The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-27

duced ono of the most charming examples OF
reminiscent literature that has recently seen
the light. We shall glance at some Of the things
he has to tell us about certain distinguished
persons. but first we must say q word about his
" parentage and youth.
Max Muller was born In Dessau. the capital
Of tho duchy Anhalt-D essau. 1t 10 4 curious
little town. standing In an oasis Of elm trees.
where the Elbc and the Nude meet. Theduchy
itself was 30 small that on one occasion a politi-
cal agitator who had been banished threatened
to throw stones and break the Dukes windows
as soon as he had crossed the frontier. The
reigning Duke. however. was descended straight
from Albert the Bear. Margrave of Brandon
burg in 1884; that is to say. he was an offshoot
OF that glorious Ascanian line which was old
when the Hohenzollerns were young. Our au-
thor's great-grandfather on his mothers side
Basedow. the reformer Of national education in
Germany was tho Dukes Prime Minister. 1t
Is hard to understand in these days with how
little money people then managed not only
to live but to enjoy the highest pleasures Of life.
The Prime Minister'S salary was no more than
1000 thalers ISL .OOO). though there may have
been additional allowances for rent. carriages,
and horses. The Primo Minister'S daughter had
married William MILLER, the well.known lyric
poet, but after his very early death she went
back to live at her fathers house. and here our
authors youth was passed. Dessau at that
time was stepped in music: the r~eigning Duke
kept a frst-rate orchestra. at the head Of
which was Frederick Schneider, a we'll
known composer. and the head of a musical
school frequented by students from all parts
of Germany. Schneider's orchestra had such
. reputation that some of the greatest celeb
rifles considered it an honor either to have
their compositions performed or to be allowed
to sing or play at his concerts. Our author
can remember Paganini. Sonntag. Spohr.
Felix Mendelssohn then quite young). and
many more. passing through their ordeal at Des-
pau. Mendelssohn's visit in particular left q
deep impression on his mind. II was still" he
says, "a mere child. he q very young man.
and, as I thought. with the head Of an angel.
Mendelssohn's was always a handsome face.
but later in life the sharpness of his fea-
lures betrayed his jewish blood. He ex.
celled as an organ player. and while at Des-
sau he played on the organ in the Crosse
Kirche, chiefly extempore. was standing
by him when he took me on his knees and asked
me to play q choral while he played the pedal. I
see 1t all as plainly as II it had been yesterday,
and I felt convinced at the time that I. too.
would be O musician. Was not Karl Maria Won
Weber my godfather. and had he not given me
my ndme Oh MAXI MY Iatner ana mother naQ
been staying with Weber at Dresden, and my
father William M1llerl had undertaken to write
the text for q new opera which was never fin
Weber was then writing his 'Freischutz.'
and my mother has often described to me
how he would walk about his room the whole
day composing. not before the pianoforte.
but with a small guitar, and how she heard
every melody gradually emerging from the
twang Of his little instrument" AS the years
went on our author gave what time he could
spare from school work to music. There was
not, he tells US, an air or a symphony of Beetho-
yen's which at that time he could not have
from beginning to end; and much of
that hun,ming repertoria has remained with
him for life. When he was about IL or II years
old Schneider allowed him to play, with accom-
paniment of the full orchestra, some concertos
of Mozart; afterward, when he went to the
Eicolai School at Leipsic he Joined a
chorus under Felix Mendelssohn. who was
then director of the famous Gewandhaus
concerts in that town. Mendelssohn did not
encourage the boys idea OF a musical career.
The fact was that young MILLER had not time to
serve two masters; he could not practice and
study music as It ought to be practicod and
studied without neglecting Greek and Latin,
and as life became more serious his mind was
moro and more drawn to the thoughts Of an.
tiquity and away from the delights OF harmony
and melody. Nevertheless. music. besides being
q source Of the highest enjoyment. has ofton
helped him in his pilgrimage through life. Both
in Paris and later on In London many a house
was open to him which would have remained
closed to a mere scholar.
In that part of Max Mnller's volume which
sets forth his musical recollcctions. we have
been most interested In tho references to
IiaZt. Mendelasnhn and Iannu Lid IL