New-York tribune., 1902-12-21
HOME OF GERMAN BAND.
.Strolhng Musicians Who Carry Net
ody Throughout the World.


The inhabitants of the northwest Palatinate gen.
orally are of a rowing disposition, says black
woods Magazine" The shoe hawkers OF tir-
masens, the brush dealers of Romberg ana the
showmen and pedlers of Karlsberg are TO De met
with all over the valley of the Rhine. But these
must yield the palm in numbers and enterprise 70
the Musikanten of the Hardt Mountains who nave
made the whole world their own They are NOT
so often the Continent as they formerly
were, but they go to England, the Cape. Australia
the States Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and one
band has ventured as far Chill. If any one
ever reaches the North Pole and finds the new
table Scotchman smoking his pipe on the top he Is
sure to be tossing coppers to German band from
the Pfalz. In my experience (and speak with the
authority of specialist 1 have known Of only
two bands that did not come from this district;
the one from Nassau the other from Pforz-
helm in Baden. 1t is computed that there were at
time six thousand Musikanten in the
valleys of the Lauter and the Oden. and IN the
valley of the Clan which receives the waters OF
these streams and discharges them above hreu|-
mach into the Nahe, tributary of the Rhine III
these three valleys pedestrian might safely ask
his way in English and in winter, when many Oh
the Musikanten at home If you meet a promls-
cuous company of ten in an inn seven or eight are
to know at least one foreign language. Ihere
single villages which could muster as many as
two hundred players. But even without making
a voyage of discovery and establishing the habitat
of the Musikanten by scientific methods, 1t would
surely not have required extraordinary detective
mowers to infer their common origin from the
identity of much of the music that the bands play
Any who has kept himself abreast of the street
music of this generation must have in the musical
chambers of his memory many simple dance tunes
peculiar to German bands and common to them
all These unpublished compositions by the
local bandmasters. Meister as they are called
and they passed on from one band to the other.
One Meister of my acquaintance. has already
reached opus 800 Apart from these anecdotd''
which cannot be cited here, piece which was IN
variably included In the repertory of the smaller
bands was GungTs "Kriegers Marsch"; two other
peces commonly PLAYED were "Abscheids-P Polo
nase' by FIotow and the familiar "Morgenstern
waltz of the elder Labitzky, which is now school
room classic,
The patient reader will naturally inquire how
old this musical industry IS, and what led the
crofters of the Hardt in particular to pursue II.
Though it is not recorded in the Germaniaa
Of Taens m & the aneeh5 htcK at eas Beyond
the memory 4f or hVlag men eenthrT The veteran
Kiian, born not later than 1915. assured me that
perpatetic bands existed long before MS gay; oIe
who the first husband of the mother OF queen Qd
pantng there fis'e community Of sypses beggaT
and vagrants. ramed their village after himsEn
Karlsberg The Matzenberger as they are locaLS
called known far and wide as pedlers ana
wandering musicians and formerly pore a 9e eco
nomic causes have been at work 70 convert
Street music Rhenish Bavaria, ceded by the
Treaty OF Luneville in lS2 was held by by fbausS
subsequently, united to Bavaria. she iso-
lated from the rest of the country that she al
Mushroom Ludwgshafen and prosperous ritftv rHeH-
stadt and kaiserslautern attest the raplully
with which the rest OF the Paiaunste hG9 t3od, a.
vanced since 1870; but the uplands OF the ItaIut,
to which the railway penetrated only eighteen
years ago lay far apart TO participate IN the
Seme Of the unef% crofters was not barren
as TO compel tnem TO seek their bread abroad;
for II yielded corn. fruit. wine ana all kihds oi
borers dissatisfied with the wage of 10 shillings
they received for a weeks hard work Cor schaIIeh
made the first musical wanderingS, ana as theSc
proved only lucrative, but interesting ana TO-
mantle the sons OF even well 10 90 farmers rt,-
voted themselves to this curious Vocatioh-sutttSy
a more reasouabIe solution OF the land question
than shooting people from behind hedge. Inc
Mrskanten would Continc their earnest peIeEl nc
tIous TO the neghboring towns. but in course or
time they doubtless extended the sweep OF thtlr
orbit over Germany. France. Holland and Belgium,
t tkey reached the ports on the North Sea; thence
they would be tempted by the tabled wea!tn OF
England TO our FL Dorado. and once there
During the absence Of the bandsman his thriIy
wife looks after the croft, and her no less thrlly
her scanty earnings The event OF the day Is tne
arrival Of the postman and the women gather In
the street anxousy TO await his approach
Good from your man! asks one.
'sYeS. he's playing in a beer garden at Helsing-
fors in Finland. and sends me Il a month. He's
coming back in the autumn; -,
And where is your HeinrlchF -,
He's In Johannesburg. and is getting on weIl
for though living Is dear there. the people are SO
him a little fortune when he comes back next year
II wish my as near nome, says an,
other. In his letter he tells me ne mas redcIeu I
sydney in safety but the long voyage from odu
Francisco has eaten up his savings and he II nave
to stay for year in Australia to make enough 10
pay his way home and bring something Tor me.
When he was In America he never sent me less
than pound a week