The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-10-23

on the desk 1t was Mozart's land writing
Whether Goethe told us Sc, or it was writ
ten on the paper. I forget, and only remem
Der that Felix glowed with delight at tn
name, and an indescribable feeling cam
over US all, partly enthusiasm and joy, partly
admiration and expectation.
The yourg artist played with the mos
perfect certainty, not making the slightcs
mistake, though the manuscript was fa1
from easy reading. The task was certainly
not difficult, especially for Mendelhossen. al
it was only an adagio; still there was diff
Guilty in doing it as the lad did for he played
it as If he had been practising il for years.
Goethe adhered to his good. .humored tone
while all the rest applaudec. "That's moth.
ing" he said; "others could have read that
too. But I win now give you something
over which you will stick, so take care"
With these words he produced another
paper ruled and splashed with ink bots
Felix Mendelhossen 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, snow guess who wrote
it." Zelter, who bad walked up to the piano
and looked over the boys shoulder, exclaim-
ed: "Why, Beethoven wrote that! Any one
could see it mile off. He always writes
with broomstick, and passes his sleeve
over the notes before they are dry. l have
plenty of manuscripts; they are easy to de-
cipher"
At the mention of his name, as remark !.
ed, Mendelhossen had suddenly grown Sc.
rious-even more than serious. A shade OF
awe was visible on his features. Goethe re.
garded him with searching eyes, from which
delight beamed. The boy kept his eyes i'm.
movably fixed on the manuscript, and a look
of glad surprise few over his features as he
traced a brilliant thought amid the chaos OF
confused and blurred notes.
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, 81 told you that
that you would stick. Now try it show us
what you can do"
Felix began playing Immediately. Ttwas
a simple melody; ifclearly written trifling,
| may say, no task, for even a moderate
performer. But to follow it through the
scrambling labyrinth required quickness
and certainty of eye such as fow are able tn
attain. | glanced with surprise at the leaf,
and tried to hum the tune, but many Of the
notes were perfectly illegible, or had to be
sought at the most unexpected corners, as
the boy often pointed out with laugh.
He p'ayed it through once in this way,
generally correctly, but stopping at times
and correcting several mistakes with very
quick No, so;" then he exclaimed, snow
will play it to you" And this second time
not a note was missing. "This is Bee,ho
ven, this passage" he said once, turning to
me, as If he had come across something
which sharply displayed the masters pecu-
liar style. THAT is true Beethoven. re.
cognized him in it at once"
With this trial piece Goethe broke off
need scarcely add, that the young player
played again, reaped the fullest praise, which
Goethe yelled in mocking jests, that he had
struck here and there, and had not been