It was three o’clock this morning before I got to bed, as the
actors at the theatre and about a hundred of my friends had
arranged a company for me, which really was delightful.... When I
entered the hall a chorus sang a poem written by A. Munch, to a
melody from the “Polacca.”... At supper your health and the
children’s was proposed and drank, and I responded with my
violin.... When am I to be permitted to lead a peaceful domestic
life with you and our little ones?
His first concert in Christiania was given for the benefit of the
theatre. The banquet which he mentioned took place just before his
departure. The following is a quotation from one of the local papers:—
Many songs and poems were written in his honor, and the warmth and
pathos of the melodies he played so thrilled all present that they
believed they had never heard him play so well. The guests
accompanied him _en masse_ to his hotel, and cheered again and
again.
The next incident of interest was his concert at Lund, where he went via
Frederikshald and Gottenburg. The price of the tickets was very
moderate,—one dollar,—but many were sold for ten. The people received
him most cordially, and an address of welcome was made by the
chancellor of the University, to which the artist replied with his
violin. On his departure the students accompanied him in procession, and
bade him farewell with songs and cheers. On the 19th of February he went
to Copenhagen and Hamburg, where he gave six concerts to crowded houses;
then to Amsterdam, where he gave six more concerts, and quite
electrified the phlegmatic Dutch. His concerts were an artistic, and at
last a financial, success, but it was a success which he conquered.