serene
poetry, upon the Olympic summits inaccessible to the tumults of passion;
Sivori was a dazzling virtuoso; Sarasate is an incomparable charmer.

There are doubtless many who remember the tour of August Wilhelmj, the
celebrated violinist, who visited the United States about twenty years
ago. He was considered second to no artist then living in his general
command over the resources of his instrument, and he excelled in the
purity and volume of his tone, no less than in the brilliancy of his
execution. He did not possess the warmth and impulsiveness which
constituted the charm of Wieniawski, but his performances appealed to
his audiences in a different and more legitimate manner. He was even a
greater traveller than Remenyi, and visited almost, if not quite, every
civilised country. His travels took him throughout Europe, America,
Australia, and Asia. He was, in 1885, invited by the Sultan of Turkey to
perform in his seraglio, the only violinist to whom such a compliment
had ever been paid. The Sultan on this occasion decorated him with the
Order of the Medjidie, second class, and presented him with some
beautiful diamonds.

August Wilhelmj was born in 1845 at Usingen, in the Duchy of Nassau,
and, showing his aptitude, was placed under Konrad Fischer, a violinist
of Wiesbaden, at the age of six. His progress was so rapid that when
nine years old he played in a concert in Limburg and received great
applause. Wilhelmj's father was a lawyer of distinction and a wealthy
vine-grower, and, in spite of the boy's progress, he did not favour the
idea of allowing him to take to the violin as a profession, for he felt
that the majority of infant prodigies fail as they reach manhood. But
the boy had received much encouragement, and persisted in his desire.
Henrietta Sontag, the celebrated singer, heard him play Spohr's ninth
concerto and "The Carnival of Venice," and was so charmed that she said
he would become the German Paganini.

In the course of time Wilhelmj succeeded in obtaining a concession from
his father:--he was to get the judgment of a musical authority on his
capabilities, and, if favourable, no objection should be made to his
becoming a virtuoso. On the recommendation of Prince Emil of
Wittgenstein, the young violinist went in 1861 to Liszt at Weimar, and
after playing to him Spohr's "Scena Cantante" and the Hungarian fantasia
by Ernst, he was asked to play several pieces at sight. At the end of
this trial Liszt