The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary Part 7

CHAPTER X

If it is observable that the taste, ear, and talent for music prevail among the inhabitants of the mountain districts of the world far more extensively than among the populations of the plains, it is no less true that nearly all persons belonging to the exalted spheres of life, for instance, emperors and kings and their consorts, as well as princes and princesses of the blood, are not only pa.s.sionately fond of music, but frequently absolute melomaniacs. In none of the reigning houses, however, is this particular branch of art developed to such an extent as in the Hohenzollern family. Thus the collection of the compositions for the flute by Frederick the Great discovered some ten years ago in the lumber rooms of the "Neues Palais" at Potsdam, and recently published after being edited by Professor Spitta, proves that the royal patron of Voltaire, and the founder of Prussia's military power was no mere dilettante, but a real genius in the art of composition. Prince Louis Ferdinand, the son of Frederick the Great's brother, who courted and met with a premature death at Saalfeld, while rashly engaging the French enemy, against strict orders, showed, with all his eccentricities, remarkable musical gifts, leaving in fact behind him a variety of compositions for orchestras. He also wrote a march which is published under his name.

Among the collection of marches constantly used in the Prussian army, is one composed by Frederick-William III. in 1806, which occupies a place between that of Frederick the Great, written in 1741, and the well-known Dessauer march. In that very same collection are the so-called _"Geschwind Marsch," No. 148, for infantry_, the _"Parade Marsch" No. 51, for cavalry_, and the _"Marsch Fur Cavallerie" No.

55_, which emanate from the pen of Princess Charlotte of Prussia, niece of old Emperor William, and first wife of the present reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. It is doubtless from her that Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen, married to the eldest sister of the present kaiser, has inherited his powers of composition, for his name figures on the t.i.tle page of many a piece of music; and among his other more important works has been the setting to music of _"the Persians of Aeschylus,"_ which has been most successfully staged at Athens. This is published under the initials of _"E.B." (Erbprinz Bernhardt)_.

Though King Frederick-William IV. did not himself add anything to royal musical literature, as did his predecessors on the throne, he devoted much attention to ecclesiastical melody and song. The Berlin cathedral choir of men and boys--trained to sing without musical accompaniments--owes its origin to his ambition for having a choir in his own Protestant basilica at Berlin, corresponding more or less to the Pope's in the Sistine Chapel of Rome. It was he who engaged Mendelssohn as director of this choir, as well as composer; and it was the latter's successor, the director of the music of the Chapel Royal at the Prussian court, who compiled a collection of volumes containing settings of many of the Psalms of David, most beautifully arranged.

Among living Hohenzollerns, musical talent is most strongly developed.

Prince Albert, regent of Brunswick, is not only a composer of rare genius, but likewise a most talented organist. His son, Prince Joachim, has inherited his talent for composition, and is the author of some eight works, which have been printed for circulation, in court circles only, and have not become the property of the public; the cleverest of them being a festal march, written for his father's birthday, and a grand funeral march. He shares his father's intense devotion to Bach and Handel, as well as his fondness for the works of Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Mozart, and is a most accomplished performer on the violoncello, being a pupil of the well-known master of that instrument, Professor Luedemann. Prince Albert's sister, the widowed d.u.c.h.ess William of Mecklenberg-Schwerin, has been particularly active as a composer of songs for mezzo soprano, but none of her works, which are printed for private circulation under the initials of "A.H.M.", have been placed on public sale. Her songs, some thirty in number, are melodious and full of feeling. She seems to thoroughly understand how to bring out the meaning of the words of her composition, the melody of one of them, _"Ein Duerres Blatt"_ furnis.h.i.+ng a particularly striking ill.u.s.tration of this peculiarity; they left a very lasting impression upon my mind. Among her collections is an English song, beginning with the words:

"No ditch is too deep, And no wall is too high, If two love each other They'll meet by-and-by."

The music of this is particularly sweet, graceful and tender.

Prince Henry, the sailor brother of the kaiser, has written a number of pieces, one of the best known and most popular of which is called the _"Matrosen Marsch,"_ which is to be purchased in all large music stores. He also holds his own as a first-cla.s.s amateur performer, both on the violin and the piano. His sister, the crown princess of Greece, a pupil of Rufer, excels on the organ, as does also the widowed Empress Frederick, while there is not one of the children of the present kaiser who does not possess musical gifts of a high order, which are being developed both in theory and in practice by celebrated professors and masters.

There is no doubt that, but for the weakness of his left arm, Emperor William would have been as skilful a performer as the other members of his family. As it is, his devotion to music is restricted to composition and to conducting. The kaiser is very fond of acting as bandmaster during the musical soirees given at court, and other entertainments of this kind honored by the presence of the reigning family. It has been claimed that he is the first Prussian ruler to thus wield the baton since the days of Frederick the Great. But this is not the case, for I recall being present, many years ago, at a dinner at the palace of Koblenz, given by Empress Augusta in honor of her consort, old Emperor William, who had come over from Ems for the purpose, when during the dinner the old emperor remarked that the band of the Augusta regiment, which was playing at the further end of the White Hall, had played the ballet melody of _"Satanella"_ in too fast a time. Rising from his seat, and pus.h.i.+ng aside the screen which concealed the band from view, he took the baton from the hand of the bandmaster, and after exclaiming: "Very quietly and slowly, gentlemen, if you please," he tapped twice on the music-stand in front of him, and then commenced to conduct with as much skill and art as if he had never done anything else in his life. Several times during the course of the piece he exclaimed "Noch ruhiger," (still more gently) and when the end of the piece was reached he laid down the baton with the remark, "Now, that was fine," and, thanking the band with a very friendly and kindly smile, returned to his seat at table.

The present kaiser's princ.i.p.al contribution to music is undoubtedly his composition of the melody to the "_Sang am Aegir,_" a poem of considerable power by his friend Count Philipp Eulenburg. The composition begins as follows:

[Ill.u.s.tration: O Ae-gir Herr der Flu-then dem Nix und Nex sich beugt!]

The words may be rendered as:

"Of Aegir, Lord of the Waves, Whom mermaids and mermen revere."

The bars that follow rivet the attention of the listener on account of their weird originality. They are full of feeling, very melodious, and easily caught by the ear. Towards the close, the melody breaks off into a purely military strain, so that the final bars are suggestive of the sound of trumpets, recalling to mind some ancient martial fanfare.

William has a very marked predilection for Wagnerian music, and is the life and soul of the "Potsdam-Berlin Wagner Society," which is one of the most influential social inst.i.tutions of the Prussian capital.

His princ.i.p.al lieutenant and Adlatus in the management of this a.s.sociation, which is in every sense of the word a court inst.i.tution, is Major von Chelius, who holds a commission in the kaiser's own body regiment of Hussars of the Guard. The major is a particular favorite of both the emperor and the empress, and he takes a very prominent part in all the musical entertainments at court, almost invariably playing the piano accompaniments for the singing of Princess Albert of Saxe-Altenburg, and of Prince Max of Baden, who possesses a rich baritone voice. The major is the composer of the popular opera "_Haschisch,_" and has inherited his musical talents from his mother, a Hamburger by birth. His father is a dignitary of the Court of Baden, while his wife, a most charming woman, was, prior to her marriage, a Fraulein von Puttkamer, a member, therefore, of the same family as the late Princess Bismarck.

But although manifesting a preference for Wagner, the kaiser is not averse to Mozart, or to the Italian school. "_Der Freischuetz_" is one of his favorite operas, and while he does not care for Falstaff, he is very fond of "_I Medici_," and greatly admires Leon Cavallo. He possesses a very correct ear, and a most pleasing voice, and many of his evenings are pa.s.sed in trying new songs, his wife, who is an excellent pianist, playing the accompaniment.

Though quite as pa.s.sionately fond of music as the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs have achieved less distinction as composers, and even as performers. Indeed, there are but two scions of the reigning house of Austria, who can be said to have won any kind of fame as composers, namely, the missing Archduke John, who was the author of an exceedingly pretty and catchy ballet that still figures on the repertoire of the imperial opera, and Archduke Joseph, so well known by the name of the "Gypsy Archduke," who has done more than anyone else in Europe to place on record, both in writing and in print, the weird music and extraordinary quaint melodies of the Tziganes, melodies which he has arranged exquisitely for orchestral use. True, there is not a single archduke or archd.u.c.h.ess in Austria and Hungary, who does not play with taste and feeling. Indeed, music seems to be inborn in them, and while the widowed crown princess is devoted to her piano, on which her performances are characterized by a superb technique, but coupled alas! with a complete absence of sentiment, her husband, the lamented Crown Prince Rudolph, was a composer of no mean power and seemed at times to pour forth his entire soul in the melodies which he coaxed from this instrument. Indeed he often sat at the piano for hours, playing, in a manner indescribably expressive and touching, airs improvised on the spur of the moment, which, while they remained impressed on the minds and ears of those present, would seem to fade at once from the memory of the prince himself. His was what may be called a true genius for music.

The member of the House of Hapsburg most famous in the annals of music of the present century, was undoubtedly that Archduke Rudolph, son of Emperor Leopold II., who died a cardinal. He was the protector, the friend and disciple of Beethoven, many of whose most famous works, would a.s.suredly have remained unwritten had it not been for the fact that he received the same powerful support, both material and moral, from the imperial cardinal as Richard Wagner obtained from King Louis of Bavaria.

With regard to Archduke Joseph, the above-mentioned "Gypsy Archduke,"

there is no doubt that without him the outer world would still have been left in ignorance of the incalculably rich mine of Tzigane music.

He is only distantly related to Emperor Francis-Joseph, being the senior member of a branch of the house of Hapsburg which has been settled for more than one hundred years in Hungary. His father's entire life was spent there, where he held the office of Viceroy, and it is there that Archduke Joseph himself was entirely brought up, and where he has spent his whole existence.

At an early age he was attracted to the gypsies by their music, and it was this that led him to think of their welfare, and to devote himself to the study of the characteristics, the history and the origin of these mysterious nomads. Until he took them under his protection, they were regarded more or less as pariahs of Central and Southern Europe, the hand of every man being against them, and the authorities and people at large combining to subject them to persecution of the most cruel character. Their grat.i.tude to the archduke when he obtained better treatment for them knew no bounds, and was shown, among other instances, in a notable manner during the Austro-Prussian. war, when Joseph was at the head of a division of Magyar troops.

"Our retreat," so the archduke tells the story, "before the advance of the Prussian army, immediately preceding the battle of Sadowa, led us to camp one night in the neighborhood of a town in Bohemia. I was lodged in a peasant's cottage, when about midnight I heard the sentry at my door hoa.r.s.ely challenging some new-comer. My aid-de-camp entered, and reported that a gypsy wanted to see me in private.

"On my asking the dusky visitor in Romani what was the matter, he told me that the enemy was approaching to surprise us.

"'The outposts have not heard anything suspicious?' I remarked.

"'No, your imperial highness,' he replied, 'because the enemy is still a long way off.'

"'But how do you know this?' I asked.

"'Come to the window,' replied the Zingari, leading me forward to the narrow glazed opening in the rough wall, and directing my gaze to the dark sky, lighted by the silver rays of the moon. 'Do you see those birds flying over the woods towards the south?'

"'Yes, I see them. What of it?'

"'What of it? Do not birds sleep as well as men? They would certainly not fly about at night-time thus had they not been disturbed. The enemy is marching through the wood southwards, and has frightened and driven the birds before it.'

"I at once ordered the outposts to be reinforced, and the camp to be alarmed. Two hours later, the outposts were fighting fiercely with the foe, and I was able to realize that my camp and my division had been saved from surprise and destruction only by the keen observation and sagacity of a grateful gypsy."

The archduke spent a large sum of money, some years ago, in endeavoring to turn the gypsies from their nomadic life, and to induce them to settle down, in order to devote their time and energies to the practice of the wonderful art of working metal, which they possess to so marked a degree, instead of roaming aimlessly about, and sometimes thieving, as is unfortunately their habit. He built a number of villages for them in the district surrounding Presburg, and organized gypsy settlements. But the scheme proved a failure. The Tziganes, true to the instincts that they have inherited from countless generations, abandoned the comfortable houses, the fields and blossoming gardens with which they had been provided by their imperial benefactor. They refused to till the soil, and commenced once more their interminable wanderings.

In spite of this fiasco, the archduke still continues to consider himself as the protector of the Romanys, and remains proud of his t.i.tle of "Gypsy Prince," being sagacious enough to realize that it is impossible for a race to eradicate from their character, in a comparatively short s.p.a.ce of time, traits that have been theirs for hundreds, nay thousands of years; for the origin of these gypsies is still shrouded in mystery and lost in the gloom of prehistoric ages, although it is probable that they are of Persian descent.

While Emperor William's taste as regards music meets with very widespread approval, and his gifts as a composer are very generally recognized, he has been less fortunate with regard to other branches of art; notably in the matter of painting, where he finds himself in frequent conflict with his people, especially with the great painters of his empire. Of all the muses there is none so truly democratic as that of pictorial art. The pictorial muse displays a truly republican intolerance of control on the part of either king or government. Hence it is only natural that Germany, which has produced in the past, and still possesses, so many world-famed painters and architectural designers, should strongly resent the kaiser's a.s.sumption of the supreme arbiters.h.i.+p in all matters relating to art. His subjects submitted to his claim of "_Regis voluntas suprema lex_," in matters connected with the administration of the government, in diplomacy, in the drama, in music, and in literature, but they deny his power to impose upon them his taste in pictorial art.

It is no exaggeration to state that the emperor is in almost perpetual conflict, and at open war with the great majority of German painters and designers--a notable exception being the case of Professor von Menzel. Indeed, their discontent occasionally breaks forth with an intensity altogether new in the annals of German loyalty to the throne. A very remarkable instance thereof is the means which they adopted to show their disapproval of the emperor's treatment of Wallot, the designer of the palace of the imperial parliament. Wallot is universally recognized as the foremost architect of the age in Germany, and his original design for the building, as accepted by the authorities, was a very grandiose and magnificent conception.

Financial considerations necessitated the modification of some of the features of the building, while others were forced upon the architect sorely against his will by the emperor, with the result that the palace is not quite so superb as originally projected. It remains, however, a magnificent and imposing pile, well worthy of the purpose for which it has been erected, and in no way a displeasing monument of German art and architecture as understood in the nineteenth century.

All the recognized authorities, both Teuton and foreign, in questions of art and architecture, have p.r.o.nounced themselves in this sense, the only discordant note being that to which the emperor has given utterance. Not only has he publicly declared the new Reichshaus to be "the very acme of bad taste," but he even went to the length of striking the designer's name from the list of gold medalists at the exhibition of art and architecture held at Berlin shortly after the completion and inauguration of the building. The gold medal had been voted to Herr Wallot by a jury composed of all the most celebrated artists in Germany, whose verdict, representing that of the nation, might have been considered as definite and final. The kaiser, however, when the list was submitted to him for final approval, subst.i.tuted, in lieu of the name of Professor Wallot, that of his favorite portrait painter, Madame Palma Parlaghy, whose work is, in the eyes of Germany's leading artists, so execrable that the hanging committee of the Berlin Academy have repeatedly refused to accord places to any of her pictures on its walls.

Madame Parlaghy is a pupil of Makart and of Lenbach, and a native of Hadji-Dorg, in Hungary. She is between thirty and forty, possessed of glittering, enigmatic eyes, highly-colored cheeks and lips, and the almost too profuse head of hair that one sees so often on the sh.o.r.es of the Danube. Her beauty may, nevertheless, be described as majestic, and she conveys the idea of being a woman possessed of considerable strength of mind, as well as much diplomacy. She was first recommended to the emperor by the present Czarina of Russia, to whom she gave drawing lessons, prior to the marriage of the empress, and after William had obtained an idea of her skill by a very pleasing portrait which she painted of Field Marshal von Moltke, which was, however, rejected by the hanging committee of an art exhibition at Berlin, he purchased the picture in question for a large sum, and likewise gave her an order to paint several portraits of himself, declaring openly that if the judgment of the leading Berlin artists were to be final in the matter of admitting paintings to public galleries and exhibitions, there would never be a single work of art worthy of the name on view.

Madame Parlaghy's portraits of the emperor, though questionable as works of art, are, it must be confessed, very flattering likenesses of his majesty.

It was shortly after this slight inflicted by the emperor on Professor Wallot, and the honor conferred upon Madame Parlaghy, that the National Society of Architects and the National a.s.sociation of Artists, the two princ.i.p.al organizations of the kind in Germany--composed of all that is most eminent in the realms of architecture and art--jointly invited Professor Wallot to a great banquet in Berlin, at which over six hundred guests were present, in the course of which William was guyed in a most merciless manner! The chief ornament on the princ.i.p.al table was a model of the Reichshaus in "Schwarzbrod," cheese and confectionery. The dome consisted of a Dutch cheese, the "Germania" on the top was represented by a smartly ap.r.o.ned chambermaid on horseback, the horse being led by a footman in imperial livery, while the whole was labeled "Der gipfel des geschmack,"--the acme of taste. Another item of the programme was a sort of automatic machine, which, when a gold medal was placed in the slot, would perform "Der gesang an Ihr,"--the song to her--meaning, of course, Madame Parlaghy.

The joke, I need hardly say, consisted in the parodying of the t.i.tle of the emperor's musical composition "Sang am Aegir!" The l.u.s.tre hanging from the ceiling, which is known in Germany as a "Kronleuchter" was in the form of an old crinoline. At the entrance to the banqueting hall hung the representation of a gold medal, which a lady painter was trying in vain to grasp. The tone of the speeches throughout the evening was in thorough keeping with the decorations, and it is doubtful whether such a bold exhibition of independence, and even disloyalty towards the sovereign, has ever been seen in the Prussian capital. It speaks well for William's good sense that he should have refrained from proceeding against any of the organizers of the entertainment on the ground of _lese majeste_.

There is, as I stated above, one Prussian painter, however, of whom the kaiser is exceedingly fond, whose eminence in art is acknowledged, not only in Germany, but all the world over, and upon whom William has lavished the highest honors that it is in his power to bestow. The painter in question is Professor von Menzel; popularly known in Berlin as "His Little Excellency," owing to his diminutive size, his stature being about four feet nine inches! Professor Menzel, who is of the most humble origin, is to-day a Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, which is the Prussian equivalent of the English Order of the Garter, or of the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece, this decoration carrying with it a patent of hereditary n.o.bility. He is now considerably over eighty, but from his twelfth year he has earned his living by means of his brush and palette. All his princ.i.p.al paintings are devoted to the ill.u.s.tration of historic episodes of Prussian history and of the reigning house of Hohenzollern. One of his masterpieces is ent.i.tled "The Flute Concert," and represents Frederick the Great in his palace at Sans-Souci, at a concert with the princ.i.p.al members of court and his household around him.

One evening the emperor sent for old Menzel, and asked him to join the royal family at Sans-Souci. When the little painter alighted he was conducted to the imperial presence, and was somewhat astonished to notice that the sentinels at the various doors instead of being arrayed in their ordinary uniform, wore the military garb of the time of Frederick the Great. But his surprise developed into downright amazement, when at length two folding-doors were thrown open, and he found himself in the same apartment which had furnished the scene of his painting of "The Flute Concert." The room was lighted, as in olden times, with wax candles, the old-time furniture was disposed identically as represented in his painting, and, moreover, the company a.s.sembled was composed of men in the costumes of the time of Frederick the Great, and of ladies attired in the picturesque dress of the middle of the last century. There advanced to welcome the astounded artist a personage who, but for the moustache, was the very image of Frederick the Great, and in whom the little professor had some difficulty to recognize the kaiser. William greeted him with old-fas.h.i.+oned courtesy, using the elaborate politeness of our great grandfathers, and after having presented the little painter to all the guests, the ladies curtsying deeply in the fas.h.i.+on of the Court of Versailles, and the men bowing low, Menzel was led by the emperor to a seat beside the empress, and the emperor's private band, whose uniforms were in perfect keeping with the costumes of the guests, played first of all several of Frederick the Great's compositions for the flute, and then a few of Bach's loveliest _morceaux_. The emperor himself remained standing beside the little painter's chair throughout the entire concert, the empress alone and some of her ladies being seated, while the remainder of the fair guests, as well as all the men, stood about the apartment endeavoring as far as possible to group themselves in the same way as the personages figuring in Menzel's painting. After the concert was finished, the company adjourned to an adjoining room, Menzel occupying the place of honor to the right of the empress, while the emperor toasted the little fellow with more than ordinary eloquence and cordiality.

It is doubtful whether any sovereign has ever gone to such lengths in order to honor the leading artist of his dominions, and it is difficult to speak too highly of the delicacy of the compliment, or of its originality. It might have been sufficient to turn the head of any other painter than Menzel. But while he is devoted to the reigning family there is certainly no one who is less of a courtier. In fact he is terribly outspoken, and never hesitates to speak to his sovereign with the fearless sincerity of a Diogenes. Of a truth, there is no end to the stories current, ill.u.s.trating his independence of character.

Once, having been commissioned by the grandfather of the present kaiser, namely, old Emperor William, to paint a picture of his coronation as King of Prussia, he reproduced with too much exact.i.tude, and too little flattery, the features of the emperor's exceedingly vain and by no means youthful consort, Empress Augusta. Her majesty insisted that he should alter his portrait of her, and render it more attractive, but this Menzel absolutely refused to do, and the consequence was that the empress on numerous occasions made him feel the weight of her displeasure.

The old painter bided his time, and eventually got even with her in a very characteristic fas.h.i.+on. Being entrusted with the task of reproducing on canvas the scene of the emperor's departure for the seat of war in 1870, he portrayed the Empress Augusta with her face entirely concealed in her handkerchief, as if weeping, although she prided herself on not having shed a single tear on that occasion.

Another time during the life of old Field Marshal Wrangel, a lady of the court, more famous for her vanity than her beauty, complained to him that Menzel had done her scant justice in a large picture representing some important event of contemporary court history.

Wrangel, who was famous as a brow-beating bully of the good old Prussian type,--people trembling at the mere sight of him,--promised to see Menzel, and to make him change the portrait of the lady to a more flattering likeness. Greatly to his surprise, however, when he broached the subject to Menzel, he discovered that the latter greatly resented such meddlesomeness. Indeed, Menzel even had the temerity to suggest that field marshals would do far better to attend to subjects that they knew something about than to the art of painting, of which they knew nothing. Wrangel flared up, so did Menzel, and soon the air was blue with finely characterized and bona-fide Prussian oaths, punctuated with the angry sarcasms of the enraged painter. The upshot of the interview was that Wrangel, who had never before turned his back on an enemy, was compelled to beat an ignominious retreat without having accomplished his object; but before disappearing through the door of the studio, he turned and positively yelled at the painter:

"You are a disgusting little toad, and your picture is vile."

While most of the members of the House of Hapsburg paint and sketch with a good deal of cleverness and skill, there is only one, namely, the now widowed Archd.u.c.h.ess Maria-Theresa, who can be regarded as an artist in every sense of the word. She excels alike with the chisel and the brush, while during the lifetime of her husband, her salon became, in spite of the strictness of Austrian court etiquette, the one place where eminent artists were certain to find a cordial welcome, irrespective of birth or social status.