a man of genius, I do not hesitate to quote, but which I could not venture to translate.  Since this damning criticism was uttered, matters had not improved, on the contrary, had gone from bad to worse.  Another society of note was the still existing and flourishing Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.  It, too, gave four, or perhaps five yearly concerts, in each of which a symphony, an overture, an aria or duet, an instrumental solo, and a chorus were performed.  This society was afflicted with the same evil as the first-named institution.  It was a

gladdening sight [we are told] to see counts and tradesmen, superiors and subalterns, professors and students, noble ladies and simple burghers’ daughters side by side harmoniously exerting themselves for the love of art.

As far as choral singing is concerned the example deserves to be followed, but the matter stands differently with regard to instrumental music, a branch of the art which demands not only longer and more careful, but also constant, training.  Although the early custom of drawing lots, in order to determine who were to sing the solos, what places the players were to occupy in the orchestra, and which of the four conductors was to wield the baton, had already disappeared before 1831, yet in 1841 the performances of the symphonies were still so little “in the spirit of the composers” (a delicate way of stating an ugly fact) that a critic advised the society to imitate the foreign conservatoriums, and reinforce the band with the best musicians of the capital, who, constantly exercising their art, and conversant with the works of the great masters, were better able to do justice to them than amateurs who met only four times a year.  What a boon it would be to humanity, what an increase of happiness, if amateurs would allow themselves to be taught by George Eliot, who never spoke truer and wiser words than when she said:—­“A little private imitation of what is good is a sort of private devotion to it, and most of us ought to practise art only in the light of private study—­preparation to understand and enjoy what the few can do for us.”  In addition to the above I shall yet mention a third society, the Tonkunstler-Societat, which, as the name implies, was an association of musicians.  Its object was the getting-up and keeping-up of a pension fund, and its artistic activity displayed itself in four yearly concerts.  Haydn’s “Creation” and “Seasons” were the stock pieces of the society’s repertoire, but in 1830 and 1831 Handel’s “Messiah” and “Solomon” and Lachner’s “Die vier Menschenalter” were also performed.