on the glittering scales of the
ice-dragon coiled about him, is suddenly filled with the warm spread of
the Polar Sea. Taking my hand, he said,--

"In me, wanderer that I am,--in me, with the _Heimweh_ in my heart never
to be stilled but in that home where Schumann has already gone,--you see
Florestan."

"Louis Boehner!"

Filled with wonder, and scarcely knowing what I did, I took a little
piece of paper which he unwrapped from many folds and placed in my hand.
On it these words were written:--

"_Peace and joy attend thee, Louis Boehner! and mayst thou never
want for such a friend as thou hast been to_

ROBERT SCHUMANN."

I could say no word; never have I felt a profounder emotion than when,
at this moment, I drew so near one whose brow Art had crowned with a
living halo.

Students of German music and composers will need no word to bring before
them the fulness of this incident. But to others I may briefly mention
some facts connected with Schumann's "Carnival, or _Scenes Mignonnes_,
on Four Notes." Not by any means representing the pure depths of
Schumann's soul, this strange medley is yet pregnant with historic
associations. The composer wrote it in his young days, stringing
twenty-two little pieces on four letters composing the name of Asch, a
town of Saxony, "whither," according to Sobolewski, "Schumann's thoughts
frequently strayed, because at that time there was an object there
interesting to his sensitive soul." In the letters A, S, C, H, it must
be remembered that the H in German stands for our B natural, and S or
_es_ for E flat. The Leipsic "Neue Zeitschrift fuer Musik" was begun and
for ten years edited by Schumann,--in what spirit we may gather from his
own words:--"The musical state of Germany, at that time, was not very
encouraging. On the stage Rossini yet reigned, and on the piano Herz and
Huenten excluded all others. And yet how few years had passed since
Beethoven, Weber, and Schubert lived among us! True, Mendelssohn's star
was ascending, and there were wonderful whispers of a certain Pole,
Chopin; but it was later that these gained their lasting influence. One
day the idea took possession of our young and hot heads,--Let us not
idly look on; take hold, and reform it; take hold, and the Poetry of Art
shall be again enthroned!" Then gathered together a Protestant-league of
music, whose Luther and Melancthon in one was Schumann. The Devil at
which they threw their inkstands an