ring Cemetery near Vienna. Unlike Mozart, he was buried with much
honor. Twenty thousand people followed him to his grave. Among them
was Schubert, who had visited him on his deathbed, and was one of the
torch bearers. Several of the Master's compositions were sung by a
choir of male voices, accompanied by trombones. At the grave Hummel
laid three laurel wreaths on the casket.

VIII

CARL MARIA VON WEBER

As we have already seen in the life stories of a number of musicians,
the career they were to follow was often decided by the father, who
determined to form them into wonder children, either for monetary gain
or for the honor and glory of the family. The subject of this story is
an example of such a preconceived plan.

Franz Anton von Weber, who was a capable musician himself, had always
cherished the desire to give a wonder child to the world. In his
idea wonder children need not be born such, they could be made by the
proper care and training. He had been a wealthy man, but at the time
of our story, was in reduced circumstances, and was traveling about
Saxony at the head of a troupe of theatrical folk, called "Weber's
Company of Comedians."

Little Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst, to give his full name, was born
December 18, 1786, at Eutin, a little town in Lower Saxony. He was the
first child of a second marriage, and before the baby boy could
speak, his career had been planned; the father had made up his mind
to develop his son into an extraordinary musical genius. It is not
recorded what his young mother, a delicate girl of seventeen, thought
about it; probably her ideas for her baby son did not enter into the
father's plan. Mother and child were obliged to follow in the train
of the wandering comedians, so baby Carl was brought up amid the
properties of stage business. Scenery, canvas, paints and stage lights
were the materials upon which Carl's imagination was fed. He learned
stage language with his earliest breath; it is no wonder he turned to
writing for the stage as to the manner born.

As a child he was neither robust nor even healthy, which is not
surprising, since he was not allowed to run afield with other
children, enjoying the sweet air of nature, the flowers, the sunshine
and blue sky. No, he must stay indoors much of the time and find his
playmates among cardboard castles and painted canvas streets. This
treatment was not conducive to rosy cheeks and strong, sturdy little
legs. Then, before