Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-06-29
strauss and his sophie waltz.


stauss the waltz hero, loved the duugh-
fer If Count. Sophie was her name
Ne would have given worlds to have won
k,,f one glance Of love from tins beautiful |
being. but she was cold aud steru. Mad
ness indeed ii was for poor wandering
musician with nothing but his violin, to
dare to love the high-born-Sophie, who had
as many noble ancestors as he had waltzes:
crash impertinence," said Sophie and
when he came to give her brother lesson
she scarcely deigned to give him look
Shortly afterward Sophie became the be-
trothed Of the Count Robert, Lord Cham
berlain, who could also boast as many proud
ancestors as the fair Sophie, but beyond
these and his title he had nothing else.
One day Strauss chaRced to be alone
with Sophie; he declared his love, and be-
sought her to give him butone word Or look
ere he was drlren to despair. But no tears
or protestations could move her, she was as
cold as the inanimate marble. II am the
afianced bride of Count Robert, she said,
haughtily, "and if it were otherwise think
YOU [ would become the wife of poor mt
sician" She turned scornfully away and
left hun alone in his grief and deSpaig,--
The repentance which soon awoke IN the
heart OF Sophie unhappily came too late IN
eight days she would become the wife OF
Count Robert.
The ceremony was TO be performed IN
grand saloon Of the city, and the Count
called on Strauss to request him 10 lead the
orchestra on the occasion, and to heaor his
bride with the composition OF new waltz.
Strauss, the most miserable nan ct Gods
universe promised him both. ale wishes
to wound me yet more deeply" said the
unhappy man TO himself, "but | pardon
him, and my prayer to heaven Is that she
may be happy, and that she never repent
her choice.' But his waltz thought
strikes limit shall be the interpreter of his
passion and his grief to Sophie, it should
challenge her pity, if not her love. o!
what glorious power to be able to speak, to
reproach, to plead and through his divine
art. To work to work When all the
great city slept, Strauss took his violin, open
ed his window, gazed out in the Geld night,
and improvlsed and moaned forth his sad
tale of woe to the bright stars above, who
looked kindly down on the desolate and
heart stricken.
The DAY Of the wedding came at last
The fearful agony Of love had given him a
waltz, every measure of which spoke q
longing sorrow and despairing woe. The
hall glistened and shown with bright jewel
and brighter eye, but Sophie was more glo-
riously beautiful than them all. Strauss, &
haggard, emaciated man, with brilliant and
piercing black eyes, sharp aud strongly
marked features, dressed from head to foot
in black, as though he had assumed this
mourning livery for the bride now dead: tic
him, stood sad and silent in the gallery a
bove, directing the movements Of the or
chestra. Sophie danced now with one nov
with another Of the wedding guests, and as
often as she paused after the giddy whir
of the dance, turned her eyes toward the
pale and grief-stricken Strauss.
II was more than pity she felt, 1t was re-
morse, il was klndled love. A terrible
pain awoke in her heart, like the swelling
Of stream, growing ever deeper and wider
IN its onward course, which threatend to o.
verwhelm and destroy her How gladly
would she have kept, but she dared not
1t sounded twelve Strauss gave the signal
for the performance of his new waltz
The gay dancers stood up. Sophie on the
arm Of the happy bridegroom. All stand
spell-bound with the magic witchery Of
those magic sounds. They forget to dance,
they gaze in wonder up at the pale man in
black, whose grief-torn soul breaths out its
woe through his beloved instrument. The
bridegroom leads off the dance, and Strauss,
with fascinated, fearful eyes, and torn
heart, follows the flying pair in their giddy
whirl.
They dance, and dance, and dance, and
still do not cease. Strauss plays and plays,
and no stop to his wonderful waltz, which
so carefully affects both him and them
AS suddenly as the lightning's fash the E
Of his violin snaps, and at the same moment
the beautiful Sophie falls dead upon the
floor. Violin and bow fall from his trem-
bling hands, and with cry of horrer he
shrieks ''Sophie !" and falls fainting on the
ground. Since Sophie's death the waltz is
called by her name. Strauss loved her to
the last moment of his existence. He, too,
is now dead, but his charming Sophie still
lives.
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