Notes of a Pianist ... during his professional tours in the United States, Canada, the Antilles, and South America. Preceded by a short biographical sketch, with contemporaneous criticisms. Edited by ... Clara Gottschalk. Translated from the French by R. E. Peterson

Front matter

NOTES OF A PIANIST. BY LOUIS MOREAU GOTTSCHALK, PIANIST AND COMPOSER, CHEVALIER OF THE ORDERS OF ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC, CHARLES III., AND LION OF HOLSTEIN-LIMBOCRG ; MEMBER OF THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETIES OF BORDEAUX, NEW YORK, HAVANA, RIO DE JANEIRO, ETC. ETC. DURING HIS PROFESSIONAL TOURS IN THE UNITED STATES. CANADA, THE ANTILLES, AND SOUTH AMERICA. PRECEDED BT A SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH WITH CONTEMPORANEOUS CRITICISMS. EDITED BT HIS SISTER, CLARA GOTTSCHALK TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BT ROBERT E. PETERSON, M.D. "We see that nothing is wantingin the works of Gottschalk, neither variety in the subjects treated of, nor originality of style. He merits then, as composer and as artist, a separate place alongside of the great masters of modern art." — A. Marmontel. LONDON: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 16 SOUTHAMPTON STREET. 1881. [All rights reserved.]

TO THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, THE BIRTHPLACE OF LOUIS MOREATJ GOTTSCHALK, Stote W ohmtt IS DEDICATED BY HIS BROTHER AND SISTERS. CONTENTS. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Chapter I. Paoe

Parentage and birth — Musical precocity — Delicate health of his mother — Removal to Pass Christian — Mother alarmed by hearing the piano — Great surprise to find it was the child — Father's resolve to have him taught music — Anecdote of the negress slave and child — Effrontery of Indian — Keturn to New Orleans , . . . .25

Chapter II

Mr. Letellier, his teacher of piano — Mr. Miolan, teacher on violin — Rapid progress — Plays organ at cathedral mass — Unable, from emotion, to relate his success to his mother — His first concert — Great success — Father's resolution to send him to Paris — Concert before departure — Anecdote of Mr. Barraud, the hairdresser . . .29

Chapter III

Leaves New Orleans for Paris — Arrival in Paris — Halle, his first musical professor — Afterwards Camille Stamaty — His love for Mr. Stamaty — Composition taught him by Mr. Maleden— Other studies- Introduced by his grandaunt, the Marquise de la Grange, to the Duke of Salvandi and the Duchesse de Narbonne, Duke d'Ecarre, Rothschild, Edouard Rodrigue — Great memory for music — Musical mnemotechny applied to other studies — Concert, non pai/ant, at the Salle Pleyel — Could America produce an artist ?- — Great success — Chopin's prediction — Concert .at Sedan — Hitherto played only compositions of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Thalberg, and Chopin — Writes ' Danse Ossianique,' 'Les Ballades d'Ossian,' or 'Le Lai du Dernier Menestrel,' 'La Grande Valse,' 'La Grande Etude Concert' — Anecdotes A* (V) VI CONTENTS. PAGE 35 42 54

Chapter IV

His mother and family arrive in Paris — Takes charge of them — Concert at Salle Pleyel — Thalberg's predictions, criticisms — Health delicate — Pedestrian tour in the Vosges — Singular adventure — Return to Paris — Becomes intimate with Rev. Adolphe Monod — Anecdote related by Mr. Monod — Concert for workmen of Mr. Pleyel, whose workshop had been burned — Account and criticism in ' La France Musicale' — Presentation of address by workmen to Gottschalk .

Chapter V

Mr. Pleyel, Erard — Caricatured by ' Cham' — Anecdotes — Journey to Switzerland — 'Le songe d'une nuit d'<5te — Taken ill at Rousses — Concerts at Geneva — Grand Duchess of Russia — Princess Weymar — Concert at Yverdon for hospital for the aged — One wing named after him — Notice in 'La France Musicale,' by L. Escudier — Criticisms and notices from the Swiss press, by Julius Eichberg, Schriwaneck, Oscar Commettant ; 'Parisian Press,' by Berlioz, Ad. Adam (de l'lnstitut), Escudier, Fiorentino, and Theophile Gautier

Chapter VI

Return from Switzerland to Paris — Leaves for Madrid — Visits Bordeaux, Pau, Tarbes, Bayonne — Dinner given to him by Monseigneur Donnet, Cardinal Archbishop of Bordeaux — Notices of press and criticisms of artists — Concerts for benefit of the poor

Chapter VII

Arrival in Spain — Concerts at Bilboa — Concert for benefit of the Maison de Charite — Reception at Madrid — Queen Isabella, Duke of Riansares — Reception at Court — Plays ' Bamboula' — Dedication to the Queen — Queen Dowager's ball — Courtesy of the King — Legitimate triumph — Three concerts at the Teatro del Circe — Six pieces encored — Called before audience seventeen times — A crown of gold thrown to him — Valladolid — Description of reception by Marie Escudier — Invited by Colonel the Count de Pierra to review the Farnesio Regiment — Injury to his finger through jealousy — Invited to dinner by Dona Josepha, sister to the King — Presents him with cake made by her royal hands, diamond studs, and portrait, with her autograph — Returns to Madrid — made honorary member of the Academy Artistique — Performs ' Le Siege de Saragosse' for ten pianos at Teatro del Principe — Wild excitement — Presented by the celebrated bull-fighter, Jose Redondo, with the sword of Francisco Montes — Presents by Duke and Duchess de Montpensier — Leaves Spain for Paris and New York .59 CONTENTS. VII "PAGE 66 75

Chapter VIII

Arrival in New York — Barnum' s offer declined — Leaves for New Orleans — Concerts in New York and Philadelphia — Concerts at New Orleans — Gold medal presented to him — Returns to New York — Concert at Boston, and news of his father's death — Leaves for New Orleans^-Pays his father's debts — Publishes 'Last Hope,' etc. — Eighty concerts from 1855 to 1856 — De*ith of his mother — Returns to the Antilles, in company with Adelina Patti — Composes 'Columbia,' etc. — His rest at Matouba — Other pieces composed — Again at Havana — Organizes a great festival with eight hundred musicians — ' La Nuit des Tropiques' — Created Chevalier of the royal and distinguished order of Charles III. by Queen Isabellii — Arrival and death of his brother Edward in New York — Max Strakosch's offer accepted — Eleven hundred concerts given — Leaves San Fr.ancisco for South America — Arrival and tour in South America — Lima, Montevideo, Buenos Ayres — Concerts given for benefit of French, Gemuan, and English hospitals — Gold medals — Rio Janeiro — Marked attention from Dom Pedro and Queen — Attacked with fellow fever — Visits to Emperor Dom Pedro — Soiree in his honour at Emperor's palace, San Christorao — Emperor's delicacy — Kindness of Emperor during his sickness — Public reception by clergy of Imperial College of Alcantara — Concert at Valenza — His last concert — Faints at piano and conveyed home — Illness — Conveyed to Tijuca — His decease .

Chapter IX

Notices of his death — His funeral under the control of the Philharmonic Society — Greiit lamentation in Rio— Burial in cemetery of San Jose Baptista — Orations at his grave — His intentions after leaving Brazil to visit Great Britain — On receiving news of death his sisters leave London for New York — Gottschalk's body brought to New York — Conveyed to St. Stephen's Church — Funeral celebration — His body, with that of his brother Edward, conveyed to Greenwood Cemetery — Monument erected by his brother and sisters POSTHUMOUS CRITICISMS. Gottschalk as a man 79 Gottschalk as a Composer and Pianist ...... CONTENTS. VIII PAGE 89 99 NOTES OF A PIANIST.

Chapter I

First visit to Cuba — Havana — Forts Morro and Cabana — Custom-house officers — Incident on the steamer from New Orleans — Counts M. de dassato and M<al.aperta — Meeting of the counts in Spain — Singular coincidence — First evening in Havana — English travellers in Spain —^Requisites for travelling — Southerner at Saratoga — Imbecility or bad faith of travellers in their accounts of slavery in Cuba — Illness and concert — Invited to palace by Marshal Serrano — Opera of ' Fete Champetre Cubaine' — Grand concert of nearly nine hundred performers — Immense labour in getting it up — Opera troupes expected at Havana — Triumph of Traviata — Effect of Traviata on the ladies — Enthusiasm for La Gazzaniga — Parties of Frezzolini and Gazzaniga — La Cartesi — Strife renewed between the parties— Interference of authorities — Trip to Cardenas — Exports and trade with United States — Necessities of a Spanish city — Church and theatre ; of a Yankee city, hotel, church, newspaper office, and concert hall — Concert at Cardenas — Return to Havana — Diffieul- ■ ties of the road ..........

Chapter II

Country of the Antilles — Interior of Cuba — Sugar plantations — Treatment of slaves — Life at Caymito — Bats — Books — Le Sage — What renders the Spaniards unhappy — Embark for St. Thomas — St. Domingo and its associations — Tales at the fireside — Bras Coupe — Assassination in St. Domingo — Justification of the negroes — Escape of family to New Orleans — St. Thomas — Invitation from governor-general — Three concerts — Event ofthe evening — Chevalier de L — Frederick Barbaroussa — Buccaneers — Barbaroussa's tower and fortress — Negro traditions — St. Thomas a free port — The exchange ofthe two continents — A naval station of great importance — Yellow fever — Town of St. Thomas — Picturesque fetes at tlie Port of France on tlie inauguration of the statue ofthe Empress Josephine — Conceit — Visit to Mr. R. at Plazuela — Reception at Ponce — Concerts, ladies — Barcelona (la Cote ferme) — Escape of the Busati family — Hospitality of the Creoles — Madam Busati — Opera troupe wanted at St. Pierre — Professor of piano wanted — Regret on leaving Martinique — Piano made by Henri Herz — Reports of my death — Funeral homage to the bard of the tropics — Description of superb coloured engraving CONTENTS. IX PAGE 117

Chapter III

New York once more — Six years foolishly spent — Roaming at random — Conceal myself in a desert — Live like a hermit — Poor fool for companion — Description of cabin and surrounding scenery — Compose 'Reponds moi,' * La Marche des Gibarros,' 'Polonia,' 'Columbia,' ' Pastorella e Cavalliere,' 'Jeunesse,' etc. — My vagabond life restored to me — Living the life of primitive countries — A loice in the depths of conscience — Excuse for the demi-savages of the savanna — Strakosch osiers an engagement — I accept — Poesy and youth — Concert at New York — Richard Hoffman an artist and a gentleman — The artist is merchandise — The press of the United States — Detractors — 'Murmures Eoliens' — Emptiness of human things — First concert at New York — Losses — Wallace — Barnum's offer — Fiither's prejudices — Leave for New Orleans — Enthusiastic reception — Parisian reputation — Thrown on my own resources — Family obligations — Pay my father's debts — Tour in New England — First receipts at Boston — Discouragement — Losses — Return to New York — Letter from the Countess de Flavigny — Hall's offer — Success — Hall publishes 'Le Banjo' and 'La Marche,' etc. — Rapid sale — 'Last Hope,' first sold for fifty dollars — Hall purchased it from the publisher for same price — Immense number since sold — New York as brilliant in 18U2 as in 1S57 — Foreign journals on the war — Most governments interested in the fall of the republic — Ignorance of foreigners concerning the United States — Instances of this ignorance — Lacuna in our civilization — Brignoli — Companion of the desert follows me to New York

Chapter IV

Chicago — City raised from ten to twelve feet — House raising — Flour and grain at Chicago — Milwaukee — Banner of ' Great Hole in the Day' — Sioux massiicre in Minnesota — Philharmonic society, theatre, . and concert hall at Milwaukee — French cook gives a dinner — Amateurs of great talent — Convoy of wounded — Multiplication of Miss Nightingales — Toledo — Rage for conversion — Hamilton (Canada) — English soldiers — Musical taste not developed — Never listen to the public — Bishop of Chicago — Mdlle. Patti — Affecting incident at station — Lockport — Lincoln pardons a young soldier condemned to death — St. Louis — Society divided into cliques — Catholics in the majority — German professor of music — Maladroit imitation of the great professor of Bonn — Soap not incompatible with genius — M.ass at Father Ryan's church — Why does the priest get out of the key ? — .

S-icred music — Serenade to General Halleck — Announces great victory, and also a sad one — Cincinnati — Library of Young Men's Mercantile Association — Commerce of Cincinnati in lard and hams — Visit slaughter house — Jackson's defeat of Banks — Seventh regiment of New York — Riot in Baltimore — Bad business — Superb concert at Philadelphia — 'L'Union' excites great enthusi.asm — After concerts in New York and Philadelphia leave for Washington — Anxious to see army of the Potomac — Incident on the way to Wash- CONTENTS. X PAGE ington in 1856 — Winter of 1856 — Seven hours from Brooklyn to New York — Reach the Chesapeake — Yankee activity of mind — His .adaptability — Trains taken for troops — In the cars for Washington — Five hundred thousand troops on foot in twenty-four hours — Car fitted up for kitchen — Meals given by ladies of Philadelphia to three liundred and fifty thousand men — Ladies enrolled as nurses — Fifth volunteer corps New York artillery — Comfort of sleeping cars . 132

Chapter V

Convent of the Sisters of the Visitation — Daughter of General P - — Presentation by the lady superior in the name of the scholars — Heller — Titiens, Negrini, and Ullman — Ristori — Rachel — Academy of Music at Philadelphia, one of the most beautiful in the world — Concert at Washington — Whole diplomatic corps present — Count Mercier, Mr. de Tiissera, the Spanish minister, Baron Stockel, Mr. Blondel, Belgian minister, Chevalier Bertinati — Plays the national air of each country — President Lincoln — His person and character — Concert alone at Worcester — Amateur annoyance — Anglo-Saxon method of playing music wholly speculative — Horror of musical Puritans — Englishman before a picture — How he forms a judgment — ■ Anglo-Saxon lacks the pensive element — Chickering's music hall — Success of aeronaut at battle of Richmond — Seventh regiment New York volunteers — Mr. B., a furrier, almost a theatrical monomaniac — Mr. B. forms an It.alian opera company — Miss B.'s marvellous toilet said to cost five thousand dollars — Second concert at Providence — Tillman — Monster representations — Hermann — Portsmouth a charming town — Pretty girls — Baby show by Barnum — Portland, Maine — Magnificent concert — Salem — 'Madamina' of Don Juan — Susini — Mistake of the amateurs — Mason, the pianist — Springfield, Massachusetts — Matinee at Newark, New Jersey — Burlington, Vermont — Bishop Hopkins — On the way to Montreal — Horrid French of the Canadians — Montreal — La Chine — St. Lawrence River — Visit to Alvarge Island — Daughter of Trobriant — Madam Stevens, of Boston — Miss Reed — Captsain Blair — Lord Dunmore — Quebec — ' L'Ange dechu' of Kalkbrenner — Streets crowded with priests — Convents — Commerce of Quebec — Pronunciation of the Canadians — Interment of a sergeant of artillery — Singular music — Reviews on the Esplanade — Band plays ' Dixie' — Canadian vocabulary — Lord Dunmore tries to run the blockade — Ottawa — House of Parliament . . 145

Chapter VI

'Ballad to the moon,' by Alfred Musset — Watertown — Singular Frenchman — Kingston — Toronto — Mar bie Heart — Dion Boucicault— Batavia — Indian tomb — Geneva — Immense concert — Rev. Mr. Reed — Most beautiful country in tlie world — School girls' picnic — Elmira — Oswego — Commerce of Oswego — Lake Ontario — Rome — Utica — Charming town — General McClellan — Jefferson Davis — Reports about McClellan — Cleveland — Sunday and suicide — Lake Erie — Madam S D Toledo— Michigan — Stupid audience — CONTENTS.

XI PAGE Singular notice — The farmer's fife — Singular playing — Scotch melodies — Hotel Augier, at Cleveland — Ghost — Sandusky — Patti frightened — Embalmed bodies — Zanesville — Soldiers among the audience — Sandusky — Warrant of arrest — Zanesville to Columbus — Prisoners of war — A Virginian — American defect of judgment on art — Blind Tom — Criticism on article in 'Atlantic Monthly' — Note of ' Pattes de Mouche,' — Intense cold at Cleveland — Unpleasant experience — Me.als at hotels — Madison, Wisconsin — Archbishop of Cincinnati preaches against the theatre — The state of religion in the United States — Which most to be feared, the fanatics of the Bible, or the fanatics of Rome — Puritans — Funds for printing Bibles — Indianapo lis — M*ijor under arrest — Great snow storm — Men in the field with out blankets — Splendid regiments of cavalry — Fine artillery — Bat tle of Fredericksburg going on — Singular audience — Whistling of enthusiasts — Late comers at concerts — Talking — Live on the railroad — Most memorable events of my daily existence — Richard Storrs Willis, and my engagement to be married — Not yet arrived at that blest haven — The muse — Old bachelors to be pitied — The poor dervish in the Arabian tale — Success at Chicago — Chicago most resembles New York — The ladies beautiful — -Immense stores — Trade — Milwaukee— Female furrier, daughter of a Countess de Re markable fact as to Russians and musicians in United States . . 159

Chapter VII

Last tour of concerts given — Their number — Effect upon me — Thoughts of the Antilles — Wish to give three concerts in one day — The first pianist who has accomplished it — Romantic cause of my failure — A class for whom the arts are only a fashionable luxury, and music an agreeable noise — Artists, how appreciated by many — Do not write for these — The disinherited by thought — Lamertine's description of music — Music a psycho-physical phenomenon — Its influence — Nature of music — Neuralgia — Dr. Smith — Tremont House, Continental Hotel, Philadelphia — New Year's Day — A magical epoch — Letter in ' Home Journal' by a lady of Indianapolis — Approb.ation of a mother of my 'Berceuse' ('Cradle Song') — Never more delightfully affected — Letter signed "Mrs. Frank Smith" — ' Berceuse,' why composed 174

Chapter VIII

Springfield (niinois) — St. Nicholas Hotel I — Tribulations and mortifications—Concert at Washington — Great success— General Herron from New Granada — Soldiers present — Reminded of Schiller's ' Wallenstein' — Squint-eyed gentleman — Glad to know the m,an who could make twenty-five percussions in a second — Go to General Wadsworth's camp — Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, desires to see me, as a Louisianian faithful to the Constitution — Baron Mercier's house burned — Madam, the Baroness, borrows stockings from Madam Rigo — Take the oath of allegiance — Horror of slavery made CONTENTS. XII PAGE me emancipate my negroes — Recognize but one principle, that of the Constitution — South leans upon two political errors — No illusions regsarding the negro — Alexandria — Marshall House Hotel — Colonel Ellsworth 186

Chapter IX

Pianistomonambulist ! — My destiny — Public physiognomy — Why is the audience one day enthusiastic, another day cold ? — Germans or Dutch ? — Subscribers to 'Mason's Musical World,' 'Dwight's Journal,' 'Home Journal' — Fancy but one public — Young girls from the boarding-school, the most interesting element — ' Last Hope' and ' Pastorella' — The fabricated Beethoven — The great dead ! how many little crimes committed in their name ! — Chopin — Fashion — The pagan of art — Fetish worshippers — Rhetoricians of Byzantium — Tlie self-made Aristarchus — Hoffman and beer — Beethoven, Liszt, and long hair — Opinion of myself — My existence for fifteen months that of a carpet-bag — How avoid becoming brutalized — Commenced writing notes of travel — My pocket books — Discreet friends — Their pages like the side of an obelisk — Only an American, and a pianist — Elmira — Length of hours on Sunday — Sunday in America — Zeal of the Bible societies — Tract societies — The good man in the Sunday train between New York and Philadelphia — How I spent Sunday at Elmira — Piano forbidden — Sunday at Cape May — Rev. Mr. Beecher — The present generation of Beechers — Williarusport, Pa. — ■ Millinery and ice cream — Newsp.aper publisher and patent medicines — The town in commotion — Rebels marching on the capital — General Lee — Federal general-in-chief not to be accused of want of skill — Large extent of territory embraced by the war — McClellan and Quaker guns — General Scott's opinion of Lee — Despatch from the Governor of Pennsylvania — Volunteer military band — All Germans — United by their hatred of time — Great consternation — Patriotic meetings organized — Concert — Madam Strakosch — Family of the Pattis— Barili — Carlo Patti — What a family ! — An incomparable young man crosses the haU on tiptoe — Advised putting off concert at Harrisburg — General Ewell — Stuart of Lee's cavalry- Woman's imagination — Her influence at times to be deplored — Conduct of Southern women — Strong-minded women of New England — Females of New Orleans — My friend's statement — General Butler— Miss Beauregard — Lady De Forli — Charlotte Corday . . 190

Chapter X

Williamsport — Fresh telegram from Governor — Guards to hurry to defence of capital — My cousins — One in the Northern, another in the Southern army — Hagerstown in the possession of the Confederates — On the road to Harrisburg — Everybody frightened — What shall we do ? — Concert out of question — Road obstructed by freight trains, wagons of all sorts, etc. — Train stops on middle of the bridge over the Susquehanna — Great anxiety — Women, dead with fright, CONTENTS.

XIII PAGE do not cease talking — Tired of suspense — Strakosch, Madam Amelia Patti, and myself get out of the cars — Station encumbered by mountains of trunks — Discover my two pianos — Chickering Sons — Three thousand men at work on the intrenchments — Clergy place themselves at the disposition of the Governor for defence of the city — Troops from New Jersey and New York — New York reporters — Sensational news — Dinner, gentlemen ! — The poor blacks — Cattle driven towards the mountains — General Milroy defeated — A young man just killed on the fortifications — Report concerning McClellan— Know McClellan — Old men, women, and children leaving the city — Murmurs against Philadelphia — Beauregard's factotum and barber — Ramon — His singular history — A little Spanish boy adopted by me in Spain — The tocsin sounds — Bands parade the streets — What does military enthusiasm amount to ? — Wliich side is truth ? — Jefferson Davis on one side, and Lincoln on the other, order thanks to the Almighty — The panic increases — A general sauve qui peut — All kinds of vehicles put into requisition — Train leaves in a few minutes— Great confusion — Curse my gallantry — Ladies give no thanks for courtesies rendered — At Philadelphia — Leave for New Brunswick — Concert at New London — Drawing for recruits com menced — Irish resist — Rioters burn railroad bridge at Harlem — Troops ordered from Morris's Island — ' Tribune' office burned — Presented with basket of flowers — Fitchburgh — Nashua — News of taking of Port Hudson received — Manchester — Forced to give up concert 208

Chapter XI

On a tour — Mademoiselle Cordier, Brignoli, Carlo Patti, Behrens, Max Strakosch, Ashforth — Behren's weaknesses — Devivo, Levy — A blessing to hotel proprietors— A tempest of snow — Rockford — Young ladies' seminaries — Cultivating the mind and improving the taste imperative among American women — Prefer our system of educating women to that of Europe — A sleigh ride — Its disagreeableness — Winter true season for inspiration — Sacrifice myself — End ofthe ride a seminary of young girls — Germans and spectacles - — Curiosity of the young girls — ' Maiden's Prayer' — Female servants — Harvard — Tempest of snow — Agreeable surprise — 0 civilization ! — Rash judgment and agreeable surprise — Return to the ears — Strakosch was nearly frozen — Have to pass the night at Harvard — Fifty or sixty passengers — Disabled soldiers, etc. — Reminded of a storm at sea — Terrible condition of things — Obtain lodgings at the postmaster's — The postmaster and his family — Poverty, but not want — Europe cannot understand the character of the American farmer — Good night — Condition on awaking — The trapper's signs of cold winter — Muskrats and trout — Sick young soldier — Anxiety for him — Noble hearts in this world of dollars and cents — Suffering from the cold of men and cattle — Milwaukee impossible . 221 B CONTENTS. XIV

Chapter XII. Page

Adrian, Michigan — Infamous concert — One dollar admission! — Three weeks' rest in New York — Washington's birthday — New series of concerts — After which, extreme West — Placed 'Union,' great enthusiasm — Bridgeport — Tom Thumb and Barnum — Concert in New York — Hartforcl — Singular conversation between two ladies — Boston — Most English in appearance — The aristocratic city — Cambridge and her poets — Boston organ — Mr. Perkins and Beethoven — Fremont Hall ; the best for hearing, and most magnificent in the world — Providence — -Aristocratic city — Its founder — Large audience — Sunday — Julius Eich berg — Mason's new organs — Boston Institution for Deaf and Dumb — Presents from the deaf and dumb — Letter from Laura Bridgeman, deaf, dumb, and blind — Springfield — Small audience — Curious accident while playing — Arrive in New York — Debut of Miss Harris, young American prima donna — Play quatuor of Beethoven — New Haven — Yale College — Purit<anism disappearing in New England — Episcopalians and Lent — Stamford — Two large colleges for young girls — Re-appearance of Brignoli — The tenor par excellence — Mirate, Mario — Mazzolini — Character of his voice — What pleases the public — ' lone,' success of — To what owing — Timidity of Brignoli — His indisposition in second act of ' Somnambula' — Lotti, a young German tenor — An ovation — Excitement of the New York exquisites — Brignoli's stag's head and horns — His fear of the ' evil eye' — Deplorable concert — Silence, when — " Short and sweet" — Only concert where pieces not encored — Musical celebrities who have succeeded me — " Sam" — " Charley such a one, first-rate drummer who can't be beat" — Anomalies in credulity of Americans — Manners of children at table — Manners of men, from being "too manly" — If polite, trifles attended to, less shameful degradation — Matinee at New York — Large audience — Departure of first negro regiment for the war — Paterson, New Jersey — Nine tickets — New Jersey poorest place in the world to give concerts in — Ex.amples — Harry Sanderson's experience — Ignoble observation — The French philosopher right — Concert in New York for benefit of Harrison — German opera broken up for want of money — Fine concert at Philadelphia — Liberal movement making way — New York, play with Sanderson — Reasons for being proud of him — Norwalk — Sanitary fairs everywhere — Unfortunate prejudice — Appreciated at our value ! ! — Handsomest little hall in the United States — Amiable audience, warm, intelligent, eleg.ant — Charms which turn the heads of pianists — " Dear Norwalk, I love you" — Stamford, bad impressions of — Norwalk — No good segars — Leave for Boston — Trunks left behind — Concert at Boston, play badly — Madam Anna Bishop — Her illustrious husband — ' Home, Sweet Home' — Her great popularity in the United States — Sunday — Ennui, ennui, ennui ......... 231

Chapter XIII

* Leave for Norwich — Travelling music master — Arrive at Norwich — Professor Whittleny introduces himself — Singular personage — CON TEN I'S. XV PAGE ' Music Vale' — A greater am,ateur of whiskey than of music — New London — Ratio of churches — Questionable taste — Leave Philadel phia for Baltimore — Madam Variani, Edward Hoffman — Richard Hoffman — * Dwight's paper' — A bilious reservoir — Required by the musical profession — En route for Baltimore — Noisy soldiers — Their vulgar behaviour — On furlough — Officers say no right to control them — Bad effects of whiskey — Concert at Baltimore — Love for Baltimore and its people— Their love for art — Concert at Washing ton — Swedish Minister, Count Pieper — Been to Alexandria — Deso lation everywhere — Concert — Adventure on road back to Washing ton—Strakosch and the German sergeant — Concert at Washington — The President and his lady — Mrs. Lincoln — Lincoln does not wear gloves — Mrs. B and daughter — Concert at Washington — Lieu tenant-General Grant and staff — Grant made Lieutenant-General — Madam Variani sings ' Star Spangled Banner' — Encored by gallery filled with soldiers — Parterre, boxes, and orchestral stalls abstain from demonstration — Sympathize with South — Leave for Harrisburg — Been prevented seven or eight times from giving concerts there — Description of Harrisburg — Concert at Court-house — Complexion of the Ladies — Pianists, beware ! — Charming audience — Civilization outraged by the gong — A regiment of veterans — Adventure of Mademoiselle Vestvali, 'the superb' — "He never plays but his own music" — Like the white man in the midst of negroes — An afflicting gift — What Berlioz said — Criticism — gachel — Mr. De Cordova — Description of Lancaster — Chubby-faced children — Ger man milliners — Change of weather — Concert .at Harrisburg — Gov ernor and Secretary of State present — Observation — Difference between East and West — Pennsylvania more polite than some of her brilliant sisters — Bethlehem — Villages, towns in miniature — Magnificent concert — Moravian church .and seminary — A wager — A professor of music ! — But little swearing and drunkenness . . 242