se, and made her sing his songs as soon as they
were written and before they were published. They were great friends,
the bond of their friendship being music. He actually died when
playing while she was singing. People talked as they always will talk
about what they cannot understand, but they evidently did not know
either Mendelssohn or Madame Froege.

The house of Professor Carus was always open to musical geniuses, and
many an evening men like Hiller, Mendelssohn, David, Eckart, &c., came
there to play, while Madame Carus sang, and sang most charmingly. I
too was asked sometimes to play at these evening parties. I see that
Ernst gave a concert at Leipzig, and no doubt his execution was
admirable. Still, I could not understand what David meant when he
declared that after hearing Ernst he would throw his own instrument
into the fire.

Mendelssohn, who was delighted with Liszt--and no one could judge him
better than he--gave a soiree in honour of him. About 400 people were
invited--I among the rest, being one of the tenors who sang in the
Oratorio that Hiller was then rehearsing for the first performance. I
think it was the _Destruction of Babylon_. There was a complete
orchestra at Mendelssohn's party, and we heard a symphony of Schubert
(posthumous), Mendelssohn's psalm "As the hart pants," and his
overture _Meeresstille und glueckliche Fahrt_. After that there was
supper for all the guests, and then followed a chorus from his _St.
Paul_, and a triple concerto of Bach, played on three pianofortes by
Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Hiller. It was a difficult piece--difficult to
play and difficult to follow. Lastly, Liszt played his new fantasia on
_Lucia di Lammermoor_, and his arrangement of the _Erlkoenig_. All was
really perfect; and hearing so much music, I became more and more
absorbed in it. I even gave some concerts with Grabau, a great
violoncellist, at Merseburg, and at a Count Arnim's, a very rich
nobleman near Merseburg, who had invited Liszt for one evening and
paid him 100 ducats. This seemed at that time a very large sum,
almost senseless. As a ducat was about nine shillings, it was after
all only L45, which would not seem excessive at present for an artist
such as Liszt.

I also heard Thalberg at Leipzig. They all came to see Mendelssohn,
and I believe did their best to please him. At that time my idea of
devoting myself altogether to the study of music became very strong;
and as Professor Carus married aga