An American Girl in Munich

, Dece

Cec

lisk at the end of Max-Joseph-strasse looks like a mere shadow. It is now five o'clock and I have "shut up shop," as it were, to talk with you, for my lesson for to-morrow, a fugue in C minor, is finished. It occurred to me, as I was writing it, how curiously a fugue subject

es

out of the question. By the bye, I am afraid I may have excited your sympathies unduly in favor of Fr?ulein Hartmann, for ever since that day I wrote you, when I met her crying in the hall, she has appeared most

ave become acquainted, and goes by the nickname of Polly. I found her sitting on a very low stool before th

you doin

Then, throwing me a supercilious glance, "This is a

over our "method"! How more than ready we are to challenge man, woman, or child who breathes a doubt of its infallibility! And oh! with what maj

irls comin

tner concert, and more especially Alexander Petschnikof. (I can never pronounce his name without wanting to sneeze.) He had played the Mozart Concerto and Bach's Chiaconna most acceptably, to judge from his r

ing on our wraps Pol

you the truth," she said. "I've

Louise, in a s

th and I ech

of things before any one else. She did not ask why. We all knew that there could be but one r

ining his inspirations by my barbaric pounding. Fancy that

us!" crie

rous!" av

ollowing the law

oet, pacing the floor, and beating his brow as he vainly sought for a brilliant thought, while from ab

rrival last August." Here she smiled bitterly. "But at one thing I do rebel, and that is at having to pay thirty mark

n. We all knew, too, that those thi

will come out all right,

proceeding!" said Edith emphatical

ested. We always said "the Poet's Wife," since we had long ago given up he

as we walked down the Ludwig-strasse, the girls leaving m

e to dress for the opera. To think

urd

here. They are forlorn, sad-eyed creatures, in short, frayed jackets and red caps, who linger on street corners gazing abstractedly into space with their hands in their pockets. For a small sum they will run from one end of Munich to the other, or, if need be, will stand in line for tickets from four in the morning on. Polly has a favorite old Dienstmann called Friedrich. Accordingly, Friedrich was summoned to the rescue and stood the entire night with hundreds of

finds that the fabulous stories which one hears in Amer

g over there!" you hear.

lly cost two dollars, an orchestra seat a dollar and a hal

have proven satisfactorily that the first part is a fallacy pure and simple-at least in Germany. Was I at fault because when I first heard the giant motif I smiled? Am I to be condemned because I had to smother a laugh when Mimi rolled over and over on the stage, and shrieked forth a ridiculous "Augh!" as in a fit of indigestion? And the giants were such wild-looking creatures with grotesque tufts of hair on the crown of thei

ed in, licking sugar in a most obvious fashion from the corners of his mouth. Even a sturdy and belligerent Brünnhilde, it seems, must at times yield to puerile means in order to gain her point. Later the war-maiden was seen scudding through the sky on a snow-white charger, so I judged she must have been fortunate enough to exchange her apathetic

nd

act the audience fairly went wild with enthusiasm. Oh, that wonderful bit of orchestration where Mimi speaks of fear! And that perfect effect of the bird-voice in the W

aws, and disclosed a throat of red fire. The bass tuba makes a grand worm. I never realized what it was to hear a worm crawl before. But in spite of the wonders of the work, I wish it were s

en Siegfried drinks to Brünnhilde in the fatal draught. Never shall I forget the grandeur of the music at the breaking of day, before the ent

xisting two hours without refreshment, much less four; consequently there isn't a theatre or opera house in all Germany which does not contain a restaurant. To be sure, it is rather a come-down to discover Professor B--, whom you saw a moment ago enthralled by the strains

fountain, as I claim it now-sang to me as I passed to-day? Or did I myself unconsciously hum the me

mber

in squares of wood, and stand up straight and proud. As a rule some strange, bent old woman presides over them,

half cents), quavered the dame, "but

s I started off with it dragging behind me from under my arm, for my hands were full of music books. I had not the slightest idea what to do with my new possession. I had just made up my mind to leave it at some one's door, when who should come trudging along through the snow but the Hausmeister's

branches with an expression of astonishment and delight. I waved my hand, and at last he moved and gave

f which are large Frankfurters joined together by a band of green, you would not fail, I am sure, to admire the intricacy of the designs and the striking originality with which the small sausages are interspersed with the larger ones so as to produce the most surprising effects! Who ever associated sausages with anything so idyllic as a waterfall? Yet here you have a wooden mill, high up on an improvised hill, and over the wheel fl

ways on entering they say "Good day" and the proprietor comes up with "How can I serve you, gn?diges Fr?ulein?" Then they will pull down all the goods in the store, bring out hidden boxes from under the counters, and even send outside for something th

ly and I had coffee at one of these fascinating Conditorei, or little bake-shops which one finds here everywhere. For an absurdly small sum we had a table to ourselves, coffee enoug

ly, looking at the coin th

give more, but they

ng! Don't you know that ten pfennigs (two cents and a

ly treated. Accordingly I laid the sum on the table. The waitress swept the money into the black leather bag which she wore abou

(Please honor us again) said

little maid poured forth a continual sing song of "Danke sehr, meine Damen. B

ked at each oth

They go through the same program for half the money. I

" has been suddenly called to Stuttgart. A drama of his has been accepted there, and he was so ove

me," she said, tucking my hand coaxingly under

hristmas shopper than the Bazar, but I gla

rehearsal at five, the last before the concert, an

r looks more imposing than when half concealed in the mystery of shadows, across the busy Platz, now twinkli

mber

nding three hours, and never in the annals of conducting was there a more wretched rehearsal. For the first time I saw a new side of Stavenhagen; he literally raged, but instead of making himself ridiculous he was positively majestic. To be sure, he got very red in the fa

tledrums, but when we come to look for him we discover him at the end of the line of flutists, playing the piccolo. The eternal law of opposites is, I suppose, as applicable here as elsewhere. An unusually meek man was to manage the bells which play

fainter after them, and the whole thing dies away as might the distant notes of a celestial choir, we were gratified to hear him murmur "Sehr sch?n!" He praised us, too, for the second movement. Isn't it magnificent when the whole chorus sing in unison that grand, broad theme, "Denn alles Fleisch ist wie Gras" (Behold all flesh

Gerechten Seelen" (The righteous souls). There is a bit of it where the tempo is amazingly tricky, and I remember no place, even in Bach's B minor Mass, so difficult

at our corner. Over and over we sang the same bars, but never once perfectly. Finally

examined their instruments. The other members of the chorus looked at us rep

half a minute, Stavenhagen picked up his baton and said calm

down the snowy street back to the pension. The family were at supper a

t?" said the Herr Doktor, in what

n which she had donned in honor of Lieutenant Blum, her

To her the idea of a girl being out alone

said Lieutenant Blum, with a low bow, much rattling of sword, and tha

ssible. "You really didn't think me lost, or kidnapped, or perchance mur

r friend opposite insisted that you had been detained and that there

y back. Hers is one of those sunny, unselfish natures which, "when they have passe

as, that it is so seldom found in people of a musical temperament! I c

stma

cht, heil

l?ft, ein

aute hochh

abe im lo

n himmlis

to his Paris hearthstone; Frau von Waldfel, forgetting, in the meaning of the hour, to wonder what sort of goodies we were to have for dinner; Fr?ulein Hartmann, lost in a dream, at her side; the Poet and his sweet-faced wife, holding each other by the hand as they joined firmly in the refrain; Herr Martens, abandoning his student airs to add a tenor, and last-but best of all-Mütterchen. I sat at the piano to play the accompaniments, where I could see not only them, but catch a glimpse of the servants who stood together outside in the

the word Home is associated only with a sense of forlornness and loss. Gretchen, our own little maid, but a year away from the Bavarian Highlands, hid her face on Therese's shoulder. I looked at

revealed! Karl and I exchanged glances with satisfied smiles. We were proud of our work. The hours of labor in the morning spent in tying on the varicolored balls, in hanging the tinsel favors, in arranging the silve

Then "All for the presents together," shrieked

candy. In one corner was a large table for the servants. Mütterchen and I could not help smiling to hear the flood of joyous exclamations on every side as we examined our presents. The German language seems to have an endless supply of adjectives expressive of delight. Th

re was a Bowle and we drank, standing, a toast to "Merry Christmas." Then we played a lot of games, which although childish afforded us much amusement. Lieutenant Blum, with mustache more marvellously

n the pillars dimly discerned the vast crowd kneeling in the pews, blocking the aisles, and occupying every portion of available space. Beyond them and above hovered mysterious shadows. It was almost op

xquisite strains of Palestrina. The door on our left opened and a long line of priests entered, clad in magnificent robes of white and gold. We all fell on our knees in

y, in France, in Italy, and across the sea. The marvellous, beautiful meaning of it all stirred me. My mind turned back through the ages to that night in the dusky stable of Bethlehem. Surely

h a start that I awakened as it were from a spell when the music ceased, and the priests had filed out thro

's selection at all," said Poll

be ill for a week with colds from sitting so long i

nfathomable eyes, and pressed my hand gently. Sometimes she reminds me o