it
remained untouched for many years, my grandfather
declaring its tones too gloomy for the dance, and he
called it the death-violin. But once it was played
by our old schoolmaster during a solemn requiem
mass at church, and never have the strains of the
'Agnus Dei ' been heard more tenderly uttered than
upon this occasion."
I was wonderfully moved by this narrative. I
felt myself stirred with a strong desire to possess
this violin, but scarcely found courage to express
my desire. At length I recalled the poverty,
the lack of many comforts which the price of the
violin would bring to the peasant and his family,
and I said, " Would you feel willing to part with
M. Steinert Collection 205
this old violin ? " After a moment's hesitation, he
replied, " I have for a long time intended getting
it restored, but have never had the money, and I
should be willing to let you have it could I be cer-
tain that a better fate awaits it in your hands."
And then, as it was an easy matter for me to arrive
at an understanding with its owner, the violin soon
passed into my hands.
Once in America, it soon resumed its pristine
splendor, its feeble body was invigorated, all the ills
it had acquired during its long years of exile were
cured, and again its face beams with the roseate
color of health, and from its head all the lines of
sorrow have vanished. It put away its mourning
weeds, and it laughs and lives again. No longer
does it play for the dances of the village youths and
maidens, but, admired by disciples of the divine art,
prized and beloved and borne on the wings of song,
its tones now resound in the temples of art, and give
utterance to the creations of master-souls. Who can
fathom its heart-throbs when the inspired artist
presses its form to his heart, and what fate awaits
it when another century shall have passed!
My peculiar methods of hunting up these old traps,
and the extraordinary energy I was obliged to exer-
cise in their final discovery, and all of the other tech-
nicalities that finally brought these musical antiques
into my possession, created much wonderment and
great surprise among the aristocracy of Scheinfeld,
and those of the powers that be who have some tint
of preferred respectability. These gentry, while
they have some pursuit in life which gives them such
nourishment as is equally good for the goose and the
206 Reminiscences
gander, have no incumbrance resting upon their
minds which is created by the almighty dollar.
They know their places and understand the dividing
line that is drawn in the beer-stube of " Das Weisse
Ross, " where they assemble every evening for the
very democratic custom of drinking beer, gossiping,
and smoking their long pipes, undisturbed by family
cares. It is therefore proper for me to state that
the beer-stube at the grand hotel of " Das Weisse
Ross " is divided into two sections, the inner
room reserved for the- preferred stock, while the
outer one belongs to the rank and file exclusively.
I must also say that I secured the services of a
teamster who, with his lumbering wagon and docile
pair of horses, served me as a means of locomotion
to the little hamlets and farmhouses which cluster
around Scheinfeld, and which have served as the
abode of the art treasures of a past age.
This man, aside from his horses and wagon, also
furnished me with intelligent information which
opened the doors of the houses containing these
hidden gems which appealed so strongly to my
curiosity, and served me in my investigations. His
name is Schlafhauser. Like myself, he is an off-
spring of Scheinfeld, as were his father, his grand-
father, and even the horses, and all those who
have a drop of Schlafhauser blood in their veins;
and as for his patriotism and love for his beloved
birthplace, I think that, without doing him an in-
justice, I can truthfully say that he has never
stepped out of the district since his natal day. Be
that as it may, Schlafhauser knew one thing, and
that was every village, every inhabitant, and every
M. Steinert Collection 207
Wirthshaus within a radius of twenty miles, and
that is certainly saying a good deal for Schlaf-
hauser; and while he loved his birthplace to distrac-
tion he showed an equal affection for his horses, as
far as their treatment was concerned and the work
he exacted from them.
Every morning at seven o'clock he stood with his
team in front of " Das Weisse Ross," ready to start
for the country. The soft breezes from the castle
of Schwarzenberg were mingled with the sacredness
of the winds which were wafted over our heads from
the monastery, and when we listened to the solemn
and religious tones of the old organ which were borne
to us from the village church, when the three bells,
which differed in pitch, gave with their metallic
voices the signal for the devout to assemble for early
mass, and we heard the tiny tinkling bell of the
sacristan intoning the solemn response of the
" Agnus Dei," Schlafhauser reverently crossed
himself in sympathy with the momentary service
while he looked dolefully at his horses. I am afraid
that I was not as much interested in the service as
my driver, but -what I lacked in religious fervor I
made up for in anticipation and hope for a good
day's clavier hunt. Schlafhauser's devotions over,
he mounted the wagon, and with a crack of the
whip we started down the village street towards the
neighboring country.
While I was meditating upon the slow gait of the
horses, and not aware that my driver meant to in-
terrupt my train of thought so soon, for we had been
on the road scarcely half an hour,his intelligent beasts
pulled up in front of a Wirthshaus in a little hamlet,
208 Reminiscences
obediently halted before the customary manger, and
stuck their noses right down into it as if expecting
to find something to eat. Schlafhauser jumped
down from his seat, and without a word took out a
bag of oats, which he emptied into the manger.
Then as a bit of dessert he drew out a large loaf of
bread, and with his knife cut it into small pieces and
mixed it with the oats and salt. The sympathy of
Schlafhauser for his horses greatly impressed me,
and I remained in silent meditation upon my seat,
which performance must have been a surprise to
Schlafhauser, for he immediately accosted me, say-
ing: " Don't you want to get down from the wagon,
Herr Steinert, and refresh yourself with a glass of
wine or beer ? You look tired after your long
ride, and as it usually takes my horses an hour or
more to feed, you had better not sit out here, but
come into the Wirthshaus and have some beer, for,
I assure you, it is the best beer to be found any-
where. As I never pass this little inn without
giving my horses a rest, and drinking a few steins
of beer, I am confident you will feel much bet-
ter if you follow my example." The inducements
were so gracefully offered that I have never thought
Schlafhauser on the wrong track, for the opportun-
ity of being in the Wirthshaus, and the great curios-
ity and inquisitiveness of the Wirth soon paved the
way for Schlafhauser to make known our business,
and in response we received such information as we
were looking for, and which was of great value to us
in our search.
After spending a few hours successfully or other-
wise, we drove for another half-hour, and upon
M. Steinert Collection 209
reaching the next village the horses showed the same
sagacity in finding their manger,and were quite ready
for another mouthful of oats, with bread on the side.
By this time my companion had me fully initiated
in his mode of travel, and when we had reached
three, four, and five stopping - places and gone
through the same tactics, I understood my position
as well as the horses. There was much virtue in
this slow and peculiar method of travel, because it
gave us plenty of time to enter the houses of the
peasants, and if, by chance, we skipped the very
house we were looking for, the event of our coming
was such a novel and unusual one that the villagers
would come to us and call our attention to their
possessions. As evening approached we returned
to the metropolis of Scheinfeld, entering the village
as the sun sank behind the wooded hill of Schwar-
zenberg. Halting before " Das Weisse Ross" to
deposit our load of dilapidated old instruments, we
were immediately surrounded by young and old,
and looked upon with as much curiosity as circus
clowns, while upon every face I could trace an ac-
companying look of suspicion which I delighted to
see.
After supper when the aristocracy congregated in
their part of the stube at the " Ross," and Schlaf-
hauser appeared in the other room, ready to repeat
the day's doings over his stein of beer, the gentry,
through the open door, would ply him with ques-
tions, which he was quite willing to answer, viz.,
what was I going to do with the old instruments for
which I had paid so much money? expressing some
doubt as to my sanity because I not only frittered
M
2io Reminiscences
away my time but my money as well. On this
subject Schlafhauser was very loquacious, and as he
was materially interested in my enterprise, for I
gave him ten marks a day for himself and his team,
and a Trinkgeld, besides paying for the oats and
bread for the horses, and the cigars, beer, and food
for their master, he was not at all slow in endorsing
my extreme liberality, adding, at the same time,
that I was all right except when I found an old
clavier; then he had noticed that I labored under
great excitement and, in consequence, paid fabulous
prices for the traps. In this statement the gentry
did n't disagree with him, though they, one and all,
decided that I was a sensible fellow in all other
respects.
Having now gathered together quite a number of
old instruments of all kinds from that section of the
country around Scheinfeld, I visited other parts of
Germany in search of old clavichords, harpsichords,
and early hammer claviers, until I had quite a re-
spectable collection. My next step was to ship
them to America, to study their peculiar construc-
tion, repair them, and learn how to play them.
This was a great undertaking on my part, and it
took me several years to put them into proper order
and play them intelligently.
Finally, having them in good condition, I engaged
the services of Mr. Krehbiel, the eminent musical
critic of the New York Tribune, a gentleman who
is profoundly interested in the study of the evo-
lution of the pianoforte, and with him I began a
lecture tour. While I played the old keyed instru-
ments, playing Bach and the school which is in
M. Steinert Collection 211
keeping with their mechanical construction, also im-
provising upon them, Mr. Krehbiel lectured, and
my two sons, Henry and Albert, assisted me in ren-
dering chamber music upon the violin and viola.
These lectures were given gratuitously at Yale,
Harvard, Brown, Smith, Vassar, Andover, Professor
Lambert's School of Music in New York City,
Springfield, and Music Hall, Boston. I also secured
Mr. Arthur Friedheim, the pianist, who played upon
the modern pianoforte, in contrast to the old school
and old instruments of my collection. My object in
doing this was: first, to let the people hear not only
the tone of the old instruments, but how the com-
positions of the eighteenth century sounded when
played upon the instruments for which they were
originally written ; secondly, to compare their tone-
coloring with the instrument called the pianoforte
of the present day. I wanted to know the taste of
the people, to have their unbiassed judgment as to
the special tone-color which is to be found in the
old instruments, to confirm my own opinion, and to
have it endorsed by the public, so as to encourage
and assist me in my undertaking to construct a
modern instrument that should contain the very
elements of the old, and one that would do away
with the present pianoforte. This I had a perfect
right to do, as I gave my services, while I paid all
of the expenses connected with the trip.
CHAPTER XI
i
Vienna Finding of Hass Harpsichord Purchase of Ruckers's Dou-
ble Spinet Chicago World's Fair Sharon Springs Lecture
in Springfield, Massachusetts
I MUST have obtained some recognition from the
public at large for my work in collecting old in-
struments, and as the child was obliged to have a
name, the world called it the " M. Steinert Collec-
tion." About this time I received a letter from the
Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D. C, re-
questing me to send them a part of my collection for
exhibition there, which I most cheerfully did. I also
received an invitation from Princess Pauline von
Metternich to lend my assistance to the great Ex-
hibition of Music and Drama to be held in Vienna
in 1892. After thinking the matter over, and real-
izing the opportunity which I would have to see all
of the great collections of musical instruments and
manuscripts the world over, as well as the very early
development of the drama and the stage, the con-
glomeration of everything stored away in the public
museums, and in private collections of the civilized
and cultured countries of Europe, representing
the different stages of music, drama, and art from
^L^_
LETTER FROM PRINCESS PAULINE VON METTERNICH.
H3TT3M MOV
J
<
^^A
Vienna and Chicago 213
their earliest beginning to the present day, I deter-
mined to add the little I possessed, and I therefore
accepted the invitation of the art-loving Princess.
Selecting the most beautiful and rare specimens of
my already large collection I shipped them to
Vienna, having previously put them in playable
condition, so that I could use the instruments to
illustrate my lectures and the musical performances
which it was my object to deliver there.
I therefore determined to go to Vienna for the
furtherance of this object. I must confess that I
felt some anxiety in thus sending my instruments
and entering them into competition with such collec-
tions as were represented by the treasures of Fred-
erick the Great, those belonging to the Royal
Families of Great Britain and Italy, the celebrated
De Witt collection of Leipsic, that of Baron von
Rothschild, and especially that of the Emperor of
Austria and of the Gesellschaft der Musik Freunde
of Vienna ; not mentioning such treasures as were
sent from France, the different States of Germany,
and the rare specimens of private individuals who
owned instruments that were used by the Bach
family, Haydn, Mozart, Hummel, Beethoven,
Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Meyerbeer, Doni-
zetti, Bellini, and many others. When I arrived at
the Rotunda where the exhibition was held, and
looked at all of the wonderful instruments, I felt
that I was a stranger in a strange land, and I wished
myself back in the quiet " City of Elms," where I
could fondle and caress my darlings alone and un-
disturbed by the great agencies of artistic Europe;
where I could obtain for them such appreciation and
214 Reminiscences
praise as had taught me to be almost conceited and
a person of much vanity.
At this moment, when I felt an intense longing for
home, the sweet fairy who has ever watched over
me came to console me, and in her immaculate
loveliness stood before me. With her magic wand
she pointed to my collection and whispered words
of hope and cheer, telling me not to be cast
down, for by my coming untold treasures and hap-
piness would come to me. With a start I awoke
from my depression, for I well knew that the fairy
appeared only when I needed her most, and that her
coming was the signal for rejoicing, for good fortune
must be hovering over me. I started on a tour of
inspection round the building, and approached the
famous collection of Frederick the Great, the Musical
King, and lo! I found that he was only a flute-
player after all. I touched the keys of his Reise-
clavier, so called because it can be folded up and
put into a trunk when travelling, and when I tried
to call up the departed soul of its former tone life,
alas! it was as silent as the grave, and while its keys
bent down to the touch of my fingers the hammers
that should have evoked the living spirit from out
the strings were not responsive, their usefulness was
gone. Yes, " empty was the cradle, baby 's gone."
I soon discovered that I was surrounded by the in-
habitants of an old-time museum, and that the
instruments assembled in the Rotunda on the Prater
were nothing but old, broken-down wrecks minus
the power of speech to tell of their former existence
and usefulness, while the " M. Steinert Collection "
was alive and capable of being played upon.
Vienna and Chicago 215
This minority which I represented created for me
a prestige which afterwards brought me honors and
great pleasure, and I thanked my good fairy, and
kissed her outstretched wand on the Prater of
Vienna. With this playable collection I gave daily
lectures on the" Evolution of the Pianoforte," in
my little section of the Rotunda, improvising upon
them and playing from the old masters. One day a
committee came and extended to me an invitation
from the Conservatory of Music and Der Gesellschaft
der Musik Freunde, to deliver a lecture before the
faculty and advanced pupils of the Conservatory,
which invitation I accepted.
Here I must recall an incident of my stay in Brus-
sels. While in the city I paid a visit to the Con-
servatoire, where I saw a magnificent collection of
old instruments, and among them a wonderful
harpsichord, made by J. A. Hass of Hamburg,
about 1715. This instrument was of tremendous
size, and it had two keyboards. I was so impressed
by its size and beauty that I involuntarily touched
it, and in doing so called forth the displeasure of
the custodian, who told me that no one was allowed
to handle the instrument on account of the damage
that might be done to it by playing upon it ; that it
was of such great antiquity and magnificence of
musical power that to touch it was looked upon
as sacrilege. He strengthened his remarks by
saying, "It is the only harpsichord of like size,
construction, and make now in existence." The
beauty of the instrument and the rare qualities as
described by the custodian created a desire within
me to possess the harpsichord, and if I had followed
2i6 Reminiscences
my inclination, I don't know what fabulous price I
would have paid for its possession.
But to resume. On the afternoon of my promised
lecture before the Vienna Conservatory of Music,
while busily engaged in tuning an old harpsichord
for use that evening, I noticed an elderly gentleman
approaching me, with a smile upon his face and a
look of interest in his eyes. He stopped at the sec-
tion and gazed some moments at the harpsichord I
was at work upon, finally breaking the silence by
introducing himself and telling me that he was a
piano-tuner by trade. As I wanted to have a little
fun with him, I asked him whether he ever tuned
such a pianoforte, pointing to the harpsichord.
With much sarcasm he replied that he had never
tuned such a pianoforte, but that he had seen and
repaired, twenty-five years before, a harpsichord,
and that it was much larger and handsomer than
the one I was at work upon ; that it was a double-
bank instrument, beautifully decorated ; that it had
a number of registers like an organ, and its tones
were marvellously powerful yet sweet, and that it
was far superior to any pianoforte he had ever heard.
His description made a powerful impression upon
the man from the Nutmeg State, and in a phleg-
matic and deliberate manner I asked him whether
I could see the harpsichord and possibly buy it.
He began to laugh and show great surprise, say-
ing that it was impossible, as he had lost all track
of the instrument, and though he still remem-
bered the name of the owner and where he then
lived, he was certain that the harpsichord was
no longer in his possession. I was not to be put
Vienna and Chicago 217
off, for the old tuner's description had excited my
curiosity, and a great longing came over me to see
it. I therefore expressed my desire to the tuner
and implored him to lead me in the direction of the
instrument, so that I might obtain some clue as to
its whereabouts. It was of no avail, however, as he
looked upon the spending of further time as a mis-
take, and useless. His protests had no effect upon
me; rather did they strengthen me in my endeavor
to find out if possible the resting-place of the harp-
sichord, so I said, " Herr Miiller, I will pay you ten
gulden if you will put me on the track of this old
instrument." I followed this offer with an invita-
tion to take a glass of beer, and at the same time I
took out my cigar-case and offered him a cigar.
Over our stein of cool Vienna beer his memory was
refreshed, and he signified his willingness to do his
best to find it. After two or three steins he rubbed
his head thoughtfully and, putting on his Vienna
thinking-cap, said, " Ac/t, Herr von Sfeinert, es ist
ja der Herr Die/in fiir den Ick das alte clavicymbal
repariert kabe, er wohntja in der Strasse. ' ' We took
a cab and quickly drove to the house of Herr Diehn.
We halted before a large old-fashioned man-
sion, and alighting I pulled the bell-rope hanging
down in front of the door. I rang several times
before any one appeared. Finally the door was
opened by a venerable, gray-haired gentleman who,
with charming courtesy, asked what he could do for
us. My guide must have recognized him at once,
for in the most affable and polite way he said,
" Ac/t, Herr Diehn, hier ist ein Amerikaner der
mochte das alte clavicymbal setien, das Ich fiir Sie
218 Reminiscences
repariert habe, und er will es auch kaufen" Herr
Diehn was dumfounded at this announcement, for
to judge by his expression he thought that there
was not a man in the world who could be induced
to buy it, so he replied: " My good friends, while
I think the old spinet must be stored away some-
where, I have not the faintest idea where it is,
and you must know that to find it in this large
house would be quite a task, as I have neither seen
nor heard of it in nearly twenty-five years. If I am
so fortunate as to find it, I am confident that its
usefulness is so far gone as not to be worth the
trouble of hunting it up." He furthermore said
that he was old and in too feeble health to mount
the stairs to the attic under the roof where the old
clavier might possibly be found. Herr Diehn
strongly opposed our urgent request to be shown
the way to the attic where the old trap was stored
away, but after a long parley and my assurance that
I would buy the instrument under any condition,
he rubbed his head a moment and then called,
" Katrina! Katrina! Bring me a candle and come
up here with me," and he pointed to the stairs
leading to the attic as Katrina appeared holding a
lighted tallow candle in her hand.
With Katrina ahead, we felt our way up the dark
stairs to the space under the roof, which was so low
on the sides as to make us bend over nearly double.
Feeling our way along under the eaves, we finally
came to an object which seemed to be long and
made of wood. It was lying on the floor on its side.
Herr Diehn put his hand upon it and drawing it out
a little with our help, said, " I guess this is the old
Vienna and Chicago 219
harpsichord you are looking for." It was covered
with dirt and dust, but we pulled it out to the middle
of the attic where there were two empty flour bar-
rels. We then bent down and tried to lift it up on
to the barrels, but, as it was very heavy, we needed
Katrina's assistance also, and sticking her candle in
a hole in one of the rafters she came and helped us
raise the old instrument to the barrels; and the in-
side, though covered with dirt and dust, was visible,
the cover being in another part of the room.
Taking the candle, I looked at the harpsichord
before me, and with my handkerchief dusted off
the sounding-board that I might see the construc-
tion of the instrument, and as the flickering light
fell upon it, to my intense delight I saw that it
was indeed a magnificent harpsichord, bearing on
the sounding-board the name of J. A. Hassof Ham-
burg, with the date of 1710. It had two keyboards,
with tortoise-shell naturals and ivory sharps, eight
stops, and it contained a long set of strings produ-
cing a sixteen-foot tone, also two shorter sets, each
set producing an eight-foot tone, and a still shorter
one of a four-foot tone, and, finally, two very short
sets, each giving a two-foot tone. Furthermore,
one stop imitated the lute and another one the
harp. The sounding-board was painted with flowers
and other artistic decorations, while the inside lid
displayed the most excellent specimens of Japanese
art, both in conception and execution. The builder
was noted as the most celebrated harpsichord-maker
of that period in Germany. It was the genuine
counterpart of the harpsichord, also made by Hass of
Hamburg, which I had looked upon with so much
Reminiscences
envy in the Conservatoire of the Belgian Capital, and
which almost set me crazy, so great was my desire
to possess it at any cost. Here before me was an
instrument that was even more beautiful and of an
earlier date. To describe my sensations and my
excitement at the moment when I found the rare
treasure in the old garret of Herr Diehn in Vienna
is impossible; and when I recalled that important
epoch in the history of music when Handel and
Mattheson lived in Hamburg, when Bach gave life
to his immortal works upon this instrument which
had now come into my possession, I felt that my
journey to Vienna had been a most important and
fruitful one.
It did not take me long to pay for the harpsichord
and remove it from its unhallowed home, and I
shipped it at once to my workshop in New Haven,
Connecticut. When I returned I repaired it thor-
oughly, and have used it in my lectures ever since.
It is of a beautiful tone, powerful and rich, and yet
soft and more expressive than are most harpsi-
chords, and it never fails to delight my hearers when
I play upon it.
The evening following the finding of the harp-
sichord I lectured before the Conservatory, and it
was most successful, the Vice-President at the close
of the talk making an address in which he thanked
me for my services, and spoke of the pleasure and
intellectual treat afforded by my comprehensive
lecture on the " Evolution of the Pianoforte." I
replied, thanking them for their appreciation, and
presented them with a clavichord, with the proviso
that the instrument should be used once a year at
THE SCIENTIFIC COMMISSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL E.
Bildhauer
Gustos
Henry Regnier
Vice-Prasident
Prasident
Excel
Costenoble.
Dr. Bockh.
Corn missal re
Baron
Excellenz
Boos-
Chef-Architekt
Bartelmus.
Dr. Thouret
(Berlin).
Dr. Friedlander
de la Repub-
lique franchise
(Paris).
Bourgoing.
Custos
Dr. Engelmann.
Alexander
Markgraf von
Pallavicini
Vice-II 1
Ci
Dr.
General-
Secreta'r
(Berlin).
Dr. Pietro
Dr. Mantuani
R. W. Kurka.
Angelo
Baron Eisenhof.
Kai:
Schlic
Hermann
Berardi
Dr. A. M
Hillger
(Turin).
Dr. von Weilen.
Dr. Baron
p
(Deutschland).
Chef-Architekt
Scotti
Dr. Gi
Oskar
(Bergamo).
De.
Marmorek.
Univer
1ITION OF MUSIC AND THE DRAMA IN VIENNA, 1892.
Graf
President
Ober-Baurath
Director
Docent
Jeck
Abg. Dr.
Baron
Philip Bock
Dr. Osc.
Morris Steinert
lent.
Jacques.
Hasenauer.
(St. Petersburg).
Fleischer
(New Haven,
Dr. Baron
Custos
Custos
(Berlin).
U. S. A.).
St.
uh
roll.
Weckbecker
k. k. Regier-
ungs-Com-
Dr. Dernjac.
Professor
Dr. Barack
Dr. Heinr. Rietsch.
Custos
Dr. Rudolf Beer.
Kugene Thomas
(Amsterdam).
Director
kais. Rath
Oscar Hoefft
chtern.
missar.
(Strassburg).
K.us. Rath
F. Schoenthal.
Custos
Prof. Roller.
Prof. Luckhardt.
General-
Adler
Dr. Kraus.
Prof. Berwin
Dr. Wilhelm.
Dr. Ferd. Gross.
Director
te
Director
(Rom).
kais. Rath
Prag.
Dr. Carl
Glossy.
Don Roca
(Barcelona).
Commissar
von Wedelstaedt
(Berlin).
Ingenieur
A. Hoffmann.
Dr. Emil
Auspitzer.
Vienna and Chicago 221
the public recital of the Conservatory. The lecture
over, I was invited by the faculty to a banquet at
the restaurant " Kuhrer " on the Schottenring, and
while there I related to them the finding of the
Hass harpsichord in the city that afternoon. They
could not believe it, but when I assured them and
proved it to them and told them that the old tuner
of the Conservatory, Herr Miiller, had led me to it,
their sorrow and disappointment knew no bounds.
While in Vienna the Commissioner from America
to Great Britain, Mr. McCormick of Chicago, came
to visit the exhibition and to solicit musical loan
collections for the " World's Fair " to be held in
Chicago in 1893. He called on Geheimrath (Doctor)
von Ausspitzer, and told him his object in coming
to Vienna, and Doctor von Ausspitzer informed
him that the man who had the most interesting
collection was an American, Mr. Steinert, of New
Haven, Connecticut, and he advised him to see me.
Mr. McCormick, who lived in the same hotel, paid
me a visit and solicited my co-operation. While I
did not promise to send my collection, for I felt
that I had been a showman quite long enough, I
left the question open, and as he was not finally
successful he left. Upon my return to the United
States I entered into correspondence with Doctor
Peabody, and we arranged upon satisfactory terms
for my loan collection to be shown in Chicago. I
received two thousand dollars for my services, which
amount did not cover one half of the expense in
taking my collection there.
I also found in Vienna, in the Great Britain
exhibit, a most wonderful double spinet, which
222 Reminiscences
belonged to a gentleman in London, and which I
purchased from him and placed in my collection.
This spinet was made by Hans Ruckers, the elder,
in Antwerp as early as 1579, an d Ruckers's spinets
were celebrated as being of the finest quality. The
little spinet at the left of the instrument sets
into the spinet proper and is tuned one octave
higher than the one whose keyboard is placed to the
right. In performing on both instruments at the
same time, the smaller one is removed and can be
set upon a table. The paintings upon the lid are
especially fine, representing a contest before the
gods between Apollo and Marsyas, the former
playing a viola, the latter a pipe, while the back-
ground is a hilly country, with a lake and a castle.
Above and below the removable spinet are charming
landscapes, with figures of children dancing, and
at the fixed keyboard men and women are dancing
in pairs. The spinet rests upon a stand with seven
pierced arches and columns, and with the excep-
tion of one at Nuremberg, made by Martin Beest,
it is probably the only complete double spinet in
existence.
One day I received a call from Sir George Grove,
the editor of Grove 's Dictionary of Music, and
Director of the Royal College of Music in Lon-
don, for whom I improvised upon the old instru-
ments. He extended to me an urgent invitation to
lecture at the college, and I accepted, but was pre-
vented from doing so by Mr. Grove's inability to
procure suitable instruments in London to illustrate
the lecture. I could not take my collection there
from Vienna on account of a special arrangement
Vienna and Chicago 223
made with the Government of the United States
which admitted the instruments free of duty, pro-
vided they were sent to Vienna and returned over the
same route. During my stay in London I formed
the acquaintance of Mr. J. S. Hipkins, the noted
writer on musical subjects, and a contributor to the
Encyclopedia Britannica, a well-known lecturer and
authority on musical instruments, whose acquaint-
ance I highly prize, and in whose home and charm-
ing family circle I spent many pleasant hours.
My collection created a great deal of interest in
Chicago, and while there I gave a lecture in the
large Auditorium on the Fair Grounds by request of
the management. Upon my return to New Haven
I was asked to give a lecture at Yale University
in North Sheffield Hall, which I did, lecturing and
playing myself. This invitation from Yale was
followed by requests from the Metropolitan Mu-
seum in New York, from Columbia University, and
I also gave an informal talk one afternoon in the
studio of Mr. Breese, and before the Monday Morn-
ing Club, under the management of Mr. Bagby, at
the Waldorf-Astoria.
After returning from Vienna, I found myself in
need of the baths at Sharon Springs of which I had
been deprived the summer before. It has ever been
a custom of mine to carry some musical instrument
with me when going away for a few weeks, and as I
was at that time greatly interested in playing the
clavichord I took one with me that year to Sharon.
In the monontony that so powerfully surrounds
the health-seeking patients, the existence of such
a curious little instrument as a clavichord, though
224 Reminiscences
it is exceedingly modest in its tone splendor, could
not be kept a secret, and while I knew that its soft
and tender whisperings could scarcely penetrate
through the door which separated me from my
neighbor, it is nevertheless true that it was noised
about the Pavilion Hotel, where I was staying,
that a queer little man in No. 103 had a quaint
instrument, and that weird sounds were nightly
heard in his room ; that these tones were not unlike
the aeolian harp, and yet they seemed to be brought
out by a skilful hand, and had, therefore, much re-
semblance to music that is produced on other instru-
ments. The wonderment of the lonely guests was
on tip toe, and those living on the same floor where
the mysterious sounds were heard finally appealed
to the chambermaids for information. These girls
must have satisfied their inquisitiveness concern-
ing the playing of music upon a little instrument
that looked for all the world like an ordinary kitchen
table, but which contained keys which brought forth
strange sounds such as they had never heard before.
Having thus created a peculiar kind of sensation,
which had much curiosity connected with it, and
which was entirely unknown to me, I was accosted
one day by Professor T. of Harvard University,
with a polite request to give him some information
regarding the music and the instrument which he
nightly heard when in his room. He followed his
request by telling me that his wife, who thoroughly
appreciated and enjoyed the class of music I played,
wished to know something about the instrument.
The Professor showed so much interest that I
invited him into my room, and showing him my old
Vienna and Chicago 225
clavichord I played for him and briefly explained
to him its history. He must have been greatly
pleased with what he heard, and as he and his wife
were in the company of relatives of the President of
Harvard University, and as they asked me to allow
them to come in and see the clavichord and listen to
an explanation as to its peculiar construction, and as
many similar requests were made to me, I finally
consented to give a short talk every morning in my
room on the " Evolution of the Pianoforte," and
to play from the old masters and improvise. This
seemed a pleasant diversion, and every morning my
room was filled with ladies and gentlemen.
Among the listeners was a prominent society
woman from Springfield, Massachusetts. She was
greatly interested in my work, and she suggested
that I come to Springfield during the winter, and
give a lecture there. She asked me my terms, and
when I told her that I was not in the business,
and that I invariably made no charge, she was de-
lighted, and called my attention to the existence of
a charity in the city which was greatly in need of
funds, and proposed that tickets be sold for the
lecture and the proceeds given to this charity, to
which arrangement I consented.
It was a bitter cold day when I arrived in Spring-
field to deliver my well-worn lecture on the " Evolu-
tion of the Pianoforte." When I reached the little
city, accompanied by my son Albert, who, by the
way, had been my travelling companion during my
previous visit to Vienna, I philosophized with him as
we walked up Main Street upon the fact that it must
be a very cold day for me when I had to come to
226 Reminiscences
Springfield to lecture for charity. As the pros-
pect for a large gathering gave me an icy chill, and
I was fairly shivering in my boots, I saw, like an
oasis in the desert, a florist's shop and a window quite
full of beautiful flowers, blooming in contrast to the
spring flowers of the Mikado. As I am fond of
flowers, and thinking of what might happen that
night when I was to inflict upon the intelligent
people of Springfield my threadbare lecture on the
" Evolution of the Pianoforte," I said, " Albert,
go in there and buy some flowers for the lecturer."
While Albert is generally a good son, I was aston-
ished to see him show signs of disobedience, and
he turned and looked at me in a surprised way,
as he replied, " What do you mean, father ? buy
flowers for the lecturer ? " " What I say, my son.
Go in there and buy some flowers for the lecturer,"
and, handing him a five-dollar bill, I emphasized
my command by telling him that I wanted a
bouquet of the nicest flowers to be had, and that I
wanted him to pay five dollars for it. Albert
reluctantly complied with my request, and presently
came out with an exquisite bouquet of flowers, and
we left for the hotel. ' Now, my boy," I con-
tinued, " at the end of my lecture when I make my
closing remark which you know so well, ' Ladies
and gentlemen, I thank you greatly for the kind at-
tention you have shown me this evening,' and
which, as you know, Albert, is always followed by
a polite bow, you must come forward and present
me with the flowers." We rehearsed this several
times at the hotel, and Albert finally did the thing
very gracefully.
Vienna and Chicago 227
I must credit the good people of Springfield with
much charity when I say that, despite the bitter cold
night, a large and appreciative audience gathered for
my lecture on the " Evolution of the Pianoforte,"
and I must also credit myself with my foresight as to
not being greeted with flowers from them. During
the lecture I kept my eye on Albert, who was wide
awake to the occasion of presenting the flowers to
me, but as I continued and tried to hold the interest
of my audience I noticed with disappointment that
Albert had fallen asleep, for which I could not
blame him, knowing that he had heard my lecture
on the " Evolution of the Pianoforte " so many
times as to prefer a little doze to what I had to say.
Albert did not know that he snored when asleep,
otherwise he would have had better taste than to
fall asleep when I was delivering my lecture on the
' Evolution of the Pianoforte," and so to my dis-
may I heard the unmusical sound of Albert's snores
which were even more overpowering in their pe-
culiar rhythms than the soft and dulcet tones of my
old clavichords upon which I always play when I
deliver my lecture on the " Evolution of the Piano-
forte."
The cold and icy winds that were howling outside
now began in their force to make the windows rattle
amidst the spellbound interest of the audience and
the unmusical snores of Albert, the guardian of my
five-dollar bouquet. I drew near the closing sen-
tence of the imposing finale of my celebrated
lecture on the " Evolution of the Pianoforte," and
as I uttered the last word, I cast an agonized
glance at Albert, but he was still in the arms of
228 Reminiscences
Morpheus, dreaming to a snoring obligato. Re-
membering the bouquet for which I had paid five
dollars and the possibility of its not appearing in
accordance to our rehearsal, I cried out in my
despair, " Albert! Albert! Where are the flowers
for the lecturer ? " The boy, hearing in his dreams
the voice of his father, and realizing the hour of
my need, sprang to his feet, and in the most
obedient and devoted manner advanced with the
bouquet, which I graciously accepted, thanking
Albert, and bowing right and left to the tumultuous
audience in appreciation of their generosity.
Referring to my early struggles in forming an
orchestra, and especially to the collapse of my band
on Fischer's birthday at the temperance lecture in
Music Hall, it may not be amiss to speak of the sur-
vivors of that glorious band which aimed so high
and fell so low. It would be an injustice to them
of which I count myself one of the happy mortals
to refer to the fact that old Adam still had a little
hold upon the few, when one fine morning a body
of musicians came to me and implored me to organ-
ize an orchestra. This word, in itself, carried me
back like a flash to the Fischer episode, and in a
hopeless way I told the applicants of my former
experiences. The committee that asked for my co-
operation in bringing into life a new orchestra in
New Haven appeared to me to be in earnest, and
this encouraged me to once more indulge in one of
my old passions, and the result was the organization,
some six years ago, of the " New Haven Symphony
Orchestra," a body of sixty musicians, who have
given a series of concerts of the highest order once
Vienna and Chicago 229
a year in the Hyperion Theatre. Among this band,
I am proud to state, are two of my children, Heloise
(Mrs. S. B. Shoninger), who has the honor to be
the second concertmeister, and Rudolph, who plays
first oboe. This orchestra, which is bound to live
and prosper, has given a great impulse to the musi-
cal culture of our city.
In connection with this band, it would be an in-
justice not to mention the name of a man who fur-
nishes New Haven with all that smacks of drama
and music. And while I don't care to write his
biography, as it might outshine and put into the
shade my own, I consider it pertinent to refer to
Mr. G. B. Bunnell as a proper person to be men-
tioned in my reminiscences. And though his early
training came under the tutelage of P. T. Barnum,
where he probably received his first instruction in
music, and as the Barnum school may be much in
advance of the Wagner, his usefulness has not been
antagonistic, although I owe him much for his
interest in my work.
CHAPTER XII
Brief History of the Pianoforte
ANY one not acquainted with the history of the
pianoforte will probably be astonished to learn
that at the time of the birth of such great compos-
ers as Domenico Scarlatti (1683), George Frederick
Handel (1684), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685), and
even a quarter of a century later, no such instrument
as to-day we call a pianoforte was in existence. The
greater part of the compositions of these masters
were never written for the pianoforte ; in fact, many
years passed before these composers paid any atten-
tion to this instrument, as they seemed opposed to
its use. The then existing instruments played by
means of a keyboard were the clavichord, harpsi-
chord, and spinet.
According to musical history, it is a well-known
fact that in Italy, about the year 1527, celebrated
musicians were living who composed for keyed in-
struments, and could also play upon them, such as
Adrian Willaert, Parabosco, Zarlino, and a number
of others.
In 1550 England had composers and players upon
keyed instruments, of whom the most noted were
230
Brief History of the Pianoforte 231
Thomas Tallis and his pupils, William Bird, the
latter being a clavicinist in the service of Queen
Elizabeth. These men are known as the authors
of a number of manuscript compositions, which are
compiled and recognized as Queen Elizabeth's Vir-
ginal Book.
It is also a noteworthy fact, that during the
middle of the seventeenth century, in France, the
Couperin families and Louis Marchand were
composers and excellent players upon the harpsi-
chord.
Hans Leo Hasler, born in 1564 in Nuremberg,
Christian Erbach, born about 1560 in Algesheim,
Hieronymus Pratorius, of Hamburg, born in 1560,
represent Germany during the end of the sixteenth
century as fine composers and players upon these
instruments. There were many others, but I shall
here mention only Johann Jakob Froberger of
Halle, born in 1635, Johann Kasper Kerl of Mu-
nich, born in 1628, Johann Pachelbel of Nuremberg,
born in 1653, and Dietrich Buxtehude of Liibeck,
born in 1637, until we come to Domenico Scarlatti,
Rameau, Handel, and Bach.
The then prevailing style of music as found in the
domain of the Church, with its polyphony and
organ, largely influenced the secular style of music,
but the solemnity of the organ tone, and the pecul-
iar rhythm associated with it, called forth the desire
for an instrument outside the church which, while
having still an affinity with the organ, should pos-
sess elasticity of tone and variety of color. This
instrument was the clavichord.
The clavichord was much in vogue in Italy
232 Reminiscences
with the ladies, and it was the favorite instru-
ment of young women. During the sixteenth
century in Italy, it was the custom for people of
wealth to send their daughters to the convents for
the purpose of acquainting them with the arts and
sciences, and especially to receive a musical educa-
tion; and at the time of Adrian Willaert's labors in
Venice, he himself and the organists at San Marco
were likewise clavier teachers in such convents.
It was about 1529 that Elena, daughter of the re-
nowned poet and man of letters, Pietro Bembo,
begged her father to allow her to take part in this
instruction. Bembo's written reply has been pre-
served for us, and the passage in his letter wherein
he speaks of the fondness for clavier-playing, runs
thus: " Touching thy request for leave to play the
monocordo, I answer, that by reason of thy tender
years thou canst not know that playing is an art for
vain, frivolous (leggierd) women. And I would
that thou shouldst be the most amiable and the
most chaste and modest maiden alive. Besides, if
thou wert to play badly, thy playing would cause
thee little pleasure, and no little shame. But in
order to play well, thou must needs give up ten or
twelve years to this exercise, without even thinking
of aught else. And how far this would benefit thee,
thou canst see for thyself, without my telling it.
Should thy schoolmates desire thee to learn to play
for their pleasure, tell them that thou dost not care
to have them laugh at thy mortification. And con-
tent thyself with the pursuit of the sciences and the
practice of needlework."
The clavichord possessed a soft and sweet tone,
Brief History of the Pianoforte 233
capable of expression, and its tone could be pro-
longed according to the pressure of the keys towards
the strings. A small bit of brass, called a " tan-
gent," was fastened to the back end of the key,
which, when raised by pressing the key, struck the
string, dividing it, thus producing at the same time
tone and pitch. With a good touch the player could
feel the elasticity of the string, and the more this
was felt the better the instrument was considered
to be.
By the pressure of the tangent the string was
divided into two unequal lengths, each of which
would have vibrated, but the shorter one was in-
stantly damped by a narrow band of cloth interlaced
with the strings, which also damped the longer sec-
tion as soon as the player allowed the key to rise
and the tangent to fall. The tangent thus not only
produced the tones, but served as a bridge to meas-
ure off the vibrating lengths required for the pitch
of the notes. Thus a delicate tone was obtained
that had in it something charmingly hesitating and
tremulous.
The tone of the clavichord, although very weak,
was yet capable, unlike that of the harpsichord, of
increase and decrease, reflecting the finest and most
tender gradations of the touch of the player. In
this power of expression it was without a rival until
the piano was invented. Koch, in his musical lexi-
con, describes the clavichord as the comfort of the
sufferer and the sympathizing friend of cheerfulness.
The clavichord was a favorite instrument with
Johann Sebastian Bach, who preferred it to the
pianoforte. Mozart used the clavichord now in the
234 Reminiscences
Mozarteum in composing his Zauberflote, or Magic
Flute, and other masterpieces. Beethoven is re-
ported to have said, " Among all keyed instru-
ments the clavichord is that on which one can best
control tone and expressive interpretation."
Clavichords made prior to the last century had
strings for the lower or natural keys only, the semi-
tones on the upper keys being produced by tangents
directed toward the strings of the lower. Thus, C
sharp was obtained by striking the C string at a
shorter length. About the year 1725, Daniel
Faber of Crailsheim gave the semitone its own
string, and instruments so made were distinguished
as Bundfrei from the older Gebunden, which was a
system of fretting. The Bcbung, a quiver which
consisted in giving to the key of the clavichord a
certain trembling pressure which produced a kind
of pulsation of the sound and which cannot be pro-
duced on the pianoforte, was much used by Bach
in order to connect and enliven the notes, and when
necessary to give them a special emphasis, to help
in elucidating the character of the music, whether
sad or cheerful.
The early history of the clavichord previous to
the fifteenth century, together with that of the
chromatic keyboard, rests in profound obscurity.
Welker describes the oldest clavichord as bearing
the date 1520, having four octaves, with the notes
C sharp and D sharp wanting. Clavichords had,
even with the last improvements, a soft, hesitating
tone. After they came into general use the idea
arose of constructing an instrument whose strings
could be set into stronger vibration by means of
Brief History of the Pianoforte 235
more powerful tangents, in order to gain thereby a
more powerful, more intense, tone. Of the many
stringed instruments that could be used for this
purpose during the Middle Ages, the psaltery was
the most suitable one. Its strings were operated
by means of a plectrum which was fastened by rings
to the hand of the performer. The psaltery was
the prototype of the spinet and the harpsichord.
Musical writers of the year 1650 say that the psaltery
played with a skilled hand stood second to no
other instrument, and praise its silvery tone and its
purity of intonation, so easily controlled by the
fingers. The strings of this instrument were in sets
of three, each group, as in the grand piano, being
tuned in unison to make one note.
The spinet, a keyed instrument with plectra or
jacks, was used in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. According to Dr. Burney, it was " a
small harpsichord or virginal with one string to each
note." Scaliger, who lived between 1484 and 1550,
states that crow-quills were introduced into keyed
instruments subsequent to his boyhood, and that
through them the name " spinet " (from spine, a
thorn or point) became applied to what had been
known as the " clavicymbal " and " harpsichord."
The strings of the spinet were set in vibration by
points of a quill, elevated on wooden uprights
known as jacks, and twitching or plucking them as
the depression of the keys caused the points to
pass upward. It is also stated by some writers that
the spinet received its name from Spinetti, a Vene-
tian, the inventor of the oblong form of the case,
and not the inventor of the crow-quill points.
236 Reminiscences
Spinetti adapted the plectrum system to the oblong
or table-shaped clavichord. All instruments of the
spinet or harpsichord family were on the plectrum
principle, and therefore were incapable of dynamic
modification of tone by difference of touch. The
spinet or virginal was a favorite instrument of the
kings and queens of England, and many interesting
compositions have been written for it by both Eng-
lish and French composers.
The harpsichord, like the spinet, was on the
plectrum principle. As pianofortes are made in
three different shapes, the grand, the square, and
the upright, there were as many varieties of the jack
instruments, namely, the harpsichord of trapeze
form, the oblong and pentangular form, called the
spinet, or virginal, and the upright harpsichord, or
clavicytherium. The harpsichord was the most im-
portant keyed instrument used during the sixteenth,
seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, and it served
as an accompanying orchestral instrument in opera
and oratorio. The compositions of Scarlatti were
mostly written for the harpsichord, and even some
of Bach's greatest works were composed for it.
The earliest mention of the harpsichord is un-
der the name of clavicymbal, in the Rules of the
Minnesinger, by Eberhard Cersne, A.D. 1404. With
it occur the clavichord, the monochord, and other
musical instruments in use at that time. Jean de
Muris, writing in 1323, and enumerating musical
instruments, makes no reference to either clavicym-
bal or clavichord, but describes the monochord as
in use at that time for measuring intervals. More-
over, there was no music wire before this epoch, the
Brief History of the Pianoforte 237
earliest record of wire-drawing being 1351 A.D., at
Augsburg. The harpsichord, being in the grand-
piano shape, unlike the spinet, had two, three, and
sometimes four strings to a note, and generally with
one string an octave higher in pitch, more rarely
one an octave lower, called the bourdon. The
spinet thus multiplied became the more powerful
and important harpsichord. Double keyboards
and stops for registers showed its affinity, at least
in idea, to the organ. The harpsichord died out
with the spinet and clavichord in the last quarter
of the eighteenth century, unable to maintain the
struggle for existence against the pianoforte. Per-
haps the last harpsichord was one bearing dementi's
name, dated 1802, which was shown at the Bologna
Exhibition. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was
published in 1802 for harpsichord or pianoforte, and
there is a record that Himmel played upon a harpsi-
chord in public, at Berlin, as late as 1805. All the
keyboard stringed instruments, whatever the size
and however the sound may be produced, have cer-
tain structural peculiarities in common, and espe-
cially the apparatus for resonance. The barred
(querhols, balkeri) sounding-board of cypress in the
old Italian spinets, of spruce in the modern piano,
all come under the same acoustic generalization of
resonance as Strad-fiddles, Bologna lutes, Andalu-
sian guitars.
At the close of the seventeenth century there did
not exist any instrument, with the exception of the
clavichord, on which the performer could at will
produce a soft or loud tone by pressure exerted
upon the keys of the keyboard. The desire of
238 Reminiscences
some musicians of that period to combine the won-
derful tone-sustaining capacities of the clavichord
with the power of the harpsichord was shared by
builders of musical instruments and eminent play-
ers. The dulcimer was the first instrument which
gave an impulse in Germany to the invention of the
pianoforte. The dulcimer, laid upon a table or
frame, was struck by means of hammers, one side
of which was covered with hard and the other with
soft leather, in order to produce the forte and piano
effects. The tone, harsh in loud playing, was al-
ways confused on account of the absence of any
damping contrivance, which alone can prevent the
continuance of sound when not required. Pantaleon
Hebenstreit of Eisleben, became, about 1697, a
virtuoso upon the dulcimer, which he quadrupled
in dimensions and had constructed as a double
Hackbrett, with two sounding-boards, each with its
scale of wire strings on one side and covered cat-
gut on the other side. With this powerful chro-
matic instrument, demanding herculean force to
play, Hebenstreit travelled to Paris in 1705, where
Louis XIV. christened it with his name, " Panta-
leon." Kuhnau (in Mattheson's Critica Musica,
December 8, 1717) praises the instrument and its
superiority over clavichord and harpsichord in pos-
sessing the properties of piano and forte. It was
this, according to Schroter's account, that led him
to ponder over a keyed instrument to do the like.
In Germany, France, and Italy the celebrated
organ-builder, Gottfried Silbermann, was formerly
universally considered as the inventor of the piano
until the organist, Christoph Gottlieb Schroter, ten
Brief History of the Pianoforte 239
years after the death of Silbermann, in 1765, claimed
the honor of said invention for himself, and at-
tempted to furnish proofs for his claim by means of
drawings and documents. Lately, however, ex-
tracts from Italian and French archives have been
published which for the first time accurately reveal
the part taken by Schroter and Silbermann in this
invention. These communications, verified by the
pianos of that time still in existence, necessitate a
complete revolution of all previous histories of the
piano. They are chiefly the results of a society in
Florence which had resolved to have a celebration
on March 7, 1874, in commemoration of Cristofori,
the first, and without doubt independent, inventor
of the clavicymbal with piano and forte. This
instrument, known since 1711, was called by its in-
ventor " pianoforte," which name it has retained
ever since outside of Italy. Cristofori, according
to the latest researches, was born May 4, 1653, at
Padua. Here he attained such high renown as a
keyed-instrument maker, that the Prince Ferdinand
de' Medici, known as a patron of arts, and especially
as a connoisseur of music, induced him to settle in
Florence and enter his service as court maker of
clavichords, spinets, and harpsichords, and to also
serve as custodian of his collection of musical in-
struments. In the year 1711, in a newspaper pub-
lished in Venice, the invention, hitherto considered
impossible, of a grave-cembalo col piano e forte,
was announced. It also stated that the lucky in-
ventor was the paid and employed cymbalist of the
Prince of Toscana namely Bartolommeo Cristo-
fori, and that he had already completed three
240 Reminiscences
grand pianos of the usual size and quality. It was
especially mentioned that in these new instruments
it depended upon the strength with which the player
touched the key to produce a weaker or stronger
tone with all its gradations. Many musicians re-
fused to pay the tribute due to this invention, be-
cause its tone was too weak and obtuse. The chief
objection made to the new instrument was that one
had to become accustomed to the manner of play-
ing it even if expert on the other keyed instruments.
Cristofori solved three important problems, the
first of which was to counteract the strain of thicker
strings necessary to withstand the impact of the
hammer. The second, allied to the first, was to
compensate for the weakness caused by the opening
between the tuning-pin block, technically " wrest-
plank," and the sounding-board imperative for the
hammers to rise to the strings; while the third was
the mechanical control of the rebound of the ham-
mer from the strings technically " escapement,"
so that the hammer should not block against the
strings and prevent vibrations. All this he did,
and more, for he invented the check, or movable
rest, for the hammer-tail, the simplest expedient to
preserve the position of the hammer for a repeated
blow technically " repetition."
Marius, doubtless, is the second equally independ-
ent inventor of a piano. In 1716 he presented to
the Royal Academy in Paris the designs and de-
scriptions of four different piano models.
In 1763, organist Christoph Gottlieb Schrflter, in
Nordhausen, published a description of a newly
invented clavier, on which one could play loudly or
Brief History of the Pianoforte 241
softly, according to the way the keys were touched.
He said that he was led to this invention by the
pantaleon of the renowned virtuoso, Hebenstreit,
and that in 1717 he had attempted to produce a
keyed instrument whose strings could be set in
motion by means of beaters or hammers instead of
the tangents, quills, or plectra formerly used, and
that in 1721 he submitted two models to the court
in Dresden. In one the hammers struck the strings
from above, in the other from below; both were
supplied with dampers so that the strings could be
made to resound softly or loudly. The models met
with the approval of the King, who ordered the con-
struction of the one struck by hammers from below.
The execution of this order was never completed,
and when Schroter desired to leave Dresden he
could not obtain possession of his models in spite of
all his efforts. Schroter furthermore states that,
without his knowledge and consent, his invention
became known in Germany, and bad imitations
thereof were made and called pianofortes. Agric-
ola adds the following to the history of the piano :
" Mr. Gottfried Silbermann made at first two of
these pianos. The blessed chapelmaster, Johann
Sebastian Bach, saw and played upon one of them,
and while he praised its tone and even admired it,
he found the fault that in its high notes it was too
weak, and that it was too hard to play. Mr. Sil-
bermann heard these complaints with ill grace, and
was angry with Mr. Bach for a long time. But his
own conscience finally told him that Mr. Bach's
criticisms were correct, and he decided, it must be
said to his glory, not to make any more of these
16
242 Reminiscences
instruments, but to work hard to invent something
to do away with the faults mentioned by Mr. Bach.
On this he worked for many years, and when he
showed one of these improved instruments to Mr.
Bach, he received from him his utmost approval."
The greatest musicians of the age Johann Sebas-
tian Bach in 1737, and Mozart in 1777 had acknow-
ledged the value of the invention of the piano, but
still a long time elapsed before it assumed the rank
due to it among the keyed instruments of that age.
As in the history of music, so we can here plainly
see the strife of progress against conservatism, the
resistance of established rules to new principles. A
musical critic in Leipsic writes in 1782: " In the
harpsichord the heart cannot express itself; with it,
no picture can be completely produced, as light and
shadow cannot be expressed, only a clearly defined
sketch can be made. It is adapted either to bear
or to carry away the stream of music, in short, to
flow on with it. " " The pianoforte, ' ' he continues,
" stands higher, especially one made by Frederici in
Gera, or Stein in Augsburg. Here the heart can
express itself, manifest its manifold feelings, and
exhibit light and shadows. But it is deficient in
shadings and minor attractions, so that it is adapted
as an instrument for concerts and chamber music.
The clavichord, however, stands highest of all, and,
although on account of its nature it is excluded
from the concert-hall, it is the companion of the
recluse. Here I can reproduce the feelings of my
heart, can shade, fully express, drive away, and melt
away a tone through all its swellings." He closes
his remarks as follows: " In order to judge a
Brief History of the Pianoforte 243
virtuoso, one must listen to him while at the clavi-
chord, not at the pianoforte, and least of all at the
harpsichord."
The poet and musician, Christian Friederich
Daniel Schubart, thus expresses himself: "The
musical coloring cannot be executed on the piano
in all its mtances, but the clavichord this solitary,
melancholy, and inexpressibly sweet instrument
if it is made by a master is preferable to the harp-
sichord and pianoforte; through the pressure of
the ringer, through the swinging and vibrating of the
strings, through the strong and soft touch of the
hand, the increase and decrease of tone, the melting
under the fingers of the player, the expiring trill of
the portamento in short, all expressions of feeling
can be visibly manifested." We see that long after
the general introduction and use of the piano, the
clavichord was preferred.
The pianofortes of Johann Andreas Stein, who
died in 1792, in Augsburg, far surpassed those
of other makers. When Mozart had become ac-
quainted with these instruments, he selected them
especially for his performances, and thereby brought
them into public favor and the widest circulation.
Stein's newly contrived piano-escapement appears
to have charmed Mozart when in Augsburg in Octo-
ber, 1777. In a letter to his father he refers to the
evenness of its touch, saying that " the action
never blocks, and never fails to sound, as is some-
times the case with other pianos."
Mozart's concert grand in \heMozarteum at Salz-
burg is a small five-octave instrument with black
natural keys and white sharps, said to have been
244 Reminiscences
made by Anton Walter, in Vienna, who finally be-
came Mozart's favorite maker. Walter's pianos
were mere copies of Stein.
The Steins were a family of piano-makers and
players, and consisted of the father, Johann An-
dreas, his two sons, Matthaus Andreas, Friedrich,
and a daughter, Maria Anna, known as Nanette,
who in 1794 married Streicher, and was really the
most prominent of the group. Though Streicher
ultimately succeeded to the business, which had
been removed from Augsburg to Vienna, his name
does not appear for several years in connection with
it. The firm, as late as 1801, was " Geschwister
Stein " ; subsequently " Nanette Stein " appears as
the maker's name on a grand piano existing as late
as 1882 in Windsor Castle, the property of the
Queen of England.
Nanette Streicher was a fine pianiste and piano-
builder. She was a person of cultivation and refine-
ment, and her name is closely connected with that of
Beethoven. It is well known that she did much to
help him in his domestic arrangements, lightened
the burden of his housekeeping, and that she even
looked after his bodily health. Thayer, in his work
on Beethoven, says: " In May, Beethoven, on the
advice of his medical men, went to Baden, whither
he was followed by his friend Mrs. Streicher, who re-
mained at Baden for the summer and took charge of
his lodgings and clothes, which appear to have been
in a deplorable state. On his return to Vienna the
Streichers continued their friendly services, procured
for him two good servants, and otherwise looked
after his interests. These servants remained with
DECORATED CONCERT GRAND.
Made by Anton Walter in Vienna, about 1780.
Brief History of the Pianoforte 245
him for a year or two, and this was probably the
most comfortable time of the last half of Beethoven's
life." Beethoven always showed a preference for
the pianos made by Stein and his daughter Nanette.
Thayer says that Beethoven, in 1791, when residing
at Bonn, always used a Stein piano, and it is claimed
by those who know the history of the grand made
by Nanette Streicher, and which forms one of my
collection, that it was furnished by the lady to her
friend Beethoven for his concerts, and that during
his many wanderings away from home Mrs. Streicher
kept it exclusively at the disposal of the master
whenever he felt like using it. In one of his many
letters to Mrs. Streicher Beethoven says: " Perhaps
you do not know, though I have not always had one
of your pianos, that since 1809 I have invariably
preferred yours."
On a theatre program of May 16, 1767, in Lon-
don, we find the following in reference to the early
use of the piano in London :
" End of Act I. Miss Brickler will sing a favorite
song from Judith, accompanied by Mr. Dibdin on
a new instrument called piano."
A year later, Johann Christian Bach played in a
concert for the first time publicly on a piano.
Clementi also used a piano in London in 1775.
Although professional musicians took the greatest
interest in playing the pianoforte, it cannot be said
that the art of pianoforte-playing was extensively
adopted by the people at large. No doubt crowned
heads and noblemen took some interest in perform-
ing on this instrument, but otherwise there were
-very few people who owned pianofortes. Therefore,
246 Reminiscences
it is not surprising that such an industry as the
manufacturing of pianofortes, considering the limited
demand for them, was not followed to any great ex-
tent. The makers of such keyed instruments as the
clavichord, harpsichord, and spinet were generally
such persons as knew how to play them, namely
organists, schoolmasters, monks and priests, organ-
builders, lute and violin players, cabinet-makers,
and geniuses of all kinds. Every player invented
some scheme for building an instrument that suited
his requirements and tastes. No certain rule or
scale was followed in the construction of the instru-
ments everything was left to the good judgment
and discretion of the maker. It was somewhat of a
free art, and even a fascination, to build a clavi-
chord, a harpsichord, spinet, or even a pianoforte.
It is well known that every player had to string,
tune, and regulate his own instrument, and for
that reason these instruments were provided with
small drawers or enclosures containing little rolls
of brass or steel wire, and in which could be always
found the tuning-hammer with the hook for turn-
ing a loop and for tuning and stringing up the
instrument.
The history of pianoforte-making compares un-
favorably with that of violin-making. In fact, the
pianoforte first made its appearance when the violin
under such makers as Stradivarius and others had
attained its highest perfection. Later on, when in-
strumental music became more popular, and its
effects were more keenly felt, and the people at
large became interested in the playing of the piano-
forte, a greater demand for this instrument was
Brief History of the Pianoforte 247
created, and orders came in to these self-taught
makers.
How dealers in pianofortes to-day must envy
the pianoforte - makers of the good days of old
when they consider that in those days the would-be
purchaser had to look up the maker and court his
pleasure!
He was compelled to sign a written contract
whose terms sound droll. The time limited for the
construction was from six to twelve months. The
payments were generally so much cash, so many
casks of wine, a certain amount of corn, wheat, and
potatoes. Very often geese, chickens, and turkeys
constituted some of the items of payment, and
even a few cords of firewood might make up the
balance. When the pianoforte was completed and
ready to be delivered at the house of the impatient
purchaser a general festival took place; the maker
was the hero of the hour, and accompanied the
piano, followed by his craftsmen and apprentices, if
he had any.
The wagon which conveyed the precious burden
was gaily decorated with wreaths and flowers, the
horses were magnificently decked out, a band of
music headed the procession, and after the wagon
followed the proud maker, borne on the shoulders of
his assistants, musicians, organists, schoolmasters,
and dignitaries marching in the rear. At the place
of destination the procession was received with
greetings of welcome and shouts of joy. The pastor
of the place said a prayer and blessed the new instru-
ment and its maker. Then the mayor or the burgo-
master of the place delivered an address dwelling
248 Reminiscences
at great length upon the importance of the
event to the whole community, and stating, per-
haps, that the coming of such a new musical instru-
ment would raise their place in the eyes of the
surrounding country. Then followed speeches by
the schoolmaster, doctor, druggist, and other digni-
taries, and songs by the Mannerchor of the place.
Amidst the strains of the band the pianoforte was
moved to its new home. A banquet and a dance
closed the happy occasion.
This is a fair description of the pianoforte industry
of Germany in the latter part of the eighteenth cent-
ury and the first part of the nineteenth, though it
must be added that there then existed a few piano-
forte-makers who had already systematized their
business, and who managed small factories. As the
makers were compelled to manufacture every article
used in the instrument, and in default of machinery
had to make everything by hand, it took a long time
to turn out an instrument.
The then prevailing polyphonic school was not
sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the player
of the newly invented pianoforte. A new style was
to be cultivated, one in conformity with the new
instrument, possessing greater power than the clavi-
chord, besides having dynamic qualities so different
from the latter, in addition to its greatest capacity,
namely, that of enabling the performer to play softly
and loudly according to his will. The monophonic
style was to be cultivated ; a melodic form was de-
manded by the people in their steady advancement
with the new instrument. Its apostle and repre-
sentative was found in C. P. Emanuel Bach, one of
Brief History of the Pianoforte 249
Sebastian Bach's sons. His style was elegant and
pleasing. He was followed by Joseph Haydn, who,
endowed with a musical nature, emphasized the new
style of pianoforte playing. Owing to the fact that
improvements were continually added to the piano-
forte, in course of time the instrument reached a
higher state of perfection. The pianofortes of
Johann Andreas Stein, of Augsburg, Germany,
were of great influence on the previously prevailing
style of pianoforte playing, and the sonatas and
concertos of Mozart, composed for this instrument,
clearly exhibit the great advance of pianoforte build-
ing. Towards tfie end of the eighteenth century the
Vienna school of piano-building first became promi-
nent through the son and daughter of said Stein,
who had moved their workship from Augsburg to
Vienna, where Nanette Stein became a piano-
builder in company with Streicher, her husband.
The improvement of the pianoforte goes hand in
hand with the compositions of the great Beethoven,
who at this time embellished his new forms of con-
certos and sonatas with matchless beauty from the
inspirations of his great genius. His compositions
surmounted all the then existing obstacles, and with
the wings of an eagle he spread his music over the
universe. In 1827, the mighty genius of Beethoven
rested from its labors forever. His grand sym-
phonies, his overtures, an opera Fidelia, a wealth
of trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, and septets
remain an everlasting monument of this great man.
His pianoforte concertos and sonatas will ever testify
to his love and devotion for that instrument.
The master who has reached the highest pinnacle
250 Reminiscences
of pianoforte composition beckons the pianoforte-
maker to march on to his mission, to improve his
instrument, so that when the artist touches its keys,
the hammers may touch the strings with tenderness,
and the divine spirit of the immortal composer
breathe forth, and that the harp of the nineteenth
century with its lyric strains may inspire all mankind
with its heavenly harmonies.
Just as music is the youngest and noblest of the
fine arts, the pianoforte is also the latest of the
grand family of musical instruments ; and as the love
for music progresses, the art of pianoforte-building
will steadily move forward, and its onward march
will aid mankind in acquiring a higher, deeper, and
still more glorious knowledge of the noblest and
greatest of all arts the divine art of music.
CHAPTER XIII
Steinertone.
HAVING thus strengthened my conviction by my
researches and lectures, I was led to think of
some mechanism that could be connected with a
keyboard, by which I could intone a string by
means of a hammer. The tone-production of the
clavichord, I knew, was obtained by a little bit of
brass fastened to the back of the key, and which,
when the key was pressed down, struck the string,
producing a tone. This tangent remained stationary
on the string, forming a bridge, as long as the key
was held down, and as the string was loosely drawn
over the sounding-board and made of thin brass
wire, it was subject to a tremulous vibration, ob-
tained by a movement of the finger like that in
which the violinist indulges when pressing down
the string upon the finger-board of his violin. This
tone-production I found to be of the most intimate
and soul-inspiring nature, capable of expressing the
deepest emotions inherent in the human heart, but
too soft, too tender, too ethereal, and capable of
appealing only to the select few.
The spinet and the harpsichord have the same
251
252 Reminiscences
sounding-board as is found in the clavichord, but
with a string of greater tension. It is plucked by
means of a goose-quill fastened to a jack and rest-
ing upon the end of a key, and produces an entirely
different tone-color, which, while it is louder, more
brilliant in timbre than the clavichord, it is devoid
of the expression of that sweet-voiced little instru-
ment.
The third tone-production consists in connecting
a mechanism with the key that hurls a hammer
towards a tightly drawn string; but it also retains
a sounding-board similar to the clavichord. This
tone-color differs from that of the quill by being
able to give two strokes which vary in their dynam-
ics viz., soft and loud, and it is called the hammer-
clavier, or the piano e forte.
All tone-productions through keyboards during
the last one hundred and fifty years have been
obtained by means of hammers, and it was the ham-
mer that I finally chose to utilize as a means of tone-
production, and which I determined should serve
me in enlarging its limitations. I therefore con-
structed a mechanism which resembles greatly the
natural formation of the human arm and hand,
which could influence the hammer and control its
strokes when meeting the string, the same as the
violinist holds and controls his bow, and through
this vibratory motion touches the string and draws
out tones that are closely related to those obtained
by means of the tangent of the clavichord.
When I had developed this mechanism to a cer-
tain state of perfection, I discovered that the tonal
capacity or the vibrating power of a sounding-board,
O Jj .g
1 If
o -g *
Steinertone 253
which usually serves as the tone resonator to the
musical instrument called a pianoforte, and which
contains a number of tightly drawn steel strings, was
exceedingly pregnant with vibrating power, and
far superior in this direction to the sounding-board of
guitars and mandolins, and especially to the curved-
belly sounding-board found in the various instru-
ments that belong to the violin tribe. This discovery
still further convinced me that my search was in
the right direction for finding rich tones, if only
properly produced. I also found that the blows
given to the strings of a pianoforte, on account of
its crude mechanism, are too violent. They lack
elasticity, and possess brute force. These blows
differ greatly from the sensitiveness of the sound-
ing-board, and are therefore antagonistic to it, and
in consequence create noises and discordant and
unrelated overtones. The pianoforte is essentially
an instrument of percussion, and is naturally subject
to the impact of a hammer stroke towards the string,
and this in itself diminishes its musical value.
I was aware of the fact that the very elements
which were contained in the primitive invention of
Cristofori in 1710 are yet indisputably represented
in the mechanism that controls the hammer which
deals out the blows upon the string, and that no
one has ever dared to change these dynamics ob-
tained by such a mechanism. Being therefore sur-
rounded by it and by the influences which were
bearing upon me as to another tone-production,
which is also subject to the workings of a mechan-
ism that controls a hammer in striking a string, I
was bold enough to discard the old Cristofori system
254 Reminiscences
in toto, to strike out in a new direction which I
hoped would bring out the hidden powers of the
sounding-board in all their wealth of color.
This mechanism consists of a system of leverages,
and is quite free from all the accessories of springs,
as found in the old action. I was also guided by
the natural movements of the wrist, hand, and
fingers, which move simply by will-power and with-
out any obstruction. Having thus refined my
hammer stroke, the inevitable thump which is so
disagreeable to the ear, and therefore so objection-
able to the musical mind, disappeared, and a more
delicate rhythm, which brought the musical work
closer to such rhythms as lie in the sphere of other
instruments, was developed ; while by the softest
impact of the hammer upon the string a most en-
chanting pianissimo could be obtained.
The introduction of the hammer-release by Cris-
tofori, which has been piously and reverently re-
tained as a landmark, and which it has ever been
looked upon by the pianoforte-builders as a heresy
to remove, I took upon myself not only to remove
but to cremate, and thus obtained an authoritative
control over my hammer. In thus gaining different
tone-colors by means of different strokes and an un-
broken control over the hammer through my new
mechanism, I found that that instrument which Cris-
tofori was pleased to call " piano e forte " was trans-
formed into another instrument, which possessed
not only the inexpressible sweetness of the clavi-
chord and the rhythmical tone-production of the
hammer-clavier or pianoforte, but a musical instru-
ment that, when compared with those instruments
Steinertone 255
that live in the domain of the orchestra, stands
unique as to its usefulness and imitative power in
giving tone-colorings which strikingly resemble the
'cello, clarionet, French horn, bassoon, and many
others, when its keyboard serves the intelligent and
talented musician as a means of expression.
To call the instrument containing my new method
of tone-production still a pianoforte would hardly be
proper, and in order to distinguish it from the latter
instrument I have called it the Steinertone. The
introduction of the Steinertone to the musical world
should form a new era in the building of a keyed
instrument which has steel strings; and when I look
back upon the many compositions that were given
to the early family of keyed instruments, such as
clavichord, harpsichord, hammer-clavier, and piano-
forte, and glance upon the usefulness they possessed
in the realm of music and in the lives of musicians,
the power they wielded upon the human mind and
upon the emotions which control the thought of us
all, I feel that the cultivation of that instrument
has not been in vain ; that through its influence
society has been refined and elevated, and that no
branch of the fine arts has entered closer into the
home circle than have the keyed instruments, on ac-
count of their ingenious construction, for every man,
woman, and child can form his or her own orchestra.
For this reason, I feel that the feeble efforts which
I have made must add some degree of happiness to
the many who liberally contributed to my support
when I furnished them with the pianoforte. In fact,
I felt under obligation to the musical world to give
them freely of that which a Higher Power may have
256 Reminiscences
ordained to impart to them through me ; to add to
the happiness of humanity and to increase the love
and devotion that makes the musican everywhere
such a happy being; to aid him in a limited degree,
so as to enable him to express his thoughts, his joys,
his griefs, and his sorrows just as truthfully, and
more free from physical exertion than upon the in-
strument that has been so faithful to him, though
not faultless.
If the claims I make and the responses from the
musical world are in harmony with my ideal, I can
safely say that I have lived a happy and useful life,
and one that must teach that life is only sweet when
it is devoted to the service of others.
fln flDemoriam
" We are born for a higher destiny than that of earth ; there is a
realm where the rainbow never fades, where the stars will be spread
before us like islands that slumber on the ocean, and where the
beings that pass before us like shadows will stay in our presence
forever."
WE are taught that we must graciously accept
the adversities that meet us in the paths of
life when everything should point towards happi-
ness. It cannot be denied that much self-denial
must be practised when we are called upon to face
the inevitable amidst our joys and successes. This
has come home to me, as for seventeen years I have
toiled along the rugged path of life, meeting on the
road much that offered resistance to my endeavor
to reach such ideals as I looked upon as worthy of
possessing. I have therefore to mention that a
time came in my life when the good fairy could
not touch with her magic wand and transform what
lay before me into happiness and good fortune. I
refer to the early germs of a malady which stole over
my beloved wife, and silently and stealthily, but
nevertheless effectively, implanted in her constitu-
tion the primary symptoms of a disease known as
paralysis agitans, a disease that is inexplicable to
257
258 Reminiscences
the physician in its mysterious nature, a disease
that defies scientific research and its treatment.
When this misfortune came to our happy home-
circle and planted its fangs in my wife, much of that
sunshine that had always given us comfort, cheer,
and warmth became shadowed. In this hour of
distress, however, the sweet nature of my unfortu-
nate wife brightened, and she, by her patient and
gentle disposition, helped to dispel the cloud across
the sun. With a silent and cheerful acceptance of
her fate, she fought the disease through the slow
stages of development, until at the end of seventeen
years of intense suffering, without one murmur, she
yielded to the insidious nature of the dread malady.
My wife and the affectionate mother of nine children
died January 15, 1899. The loss of Mrs. Steinert
brought grief and sorrow to our home, and all the
world seemed to share our mourning as we laid her
away. The sweet home-circle was broken ; and our
hearts, which were sad and heavy, bled afresh when,
on February loth of the same year, Edward, in the
flower of his manhood for he was only thirty-four
went to join his mother.
To the taking away of these beloved ones, I in-
scribe this In Memoriam, while I shed a tear to their
memory.
MRS. CAROLINE DREYFUSS STEINtRT-
INDEX
Abbey, 23
Abo, 66, 67, 68
Abt, Franz, 30
Academy of Music, 100
Accordion, 119, 127
Adam, 228
Adirondacks, 95
Admiralty Square, 70
Adonis, 68
Adonis, 104
^Eolian Harp, 224
Ages, Middle, 235
Agnus Dei, 204, 207
Agricola, 241
Aischmann, 36, 45, 69, 77, 78
Albany, 84, 87, 205, 221
Albert, 211, 225, 226, 227, 228
Alexander, 149, 154, 178, 179,
189
Algesheim, 231
Alsace-Lorraine, 80
America, 80, 94, 147, 153, 184,
185, 187, 192, 195, 205, 211,
221
American, 80
Ames. 141
Andalusian, 237
Anderson, W. Dexter, 156
Andover, 211
Anschiitz, Carl, 153
Antwerp, 222
Apollo, 12, 6l, 222
Arab, 147
Arditi, L., 99
Armstrong Company, 170
Army, 72
Athenaeum, 175
Athens, Georgia, 141, 143, 147,
148, 150, 151, 167
Atlanta, Georgia, 142
Auber, 9, 165 ; La Muette de
Portici, 9 ; Crown Diamonds,
163
Augsburg, 32, 237, 242, 243, 244,
249
Ausspitzer, Doctor von, 22 1
Austria, Emperor of, 213
Babetta, 9, 81, 192
Bach, C. P. Emanuel, 248
Bach, Johann Christian, 245
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 26, 197,
198, 210, 213, 220, 230, 231,
233, 234, 241, 242, 245, 249
Bad-Ems, n
Baden, 244
Bagby, 223
Bailey, Colonel, 134, 135, 139
Baltimore, 118
Bamberg, 32
Banjo, 119, 127
Barnum, P. T., 229
Barons, House of, 173, 174, 186,
189
Earth, 142
Basle, 25
Bassoon, 119, 159, 255
Bavaria, I, 14, 31, 162
259
260
Index
Bavarian, 2, 7, 17
Bayer, 195
Bebung, 234
Beecher, Henry Ward, 162
Beest, Martin, 222
Beethoven, L. von, 7, 26, 49, 51,
90, 96, 107, 213, 234, 237, 244,
245, 249. Fidelia, 249. The
.<4t&/at<&,49, 51,90,92,96, 107,
108, 113. Moonlight Sonata,
237 ; 2cL Symphony in D, 26 ;
gth Symphony, 26
Belgian, 220
Bellamy, 139, 140
Bellini, Vincenzo, 213. La
Norma, 100. La Sonnambula,
116, 117
Bembo, Pietro, 232
Benedictine, 23
Berg, 118-119, 121, 123
Bergmann, Carl, 153
Be'riot, de, 26
Berlin, 21, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35,
102, 127, 237
Berlioz, Hector, 26
Berne, 25
Bernina, 24
Bethany, 154
Bienne, 25
Bingham's School, 115
Bird, William, 231
Birmingham, Conn., 166
Blitz, 104, 105, 106, 108, 114
Bohemia, n
Bohemian Girl, 117
Bologna, 237
Bonn, 245
Borgia, Lucrezia, 133
Boston, 87, 175, 179, 189, 211
Bourdon, 237
Breese, 223
Bremen, 191
Bretzf elder, 153, 154, 169
Brewster's Hall, 114, 175
Brickler, 245
Bridgeport, 114, 175
Britain, Great, 213, 221
Britannica, Encyclopedia, 223
Brooklyn, 60
Brown University, 211
Brown's Hotel, 98
Brussels, 215
Buchanan, 145
Buckley, Fred, 103, 104, 105,
"3
Bull Run, 157
Bull's Warerooms, 156
Bundfrei, 234
Bunnell, G. B., 229
Burg-Haslach, 120
Burney, Dr., 235
Buxtehude, Dietrich, 231
Cantor, 6, 55
Capuze, 33, 34
Carolina, North, 150
Carolina, South, 149
Castle Garden, 99, 100
Catholic, 4, 8, 32, 59, 61
Centreville, 154
Cersne, Eberhard, 236
Chambers, 32
Chapman, Charles, 156, 157
Ghavli, 39, 40, 42, 82
Cheshire, 155, 159
Chicago, 221, 223
Chickering, 140
Chopin, F. F., 184, 213
C-sharp-minor nocturne, 185
Christ-child, 57
Chur, 23, 25
Church, 4, 5, 8, 17, 19, 31, 32,
44, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 70,
118, 119, 138, 141, 142, 144,
146, 147, 148, 154, 155, 192,
193, 199, 207, 231
Churwalden, 25
Cincinnati, 117, 186, 187
City of Elms, 114, 157, 213
Clarionet, 27, 157, 165, 182,
IQ7, 255
Clavichord, 6, 55, 189, 191, 195,
196, 197, 199, 200, 210, 220,
223, 225, 227, 230, 231, 232,
233, 234, 236, 237, 238, 242,
243, 246, 251, 252, 254
Clavicinist, 231
Clavicymbal, 217, 226, 235, 236,
239
Clavicytherium, 236
Clavier, 6, 210, 214, 218, 232,
240
Index
261
Cleraenti, M., 143, 237, 245
Cleveland, Rev. Dr., 154
Cobb, Howell, 145
Cobb, Lucy, 145, 146, 147
Cobb, Thomas, 145, 146
Coblenz, 9, 10, 14, 25, 78, 79,
81, 96, 99, 116, 195
Cologne, 32, 193
Columbia University, 223
Confederacy, 148
Connecticut, 102, 114, 173, 179,
220, 221
Cornet, 127
Couperin, 231
Crailsheim, 234
Creator, 43, 59
Cremona, 66
Cristofori, B., 239, 240, 253, 254
Critica Musica, 238
Crown, 17
Curpark, II
Cutler Building, 156
Cymbalist, 239
Czar, 78
Danzig, 35
Dazian, 15, 16, 17, 127, 145, 195,
196
Delaware, 151
Denmark, 189
Derpt, 47
De Witt, 213
Dibdin, 245
Dickinson, Anna, 162
Diehn, Herr, 217, 218, 220
Die Wacht am Rliein, 183
Dom, 193
Donaueschingen, 145
Donizetti, 213
Don Juan, 122
Dorpat, 47
Dresden, 241
Dreyfuss, Caroline, 80, 115, 116,
117, 118
Dulcimer, 238
Duna, 45
Easter, 75
Edward, 186, 258
Eisleben, 238
Eldorado, 67, 118
Eldridge House, 95, 98
Elena, 232
Elizabeth, Queen, 231
Elysian, 6l
Embach, 47
Emmenthal, 25
Emperor, 76
Ems, ii, 12, 13, 14, 19
Engadine, 23, 24, 25, 79
England, 230, 236, 244
English, 62, 82, 83, 84, 85, 236
Episcopal, 141, 142, 144, 146,
147, 148
Erb, Professor, 191
Erbach, Christian, 231
Ernst, 26
Europe, n, 26, 61, 70, 80, 82,
121, 187, 212, 213
F., Dr., 106, 114
Faber, Daniel, 234
Farrell, 122, 123
Feldmann, 114, 115, 116
Fischer, Peter, 162, 163, 164,
165, 228
Florence, 239
Florida, 134, 141
Flute, 7, 13, 27, 68, 119, 127,
157, 165, 169, 182, 195, 214
Foster, 131, 132, 134
France, 78, 121, 191, 213, 230,
238
Franklin College, 146
Frauenhofer, 47
Frederici, C. E., 242
Frederick, 179
Frederick the Great, 213, 214
Frederick William IV., 13
French, 62, 72, 115, 123, 155,
182, 197, 236, 239, 255
Friedheim, Arthur, 211
Fritchie, 113
Froberger, Johann J., 231
FUrstenburg, Prince, 145
Gall, St., 23, 25
Callus, Saint-, 23
Gambrinus, 159
Gebunden, 234
Gemara, 41
Gemiinder, George, 100
262
Index
Georgia, 118, 124, 127, 141, 142,
143, H5
Gera, 242
German, 21, 34, 37, 41, 50, 56,
62, 78, 83, 87, 89, 92, 106, 112,
128, 134, 141, 153, 154, 159,
165, 170, 177, 183, 186
Germany, i, 14, 25, 26, 31, 36,
48, 77, 87, 99, 142, 191, 210,
213, 219, 231, 238, 241, 248
Gesellschaft der Musik Freunde,
213, 215
Gibson, 126, 127
Gilpin, John, 138
God, 59, 66, 1 80, 204
Goethe, 49, 52
Gough, John B., 162, 163, 165,
174
Government, 36, 42
Gradener, Hermann, 67
Gradener, Karl, 66
Gray, Thomas, 3
Greek, 59, 62
Greenwich, 82
Grisi, 26, 76, 99, 100, roi, 102
Grove, Sir George, 222
Guitar, 7, 91, 92, 119, 127, 129,
131, 237, 253
Gungl', Joseph, 27, 76
Hackbrett, 238
Halle, 231
Hamburg, 67, 215, 219, 220, 231
Hammer-clavier, 189, 200, 210,
252, 254
Handel, G. F., 197, 220, 230, 231
Hannah, 136, 137, 138
Hanover, 10
Hansel, 125, 126, 127
Harpsichord, 189, 190, 200, 210,
215, 216, 219, 220, 221, 230,
231, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239,
243, 246, 247
Hartford, Conn., 175
Harvard University, 211, 224,
225
Hasler, Hans Leo, 231
Hass, J. A., 215, 219, 221
Haversham, Niles, 119
Haydn, Joseph, 26, 161, 165,
197, 213, 249
Hebenstreit, Pantaleon, 238, 241
Hebrew, 38, 41, 185, 186
Heidelberg, 191
Heine, 52
Heineman, 99
Heloise, 147, 177, 229
Helsingfors, 64, 65, 66, 67
Henning, 27
Henry, 124, 177, 178, 186, 211
Herald, 133
Herder, J. G. von, 21
Himmel, F. H., 237
Hintz, 142, 144, 146, 147
Hipkins, J. S., 223
Horn, French, 27, 119, 120, 157,
165, 182, 197, 255
Horton, Rev. Dr., 155
Hull, 148
Hummel, J. N., 213
Hyperion Theatre, 162, 229
Imperial, 72
Ingersoll, Ex-Governor, 175
Ingersoll, Justine, 175
Irish, 23, 128, 182
Irish Washerwoman, 183
Italian, 43, 237, 239
Italianski, 76
Italy, 213, 230, 231, 232, 238, 239
Jackson, John D., 168
Jacoby, 32
Japanese, 219
Jehovah, 41
Jesus, Lover of My Soul, 183
Jew, 37, 38
Jewish, 42
Jones, 131
Joseph, St., 58
Jost, 25, 79
Julier Pass, 23
Kaiser, 183
Kalliwoda, 145
Kant, 21
Kapellmeister, 66, 67, 145
Katrina, 218, 219
Keil, 66
Kellerman, 14
Kerl, Johann K., 231
King, 101, 241
Index
263
Kleinschrod, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,
22
Klopstock, F. T., 21
Koch, 233
Konigsberg, 35
Krehbiel, H. E., 2io, 21 1
Kreutzer, Conradin, 45, 183
Das Nachtlager in Granada,
45 ; Die Kapelle, 183 ; Es
ist der Tag des flerrn, 183
Kuhnau, Johann, 238
Kuhrer Restaurant, 221
L., Mrs., 82, 99, 101, 102, 104
Ladymeyer, 101, 102, 104
La Grange, Ga., 145
Laimbeck, 13
Lambert, Professor, 211
Langenfeld, 100
Larned, Professor W. A., 175
Lamed, Mrs., 175
Leipsic, 213, 242
Lennert, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147
Lenox, Mass., 91, 92
Lenzen, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93
Lessing, G. E., 49
Liberal, 33
Liebig's Orchestra, 27
Lille, France, 79
Lincoln, Abraham, 152
Lind, Jenny, 12, 13, 26
Lind, Jenny, 80
Liszt, Franz, 26
Livonia, Russia, 44
London, England, 222, 223, 245
Louis, 6, 14, 78, 79, 80, 195
Louis I., 18
Louis XIV., 18, 238
Llibeck, 231
Lucerne, 25
Luna, 68
Lute, 237, 246
McCormick, 221
Madler, Professor, 47
Maintenon, Mme. de, 18
Mandolin, 253
Mannerchor, 183, 225, 245
Marble, Edwin, 162
Marchand, Louis, 231
Marco, San, 252
Maretzek, Max, 99
Mario, 76, 99, 100, 101, 102
Marius, 240
Marseillaise, 91
Marsyas, 222
Maryland, 118
Massachusetts, 87, 225
Mathushek, 170, 171, 172
Mattheson, J., 220, 238
Maurer, 76
Mediaeval, 244
Medici, Prince Ferdinand de,
239
Meeker, Mrs., 167, 168
Mein Adagio mit den GlockfJien,
I O2
Meinhard, 120
Melodeon, 87, 154
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, 26, 213
Meriden, Conn., 158
Metropolitan Museum, 228
Metternich, Princess Pauline
von, 212
Meyer, Mrs., 167
Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 76, 213
Robert Le Diable, 76
Mikado, 226
Miller, Miss, 115
Mishna, 41
Moebus, 162, 163
Mohawk Valley, 95
Molken Market, 32
Mollie, 191
Monocordo, 232, 236
Montez, Lola, 18
Monticello, Florida, 138
Moritz, St., 23, 24
Morpheus, 228
Mozart, Wolfgang, 26, 119, 120,
122, 123, 143, 166, 197, 213,
233, 242, 243, 249 ; Twelfth
Mass, 166 ; Zauberfiote, 234
Mozarteiim, 234, 243
Muller Family, 48, 50, 52
Mttller, Herr, 217, 221
MUller, Marie, 49, 50, 51, 52,
53, 54, 55, 56, 80, 96, 107, 108
Munich, 18, 47, 82, 106, 231
Muris, Jean de, 236
Music Hall, 158, 162, 163, 164
264
Index
Nachtwdchter, 3
Naugatuck, 154
Neptune, 81
Netherlands, 104
Nevski Prospekt, 70, 75
Newark, N. J., 116
New Haven, Conn., 102, 114,
115, 153, 154, 158, 160, 168,
170, 173, 174, 175, 178, 179,
220, 221, 223, 228, 229
New jersey, 116
New Orleans, La., 146
New York City, N. Y., 60, 68,
80, 81, 84, 93, 99, 114, 115,
116, 117, 118, 123, 127, 132,
134, 139, 146, 151, 152, 153,
167, 168, 169, 170, 174, 175,
211, 223
Nicholas I., 71
Nordhausen, 240
Norma, 100
Nuremberg, 222, 231
Obligate, 13, 91
Oboe, 119, 157, 182, 197, 229
Odessa, 44
Old Dog Tray, 91
Old Folks at Home, 91
Opera, 76
Orchestra, 3, 10, 27, 46, 76, 99,
100, 104, 106, 113, 114, 117,
119, 153, 157, 161, 163, 164,
165, 166, 175, 177, 181, 228,
255
Organ, 8, 44, 62, 118, 142, 146,
147, 148, 207, 231, 237, 238
Orleans, 79
Orloff, Count, 70
Orpheus, 182
Pachelbel, Johann, 231
Paderewski, Ignace, 91, 184
Padre, 8
Padua, 239
Paganini, 26
Palatine Bridge, N. Y., 94
Parabosco, G., 230
Paris, 79, 127, 238, 240
Patrick, St., Church, 166
Pauline, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34,
49 99, 102
Pavilion Hotel, 95, 224
Peabody, Doctor, 221
Pentateuch, 185
Perkins, 132
Pernau, 64
Persiani, Fanny, 76
Peter, St., 44
Petersburg, St., 44, 47, 69, 71,
73, 74, 75, 77, 127
Phillips, Wendell, 162
Pianoforte, 6, 7, 12, 28, 46, 48,
49, 51, 85, 86, 89, 91, 96, 97,
98, 104, 105, 107, 108, in,
114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 122,
125, 126, 133, 134, 138, 139,
142, 147, 150, 156, 159, 160,
166, 167, 169 170, 171, 172,
173, 174, 176, 177, 179, 180,
183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188,
189, 196, 197, 210, 211, 215,
2l6, 22O. 225, 226, 227, 23O,
2 33, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238,
239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244,
245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250,
253, 254, 255
Pierpont, Cornelius, 155
Pittsfield, Mass., 87, 90
Planta, La, 24 .
Pleskov, 55, 60, 64
Plessur, 23
Pliesner's Orchestra, 27
Poitiers, 79
Polish, 37
Ponte, 221
Pontresina, 23, 25
Pope, 42
Porter, Alexander, 189
Prater, 67, 214, 215
Pratorius, Hieronymus, 231
Prayer-houses, 60, 61
Presbyterian, 144, 146,^ 147, 148
Priest, 42, 56, 58, 59
Protestant, 32
Providence, R. I., 27
Psaltery, 235
Quartian, Padre, 8, 190
R., Deacon, 159, 160
Rabbi. 41, 42, 44
Index
265
Rameau, Jean Paul, 231
" Ramrod," 138, 139
Rathhaus, 4
Rau, 84-87
Regensburg, 32
Reise-clavier, 214
Rembrandt, 103
Resignation, 5
Reval, 48, 50, 5.5, 64
Rheims, 79
Rhine, 9, 23
Richmond, Va., 130
Richter, Jean Paul, 21
Richter, Oscar, 36, 38, 39, 42,
69, 72, 73, 77
Riga, 44, 45, 46, 47
Robb, Mrs., 146
Roman, 61
Rothschild, Baron von, 213
Rotunda, 214, 215
Ruckers, Hans, the elder, 222
Rudolph, 229.
Rules of the Minnesinger, 236
Russell School, 155
Russia, 25, 27, 35, 36, 48, 57,
63, 74, 77, 81, 96
Russian, 36, 39, 58, 60, 61, 62,
64, 69, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78
Sali, 24
Salzburg, 123, 243
Sam, 136
Samaden, 24
Samovar, 59
Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 94
Savannah, Ga., 118, 119, 120,
123, 124, 130
Saxony, 14
Scaliger, J. C., 235
Scarlatti, Domenico, 197, 230,
231, 236
Schaffhausen, 25
Scheinfeld, i, 2, 3. 4, 5, 6, 14,
16, 17, 18, 20, 25, 55, 67, 78,
120, 166, 189, 191, 192, 194,
195, 197, 198, 200, 205, 206,
209, 210
Scheinlein, 100
Schiller, Johann C. F. von, 49,
52
Schirmer, 118
Schlafhauser, 206, 207, 208, 209,
210
Schnodsenbach, 200
Schroter, C. G., 238, 239, 240,
241
Schubart, F. D., 243
Schubert, Carl, 77
Schubert, Franz, 26
Schumann, R., 26
Schtttz, 7, 8, 16
Schwarzenberg Castle, 5, 190,
194, 207, 209
Schwarzenberg, Prince von, 5
Semiramide, IOI
Shall We Gather at the River,
183
Sharon Springs, N. Y., 93, 94,
97, 98, 99, loo, 223
Short, 116
Silbermann, Gottfried, 238, 239,
241
Sils, 24
Silvaplana, 23, 24
Simpson, 115
Smith College, 211
Smithsonian Institute, 212
Socrates, 21
Sol, 68
Sonnambula, La, 116, 117
Sontag, Henrietta, 12, 26
Sousa, J. P., 183
Spanish Fandango, 91
Speyer, 32
Spinet, 218, 221, 223, 230, 235,
236, 237, 239, 246, 251
Spinetti, Giovanni, 235, 236
Spohr, 26
Springfield, Mass., 211, 225, 226,
227
Stadt Musikus, 3, 7, 9, 14, 16,
145, 195, 197
Stark, 128, 129
Stein, Friedrich, 244
Stein, Johann A., 242, 244, 245,
249
Stein, Matthaus, 244
Stein, Nanette, 244, 249
Steinert, Caroline Dreyfuss, 131,
135, 153, 155, 166, 174, 191,
258
266
Steinert, Moritz, 7, 9, 13, 15,
73, 134, 136, 146, 161, 163,
177, 192, 195, 208, 212, 214,
219, 221
Steinway, 139
Stephens, A. H., 148
Steuben Hall, 153
Stevens, Mrs., 145
Stigelli, 26
Streicher, 244, 245, 249
T., Professor, 224
Tallahassee, Florida, 141
Tallis, Thomas, 231
Talmedge, William, 147, 150
Talmud, 41
Teutonic, 184
The Beautiful Blue Danube,
183
Thomas, J. R., 115
Thomas, St., Church, 155, 156
Thomas, Theodore, 100
Thomasville, Ga., 124, 125, 127,
128, 129, 134, 135, 137, 139-
140
Tilsit, 35
Titian coloring, 50
Tontine Hotel, 114 -
Tora, 41
Toscana, Prince of, 239
Touraine Hotel, 189
Tours, 79
Treat, 154
Tribune, N. Y., 2IO
Trinkgeld, 2IO
Trombone, 157, 165
Trumpet, 157, 165
Turkish, 24, 78
Tyrol, 12
Tyrolian, 12
Tyson, 127, 129, 133
Uncle Tom's Cabin, 80
Union, Grand Army of the, 152
Union Station, 141
United States, 80, 120, 221, 223
Vassar College, 211
Vaterland, 96
Vatican, 41
Venetian, 235
Venice, 232, 239
Venus, 51, 61
Victoria, Queen, 13
Vienna, 54, 67, 212, 213, 215,
2l6, 217, 22O, 221, 222, 223,
235, 244, 249
Vietch, Mrs., 141, 142, 144
Viewig, Carl, 119
Viola, 156, 157, 196
Violin, 7, 27, 100, 103, 105, no,
119, 127, 154, 156, 162, 163,
165, 177, 196, 201, 202, 203,
204, 211, 246, 250, 253
Violoncello, 14, 15, 16, 27, 46,
48, 49, 65, 66, 67, 88, 89, 90,
91, 92, ICt, IO2, IO3, IO4,
105, 108, no, in, 115, 119,
127, 141, 142, 146, 148, 149,
156, 157, 163, 167, 168, 177,
i9 6 . 2 55
Virgin, the, 57, 58, 60, 191, 196,
211
Virginal Book, 231, 236
Virginia, 130
Virginia Reel, 98
Vodki, 59, 64
W., Mrs., 109, in
Wagner, Richard, 7, 229
Waldorf-Astoria, 223
Walter, Anton, 244
Washington, D. C., 146, 151, 212
Wehner, Carl, 156
Weisse J?oss, Das, 4, 206, 207,
209
When the Swallows Homeward
Fly, 99
Whitaker .Square, 118
Wieland, C. M., 21
Willaert, Adrian, 230, 232
William, 186
William IV., 13
Wilson, 149
Windsor Castle, 244
Wingfield, General, 140
Wirthshaus, 207, 208
Wolf, 109, 112
Wurm, Doctor, 145, 146, 147
Index
267
Yale University, 156, 157, 175,
211, 223
Yankee, 149
Yankee Doodle, 91
York Square, 115, 116, 154
Zarlino, Gioseffo, 230
Zauberjlote, 234
Zug, 25
Zum Ross, 192, 194
Zurich, 25
Date Due
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