No doubt, there have been in olden time kings who, as history records,
possessed as much skill in music as their best bards or minstrels. If
Alfred the Great could enter and explore the Danish camp under the
disguise of a harper, his harp-playing must have been in the genuine
professional manner of his time, otherwise it would have revealed to the
Danish lovers of music that he was not what he pretended to be.
To become an eminent musician, one requires, besides an
extraordinary talent, much time, freedom from disturbance, and
perseverance,--conditions which are seldom at the command of royal
personages. The middle classes are in this respect the most
favoured,--as they are, in fact, in all intellectual pursuits. When King
Solomon says: "Give me neither poverty nor riches," (Proverbs, Chap.
XXX. v. 8), he speaks rather as a musician, or poet. A king requires
riches as necessarily as a musician requires talent.
[24] 'Tonkuenstler-Lexicon Berlin's, von C. Freiherrn von Ledebur;'
Berlin, 1861; p. 6.
[25] 'Biographie von Ludwig van Beethoven, verfasst von A. Schindler;'
Muenster, 1845; p. 141.
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