Air, Mr. T. ~Welch~, “Revenge, revenge, Timotheus
cries” ~Haendel~.
Grand Duetto (M. S.), Harp and Violin, Mad.
~Spohr~ and Mr. ~Spohr~ ~Spohr~.
Aria, Miss ~Goodall~, “Una voce al cor mi parla.”
Clarinet obligato, Mr. ~Willman~ ~Pær~.
Sestetto for Pianoforte, two Violins, Viola, Violincello
and Contrabasso, Messrs.:
~Ries~, ~Watts~, ~Wagstaff~, R. ~Ashley~,
~Lindley~ and ~Dragonetti~ ~Ries~.
Irish Melodies (M. S.), with Variations for the
Violin, Mr. ~Spohr~ (composed expressly
for this occasion) ~Spohr~.
~PART II.~
Nonotto for Violin, Viola, Violincello, Contrabasso,
Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and
Bassoon, Messrs. ~Spohr~, ~Lindley~,
~Dragonetti~, ~Ireland~, ~Griesbach~,
~Willman~, ~Arnull~ and ~Holmes~ ~Spohr~.
Scena, Mrs. ~Salmon~ “Fellon, la pena avrai” ~Rossini~.
Rondo for the Violin, Mr. ~Spohr~ ~Spohr~.
Aria, Mr. Vaughan “Rendi’l sereno” ~Haendel~.
Overture ~Spohr~.
* * * * *
Leader of the Band Mr. ~Spohr~.
At the Pianoforte Sir George ~Smart~.
The new symphony, though already known to the orchestra, was again
carefully rehearsed through with them, and was executed in a masterly
manner, and it met with a more lively applause, if possible, than on
its first performance. While the air that followed was being sung I
tuned my wife’s harp for her in the adjoining room and spoke some words
of encouragement to her. I then led her into the concert-room and we
took our places to begin the duet. Silent expectation pervaded the
whole auditory, and our first tones were eagerly awaited, when suddenly
a fearful noise was heard in the street, which was immediately followed
by a volley of paving stones against the unilluminated windows of the
adjoining room. Terrified at the noise of the breaking glass of the
windows and chandeliers, the ladies sprang up from their seats, and a
scene of indescribable confusion and alarm ensued. In order to prevent
a second, volly of missiles, the gas lights in the adjoining apartment
were speedily lighted, and we were not a little gratified to find that
the mob after giving another uproarious cheer at the success of their
demonstration went on their way, and thus by degrees the previous quiet
was restored. But it was some time before the public resumed their
places in the room and became so far tranquillized that we could at
length begin. I was not a little fearful that the fright and the long
pause would make my wife still more nervous and I listened therefore
to her first accords in the greatest anxiety; but when I heard these
resound with their usual power I became immediately tranquillized, and
gave my attention wholly to the unity and ensemble of our play. This,
which in Germany had always pleased so much, did not fail to make its
effect upon an English audience also; the applause, indeed, increased
with every theme of the duet, and at its conclusion seemed as though it
never would cease. As we retired highly gratified with this success, we
neither of us thought that it was the _last time_, that _Dorette_ would
play on the harp. But of that hereafter!
As regards the other items of the programme in which I took part, I
was particularly pleased with the good reception which the nonette met
with. I had already played it with the same artists at one of the
Philharmonic concerts, and was invited on many sides to repeat it at my
concert. The accuracy of our _ensemble_ was this time more complete,
and therefore it could not fail in its effect. The Irish melodies were
generally well received. Thus, in spite of the disturbing intermezzo,
the concert terminated to the general satisfaction of all. The interval
after the first part and the promenade in the adjoining saloon were
this time entirely prevented by the damage which it had sustained; the
confectioner told me that, having had no demand for his refreshments,
he was the ten pound in pocket, although he had had some things smashed
on the buffet by the volley of stones. When at length, exceedingly
fatigued, we got into our carriage, we were not able to drive straight
home, as the mob in the neighbourhood of Portland Place still had it
all their own way. The coachman was therefore obliged to take all
manner of circuitous turnings, and it was past one in the morning
when we at length drove up to our own door. With the exception of our
floor we found the whole house lit up, and the landlady was awaiting
our return in the greatest anxiety, in order to light up our windows
also. And indeed it was high time; for the mob were heard approaching.
But as in obedience to their sovereign will they found the whole of
Charlotte-street brilliantly illuminated, they passed on without
committing any excesses. But it was not safe to extinguish the lights,
and not until the lapse of several hours, when the town had become
quite quiet, did we at length get the rest we so much needed.
* * * * *
Now comes a sorrowful period in my life, on which I now still think
with grief. My wife felt so ill from the effects of the great exertions
she had made in acquiring the mastery of the new harp and the alternate
impressions upon her nervous system on the evening of the concert,
that I was greatly afraid she was about to have a third attack of
nervous fever. It was therefore high time to come to some firm
resolve as regarded her future well-being. Already after her second
attack in Darmstadt, when she had become fully restored to health,
I had endeavoured to persuade her to abandon her nerve-destroying
instrument, but when I saw how much this proposition distressed her, I
again immediately relinquished it. She was too much heart and soul the
artiste, and had acquired too great a love for the instrument to which
she owed so many triumphs, to be able to give it up readily; and it had
always been a source of happiness to her to think that she could assist
with her talent towards the maintenance of our family. But now, that
she was but too convinced that her physical powers were not sufficient
to conquer the new instrument, and a return to the old one would not
satisfy her after having made herself intimately acquainted with the
advantages of the new one in tone and mechanism, it became much easier
for me to win her over to my way of thinking, particularly when I
represented to her that as the artiste she could still be known, and
in future appear at my concerts as pianiste, for which she had all the
necessary qualifications. This tranquillized her very much, although
she was obliged to admit to herself, that she would never be able to
achieve upon the pianoforte the same success as on the harp, upon which
in Germany at least she had not her equal. I moreover promised her,
that in order to give her performances the charm of novelty, I would
write some brilliant concert themes, and as it was very important for
me to try my hand also at pianoforte compositions, I immediately set
to work and finished before leaving London the first subject of the
piano-quintet Op. 52. In order to remove the harp wholly from her
sight, I sent it to Mr. _Erard_. When I informed him that my wife was
compelled to abandon the harp entirely on account of the weak state of
her health, he took it back very willingly, and refused a compensation
for the use made of it up to that time. In a most gallant manner he
said, the instrument had now acquired a real value, from having been
played upon by so celebrated an artiste, and that too at her last
public performance.
I now again took daily walks into the country with my wife and had soon
the pleasure of seeing that she was gradually recovering her strength.
The thought that she would soon see her children again contributed no
doubt in a very great measure towards this improvement. I also longed
to be home again with my family, and immediately the last Philharmonic
concert was over, I made preparations for leaving.
I must here by way of appendix speak of the musical institution of
Mr. _Logier_, which I visited several times with great interest,
and respecting which I sent the following report to the Leipsic
Musical Journal of August 1820: “Mr. _Logier_, a German by birth, but
resident for the last fifteen years in England, gives instruction in
pianoforte-play and in harmony upon a method of his own invention,
in which he permits all the children, frequently as many as thirty
or forty, to play at the same time. For this purpose he has written
three volumes of studies, which are all grounded upon perfectly simple
themes, and progress by degrees to the most difficult ones. While
beginners play the theme, the more advanced pupils practise themselves
at the same time in more or less difficult variations: one might
imagine that from this manner of proceeding great confusion must ensue,
out of which the teacher would be able to distinguish very little;
but as the children who play these studies, sit near each other, one
hears, according to whichever part of the room one may be in, either
one or the other of the studies very distinctly. The teacher also
frequently makes half of the pupils, at times all but one, cease
playing, in order to ascertain their progress individually. In the last
lessons he makes use of his chiroplast, a machine by means of which
the children get accustomed to a good position of the arms and hands,
and which so soon as they have progressed so far as to know the notes
and keys, is removed first from one hand and then from the other, and
then for the first time they put their fingers to the keys and learn
to play scales; but all this, in the respective studies, with all the
children at once, and always in the strictest time. When they have then
progressed to a new lesson they do not of course succeed in bringing
out more than a few notes of each bar, in the quick movement which they
hear being played near or around them; but they soon overcome more and
more of them, and in a shorter time than might well be believed, the
new lesson is played as well as the previous one. But what is most
remarkable in Mr. _Logier’s_ method of teaching is, that, with the
very first lessons in pianoforte playing he teaches his pupils harmony
at the same time. How he does this, I do not know; and that is his
secret, for which each of the teachers in England who give instruction
on his system pay him one hundred guineas. The results of this method
with his pupils are nevertheless wonderful; for children between the
ages of seven and ten years solve the most difficult problems. I wrote
down on the board a triad, and denoted the key in which they were to
modulate it: one of the littlest girls immediately ran to the board,
and after very little reflection wrote first the bass, and then the
upper notes. I frequently repeated this test, and indeed with the
addition of all manners of difficulties: I extended it to the most
divergent keys in which enharmonic changes were required, yet they
never became embarrassed. If one could not succeed, another immediately
came forward, whose bass perhaps was corrected by a third; and for
everything they did they were obliged to assign the reason to the
teacher. At length I wrote upon the table a simple treble--the first
that came into my head--and told each of them to put the other three
voices to it, each upon her own slate. At the same time I said to them
that the solution of the theme which the teacher and I should consider
the best, I would inscribe in my musical album as a souvenir of their
performance. All were now full of life and activity, and in a few
minutes one of the littlest of the girls, who had already distinguished
herself by her play and in working out the first problems, brought me
her slate to inspect, but in her haste she had omitted an octave in
the third bar between the bass and one of the middle voices. No sooner
had I pointed it out to her, than blushing and with tears in her eyes
she took back the slate and rapidly corrected her error. As in her
performance the bass was indisputably the best of all, the teacher
wrote it in my album, and I subjoin it here with diplomatic accuracy.
[Music]
The resolutions of the other children were more or less good, but
all of them correct, and mostly written out in four different keys.
Each also played her own immediately without any embarrassment on the
pianoforte and without “fault,” &c.”
Upon my announcing our approaching departure to my old _Johanning_,
tears came into the eyes of the kind and affectionate old man. He had
become so fond of us that he would have even refused all remuneration
for the services he had rendered us, and positively objected to take
the sum I had reserved for him. But upon my insisting on his taking
it he complied, on the condition that I would not refuse him a favour
he wished to ask of me. I asked him what it was, and he did not keep
me long in suspense, but stammered out in an embarrassed manner the
request that I and my wife would do him the honour to take our dinner,
the day before our departure, at his house. When we consented thereto
without hesitation, his whole countenance immediately brightened up,
and he could not find words to express sufficiently his gratitude.
On the appointed day he made his appearance dressed as I had never
yet seen him, in a full-dress suit of his deceased master’s, with
hair powdered, and in white silk stockings, and at our door stood a
hackney carriage for four persons, which was to take us to his country
house, and in which a musician whom he had also invited, and whose
acquaintance we had already made, and who was the most intimate friend
of his late master, was already seated. When we had got in, _Johanning_
refused to take the fourth seat, saying that it would be unbecoming of
him to do so, although I pointed out to him that he was now no longer
my servant, but for this day my host and entertainer. But he was not
to be persuaded, and took his usual place by the side of the coachman.
On the way there our companion related to us many particulars highly
creditable to _Johanning_--how he had shewn the most ardent attachment
and fidelity to his master, and after his death had applied the greater
part of the money he had left him, to the erection of a memorial to
his master in Westminster Abbey, so that we felt penetrated with the
highest respect for our recent servant. Upon our arrival he opened
the carriage door and led us into his house. The property consisted
of a small house with a small garden attached, and everywhere the
greatest neatness and cleanliness. He led the way up one flight of
stairs to his reception room, and did not fail to show us immediately
the bell-pull near the mantle-piece, to which he forthwith gave a tug,
although he kept no servant whom he could summon with it, since he
and his wife were their own servants. We then took a turn through the
little garden and then entered the parlour, where the table was laid
for three persons. _Johanning_ again refused to take a seat near us at
table, and this time for the cogent reason that we should then have
had no one to wait upon us. Upon this he brought up the dinner and as
master of the house waited upon his guests, during which occupation
his whole countenance wore an expression of the greatest pleasure. The
dinner was exceedingly well dressed and served up on an elegant china
dinner-service which had belonged to his master, and the excellent
Rhenish wine which he placed before us was no doubt derived also from
the same source. The dessert, strawberries and cherries, was the
produce of his little garden, and this he did not fail to announce
to his guests.--When dinner was over he led the way once more to his
drawing-room, where we found Mrs. _Johanning_, who till then had been
engaged in the kitchen in dressing and sending up the dinner, in full
Sunday attire. There at length, though only after repeated pressing,
the worthy old couple allowed themselves to be persuaded to take seats
at the table, on which coffee had already been placed. _Johanning_
was now in the height of happiness, and interpreted with no little
satisfaction to his wife the praises which we had expressed and still
reiterated of the admirable manner in which we had been entertained.
Towards evening the coach again drove up to the door to take us back
to town. But _Johanning_ could not be deterred from resuming his old
place by the side of the coachman, to accompany us home, and open
the carriage door. In fact, even on the next morning he presented
himself again, in order to be of assistance at our departure. At the
coach-office we found also several friends and acquaintance waiting to
bid us farewell.
* * * * *
We returned again by way of Dover and Calais, in order to take our own
carriage which we had left at Lille. Our passage across this time was a
very calm one and the weather fine, so that not any of the passengers
were sea-sick. Between Calais and Lille the diligence stopped at a so
charming place to dine that even now, after so long a time, I recollect
it with a feeling of pleasure. It was at the small town of Cassel,
which is situated upon a high isolated conical hill that rises in the
midst of an extensive plain. The weather being fine, dinner had been
laid for the travellers in the garden of the inn under a bower of
vines, and during the repast, from this pleasant, cool situation we
enjoyed an extensive view over the beautiful country round. In Lille we
again spent some pleasant days in the society of the _Vogel_ family and
other of our friends there, and then without longer stay set out in our
own carriage upon our further journey.
As a natural consequence of the painful ordeal of grief through
which my parents had passed on our account, and after the first long
separation from our children, our reception this time in Gandersheim
was beyond measure one of heartfelt joy, and after our protracted
exertions and fatigue we now indeed felt once more happy and freed
from care in the calm repose of the country. This was just the time
for me to set myself to new labours, and I there first completed
the quintet for pianoforte, flute, clarinet, horn and double-bass
which I had begun in London, and in which I proposed that my wife
should make her appearance in the world of art as a pianiste on our
projected winter tour. Indeed, it was high time to occupy her in its
artistic study; for as she now felt quite re-established in health,
she had the greatest desire to resume her harp. With the assistance
of the new quintet, however, and supported by the medical counsel of
my father, I soon succeeded in dissuading her from it. She therefore
devoted her attention to the pianoforte with the greatest zeal, and
in a short time had the gratification of finding she had reacquired
her former technical skill upon that instrument. After the lapse of a
few weeks she succeeded therefore in executing the new and difficult
concert-piece to her and my satisfaction.
About this time we had a visit from two musical Hamburg friends,
Messrs. _Fritz Schwenke_ and _Wilhelm Grund_, the latter of whom
brought his younger brother _Edward_ with him, who was already a good
violinist, to become my pupil. With the assistance of these three I now
gave our musical friends of Gandersheim a quartet-party such as they
had never heard before nor have since. In order to have my new quintet
heard upon this occasion also, I quickly rewrote the accompaniment of
the four wind-instruments, for a stringed-quartet, and in this shape
was highly pleased with its effect, as also with the brilliant play
of my wife. From the great success this had met with, she felt much
encouraged in her new studies and consoled in some measure for her
relinquishment of the harp. To provide her still with new materials for
practice, I rewrote also two former harp-compositions for the piano, a
pot-pourri and a rondo with violin, which appeared later as Op. 50 and
51. We practised these together also with the greatest care, and they
were destined for performance at private parties on our next winter
tour. After the departure of the Hamburg visitors I commenced the
instruction of my new pupil. By his talent and amiability he soon won
the esteem of the whole _Spohr_ family, from the old grandfather down
to little _Theresa_, whom he always called in pure Hamburg dialect: “Du
säute Deren.” As he played well on the piano, he undertook the musical
instruction of _Emilia_ and _Ida_, and young as he was, he knew how to
keep them assiduous to their studies. Himself as violinist he soon made
so much progress, that I practised him in and played with him the three
extremely difficult violin-duets which I wrote in Switzerland (Op. 39)
and for which I had never yet been able to meet with a fellow-player.
By the accurate, pure and spirited execution of this almost always
four-voiced duets we made a great sensation, and musical amateurs
from the whole country round came to hear us play them. We played one
of them also with great success at a concert in Hildesheim, given
there by the director of music _Bischoff_, the same who undertook the
Frankenhaus musical festivals. Towards autumn, just as I had begun to
compose a new violin concerto (the 9th. D-minor. Op. 55, published by
_André_ of Offenbach) for the winter journey, I received an invitation
from music-director _Rose_ in Quedlinburg to conduct a musical festival
which he was about to hold there. I very gladly accepted it, and made
all haste to complete my concerto so as to be able to perform it there
for the first time. While practising it I received great assistance
from _Edward Grund_, who was able to accompany through the score on
the piano, an assistance, which I had never before experienced.
The musical festival took place on the 13th. and 14th. October
1820, and went off to the full satisfaction of the originator and
the numerous auditory. Upon my proposition, _Schneider’s_ “Last
Judgement” was given on the first day, at which the composer himself
was present. On the second day, among other things my London symphony
was performed, and, as well as my new violin concerto, was received
with great approbation. I met in Quedlinburg many of my former friends
and acquaintances from Sondershausen, Gotha, Leipzig, Magdeburg,
Halberstadt and Brunswick, and passed several delightful days with
them. After our return from this pleasant excursion, upon which my
parents and _Edward Grund_, as well as my wife, had accompained me, it
became full time to set out upon our winter tour, the terminus of which
was to be Paris. A new parting from the children, my parents, and the
pleasant society of Gandersheim, was therefore necessary; and _Edward
Grund_ returned to Hamburg with the intention of coming again in the
spring to prosecute his studies under my guidance.