The Mena weekly star., 1897-01-20
THE JEW SHARP.
German Players Who Became Famous for
 Their Skill with tho Instrument


 derivation may be, it (the Jews s-harp) has little or no special affinity witt, the Jewish race, though it is of extreme ly ancient date. It's introduction in England cannot be traced, but the term is clearly corrupted form of the French jeutrompe, literally a toy trum- pet; but the corruption of ieu into Jews is evidently of good age. Per haps it was a jeu d'esprit. limbs, in his Popular Errors," says that the instrument is called a Jew's-harp by lIakluyt. Bacon called it "ieai- trumpet" while "jeu-trump" is used by Beaumont and Fletcher. In Baileys dictionary (733) will be found Jews harp, an instrument of musick;" the substitution of ''harp" commonly for trump" is apparently later growth, although, of course, Hakluyt points to an early use. In all probability the French origin of the term IS a correct one, and "jaws-harp" may have been the matter-of-fact name invented by the country folk among whom it cir culated, maybe through the efforts of the chapman and the packman. Brew CT is very brief on the subject; he con- fines himself to the statement thae the best players on the instrument have been Koch, a Prussian soldier under Frederick the Great; Kunert, Amstein and some others" He makes no mention of Eulenstein, who may be aid to have been the master of all play ITS.
 The celebrated Stephanie Felicite. countess de Genlis, in her "Memoirs. :" tells us a great deal about Koch, the German player, which is worth record ing. This soldier, who is described as Q musician" was in the service of Frederick the Great, and, being fond of relieving the tedium of sentry go he used to practice on the Jew's-harp with considerable skill One night Frederick, who was an amateur musi- elan, heard what he thought was a dis tinct orchestra under his window, when he discovered that the sounds came from one of his privates. Sur prised on learning that such wonderful effects could be produced by single man with two Jew's-harps, he ordered the player into his presence. He was duly presented to the king the follow ing morning, and performed to the delight and satisfaction of his majesty. who rewarded Koch with $50, and gave him his discharge that he might de- vote his time and attention to the ad- vance of his talent. Koch had not the slightest knowledge of music, but owed his ability to natural taste and instinct. He made quite fortune travelling about and performing in public and private and retired to Vienna, where he lived until long past the age of 80. He died about 1880. He used two harps at once, in the same manner as the peas ents of the Tyrol, and produced with out doubt the harmony of two notes struck at the same moment, which was considered by the musically curious as somewhat extraordinary, when the linn ited powers of the instrument were re membered. Herr Koch had a fine idea of theatrical effect, for it was his GUS tom to require that all the lights be cxtinguished in order that the illu sion produced by his playing might be increased.
 Another German, peasant and herdsman named Eulenstein, about the beginning of this century devoted his attention to the cultivation of the J ew's- harp, softening and enriching the tone of this 'twanging" instrument into d. most perfect harmony. Indeed, Eulen- stein acquired musical reputation from the way he manipulated this neager and not over-agreeable instru- ment. The Jew's-harp, usually de spised and ignored, possesses three diff ferent tones; the bass tones of the first octave have some resen- blance to those of the flute and clarinet; those of he mid dle and high of the vox humana of some organs; lastly, the harmonical sounds are exactly like those of the harmonica. It is conceived that this diversity of tone, quoted the Mirror (1e2D, affords already great variety ill the execution, which is always looked upon as being feeble and trifing on ac- count of the smallness of the instru- ntent. It was not thought possible to derive much pleasure from any attempt which could be made to conquer the difficulties of so limited an instrument; because in the extent of three octavcs there were a number of spaces which could not be filled up by the talent of the player. Besides, the most ample meditation is impossible. Herr Eu- lenstein remedied the inconvenience by joining 16 Jew's-harps, which he