The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1895-01-10
FADS OF SOVEREIGNS.
Kings and Queens with Accom-
plishments Artistic.
VERY GOOD AMATEUR MUSICIANS.
Queen Victoria as an Artist and Writer,
Emperor William Composer Like
Frederick the Great.

.
tiser, may not be that he or she wear
the royal crown to bed or trails about
robed i'll velvet and ermines on all &C.
casions, but it makes few allowances
for the secret ambitions which kings
and queens cherish III their royal
bosoms. 1t is hard lines to be singer
or an artist without success, but it is
the irony of fate to have ambition and
money, and courtiers ready to bow
down to anything you may do, and
then to have people unsympathetic.
The public seems to think man or a
woman born king or queen has pro-
fession. But how about thu King of
Spain, who fell in love with a tam
BOURNE girl on the street. or the Queen
of Holland, who loves dolls and has
hardly time to play with them because
she has so many state receptions
C'est assomant.
All royal lives have some interest
beyond state affairs; most Kings or
Queens are bored by them, and the late
lamented Gar of Russia spent three
hours every morning with his Minis
tiers and then went to shovel snow in
desperation, so greatly did the mental
stress clash with his usual occupations.
He was very fond of music and played
on the flute.
Queen Victoria, among royal people,
has spent very industrious life carry
ing out her tastes and ideas. When a
young girl, she had talent for dress
making, and most of the gorgeous dolls
which were on exhibition last year,
dressed i'll the character of persons cele-
b1ated in English hisotry, were the
handiwork of her Majesty. Then Vic
toria was fond of drawing. She was
passionately fond of music, but next to
her harp she loved the pen and pencil.
When the first royal babies We're born
the Prince of Wales, Empress Fred :
erick, and Princesses Alice and Chris
tian-their young mother gratified her
pride by drawing and painting water
color sketches of them. A few Of these
still survive and are very well done,
Beatrice, OF course, being pictured as a
beauty, with mass of yellow curls.
Later, the Queen took to writing. Her
account of her journey to the High
lands and her diary are both interest
ing, and were eagerly bought by the
British public when they came out.
The Prince of Wales has never
yearned for artistic publicity, but his
sister Victoria, who was certainly the
! nj Of hn 1pl
and sharp enough later even for the
Prince Bismarck, when she was the
Emperor Fredericks' wife, was clever
writer and could compose addresses
and speeches better than either her
father or brother. The Princess Chris
tian, the only unmarried daughter of
the Queen, is also clever woman with
her pen. She has written the biogra-
phies of several of her royal relatives,
and is said to cause the stories to be
circulated which come to us from the
royal nurseries and household. She
also wrote the life of Princess Alice,
whose eldest daughter, Alix, is aft
anced to the new Gar Prince Albert
was composer of no small merit and
the Queen still preserves some of his
songs which during his lifetime she
sang.
For music, una dulterated music, we
must fall back on Emperor William.
His Song to Aegir." which was re.
Gently produced in Berlin, was the out
growth of encouragement at the way in
which the first-born national air was
received. Did Emperor Wilhelm i'm
agine for moment that the critics
would come out next morning and say,
The young man who. wishes to change
the national air for that wretched COM
position should go soak his head" or,
The new song is rot?' And still
critics say such things. At any rate,
the national air was dutifully bought
and trilled by every cracked toned
piano in Germany, and by every soldier
and citizen who had voice or as much
a one as the Emperor has musical
talent. The "Song to Aegir," his
latest attempt, was performed at the
opera-house for the benefit of the EN-
peror William Memorial Church. The
piece was given by an orchestra of 100
pieces and 900 men and boy singers.
Society, of course, was present en-
masse, and the vivas and bravas which
rang out were enough to make the
young Emperor imagine he was a Wag-
ner at the least. And then after an
entertainment at the palace, when he
played portions of his compositions to
privileged ears, he retired on his
laurels. And Augusta Victoria went
to bed with her head full OF music,
thinking what q lucky woman she was,
to be the wife of such a very wonder
full man. The Emperor's favorite in
strument is the clarinet, and ne also
plays the piano, but owing to his in
firm left arm can do little beyond sim.
pie accomplishments.
1t is pleasant to picture the fair
Princess Alix drumming a Lyon g.
Healy harp, but, of course, some SOU
venir of Chicago will have to adorn the
palace of the young Cars bride.
Frederick the Great was passionately
fond of the flute. and all the crowned
heads of recent years are more or less
interested in music.
Another famous composer, continues
the Advertiser, was the otherwise
stupid and lazy Louis XIV. IT. was ba