bout the date of Meyerbeer's birth, some
asserting that it took place in 1791, while the majority agree that the
day was September 5, 1794. Born of a rich family of Jewish bankers, he
was, at an early age, stimulated to honorable exertion by the success in
other pursuits of his brother William, the astronomer, and Michael, the
poet,--successes which, however, at this day, are chiefly remembered
from their association with the name made really famous by the composer.
His parents encouraged the talent of the youth, who, at as early an age
as Mozart himself, manifested plainly the possession of genius; and when
only five years old, the boy was placed under the instruction of Lanska,
a local celebrity of Berlin. Two years later, little Jacob was a fair
performer on the piano-forte, or such an instrument as at that time
served for the Erard, the Chickering, the Steinway of the present day.
He played, as a prodigy, at the most fashionable amateur-concerts given
at the Prussian capital; and a faded old copy of a Leipsic paper, which
bears the date of 1803, yet survives the destruction awarded to all old
newspapers, simply because it mentions the youthful prodigy--then nine
years old--as one of the best pianists of his native city.

One of those charming old musical enthusiasts who nowadays are met with
only in Germany--and but seldom there--about this time visited Berlin.
He heard little Jacob play, and at once predicted that the boy would
"one day become one of the glories of Europe," To take lessons in the
theory of music was the advice of this old enthusiast, the Abbe Vogler.

So the lad was transferred from the tuition of Lanska to that of Bernard
Anselm Weber, a former pupil of old Vogler, and at that time director of
the orchestra at the Berlin opera; and from this master the boy learned
the art of instrumentation and harmony, to a certain degree at least.
Weber was very fond of his pupil, and sent one of his fugues to Vogler,
to show the old man that he was not the only one able to turn out
accomplished scholars. Two months passed without any answer, and Weber
attributed the silence to jealousy, until, one day, a large roll arrived
at his house. It contained a complete "Treatise on the Fugue," written
entirely by the hand of the old master, and containing also a critical
analysis of little Jacob's work, exposing its errors, adding example to
precept, by contrasting with it a fugue written by the Abbe on the same
theme,