The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1861-10-23
THE COMPOSER.

graphy, replete with interesting gossip abou
distinguished men. He tells the following
tale of the author Of Faust and the coln
poser Of Elijah: .... ~ :.
In the ev>ning as assembled r
Goethe's rooms to tea, for he had invited Z
large party Of his Weimar musical acquain.
tances to make them acquainted with
the boys extraordinary talents. Presently
Goethe made his appearance he came froif'
his study. a.sy
He had a habitat least generally no.
ticed it-of waiting till the guests were AK.
sembled ere he showed himself. His good
evening was addressed to all, but he walked
up to Zelter first and shook hands cordial
ly. Felix Mendelsshon looked up with
sparkling eyes at the snow white head Of
the poet. The latter, however, placed his
hands kindly on the buys head and said,
"now you shall play US something Eel
ter nodded his assent. ...-..-..
The piano was opened and lights arrang.
ed on the desk. Mendclsshon asked Zelter,
to whom he displayed thoroughly child
ish devotion and confidence, "What shall
play? ?'' + .,r -,.s...,,
"Well, what you can,' the latter, in his
peculiar sharp voice: whatever is not too
"tiiouh III y'u.
A silence of surprise ensucd when he
raised his hands from the keys after a loud
finale.
Zeltcr was the first to interrupt the ST.
lence, in his humorous way, by saying
aloud, "IIa. You must have been dreaming
of kobolds and Dragons; why, that wen.
over stick and stone!' At the same time
there was perfect indifference in his tone,
as if there were nothing remarkable in the
matter. Without doubt, the teacher in.
tended to prevent, in this way, the danger
Of a too brilliant triumph The playing
however, as it could not well be otherwise,
aroused the highest admiration Of all pre-
sent, and Goethe, especially, was full Of
warm delight. He encouraged the lad, in
whsse childish features joy, pride and con-
fusion, were at once depicted, by taking
his head between his hands, patting him
kindly, and saying, jestingly, "but you will
not get off with that. You must play morc
pts's before We recognize your merits
But what shall play" Felix asked.
"Hcrr Professor !'--hc was wont to ad-
dress Zelter by this title what shall I
play now p
Goethe was great admrer Of Bach's
fugues, which musician Of Berka, a little
town about ten miles from Weimar, came
to play to him repeatedly. Felix was there
fore requested to play fugue to the grand
old master. Zelter selected it from the
music book and the boy played it without
preparation, but with perfect certainty. d..
Goethe's delight grew with the boys ex-
traordinary powers. Among other things,
he requested him to play minuet
"Shall | play yoI the loveliest in the
whole world?' he asked with sparkling
eyes. =
He played the minuet from don Giov-
ami"
Goethe stood by the instrument listening,
joy glistening on his features. He wished
for the overture of the opera after the
minuet; but this the player roundly decln-
ed, with the assertion that it could not be
played as WAS written, and nobody dared
make any alteration in it. He, however,
offered to play the overture to "Figaro."--
He commenced it with lightnesS Of touch,
such certainty and clearness as never
heard again. At the same time he gave the
orchestral effects SO magnificenty that the
effect was extraordinary and | can hon
est'y state that it afforded me more gratiti
cation than ever an orchestral performance
did. Goethe grew more and more cheerful
and kind, and even played tricks with the
talented lad.
NV ell, come he said, "you have only
played me pieces you know, hut now we
will see whether you can play something
You do not know. will put you on trial"
Goethe went out, re-entered the room in
few moments, and had a roll of music in
his hand II have fetched something from
my manuscript collection. Now We will try
you. Dc you think you can play this -
He laid a page, with clear but small notes
on the desk. 1t was Mozart's hand writing.
ten on the paper, forget, and only remem-
Der that Felix glowed with delight at the
name, and an indiscribable feeling came
over us all, partly enthusiasm and joy, part
ly admiration and expectation.
The young artist played with the most
perfect certainty, not making the slightest
mistake. though the manuscript was far
from easy reading. The task was certainly
not difficult. especially for Mendelsshon, MS
it was only an adagio; still there was
difficulty in doing it as the lad did, for no
playel it as if he had been ac,iciug it for
years.
Goethe adhered to his good humored tons,
while all the rest applauded. That is
nothing ne said "others could have read
that, too. But will give you something
over which you will stick, so take care
With these words, he produced another
paper ruled and splashed with lux blots-
Felix Mendelsshon, in his surprise, laughed
loudly. "How is that written? Who can
read it," he said
But suddenly he became serious; for
while Goethe was saying, Nov guess who
wrote it," Zelter, who had walked up to
the piano and looked over the boys shoul-
der, exclaimed: "Why, Beethoven wrote
that? Any one could see it mile Off
lie always writes with broomstiek, and
passes his sleeve over the notes before they
are dry. | have plenty of manuscripts;
they are easy to know"
At the mention of his name, as remark
ed. Mendelsshon had suddenly grown seri-
ous-even more than serious. A shade of
awe was visible on his features. Goethe
regarded him with searching eyes, from
which delight beamed. The boy kept hiseyes
lmmovably fixed on the manuscript, and =
look of glad surprise few over his features
as he traced brilliant thought amid the
chaos Of confused and blurred notes. NJ
But all this only lasted few seconds, for
Goethe wished to make a severe trial, and
give the performer no time for preparation.
You see,' he exclaimed, II told you that
you would stick. Now try it; show us
what you can do." 81 s,.r
Felix began playing Immediately. It was
. simple melody; if clearly written, tr-
Ting, may say, no task, for even mode
rate performer. But to follow it through
the scrambling labyrinth rcquireda quick.
ne:s and certainty of eye such as few ara
atls to attain. glanced with surprise, at
the leaf. and tried to hum the tune, but
many of the notes were nerfectlv ;Ileo;hle