The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-07-05
! the days

fond and sacred a,,oeiahOns III the days
Of youth and innocence. IT,, ,,,,;c
This. INV friends, IL what music
means, the power to AWAKEN alu
nsslmilaio and associate win ISL ni'.
train OF memories, aud % SIR tio lui
agiua,lon aud tho whole human heaIst
and this is why the tnelod'o' ul Nl9
yolkseider songs lived for hunGIeds o.
yearS .imply on the lives oil the peopIe
In Germany. aud why many oil then
still live IN tho music oil tue ,iiuu".N
masters albeit tho composers s'''P !"
namelcss graves. u.,i
fancy that in this matter oil appeat
to the Imagination there must Do u nou
drous appeal in the words anu uiuslS %
tho famous cong known as tue Nu!vtt
on the Rhine" Certainly thore ulust
have been something very inspiring lu
il 10 the Imagination OF him VINO ue-
signed the grand Denkmal on mo
heights Of the Mcdonald. Before no
made his first sketch fancy no mnht
have absorbed into his mind from tno
inspiralisn OF that national song tue
plan Of d great commemorative mohu-
mCnt that would tittingly represent 70
Inc world tho German idea OF watch
ON the Rhine lean imagine him listen,
ing, many times to the words anu
music of that song, as sung every
where by soldiers aud citizons IN
(;ermuny., boforu'he got tho grand Gun
boJiment Of it fixed in his mind thas
ve see realized to-day In that colossal
ilsuro OF Gsrmauia, which, like another
majestic Minerva, seems to holu ths
Iestinies OF the empire in her kooping.
When stood upon tho heights OF tne
NeiIerwald aud looked upon this DcnKf
NAL. ard then down into tho majestic
valley beneath, and then over theRrand
scope OF country across tho nop'e t'vel'
| was filled with admiration NJ Tug
whole scene, and l thought to inysel
that it il no wonder that German
soldiers, as they flo by tins monument,
are moved TO stop aud taSo OH thei'
hats aud give expression to their pattl'
oliccmotiOns by ringing cheers ioT uet-
MANN and tho beautiful Rhinelauu over
which she stands guard.
But yat recall another sight which
ia Ia be- seen from these same heights.
Immediately across tho river, nesting
in n little corner made byR tributary
stronm that emptics into ttfG Rhine nc
that point there is littlo town known
10 all the world simply as Bingen on
tho Rhine. A soldier was born aud
reared there who wont OF into fur
country Of tho East, and entered into
foreign service as Soldier oil the Le.
gion." and utter years OF absence anu
expoyure TO tho hardship Of war lie n-
naily laid down to die beneath tho burn-
ing SUI OF Algiers in Africa. There
"was lack OF woman's nursing anu
doartii OF woman's tearo, We arc told,
and 30 tho poor soldier OF tho Legion aa
he Law dying in that foreign land
thought OF tho home that had oncc been
his nj Bimgeu on the Rhine; aud rs bis
mind wandered down to tue valley OF
the shadow OF death he dictated to u
comradc ut his side those verses that
have boon road and sung all over the
world, and that 70 every German lmi-
grant in America, or whorovOr else they
may be scattered abroad, have mean
ing OF home and home associations such
as oven tho Watch on the Rhine eau
not awaken.
But, my friends, time would fail me
were 10 attempt to recite TO you the
associations that cluster around the his
tory of music aud song in Germany and
in our own aud oil other lands. lspeak
of our own country in this connection.
because, Notwithstanding its newnoss
and its worry practical character, 1t Ia
nevertheless becoming land where
music IL coming more and more into
vogue rs q popular recreation. One OF
tho largest musical gatherings ever seen
anywhere was held recently in Madison
Square Gardens, New York. 1t COLI
tinued for days and was immensely pa
tronized. There was choruses number
ing four and five thousand voices. What
a sight an orchestra OF one hundred and
fifty pieces, accompanying q choruses OF
five thousand voices, would have been
to the Volkslied singers and the Minne-
singers OF old. They wore tho pioneers OF
cong who died in the wilderness, all un-
conscious OF tho possibilities OF the
future. But who can tell US now, even
at this late day, what are tho possibilt-
ties OF musical development? One eau
hardly conceive Of such thing as a
marked advance in musical science, but
neither yet can we conceive OF the
world standing still in music any more
than in other arts and sciences. Who
knows, therefore, but what the German
clement in America may illustrate the
progress OF their blood here on scale
correspondent to their musical achieves
mcnts in tho old world, aud who
knows but what this little city of
Wheeling, on the banks of tho Ohio.
may duplicate tho history OF tho little
city Of Boun, on tho banks OF the
Rhine, aud give birth to yet another
Beethoven who shall take up what that
great master called tho unfinished
work, and carry it forward 10 tho ideal
perfection which he had in his mind
when his great career terminated.