Again we have recourse to the marine painter, Herr Salzmann.  Wired for by the Emperor, the painter got to the palace at 10.15 PM.  When he arrived the Emperor cried out, “So, at last!  Where have you been hiding yourself?  I have had Berlin searched for you.”  The Emperor and Empress and suite had just returned from the theatre and were standing about the room.  It turned out that the Emperor wanted the painter to help him sketch a battleship of a certain design he had in mind, to see how it would look on the water.  In the middle of the room an adjutant stood and read out a speech made by a Radical deputy in the Reichstag that day, and the Emperor made occasional remarks about it, though at the same time he was engaged with the ship.  The painter does not forget to add that he “was provided with a good glass of beer.”

The Emperor is reported to be a capital “sitter.”  He had the French painter Borchart staying with him at Potsdam to paint his portrait.  Borchart describes him as an ideal model, so still and patiently did he sit, and this at times for more than two hours.  He talked freely during the sittings.  “I don’t want to be regarded as a devourer of Frenchmen,” was a remark made on one of these occasions; on another he praised President Loubet; and on a third he had a good word even for the Socialist Jaures.  When Borchart had finished and naively expressed satisfaction with his own work the Emperor said, “Na, na, friend Borchart, not so proud; it is for us to criticize.”

As the Emperor is a lover of the “classical” in painting and sculpture, it is not strange to find him an admirer of the classical in music and recommending it to his people as the best form of musical education.  He holds that there is much in common between it and the folk-songs of Germany.  At Court he revived classical dances like the minuet and the gavotte.  He is devoted to opera and never leaves before the end of the performance.  Concerts frequently take place in the royal palaces at Potsdam and Berlin, items on the programme for them being often suggested by the Emperor.  The programme is then submitted to him and is rarely returned without alteration.  Not seldom the concert is preceded by a rehearsal, which the Emperor attends and which itself has been carefully rehearsed beforehand, as the Emperor expects everything to run smoothly.  At these rehearsals he will often cause an item to be repeated.  Bach and Handel are his prime favourites.  He is no admirer of Strauss.  Wagner he often listens to with pleasure, and especially the “Meistersinger,” which is his pet opera.  Of Italian operas Verdi’s “Aida” and Meyerbeer’s “Huguenots” are those he is most disposed to hear.