town there was
really little to attract the pleasure-seeker, for Darmstadt lies in a
flat, cultivated plain, and its surroundings are tame and monotonous. On
Sundays they all went to the cathedral, where there were two organs. The
Abbe played one, and as he finished some masterly voluntary or some
scientific fugue, his pupils would in turn respond on the other
instrument, at times playing fanciful variations, on some theme given
out by their teacher, and again wandering in rich extemporaneous
harmonies over the old yellow keys. Who knows but that, in this way, the
quiet, phlegmatic congregation of the Darmstadt cathedral may have
heard, unheedingly, from the hand of Weber, sweet strains which
afterwards were elaborated in "Oberon" and "Der Freischuetz"? or have
listened, with dreamy pleasure, to snatches of melody destined in future
years to be woven by Meyerbeer into the score of "Robert" or the
"Huguenots"?

Thus the quiet music life at Darmstadt passed on, each of the four boys
living but for their art. Meyerbeer was the foremost in success; for,
when but seventeen years old, he wrote a religious _cantata_, called
"God and Nature," which, performed before the Duke, secured to him the
title of Composer to the Court. In 1811 a still greater excitement
disturbed the serenity of Meyerbeer's period of study. Vogler closed his
school, and started with his scholars on a tour through the principal
cities of Germany. Each of the young composers carried with him a
portfolio of original compositions, though they were generous enough to
consider a manuscript opera by Meyerbeer, called "The Vow of Jephthah,"
as the ablest work, and at Munich aided heartily in preparing it for
the stage. In this critical Bavarian capital Meyerbeer made his first
appeal to public favor as an operatic composer,--and failed. He was not
hissed or ridiculed, but "The Vow of Jephthah" fell coldly on the
audience, and was shortly withdrawn.

Doubting whether he was destined to succeed as a composer, Meyerbeer
went to Vienna, a city not unfrequently called by musicians Pianopolis,
and there he heard Hummel play the piano. He had already taken a few
lessons of Clementi, but no sooner did he listen to the former master
than he recognized his own inefficiency, and saw work before him. He
determined to unite in himself, as a pianist, the brilliancy of
execution of Clementi, and the charm, the grace, and purity of Hummel's
style. He succeeded, and made his _