MUSICAL RECOLLECTIONS 
 
Richard Hoffman at 78 
 
 From a bust by his daughter Malvina 
 
SOME MUSICAL 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 FIFTY YEARS 
 
 BY 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN 
 
 WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 BY HIS WIFE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 1910 
 
Copyright, 1910, by Charles Scribner's Sons 
 Published April, 1910 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH i 
 
 MUSICAL RECOLLECTIONS 61 
 
 How TO STIMULATE THOUGHT AND IM- 
 AGINATION IN A PUPIL 159 
 
 39536 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN AT 78 Frontispiece 
 
 From a bust by his daughter Malvina 
 
 FACING 
 
 PAGE 
 
 FREDERIC RACKEMANN 10 
 
 MRS. KEMBLE 12 
 
 Taken from life 
 
 From the collection of Evert Jansen Wendell 
 
 WILLIAM SCHARFENBERG 20 
 
 CHICKERING HALL, FORMERLY AT EIGHTEENTH 
 STREET AND FIFTH AVENUE 24 
 
 ADELINA PATTI AS "MARGUERITE" .... 32 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN IN HIS STUDY .... 42 
 
 FACSIMILE OF PROGRAMME TESTIMONIAL CON- 
 CERT 50 
 
 FACSIMILE OF MR. HOFFMAN'S LAST MS. . 54~55 
 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN TAKEN IN AUGUST, 1909, 
 WITH HIS CHAMPION SHEEP DOG, "SiR WALLY 
 HARKAWAY" 58 
 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN'S HAND 60 
 
 Life cast by Victor Salvatore 
 
 vii 
 
Illustrations 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN AS A BOY 68 
 
 LEOPOLD DE MEYER 74 
 
 From a caricature after Dantan 
 
 GIULIO REGONDI 80 
 
 LISZT WHEN A YOUNG MAN 84 
 
 JOSEPH BURKE AS A YOUNG MAN .... 94 
 
 Known in boyhood as Master Burke, the Boy Phenom- 
 enon 
 
 THE OLD BROADWAY TABERNACLE, NEW YORK 
 
 CITY 96 
 
 FACSIMILE OF PROGRAMME TABERNACLE CON- 
 CERT 98 
 
 JENNY LIND 114 
 
 SIGISMOND THALBERG 130 
 
 LOUIS MOREAU GOTTSCHALK 134 
 
 CHARLES HALLE 136 
 
 DR. HANS VON BULOW 150 
 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN, 1893 156 
 
 Vlll 
 
RICHARD HOFFMAN 
 
 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 BY His WIFE 
 
RICHARD HOFFMAN was born in 
 Manchester, England, May 24, 1831. 
 May 24th was also the birthday of Queen 
 Victoria, and always on that day for as long 
 as I can remember, he sat down to the 
 piano after breakfast and played "God 
 Save the Queen," and hung a small English 
 flag over the mantelpiece. He never be- 
 came an American citizen; his love for his 
 native land and the obligation of forswear- 
 ing allegiance to the beloved Queen always 
 held him back. He was, however, in every 
 sense loyal to his adopted country and was 
 fortunately spared the trying test of choos- 
 ing between them at any vital moment. 
 
 His father was a musician and insisted 
 that all his children, nine in number, 
 should be educated to the profession of 
 music. In the case of three of them it was 
 successful, but for the other six it proved a 
 waste of time. 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Richard was brought before the public 
 at the age of six when he played on three 
 different instruments, violin, piano, and 
 concertina. His father in doing this was 
 only imitating his own experience. At the 
 same age he had been playing theatrical 
 parts in the provinces, and in his autobi- 
 ography gives an amusing account of his 
 different impersonations. "I played pan- 
 tomine," he writes, "in Lord Douglas* 
 Dream, in 'Chevy Chase/ representing the 
 attack on the castle and the lady love 
 being forcibly carried away. I well re- 
 member the carrying away business, as the 
 lady (aged six years) and myself almost 
 always came to grief before we could clear 
 off the stage, my bodily strength failing and 
 ending in a downfall of both parties. I 
 also played 'The Blind Boy' in the The- 
 atre Royal in Liverpool and Manchester." 
 
 As he grew older he gave up the stage 
 and adopted music as his profession. He 
 became a well-known musician both as 
 organist and pianist, besides playing a 
 first violin in the Gentlemen's Concerts in 
 Manchester. When he was seventy-five I 
 heard him play all the scales on the piano 
 with remarkable velocity, and with a wine 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 glass full of water on the back of one hand, 
 never spilling a drop nor moving the glass. 
 
 Richard's school-days were cut short at 
 the age of sixteen when he was sent to this 
 country to the care of an uncle, but where 
 he soon began an independent career, re- 
 lying entirely upon his own efforts for sup- 
 port. 
 
 His mother, a sweet and gentle creature, 
 was the daughter of a Lieutenant Harries of 
 the Navy. Her brother-in-law had a posi- 
 tion in the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, and 
 Richard's greatest delight was to take his 
 vacations with this uncle. Thus at an 
 early age he became familiar with the war 
 vessels stationed there and much of the 
 routine of the Royal Navy; one of his 
 uncles was also an officer on the ship that 
 conveyed Napoleon to St. Helena. 
 
 His studies at school were always second- 
 ary to his musical work, but his love of 
 reading in his maturer years endowed him 
 with a general knowledge of men and 
 things which was at all times thorough and 
 far-reaching. His memory was most re- 
 markable; in music, almost phenomenal. 
 In his last years he could still play nearly 
 everything he had ever learned, and he was 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 unusually accurate in recalling events of 
 the past or anything that he had ever read 
 with attention. An older sister Helen 
 afterward Mrs. Onslow Lewis, was one 
 of the most promising singers of her day. 
 (I use the word promising as her career 
 was cut short of its fulfilment by her mar- 
 riage with Capt. Onslow Lewis, and his 
 prejudice against his wife's being on the 
 stage obliged her to relinquish a career 
 where undoubtedly she would have become 
 famous.) It had even been arranged by 
 Barnum that she should accompany Jenny 
 Lind to America and appear with her in 
 oratorio. A few days before sailing a con- 
 cert was given in Manchester by the com- 
 pany, where Helen sang the contralto part 
 in an oratorio selection; the audience was so 
 insistent in its applause that Mademoiselle 
 Lind was obliged to sit down, after rising to 
 begin her own part, and allow the young 
 contralto to repeat her number. A few days 
 after this, or perhaps the next day, the en- 
 gagement for America (which had been 
 made with her father, she being under age) 
 was cancelled and the position of pianist 
 for the company was given to her brother 
 Richard, then in New York. 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 The engagement gave an immediate 
 impetus to his musical career, and although 
 all the performers at these concerts received 
 very little attention, so great was the eager- 
 ness of the people to hear Jenny Lind and 
 by means of repeated encores to keep her 
 on the stage as much as possible, it still 
 served to bring the youthful musician be- 
 fore the best audiences in the country and 
 to give to him a prominence and musical 
 prestige that long years of legitimate work 
 might never have accomplished. At the 
 first concert Richard played a duet on two 
 pianos with Benedict (afterward Sir Julius) 
 which he says was much applauded, but 
 more, he thought, for its termination than 
 for its merits. Had they essayed an encore 
 in response, he felt sure a mob or a lynch- 
 ing would have followed. Castle Garden 
 was actually besieged by water in the rear, 
 for the river was filled with boats that were 
 crowded with the worst possible characters 
 who, it was rumored, intended to effect an 
 entrance to the hall from the side giving 
 on the river. The police had been sta- 
 tioned there to repel any assault, but in 
 spite of this some of them succeeded in 
 landing, and only the vigilant efforts of the 
 
 7 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 force kept them from carrying out a scheme 
 which undoubtedly would have created a 
 disastrous panic. 
 
 Richard's grandfather had been an actor 
 and played in London many familiar char- 
 acter parts, one being especially popular 
 with the people, called "The Coronation," 
 where he represented George IV with such 
 accuracy and wonderful personal resem- 
 blance that it would have been difficult to 
 tell them apart had they found themselves 
 in the same place at the same time. He 
 met with great opposition from his family 
 for going on the stage, and for this reason 
 changed his name from Hoffman to An- 
 drews and called his children by the same 
 name, with the result that Richard's father 
 was known as Hoffman-Andrews. The 
 uncle to whom he was sent in America had 
 become an actor and was at one time 
 manager of the old Boston Theatre; he 
 was always known as George Andrews. 
 When Richard came here he dropped the 
 hyphenated name of Hoffman-Andrews 
 and called himself Richard Hoffman pure 
 and simple, the only name to which he was 
 entitled from his ancestors and which was 
 far better suited to his career as a musician. 
 8 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 His uncle's profession brought him in con- 
 tact with many of the best actors of that 
 time and, thanks to the complimentary 
 "pass," Richard had probably seen all the 
 best plays given in this city before he was 
 twenty years of age. His first friend in 
 New York was Joseph Burke, who was best 
 known in his childhood as "Master Burke, 
 the Boy Phenomenon." He had been for 
 several years on the stage playing Shake- 
 spearian historical and character rdles to 
 crowded audiences, but as he grew older 
 he became disgusted with theatrical life 
 and devoted himself to the study of the 
 violin, which he played with skill and taste. 
 So great a friendship grew up between 
 them that they lived together for nearly 
 twenty years. Burke was engaged for the 
 Lind concerts in this country and became 
 a great favorite with the songstress, who at 
 the end of the engagement presented him 
 with a beautiful violin which he named 
 "Jenny Lind" and which he treasured 
 with pride to the day of his death. If ever 
 any one asked his opinion of a soprano 
 singer after that he used to answer, "Well, I 
 once knew a lady and her name was Jane 
 Lind and she used to sing to me very often; 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 since then I have never really listened to 
 any one else, so my opinion of others would 
 be biased and worthless." 
 
 Richard Hoffman made many other 
 warm friends in these early years among 
 some of the most influential people of New 
 York, taught in their families, and was 
 received as a welcome guest in their homes. 
 His first concert in this city could hardly 
 have been given without their material as- 
 sistance. The Ogden Haggertys, then living 
 in Warren Street, were especially kind, and 
 Mr. Arthur Jones, Mr. Haggerty's partner 
 in business, treated him as one of the 
 family. In his early manhood Richard be- 
 came engaged to Mr. Jones's only daughter, 
 who perished, alas! from a rapid con- 
 sumption before their marriage. Other 
 early friends were the old Sedgwick family 
 of Lenox. Miss Elizabeth Sedgwick had 
 married Frederick Rackemann, his par- 
 ticular friend, a fine musician, who for some 
 time had been established in New York 
 as a teacher. He has often spoken of de- 
 lightful visits made at their famous home- 
 stead, where so many artists of all profes- 
 sions and choice literary spirits gathered 
 in delightful symposiums. There he met 
 10 
 
i^H^^W^. 
 
 Frederic Rackemann 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Fanny Kemble, the actress, who was a 
 guest in the house, and enjoyed the great 
 privilege of hearing her read and recite while 
 he and Mr. Rackemann furnished inter- 
 ludes of music. In this simple and infor- 
 mal fashion it was his good fortune to 
 meet some of the most interesting people of 
 that time. I should modify the word in- 
 formal, however, where Mrs. Kemble was 
 concerned, for she was always stately and 
 imposing, and her manner suggested much 
 of the tragedy queen. 
 
 In 1870, after we were married, we went 
 to Lenox together to revisit some of these 
 friends. We stayed in the old Sedgwick 
 house with the Rackemann family, and 
 while there had been many changes in its 
 brilliant circle of habitues, one still felt the 
 influence that survives the material presence 
 of those who have passed on. The Ogden 
 Haggerty family, whom I met there for the 
 first time, and who had been so kind to 
 my husband in his youth, were living near 
 the Rackemanns, and much of the interest 
 of their household was centred about their 
 invalid daughter, Mrs. Shaw, the widow 
 of Colonel Shaw, that hero of our Civil 
 War whose bravery has placed him high 
 ii 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 on the honor roll of history and to whom 
 Boston has given a monument by our 
 great Saint-Gaudens, "lest" those who 
 come after might "forget." 
 
 I recall a delightful dinner at the house 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Astor Bristed 
 (Mrs. Bristed had been a Sedgwick) where 
 there was much brilliant conversation; a 
 day at the Lebanon Shaker Community and 
 a drive through beautiful woods, pink with 
 flowering laurel, leaving on our minds an 
 indelible impression of beauty and the 
 recognition of that simple yet full and in- 
 telligent life that could only be fostered 
 and maintained in such a place as Lenox 
 was at that time. 
 
 Among Richard's other early friends and 
 pupils was the Doremus family, remaining 
 staunch and true throughout his life. 1 
 The Doctor gave him the name of the 
 "Beloved," and ever afterward so ad- 
 dressed him no matter where they met. 
 I remember at the reception he gave to 
 Mile. Nilsson in 1871 he was then Presi- 
 dent of the Philharmonic Society we 
 
 1 Dr. R. Ogden Doremus, Professor of Chemistry, New 
 York Free Academy. 
 
 12 
 
Mrs. Kemble 
 
 Taken from life 
 From the collection of Evert Jansen Wendell 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 were entering the room when the Doctor, 
 who stood near the door with his beautiful 
 wife, called out: "Oh, here comes the 
 Beloved with his bride!" presenting us at 
 once to Mile. Nilsson, M. Vieuxtemps, and 
 other members of the company. A number 
 of journalists and distinguished persons 
 were present, and I often recall it as one 
 of the most interesting occasions I ever 
 enjoyed. 
 
 Richard Hoffman first played for the 
 New York Philharmonic when he was 
 seventeen years old. The society had 
 then been established for about six years. 
 He selected the Mendelssohn G Minor 
 Concerto, then quite new to the public, and 
 played so well that he was proposed as an 
 honorary member. The committee, how- 
 ever, refused their consent on the ground 
 that they could not admit "boys" to this 
 honor. A few years later, when he was 
 twenty-two, after playing one of the Chopin 
 Concertos, he was again proposed and this 
 time unanimously elected. After this he 
 continued to play for them almost every 
 season and always gratuitously. He often 
 received the most complimentary letters 
 from the president and committee, and the 
 
 13 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 following came to him after playing the 
 Beethoven C Minor Concerto in 1878: 
 
 PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY. 
 
 At a meeting of the Philharmonic Society of 
 New York, held at the Academy of Music March 
 1 5th, 1878, it was unanimously resolved that a 
 vote of thanks be tendered to Mr. Richard Hoff- 
 man for the prompt manner with which he has 
 always volunteered his valuable services whenever 
 invited to assist at any of these performances, and 
 the Society furthermore desire to express to him 
 their high appreciation of the fidelity and artistic 
 elegance and expression with which he interpreted 
 the "Beethoven C Minor Concerto" at their re- 
 cent Rehearsal and Concert. 
 
 It was also resolved that the foregoing resolu- 
 tions be published in the various public journals 
 of the city. 
 
 By order of the Society. 
 
 (Signed) E. H. SCHERMERHORN, 
 
 President. 
 
 He was at one time invited to become 
 president of the society but declined, 
 though deeply sensible of the honor con- 
 ferred. To have accepted would have 
 entailed many duties for which he could 
 not spare the time, and a business manage- 
 ment for which he felt himself unfitted. 
 
 14 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 In addition to this he was of a most retiring 
 disposition and always tried to avoid no- 
 toriety. At the sixtieth anniversary of the 
 society Dr. Doremus made a speech at the 
 concert during the intermission, referring 
 to the troubles and dissensions that had 
 perplexed the government of the organiza- 
 tion in 1867, and stating the conditions 
 he had made before consenting to become 
 president at that time. The first of these 
 was, that the orchestra should be doubled 
 or never less than a hundred men; the 
 second, that only the best soloists should 
 be engaged, with liberal compensation; the 
 third, that the concerts should be held in 
 the finest building in New York (then the 
 Academy of Music in Fourteenth Street), 
 and lastly, that extensive advertising and 
 publishing in the daily papers should be 
 constantly carried on. His terms were 
 accepted and he became president from 
 1867 to 1870. He stated that he had felt 
 he would be criticised for his audacity in 
 accepting the position, being but an ama- 
 teur, but that his "beloved" friend Hoff- 
 man had told him that the society needed 
 some one to stand between it and the public 
 and that he (Doremus) was the one to do 
 
 15 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 it. He had a most successful administra- 
 tion and left the society in the enjoyment 
 of a most substantial prosperity. 
 
 In February, 1885, Richard Hoffman 
 played at one of the concerts the Mozart 
 D Minor Concerto and so far surpassed 
 himself in the "Romanza" that the effect 
 on the audience was quite remarkable. 
 Its pathos and beautiful melody hushed 
 the auditorium of the old Fourteenth 
 Street Academy to the silence which with- 
 holds immediate applause, but when the 
 concerto was entirely finished it gave with- 
 out stint. The cadenzas for this concerto 
 were written by Hummel, but on this oc- 
 casion he improvised his own, which at 
 that time was considered rather a bold 
 stroke; but I remember his saying that he 
 thought jt a good time to have a little fun 
 and give the musicians a surprise. They 
 took it well, however, and published the 
 following notice in the daily paper: 
 
 THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY THANKS RICHARD 
 HOFFMAN 
 
 NEW YORK, February i8th, 1885. 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: It affords me great pleasure to com- 
 municate to you the heartfelt thanks of the members 
 16 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 of the Philharmonic Society for your valuable assist- 
 ance at their last concert. 
 
 Your excellent interpretation of the Concerto by 
 Mozart was thoroughly appreciated, and will long 
 be remembered by the members of the society, 
 who on this occasion felt especially proud to have 
 your name on the list of their honorary members. 
 I remain, yours truly, 
 
 (Signed) AUG. ROEBBELEN, Sec'y. 
 
 The last time he played for them was in 
 1892, on the occasion of their fiftieth anni- 
 versary, when they repeated the programme 
 of their first concert. They invited Mr. 
 Hoffman to play the Hummel quintet, 
 which had been given fifty years before. 
 In referring to the programme of this con- 
 cert I find that the society omitted to print 
 on it the names of the performers at their 
 first concert, which would have been of 
 great additional interest to the public. 
 Mr. Krehbiel's History of the Philharmonic 
 Society supplies this deficiency. William 
 Scharfenberg played the piano part in 
 Hummers D Minor Quintet, and the 
 soloists were Madame Otto and Mr. C. E. 
 Horn. The C Minor Symphony of Bee- 
 thoven was conducted by U. C. Hill, and 
 the orchestra during vocal selections was 
 conducted by H. C. Timm. 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Richard Hoffman was all his life a loyal 
 supporter of this society and felt it had been 
 the foundation of all good music in this 
 country. That they realized this the fol- 
 lowing letter shows: 
 
 PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 
 FOUNDED A. D. 1842 
 
 NEW YORK, April 27, 1892. 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: The members of the Philharmonic 
 Society desire to express their sincere thanks for 
 your generous act of playing gratuitously on the 
 occasion of the first of the concerts given in cele- 
 bration of the Society's fiftieth anniversary on 
 April 2 1 st. 
 
 Your efforts have contributed materially to the 
 success of the evening and the conscientious and 
 most artistic rendition of Hummel 's Quintet was 
 highly appreciated by the public as well as the 
 musicians, who upon this occasion feel particularly 
 indebted to an artist, who, in the course of time, 
 has contributed so much to further the objects of 
 the Philharmonic Society. 
 
 I have the honor to remain, 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 (Signed) AUG. ROEBBELEN, Secretary. 
 
 He had been a warm friend of one of the 
 earlier presidents, Mr. William Scharfen- 
 18 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 berg, and of Mr. Henry C. Timm who pre- 
 ceded him, and the sort of apostolic suc- 
 cession which had so long obtained met 
 with his entire approval. It was with a 
 real pang that he heard of the changing of 
 the old order. The reorganization of the 
 society in 1909, with a management not 
 entirely composed of musicians, was a 
 proposition difficult for him to accept. I 
 think, however, he finally realized that the 
 passing of many of the old members ren- 
 dered it impossible to keep up the tradi- 
 tions of the past. New recruits could not 
 be expected to feel the same pride and 
 responsibility in the organization, and, if it 
 was to survive, the present plan promised 
 the best outlook for its continuance. He 
 was a familiar figure at all the concerts, 
 never missing one that his health per- 
 mitted him to attend. Nothing was al- 
 lowed to interfere with this pleasure and 
 through fair weather and storm he always 
 occupied the seats which, as an honorary 
 member, he received every season from the 
 society. 
 
 After the termination of the Jenny Lind 
 engagement in 1852, which played so large 
 
 19 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 a part in starting his musical career, Rich- 
 ard Hoffman began his work as a teacher 
 in good earnest, and very soon secured an 
 excellent clientele, giving as many as eight 
 or ten lessons a day. This in connection 
 with numerous miscellaneous concerts and 
 all the practising that these involved, kept 
 him closely occupied for at least eight or 
 nine months of the year. As soon as his 
 income permitted, he went to England and 
 sometimes to the continent during the sum- 
 mer, but he never tried to obtain any pub- 
 lic engagements at these times. He went 
 chiefly to see his family and old friends, and 
 most particularly Giulio Regondi, of whom 
 he gives some account in his "Recollec- 
 
 tions." 
 
 During the Civil War in this country he 
 organized with Mr. William Scharfenberg 
 and others, on a musical committee, a series 
 of concerts for the Sanitary Fair. These 
 were most successful and brought in good 
 returns for the benefit of our wounded 
 soldiers. Some of his best pupils appeared 
 with him on these occasions, in duets for 
 two pianos and quartettes for eight hands. 
 During these years he also was organist 
 at St. John's Chapel in Varick Street. He 
 20 
 
William Scharfenberg 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 had an excellent knowledge of the organ 
 but could not give much time to it without 
 neglecting the piano or without showing its 
 influence upon his touch. He gave it up en- 
 tirely when he felt he could afford to do so. 
 He had great facility for reading at sight, 
 and was frequently asked in emergencies 
 to act as substitute for pianists who were 
 suddenly prevented from keeping their 
 engagements. One evening about seven 
 o'clock he was sent for to play in a trio 
 which was to be given at a concert that night 
 at eight o'clock. The pianist had been 
 taken ill and begged him by messenger to 
 take his place. He had not studied the 
 composition but he consented to help out 
 the situation and appeared at the hall in 
 an hour, where the trio was given without 
 rehearsal and without contretemps of any 
 kind. (Jpon another occasion he did the 
 same thing for Gottschalk, playing the 
 Carl Eckert trio at sight and at a mo- 
 ment's notice. Many fine pianists have 
 not this power, and I have often heard 
 them speak with envy of his quite remark- 
 able gift. A very few of his pupils pos- 
 sessed in an unusual degree this same 
 power. One in particular, who received 
 
 21 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 all her musical instruction from him, met 
 on one occasion Anton Rubinstein, who 
 had been told of her great musical talent. 
 He invited her to read at sight a manu- 
 script composition of considerable diffi- 
 culty. She acquitted herself so well and 
 with so much ease and facility that Rubin- 
 stein told her it could not have been better 
 done. 
 
 At another time he came to the rescue 
 of Miss Adelaide Phillipps who was the 
 vocal soloist at one of the Philharmonic 
 concerts of Brooklyn. 1 She was to sing 
 "Oh Rest in the Lord," and there had been 
 no rehearsal. The audience was awaiting 
 her appearance, but when the music was 
 handed to her she saw to her dismay that 
 it had been altered from the contralto 
 setting, in which it was originally written, 
 to a soprano pitch, and consequently quite 
 out of the range of her voice. She ex- 
 plained to the conductor but he said there 
 were no other scores for the orchestra and 
 to transpose it at sight seemed hazardous. 
 At this juncture Mr. Hoffman came for- 
 ward and offered to accompany her on the 
 
 1 From Adelaide Phillipps, "A Record," by Mrs. R. C. 
 Waterston. 
 
 22 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 piano in the key in which it was originally 
 written by Mendelssohn. This he did 
 successfully, Miss Phillipps sang delight- 
 fully, and the audience was saved a dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 In the early seventies concerts of miscel- 
 laneous composers and performers were 
 falling off. Recitals and chamber music 
 began to be more appreciated. Theodore 
 Thomas, William Mason, Carl Bergmann, 
 Mosenthal, and Matzka had for some years 
 been the only good exponents of this class 
 of music, and later the Philharmonic Club, 
 formed of men belonging to this society, 
 with Richard Arnold as first violin, giving 
 their concerts at Chickering Hall, on Fifth 
 Avenue and Eighteenth Street. Before 
 this the Chickerings had occupied a large 
 private house on Fourteenth Street, where 
 they had a charming little hall at the back; 
 but this soon became too small for their 
 increasing business. At this hall Mr. 
 Hoffman had for three seasons v given a series 
 of subscription recitals, occasionally intro- 
 ducing a singer to give variety to the pro- 
 grammes. Antoinette Sterling sang for him 
 and Mr. Burke sometimes assisted with 
 his violin. Fred. Bergner, the good old 
 
 2 3 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 'cellist who was for so many years a member 
 of the Philharmonic Society, often made 
 one in a trio. These evenings were at- 
 tended by so many people who knew each 
 other well that they became very friendly 
 and social reunions. The encores were 
 often "requests" and the concerts too in- 
 formal to enter the lists for public criti- 
 cism, but I remember how pleasant and 
 delightful they were and with what sincere 
 regret they were relinquished when the 
 Chickerings moved to their larger quarters 
 on Fifth Avenue, with a concert hall much 
 too large for these entertainments. His 
 taste for chamber music, which had been 
 held more or less in the background from 
 the need of audiences to patronize such 
 programmes, was constantly receiving an 
 impetus from his friend Regondi in Lon- 
 don. The suggestions in the accompanying 
 letter, which is dated 1868, were not mate- 
 rialized until ten years later, when with the 
 aid of pupils and friends Trio clubs were 
 formed to meet at private houses. Only 
 the best music was given, and such good 
 and well-known players as Gustav Dann- 
 reuther, Schenck, Hartdegen, Schultz, and 
 others played the violin and 'cello parts. 
 24 
 
Chickering Hall, formerly at Eighteenth Street 
 and Fifth Avenue 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 December i3th 1868, 
 17 Portsea Place, 
 Connaught Sqre, 
 London, W. 
 MY DEAR RICHARD: 
 
 It is most kind of you to have written, and it 
 gave me great pleasure to learn how fully occupied 
 you are, but I do hope your friends and pupils will 
 not allow you to give up playing entirely in Public. 
 Chopin felt a great horror of it, but still played at 
 a few Concerts now & then & on Sundays at his 
 own residence to a select circle of friends, you 
 might follow this plan & thus preserve a motive 
 for keeping your playing without having to lower 
 your talent to the vulgar level of large and mixed 
 audiences. Your talent is of too pure & classical 
 an order to be neglected or entirely hidden, for it 
 is only by such playing as yours that a correct esti- 
 mate of what Piano Forte playing ought to be, 
 can be maintained in New York. I think you 
 ought to form a Quartett party with other artistes 
 & give every winter a series of Chamber classical 
 Concerts (say only 4) in a moderately sized Room 
 & only by subscription & each member share 
 alike expenses & profits. Such an enterprise 
 might become eventually the nucleus of a most 
 fashionable and aristocratic union like Ella's 
 here. 
 
 25 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Did you not compose any new pieces during 
 your stay at Manchester ? I want you very much 
 to play Schubert's Piano music, as I think it 
 especially suited to the exquisite delicacy & refine- 
 ment of your style & it is such fresh, original & 
 truly inspired music, you would easily learn it & 
 enjoy playing. 
 
 I am sorry that Grant is a poor speaker, for a 
 President of a Republic ought to be a great orator 
 as well as a great General & statesman. Never- 
 theless I hope for a better state of things with him. 
 I wish you many happy returns of the season & 
 hope you will write to me again when in summer 
 you are resting from your hard work. 
 Believe me ever 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 GIULIO REGONDI. 
 
 Another series of afternoons with the 
 different composers, one at each, proved 
 very interesting, and at the houses of pupils 
 and friends he gave all the Beethoven 
 sonatas for violin and piano. These were 
 repeated for several seasons, with Adolph 
 Brodsky, Maud Powell, Richard Arnold, 
 and the last time with Samuel Grimson, 
 a talented young English violinist, who 
 possesses in a marked degree the ability to 
 26 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 interpret this style of music. The trios 
 were repeated in Brooklyn, where there 
 are many amateurs of good taste and musi- 
 cal culture, and where he had a large 
 number of pupils. He studied for these 
 concerted programmes with the same dili- 
 gence and interest that he would have given 
 to piano-forte solos, but at the same time he 
 seemed to possess the rare quality of never 
 interpreting his part with too much promi- 
 nence, thereby destroying the desired har- 
 mony of the "ensemble." For many 
 years he played regularly at the Brooklyn 
 Philharmonic, where he was treated always 
 as a general favorite. In Brooklyn, the 
 Philharmonic Society of New York was 
 engaged by a Committee of Gentlemen to 
 give four or five concerts in a season, the 
 committee being responsible for expenses. 
 These have been discontinued of late years, 
 I hardly know why, unless the inhabitants 
 of Brooklyn prefer taking their music in 
 New York, or perhaps the engagement of 
 the Boston Symphony Orchestra for regu- 
 lar concerts may have taken the place of 
 the old society. 
 
 During the earlier years of Chickering 
 Hall the management for several seasons 
 27 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 gave a series of excellent orchestral con- 
 certs at popular prices, with a good band 
 of fifty or sixty men. Theodore Thomas, 
 Van der Stucken, Carlberg, and Anton 
 Seidl were the conductors, and at all of 
 these Richard Hoffman played, usually a 
 concerto with orchestra, and some solo 
 numbers. He was still working very hard 
 at teaching and composing, thus keeping 
 himself in the front ranks of musical 
 progress in this country. He was perhaps 
 more identified with the music of Chopin 
 than of other composers. He loved the fire 
 and dash of the great polonaises, which 
 the unfortunate composer could scarcely 
 interpret himself for lack of physical 
 strength. He loved, too, the mysterious 
 preludes and wild impromptus; indeed, all 
 the compositions of this incomparable 
 genius of the piano-forte possessed for him 
 a fascination and charm which haunted 
 and captivated his spirit. 
 
 During our first visit to Paris in 1869, we 
 went to the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise to 
 visit the tomb of Chopin. As it happened, 
 we were told at the flower shop where we 
 went to buy some wreaths to place on the 
 grave, that it was the " Jour des Musiciens." 
 28 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 It seems to be a custom to set apart certain 
 days in memory of those artists painters, 
 sculptors, and musicians who are buried 
 there. 
 
 We were inquiring our way when a small 
 child of six or seven, evidently belonging 
 to the guardian at the gate and familiar with 
 these sad memorial localities, offered to be 
 our guide to this, as well as to the tomb of 
 Abelard and Heloise. He called back to 
 his mother who was at the window of the 
 lodge: "Maman, je conduis un monsieu' 
 et une dame au tombeau d' Abelard et 
 Heloise, et ensuite chez Monsieu' Chopin." 
 The word "chez" seemed to dissipate in a 
 measure the sadness of the dwelling-place. 
 This familiarity with the habitations of the 
 dead apparently had not influenced the 
 gayety and cheerfulness of the child's na- 
 ture, but one could not help wishing he 
 might have been brought up in a less 
 dismal environment. While the graves of 
 many musicians were quite profusely deco- 
 rated on that day, we had the honor of 
 placing the only wreaths on the tomb of 
 Chopin. 
 
 The same summer found us, on the 
 Fourth of July, at Lake Lucerne in Switz- 
 29 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 erland. My husband was congratulating 
 himself on escaping the usual noisy cele- 
 bration which all good Americans must 
 endure on that day when, to our dismay, 
 we were awakened at about six in the 
 morning by a tremendous cannonading 
 from the opposite shores of the lake. We 
 were told at breakfast time that a great 
 "Sangerfest" was being held with this 
 rapid firing obligate. So at intervals be- 
 tween the singing which we crossed the 
 lake to hear, we were served with as much 
 noise and gunpowder as would satisfy the 
 most zealous American citizen. In the 
 evening there were fireworks and, less 
 "The Star-Spangled Banner/' we had 
 made a very good celebration. 
 
 Before returning home we stopped in 
 Manchester to see my husband's family, 
 and while there we went to one of the 
 "Gentlemen's Concerts," where we heard 
 Charles Halle play: he was also conductor 
 of the orchestra. As these concerts were 
 mostly patronized by subscribers, it was dif- 
 ficult to obtain seats, but through some 
 influence we succeeded in doing so. The 
 foundation of the organization was of 
 such ancient date that it was interesting 
 
 30 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 to hear them for this if for no other reason. 
 Halle was a smooth and beautiful player 
 but did not awaken great enthusiasm. 
 He usually played from note and made 
 use of an invention for turning the leaves, 
 worked by means of a foot pedal. It was 
 so diverting to see them turned by this 
 unseen agent that it rather disturbed the 
 musical "en train" to which one would 
 like to yield while listening to a great artist. 
 The orchestra of course was excellent, but 
 it did not make me feel that when we re- 
 turned to New York and our own Philhar- 
 monic Concerts, the latter would suffer 
 greatly by comparison. 
 
 We had the good fortune while in London 
 to hear Adelina Patti in her prime, before 
 she began the long epoch of "Farewells" 
 which harrowed the feelings of at least 
 two generations of Americans. She sang in 
 "Rigoletto" and "La Somnambula." In 
 both she was surpassingly fine. At that 
 time she had the throat of a bird and her 
 trill, to which she gave full play in both 
 these operas, left her hearers speechless with 
 wonder. We have had nothing like it since. 
 
 The summer before I had passed several 
 weeks at Dinard on the Brittany coast, 
 
 3 1 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 then a simple resort and undiscovered by 
 the world of fashion that has since pos- 
 sessed the land. The only hotel in the 
 place was a quiet simple house kept by 
 Mons. and Mme. Nicholas, whose son, a 
 man of twenty-five or more, had a beautiful 
 voice and often sang to the accompaniment 
 of a guitar in the garden after dinner. When 
 I spoke to Madame about her son's voice, 
 she said, "but Mademoiselle should hear 
 his brother in Paris. He sings at the 
 Italiens with Madame Patti." He proved 
 to be the same Nicolini whom she after- 
 ward married. 
 
 Some of my husband's pupils who studied 
 with him for many years have said that 
 they would like to write their own impres- 
 sions of his method of teaching. I heartily 
 wish that they might be impelled to do so. 
 I have asked permission to reprint at the 
 end of this sketch a short article of his own 
 on "How to Stimulate Thought and Im- 
 agination in a Student," which appeared in 
 a musical work published by D. Appleton 
 & Co. in 1895. It will give a far better 
 idea of his system of imparting knowledge 
 than I could do. All his pupils seem to 
 have held him in most affectionate re- 
 
 32 
 
Adelina Patti as "Marguerite" 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 membrance, those of the earliest days still 
 retaining after many years their apprecia- 
 tion of his instruction and their interest in 
 his welfare. He never tolerated indifference 
 or carelessness in a pupil, but for those who 
 were serious in the study of music or who 
 had talent and a genuine love of the art, he 
 would spend his best and most untiring 
 efforts. He approved of leaving pupils to 
 work out for themselves problems of time 
 and harmony, and objected to excess of 
 fingering as dazzling to the eye, like the 
 accents above the syllables in school text- 
 books; he thought that children should 
 not be hampered by too many signs and 
 signals. He often criticised the modern 
 method of teaching foreign languages in 
 our schools and colleges, which leaves the 
 pupil quite dumb when the occasion offers 
 to make practical use of his laborious 
 study with dictionary and pen. Could both 
 parties use the deaf and dumb alphabet 
 they might make themselves understood, 
 but, failing in this, the student is left 
 wondering why so much labor apparently 
 has been lost. 
 
 During the summer he did not give 
 lessons, and for this season we were in the 
 
 33 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 habit of making a short sojourn in New 
 Hampshire. The little strip of coast where 
 we passed so many peaceful summers was 
 known as Little Boar's Head and situated 
 between Cape Ann and the old town of 
 Portsmouth. At first it was primitive and 
 unknown, but has since grown up into a 
 very popular resort. Many interesting and 
 a few notable people came and went in 
 the aggregate years of those holiday months, 
 when the cards of existence are shuffled 
 and the inhabitants of St. Louis or Chicago 
 are liable to turn up in Maine, and those of 
 perhaps Savannah or New Orleans meet 
 on the New Hampshire shore. It is mostly 
 the nursery that brings this about. It was 
 certainly responsible for our continuous re- 
 currence at this health-giving spot. 
 
 The first summer of all these years 
 brought Harriet Beecher Stowe and her 
 daughters to one of the cottages next to 
 ours. I had always looked upon her as one 
 of the Immortals, and I was rather sur- 
 prised to find that in spite of her fame, 
 both in her own country and in England 
 where she had been feted and entertained 
 by the Duchess of Sutherland, she still re- 
 mained the most simple and retiring per- 
 
 34 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 son I ever met. She passed the greater 
 part of every fair day on the beach attired 
 in a bathing suit, going in and out of the 
 water as she felt disposed, having a little 
 talk with her friends on the sand, then 
 running into the waves for another dip. 
 It was difficult to realize that she had pos- 
 sessed the power to wield so strong an 
 influence over one of the most significant 
 questions in the history of our country; 
 for who can doubt that "Uncle Tom" 
 touched the button that set in motion the 
 hitherto dormant minds of those who felt 
 that slavery was out of place in a country 
 labelling itself as "free" ? The book has 
 been criticised as no great literary achieve- 
 ment, which always makes me think of 
 what poor Mercutio says, after he has re- 
 ceived his death thrust in the duel with 
 Tybalt. "No, 'tis not so deep as a well 
 nor so wide as a church door, but 'tis 
 enough, 'twill serve". "Uncle Tom's Cab- 
 in" has "served" and is still found on the 
 shelves of every complete American library. 
 Mrs. Stowe was prevailed upon to give 
 a reading for a fund to erect a little church 
 to be built for the summer visitors and 
 chose some selections from "Old Town 
 
 35 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Folks" which had recently been published. 
 She had no gift of elocution, but her voice, 
 though slightly veiled at first, as she 
 warmed to her subject became clear and 
 distinct. The country folk from near and 
 far came to hear her. It is probable that 
 her reputation had penetrated farther into 
 remote country towns and the log cabins 
 of the backwoods than that of the greatest 
 statesman who ever lived. It required a 
 few more years of fairs, tableaux, and con- 
 certs where Mr. Hoffman played his 
 part to complete the church; but it now 
 stands, as St. Andrew' s-by-the-Sea, close 
 to the waves, and many a good bishop and 
 eminent preacher has exhorted its congre- 
 gations to liberality and repentance. 
 
 Mr. Hoffman was the organist from the 
 time it was built until the year 1903, a 
 period of nearly thirty years. 
 
 An incident of one of the early summers 
 which showed some original ingenuity on 
 the part of one of the natives, known as 
 "the Squire," greatly amused my hus- 
 band. He (the squire) was extremely fond 
 of music and had recently purchased a new 
 piano in Boston. He invited us to come 
 and see it and, if agreeable to Mr. Hoffman, 
 
 36 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 five him a little music. An evening was 
 xed and we both went. On opening the 
 instrument we were mystified and amused 
 to find pasted over the ivory keys the letters 
 of the musical scale covering about two 
 octaves. By this means, and by writing 
 the names of the letters over the musical 
 notation of a certain piece of music he 
 particularly liked, the squire was able to 
 pick out die tunes himself, depending on 
 his ear for the time. The title letters of 
 the Boston Transcript and Advertiser fur- 
 nished the necessary print, and I think the 
 forefinger of the old squire did the rest. 
 On this particular evening the village clergy- 
 man was present with his wife, and one or 
 two other friends. My husband never 
 had a more delighted audience, and, when 
 he stopped playing, the evening was closed 
 with prayer, thanking the Almighty for 
 the privilege of listening to such beautiful 
 music and for "the pleasure of meeting 
 the talented musician from the distant city 
 and his agreeable partner in life." The 
 humor and the seriousness of the situation 
 were strangely blended and left one un- 
 certain which vein to follow. We have 
 laughed over it since, but as we passed out 
 
 37 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 under the moon and stars we felt inclined 
 to bow our heads and say amen with the 
 preacher. 
 
 Another year brought an influx of Wash- 
 ington diplomats. Mr. Robeson, then Sec- 
 retary of the Navy under Grant, had a 
 cottage, and his wife, a woman of many 
 social and musical attractions, was the 
 centre of this little group. The Chicker- 
 ings in Boston were very kind in always 
 sending a piano for Mr. Hoffman's use, and 
 he was constantly in demand for mornings 
 and evenings of music. Secretaries of lega- 
 tion from England, Germany, and Italy, 
 Count and Countess Hojos of Vienna (he 
 was one of those in attendance on the 
 Crown Prince Rudolph some years later 
 and at the time of his tragic death), all 
 made up rather an unusual audience to as- 
 semble in a small New England township. 
 But they all thoroughly enjoyed the much- 
 vaunted simple life and never complained 
 of any lack of social functions or modern 
 luxury. 
 
 James G. Blaine was a frequent and in- 
 teresting visitor while he was Secretary of 
 State, during Garfield's administration. I 
 recall a particular occasion during that 
 
 38 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 agitated summer of the assassination, when 
 Mr. Elaine gave a vivid description of the 
 event. He had been with the President 
 when it occurred at the railroad station in 
 Washington, and, to better illustrate the 
 situation, he placed several men in different 
 spots in the main hall, my husband among 
 the number, and described the whole scene 
 in the most dramatic and thrilling manner, 
 leaving his hearers with a sense of having 
 personally participated in the national 
 tragedy. The following year, when Ar- 
 thur had become President and was on a 
 visit of inspection at the Portsmouth 
 Navy Yard, he drove to Little Boar's Head, 
 where he had luncheon, talked to the 
 guests, and was particularly friendly and 
 informal. Mrs. Arthur, who died before 
 her husband became President, was a 
 musical amateur of taste and culture 
 whom Mr. Hoffman had known quite well 
 in former years. 
 
 Bishop Coxe, of western New York, and 
 at that time president of Hobart College, 
 came with his family for two or three 
 seasons. His son-in-law, Prof. F. P. Nash, 
 of the same college, and his brother, Prof. 
 Bennett H. Nash, of Harvard Univer- 
 
 39 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 sity, were two of my husband's warm- 
 est friends. Having highly musical na- 
 tures, there existed between them a strong 
 bond of sympathy and affectionate friend- 
 ship. In 1893 Mr. Hoffman received the 
 degree of Doctor of Music from Hobart 
 College; and although he usually forgot 
 to write his title of Mus. Doc. after his 
 signature, he was fully entitled to do so. 
 
 In later years, when a casino was built 
 at Rye Beach, about a mile from where 
 we lived, he was often asked to give 
 a recital, where tickets were sold, and 
 printed programmes gave it altogether a 
 professional tone. A grand piano came 
 from Boston for these occasions, always 
 thanks to Messrs. Chickering & Sons, and 
 a very enthusiastic audience made play- 
 ing a real pleasure. My husband was 
 obliged to depend entirely upon his memory 
 for these recitals, as he brought very little 
 music with him; but he had a wonderful 
 repertory in his brain which always an- 
 swered all demands upon it. He was gradu- 
 ally drawn into the custom of playing every 
 Sunday evening for the guests of the house, 
 and, as the place became more thickly popu- 
 lated and hotels sprang up, people would 
 40 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 come from a distance to hear him. The 
 rooms and piazzas were often overflowing, 
 and on fine moonlight nights any stranger 
 passing by might have wondered what drew 
 this silent crowd together about one house. 
 Had they stopped to listen they would 
 have heard the sound of music floating on 
 the air. Young and old gathered together, 
 listening to the inspired strains of Beetho- 
 ven, Chopin, and Mendelssohn, or perhaps 
 some improvisation on familiar melodies 
 that awakened old memories and started 
 the inevitable appeal for more and still 
 more. Of course these recitals were never 
 prepared; and after half an hour of serious 
 music, "requests" would be sent in for 
 certain compositions. Memory always 
 proved a faithful servant and never seemed 
 to fail. So delightful and informal a fash- 
 ion of hearing good music it would be hard 
 to find; for those who were of this favored 
 throng it is now but a memory. I venture 
 to believe it will ever remain a cherished 
 and abiding one. 
 
 My husband's daily life was tranquil and 
 domestic. When in town he spent all of 
 his spare time in his own home on West 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 43rd Street, where we lived for over thirty- 
 seven years. He was often urged to join 
 certain clubs, but always declined; his 
 children, his music, and his piano were all 
 the diversions he asked. For many years 
 he was a very hard-working man, as, in 
 addition to his own family expenses, the 
 support of his parents devolved upon him 
 for nearly twenty years. 
 
 He was never happier than when sur- 
 rounded by his family. His early life here 
 had been so devoid of these ties, living 
 as he did in a strange country and always 
 in hotels or lodgings, that his married life 
 opened up to him an entirely new existence. 
 We had three sons and three daughters; 
 the first died in infancy, but those who grew 
 up were a source of infinite comfort and 
 delight to him. Curiously enough, he had 
 no ambition to see any one of them follow 
 the profession of music; they all were fond 
 of it and two daughters had strong musi- 
 cal temperament and ability a source of 
 much pleasure and gratification to him 
 but there was never any question of making 
 music a life study. Our youngest daughter 
 has devoted herself seriously to art through 
 the medium of painting and sculpture; 
 42 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 but, added to these, a natural musical ear 
 and sympathetic voice brought her closely 
 in touch with the artistic side of her father's 
 life. 
 
 It is needless to say that Mr. Hoffman 
 was greatly in demand at musical entertain- 
 ments of all kinds, either for social or 
 charitable purposes. In earlier years he 
 derived a great deal of pleasure from these, 
 especially when he played with those of his 
 pupils who showed talent and musical taste. 
 I recall some delightful evenings at the 
 home of a clever amateur, who always kept 
 two pianos (in perfect tune) ready for 
 any occasion. When she and Mr. Hoffman 
 took possession of these a musical treat 
 was sure to follow. Neither knew what the 
 other was going to play, but a few chords 
 from one or the other were enough to give 
 the clue and start a train of thought, lead- 
 ing them through a maze of musical path- 
 ways from symphonies and operas on to 
 dances and dreamy nocturnes, passing 
 from these into familiar song melodies and 
 brilliant waltzes, all arranged on the spur of 
 the moment without a fault in harmony 
 or modulation. Those who have listened to 
 these fascinating improvisations must re- 
 
 43 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 member the delight and enthusiasm they 
 always inspired. 
 
 He seldom accepted musical engage- 
 ments that took him any distance from 
 New York, but in 1895 he played at 
 some chamber music concerts in Chicago, 
 under the auspices of the Clayton Summy 
 Co. and with the Bendix Quartet. He 
 was immensely impressed on this journey 
 with the difference between the modes of 
 travel at that time and those of 1849, when 
 he went with Joseph Burke for their first 
 concert tour in the West the contrast be- 
 tween the lake steamboats and modern 
 limited trains, and especially the present 
 displeasing propensity for disfiguring the 
 landscape with advertising signs, while 
 forty years ago you were permitted to pur- 
 sue your travels in peace, undisturbed by 
 this irritating panorama of commerce. I 
 find written in pencil on the back of one 
 of these concert programmes the follow- 
 ing reflections: "Hood's Sarsaparilla and 
 Pitcher's Castoria are forever before your 
 eyes, and added to these a perpetual sign of 
 'Saul the Clothier' reducing the distance 
 to this Mecca from twenty-five to fifteen, 
 then five miles, as you approach Chicago, 
 
 44 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 till you are ready to cry out in agony, ' Saul, 
 Saul, why persecutest thou me!' Business 
 signs have no more place in rural scenery 
 than music has in the inside of a hand- 
 organ." 
 
 At one of these concerts Mr. Hoffman 
 gave the Hummel Septet. He was always 
 particularly fond of this composition, per- 
 haps because, like Hummel, he was a pi- 
 anist, and Hummel always gave the piano 
 a prominent place in his ensemble music. 
 He repeated this Septet at the testimonial 
 concert tendered to him by his pupils and 
 friends in 1897, when he completed his 
 fifty years of musical work in this country. 
 This was given in Chickering Hall, and it 
 was indeed gratifying for him to realize 
 the interest and affectionate regard which 
 had followed him throughout so many 
 years. Innumerable letters and telegrams 
 came to him in congratulation of the event. 
 Some of these, sent to Mrs. C. B. Foote, 
 an accomplished pupil and true friend, 
 who took upon herself the management of 
 the concert, are well worth repeating here 
 to prove the good feeling and grateful re- 
 membrance on the part of those who joined 
 in this celebration. The programme was 
 
 45 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 chiefly made up of "requests," and the 
 Dannreuther Quartet offered their services 
 for the occasion. The New York Times 
 gave so satisfactory a description of the 
 concert, at the same time passing in review 
 the half century of his musical labors, that 
 I cannot do better than to repeat the article 
 in full. 
 
 FIFTY YEARS OF Music 
 
 TESTIMONIAL CONCERT TO MR. RICHARD 
 
 HOFFMAN, THE PIANIST 
 
 Half a century of activity in the cause of music 
 in one city is a record that surely deserves to be 
 honored. Fifty years ago Richard Hoffman pi- 
 anist, made his first appearance in New York. 
 Yesterday afternoon he played in a concert given 
 to commemorate that event in his career. He 
 is still tall and erect of figure, gentle and sweet of 
 countenance, and rich in enthusiasm for his art. 
 The snows of all those Winters that have fled since 
 first he faced the ordeal of public hearing in this 
 town have not whitened his hair. They have 
 made it an iron gray, but Mr. Hoffman looks as 
 if he might yet live many years, beloved by many, 
 honored by all, and full of ripe memories of a 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 career justly and beautifully rounded by a benign 
 old age. 
 
 The concert of yesterday afternoon at Chicker- 
 ing Hall was a lovely spectacle. The auditorium 
 was almost filled, and there were very few in the 
 assembly who had not at some time profited by 
 the instruction of Mr. Hoffman. It was his big 
 musical family that the pianist faced, and as he 
 looked out over his artistic progeny, he must have 
 realized that the years of his labor had not been 
 idle, but fruitful, not only in artistic accomplish- 
 ment but also in love and even veneration. To 
 have arranged the concert was a loving and a lovely 
 act of his pupils, and they honored themselves as 
 well as their master in doing so. 
 
 The programme consisted of Mozart's G minor 
 piano quartet, Bach's C major concerto for two 
 pianos, two piano solos Chopin's D flat nocturne 
 and G minor ballade and Hummel's septet. 
 Mr. Hoffman played the piano part in all these 
 compositions, the second piano in the Bach con- 
 certo being played by Mrs. Charles B. Foote, an 
 amateur and a pupil of Mr. Hoffman, in a most 
 creditable manner. In the Mozart quartet, Gus- 
 tav Dannreuther, violin; Otto K. Schill, viola, and 
 Emil Schenck, violincello, were heard with the 
 pianist. In the Hummel septet Mr. Dannreuther 
 and Mr. Schenck again played, and William 
 47 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Schade, flute; Joseph Eller, oboe; Felix Leifels, 
 contrabasso, and a horn player whose name did 
 not appear on the programme, but whose work was 
 exceptionally good, appeared. 
 
 Mr. Hoffman's solo numbers afforded him espe- 
 cial opportunity for the display of those powers 
 which he has so well preserved. He played the 
 nocturne with sympathy, with clearness, and with 
 soft and subdued color. In the ballade his clean 
 and crisp delivery of running passages was ex- 
 cellently displayed, and there was something of 
 power in his treatment of the broader passages. 
 He was heartily recalled and, after carrying off the 
 stage some very handsome floral pieces, returned to 
 play a movement from Schumann's sonata. 
 
 Many letters and telegrams were received 
 in honor of the occasion. Mr. Francis 
 Hyde, then president of the Philharmonic 
 Society, writes: "It will give me a great 
 deal of pleasure to have my name used in 
 connection with the proposed celebration 
 of Mr. Richard Hoffman's fiftieth anni- 
 versary of the beginning of his remarkable 
 musical career in this country.'* And Mr. 
 Evert Jansen Wendell, out of the fulness of 
 his heart and a long friendship, says: "I 
 honor your record, and I honor you in 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 your home life. New York is better and 
 the world is better for such men and such 
 artists as yourself." 
 
 Dr. Doremus, from the College of the 
 City of New York, sends congratulations 
 and adds: "I shall feel honored to have 
 my name inserted on the list. I have been 
 an ardent admirer of the musical genius of 
 Mr. Hoffman, and a keen appreciator of 
 his friendship, for half a century." 
 
 Messrs. Chickering & Sons, of Boston, 
 speak for themselves in the following letter : 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., Dec. 6, 1897. 
 MR. RICHARD HOFFMAN, 
 
 116 West 43rd Street, 
 New York, N. Y. 
 
 Dear Sir: We are much pleased to receive your 
 kind note of December 4th, and we are more than 
 gratified at the success of your Testimonial Con- 
 cert on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of 
 your first public appearance in New York. We 
 can assure you that we are deeply sensible of the 
 strength of purpose that must have dominated your 
 entire musical life, and it is most refreshing in these 
 latter days to find the entire press (representing 
 in certain ways the most advanced musical thought 
 of the times), as well as the most cultured and musi- 
 49 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 cal portion of your resident city are unanimous 
 in endorsing in such a public and fitting way the 
 integrity of what you have stood for and the value 
 of what you have done. 
 
 With our best wishes and kindest regards, we are, 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 CHICKERING & SONS. 
 
 My husband did not retire from the 
 musical world after this testimonial; he 
 continued his teaching for some years but 
 gradually gave up playing in public. He en- 
 joyed greatly the society of musical friends 
 in his own home, who came from time to 
 time and played or sang with him. Among 
 these I recall an interesting visitor in the 
 person of John Fiske, who enjoyed an even- 
 ing of music as much as any one I have 
 ever met. He came very informally, with 
 Mrs. Fiske, to make our acquaintance a 
 visit induced by mutual interests which at 
 once established a friendly basis, and after 
 that with the idea of asking Mr. Hoffman 
 to play accompaniments for songs which 
 he dearly loved to sing; but, first inviting 
 my husband to play for him, the songs 
 were postponed and, I regret to say, never 
 heard. Mr. Fiske called for one favorite 
 
 50 
 
IS47 
 
 TESTIMONIAL CONCERT 
 'MR. RICHARD HOFFMAN 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF THE 
 
 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF HIS FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE IN NEW YORK 
 
 CfcUCKBRINQ HALL 
 
 WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER FIRST 
 
 AT THREE O'CLOCK 
 
 PROGRAMME 
 
 1. 4 QUARTETTE, G minor, . . - Mozart 
 
 MR. RICHARD HOFFMAN. . PUnOforte 
 MR. GUSTA V DANNBKUTHBB, , Violin 
 MR. OTTO K.. 8CHILU . a> * Viola 
 MR, BMIL. SCHENCK.. . . . .Violoncello 
 
 2. CONCERTO, C major, .... Bach 
 
 Two Pianoforte* with string Qtttatette. 
 MBS. CHARLES B FQQTK and 
 
 MR. RICHARD HOFFMAN 
 
 3. PUNO SOLOS, 
 
 Norton,*. Op. 27. NO. 2. /^J,r; 
 
 Ballade. Op. 23. CflOpW 
 
 MR. RICHARD HOFFMAN 
 
 4. SEPTETTE Hummel 
 
 MR. RICHARD ROPFMAN. , Pianoforte 
 MR. WM.SCHAPB. ..<... Plt 
 MR. JOSEPH BLLKR^ .... Obo 
 MH OTTO K.8CHILU. . . . .VloU 
 
 MR. EMIL SCHENCK. . , Violoacello 
 MR, PBHX LEIFBCa. . Contra 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 after another and, these leading him into 
 delightful conversation, the evening melted 
 away and ended with promises of a return 
 which alas! never happened. 
 
 Madame Bresler-Gianoli, of the Man- 
 hattan Opera Company, was a frequent 
 visitor and enjoyed bringing her music 
 and singing for us. It was a delight for 
 her to have Mr. Hoffman play her accom- 
 paniments, and her own facility for reading 
 at sight made it possible to bring out all 
 the old operas, and lead her on to singing 
 one after another. She is a most talented 
 artist, always ready to sing the less attrac- 
 tive roles and sacrifice personal success to 
 artistic truth. She usually brought her 
 little boy Henri, then six years old, and 
 he soon became a favorite with all of us. 
 One afternoon when Madame was going to 
 some concert she left Henri in our care. I 
 was obliged to go out for a short time and, 
 on returning, found him with Mr. Hoff- 
 man sailing boats in the bath tub, both 
 seemingly enjoying themselves very much. 
 Although Henri only spoke French and my 
 husband found his own knowledge of it 
 rather rusty, they still managed to under- 
 stand each other, and Henri, in taking 
 
 5 1 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 leave of him, put his little hand in his 
 and said: "Adieu Vieux, et merci" this 
 without prompting of any kind. 
 
 While the Trio club continued its meet- 
 ings Gustav Dannreuther and others of 
 his quartet always rehearsed at our house, 
 and it was often made the occasion to bring 
 in a few privileged friends to hear them. 
 More recently, when these were regretfully 
 abandoned, Mr. Hoffman still played for 
 his own pleasure whenever the oppor- 
 tunity offered. Samuel Crimson, the vio- 
 linist, and Paul Morgan, 'cellist, made up 
 the "ensemble," and to these good friends 
 and excellent musicians we are indebted 
 for giving him the last hours of pure musi- 
 cal pleasure he was permitted to enjoy. 
 The Brahms Trio Op. 101 C Moll was a 
 special favorite. Anything more beautiful 
 than the third movement can hardly be 
 imagined, and when it is played con amore 
 by three good artists, it is an uplifting ex- 
 perience not to be lightly estimated. The 
 Schubert Trios No. I and No. II were 
 often played, as well as Schumann No. I 
 D Moll. After these more serious com- 
 positions, it was not unusual to improvise 
 a violin obligato to the Chopin preludes, 
 
 52 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 which lend themselves most charmingly to 
 these diversions. Then would follow a 
 cup of tea and a little talk, when the in- 
 struments would be dressed in their warm 
 wrappings and taken home like good 
 children. 
 
 Richard Hoffman's compositions were al- 
 most entirely for the piano, but his last and 
 now unfinished work was a trio for piano, 
 violin, and 'cello, which he was writing at the 
 time of his death. The parts for the strings 
 were not completed, and it is not probable 
 that it can ever now be played, but he 
 was deeply interested in its development 
 and gave to it all the time and thought 
 his strength would permit. Many of his 
 earlier compositions that were published 
 abroad were very popular, and a child's 
 song, entitled "Ding Dong," which ap- 
 peared in the collection known as "The 
 Century Song Book," is one of his happiest 
 achievements in more simple vein. At one 
 time he composed a number of church ser- 
 vices and anthems. These were sung at 
 St. Bartholomew's, St. Thomas's, and St. 
 John's churches. Mr. Hoffman had an 
 uncle in England William Shore the au- 
 thor of many popular hymns still sung in 
 
 53 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 the churches and which he often adapted 
 to different metres from anything he 
 fancied, operatic or otherwise. One in par- 
 ticular, to which "Softly Now the Light of 
 Day" is often sung, was taken note for 
 note (the time only changed) from the 
 ballet music of the opera of Oberon. 
 Many people (not musicians) who take 
 offense at operatic selections being given 
 in church have sung this melody for half 
 a century with extreme devotional feel- 
 ing, little knowing its light and fantastic 
 origin. 
 
 At the time when operatic fantasias were 
 in vogue for the piano, Mr. Hoffman made 
 a number of transcriptions which ran 
 through many editions; of late years, with 
 the exception of the piano pieces from the 
 Wagner operas, his arrangements were 
 largely drawn from orchestral works. The 
 Scherzo from Mendelssohn's Scotch Sym- 
 phony, always a great favorite, was often 
 played by him as an encore. The diffi- 
 culty in finding satisfactory arrangements 
 for the piano of orchestral music induced 
 him to give much time to this kind of com- 
 position: as a number of selections from 
 the works of Tschaikowsky, principally a 
 
 54 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 set of three the Scherzo from the Fourth 
 Symphony Op. 36, the Andante from 
 Symphony No. 6, Op. 64, and the Adagio 
 Cantabile from the Sextet known as the 
 "Souvenir de Florence" Op. 70. His last 
 published composition, just issued, was a 
 little song to the words "My love is like a 
 red, red rose," so gay and light in style that it 
 is hard to believe it the work of a man who 
 was far beyond the danger mark of life. 
 Just before this he had written the ac- 
 companiment to a melody composed by 
 his daughter to words of Oscar Wilde's 
 "O Beautiful Star." He used to say he 
 only entered the field as a "chaperon," but 
 the combination was full of loving interest 
 to many, and a beautiful letter from his 
 friend, Professor Nash, of Hobart College, 
 to whom he sent a copy of the song, I found 
 close to his heart in the coat he wore on 
 the day of his death. 
 
 GENEVA, N. Y., May 8, 1909. 
 MY DEAR HOFFMAN: 
 
 There is something so beautiful, so tender, touch- 
 ing, and lovely in your association with dear M. in 
 musical authorship, that it would make even a 
 piece of poor music exceedingly precious to me. 
 
 55 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 To the music of "Under the Balcony," which 
 would be delightful even without this exquisite 
 association, it lends an added charm and fascina- 
 tion beyond all expression. I cannot thank you 
 enough for sending me this delightful gift which I 
 shall preserve religiously and value more highly 
 than you can think. Bless you for feeling how 
 much I should be pleased and touched to be so 
 sweetly remembered! 
 
 Please congratulate M. for me on her brilliant 
 debut as a composer, and believe me with sincere 
 gratitude, and with best regards to dear Mrs. 
 Hoffman, 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 FRANCIS PHILIP NASH. 
 
 At one time in his life my husband was 
 sent for by an old friend who was dying, 
 to play for her for the last time. He an- 
 swered the summons at once and for more 
 than an hour played everything he knew 
 she loved. As he finished the closing 
 strains of Schubert's "Wanderer," her 
 favorite song, which he had arranged for 
 the piano, the nurse appeared in the door- 
 way and he knew by her look that he need 
 not continue. I like to think that as our 
 friend passed beyond the barrier of this 
 
 56 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 life the echoes of his music followed her 
 into the land of rest and peace. 
 
 For the past three years he gave up the 
 summer journey to New Hampshire, where 
 he had the record of being the oldest guest 
 in the house of Albert Bachelder. We 
 came instead to Mt. Kisco, N. Y., in order 
 to be near a dear daughter whose married 
 life was of very short duration. The loss 
 of this daughter and of a son within 
 five years brought us to a realization of 
 his advanced age, as up to that time he 
 had continued his teaching and playing 
 without apparent failure of strength or 
 vigor. 
 
 It was soon after this that the malady 
 made its appearance which later proved 
 fatal. Added to this, an enfeebled heart 
 gave warning that shadows were lengthen- 
 ing and the days far spent. He still kept 
 his wonderful memory and facility of finger, 
 playing a little each day and enjoying the 
 few pastimes that did not overtax his 
 strength. He took his last drive in July 
 to the home of our neighbor, Richard 
 Harding Davis. There he passed an hour 
 or more with Mrs. Davis and played some 
 duets with her mother, who is an accom- 
 
 57 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 plished musician. Mrs. Davis presented 
 him with a champion sheep-dog, a gentle 
 and affectionate creature who became his 
 constant and devoted companion. 
 
 No one realized just yet that the time 
 of last things had come. A merciful veil 
 hides this knowledge from us. To know 
 when the last time was the last would be 
 "a curse to blight all living hours." It 
 was on the seventeenth of August, just at 
 the sunset hour, when the call came and 
 was quickly answered. 
 
 "Sunset and Evening Star 
 And one clear call for me, 
 
 O may there be no moaning of the Bar 
 When I put out to sea." 
 
 So he left us and the night closed in. 
 
 It was afterward arranged on the day 
 of the funeral that his own musical setting 
 to these words should be played on the 
 organ as the casket was borne from the 
 church. This was so blended with the 
 strains of the Beethoven Funeral March 
 that it became a requiem of extraordinary 
 pathos and solemnity. As we left the 
 
 58 
 
Richard Hoffman, taken in August, 1909, 
 
 with His Champion Sheep Dog, 
 
 "Sir Wally Harkaway" 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 grave, heaven's tears fell upon us, and from 
 a friend came the words: 
 
 "Call me not dead, when I have gone 
 into the company of the Ever Living, 
 High and Glorious." 1 
 
 R. W. Gilder. 
 
Richard Hoffman's Hand 
 
 Life cast by Victor Salvatore 
 
SOME MUSICAL RECOLLECTIONS 
 OF FIFTY YEARS 
 
/^\NE of the most vivid recollections of 
 my early youth was when I first heard 
 the "Elijah" given at the Birmingham fes- 
 tival, and conducted by its composer, Felix 
 Mendelssohn. I was but fourteen years of 
 age when I made this memorable journey 
 from Manchester, my native city, but the 
 experience was destined never to be for- 
 gotten, and I recall its slightest detail as if 
 it had been an event of yesterday. 
 
 I had been brought up steeped, so to 
 speak in an atmosphere of music which 
 had already determined my career. My fa- 
 ther, who had been a pupil of Hummel and 
 Kalkbrenner, was an organist and pianist 
 of merit. He was also an excellent violinist, 
 and always played at the "Gentlemen's 
 Concerts" in Manchester, a picked orches- 
 tra of sixty or seventy men. To these con- 
 certs I was always taken and was allowed to 
 
 63 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 be on the stage near my father, whose chair 
 I occupied while he was playing. The Eng- 
 lish orchestral players (except, of course, 
 the 'cellos) always stood while they played; 
 they were not allowed the privilege of sit- 
 ting and crossing their legs in the listless 
 manner which so often offends the eye in 
 our modern performances. I was taken to 
 these concerts from the time I was six 
 years old, and I am told that I often fell 
 asleep during a symphony, and that my 
 father occupied his "rests" in prodding me 
 with his bow. But at fourteen I was very 
 wide-awake on all musical matters, and 
 when one of my father's friends, who was a 
 musical critic on one of the Manchester 
 papers, offered to pay my expenses to Bir- 
 mingham if I would write him an account 
 of the festival, I agreed at once. Indeed, 
 for such a reward I would have engaged to 
 write an epic had he so demanded, for I 
 was at the age when nothing seemed im- 
 possible. Had I not just composed a sacred 
 64 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 cantata on "The Raising of Lazarus," 
 doomed, it is true, for various reasons, not 
 the least of which was the opening recita- 
 tive, beginning thus: "Now a certain man 
 was sick." Whether the reiteration of this 
 phrase offended the popular English prej- 
 udice against the word "sick" I know not, 
 but my Lazarus was entombed then and 
 there, never to rise again. 
 
 I set forth quite alone on a railway jour- 
 ney which at that time occupied nearly six 
 hours from Manchester. When I reached 
 Birmingham I wandered about the town 
 with as little idea of where I was to sleep 
 that night as the most homeless of tramps, 
 but I was not troubled about any inci- 
 dental trifles of this kind. I had not come 
 to sleep, but to hear and to see, and so long 
 as I reached the Town Hall where the fes- 
 tival was held, I cared for little else. As I 
 was gazing about the streets I was fortunate- 
 ly seen by Miss Maria Hawes, a well-known 
 English singer of that day, who happened 
 
 65 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 to be driving by in a cab, and who was to 
 sing at the festival. She was a friend of 
 my family, and stopped the cab to inquire 
 what I was doing in Birmingham. I told 
 her I had come for the "Elijah," like every 
 one else, and then only was I brought back 
 to a sense of things temporal, such as tickets 
 and hotels. She gave me a pass for the re- 
 hearsal on that evening, and directed me to 
 the Town Hall, where she advised me to go 
 at once to procure a ticket for the concert 
 of the next day. When I reached there I 
 found that every seat was taken, and I was 
 forced to be content with what is called a 
 promenade entrance. After this I turned 
 my steps toward the largest hotel in the 
 city, called by the attractive name of "The 
 Hen and Chickens." There I was fortu- 
 nate enough to win the sympathies of the 
 barmaid, who, after telling me that every 
 bed in the house was "bespoke," took pity 
 upon my loneliness and admitted that one 
 room which had been engaged was not yet 
 66 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 claimed, and that if the people did not ar- 
 rive by nine o'clock I might have it. I sup- 
 pose they gave me some supper, but I have 
 forgotten about it; I only remember that I 
 went as early as possible to the rehearsal, 
 and that I was admitted on Miss Hawes's 
 order. I had a seat by the side of the or- 
 ganist, Dr. Gauntlet, whom I assisted af- 
 terward by pulling out the organ stops for 
 him, and full of delightful excitement I 
 awaited the entrance of the great Men- 
 delssohn. 
 
 How well I recall that small, lithe figure, 
 the head rather large, face long and oval, 
 eyes prominent but full, large, and lustrous, 
 beaming with the light of genius. I fol- 
 lowed every motion and gesture, and, in 
 breathless expectancy, waited for him to 
 lift his baton. I cannot hope to describe 
 my musical impressions and emotions on 
 this occasion, since some one has aptly said 
 that "music begins where language leaves 
 off," but I remember well how he drilled 
 67 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 the chorus, making them repeat many times 
 the Recitative in the first part, which il- 
 lustrates the talking together of many peo- 
 ple, and his evident wish to give the effect of 
 a confusion of voices. Once or twice during 
 the rehearsal he came up to Dr. Gauntlet 
 to say: "Not so loud; push in such and 
 such a stop." But as soon as his back was 
 turned, Gauntlet would say to me quickly: 
 " Pull them out again, pull them out again." 
 He was obliged to play from the full score 
 as no organ part had been written out, and 
 his own discretion was all he could rely 
 upon in many places, but Mendelssohn 
 had perfect confidence in his judgment, 
 as well as admiration for his ability as an 
 organist and musician, and especially se- 
 lected him to be the organist on this oc- 
 casion. 
 
 To remember that I so far assisted in this 
 
 first performance of the "Elijah," even in 
 
 so small a way, has always been a source of 
 
 satisfaction to me. Miss Dolby was the 
 
 68 
 
Richard Hoffman as a Boy 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 contralto, and the tenor, Lockey, 1 whose 
 singing of "If With all Your Hearts," will 
 ever remain with me as the most exquisite 
 thing I ever heard. 
 
 After the rehearsal I returned to the shel- 
 ter of "The Hen and Chickens." The bar- 
 maid was looking out for me, and I was 
 relieved to hear that I might occupy the un- 
 claimed room. By the light of a solitary 
 candle I was escorted to one of the largest 
 apartments in the house, containing two 
 monstrous double beds, and was told that I 
 might take my choice of either as I was to 
 be the sole occupant of this capacious lodg- 
 ing. I can remember very well the reaction 
 which set in after my excitement, and the 
 loneliness and desolation to which I fell a 
 victim when I was left alone among the dark 
 hangings and cold sheets. But all this was 
 forgotten the next morning when I entered 
 the coffee room. Here was a stirring scene. 
 
 1 Mendelssohn speaks of this young English tenor in 
 his letters. See Vol. 1833 to 1847, P a g e 3 6 3- 
 
 6 9 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Every musician of note in Europe and the 
 United Kingdom seemed to be assembled 
 there pianists, violinists, singers, and com- 
 posers. I have never, at any subsequent 
 period of my life, been in the midst of such 
 a galaxy of talent and genius. One theme 
 was. the subject of all conversation Men- 
 delssohn, as conductor, as composer, and 
 as pianist, though he did not on this oc- 
 casion exercise the latter talent. 
 
 At the performance that morning (the 
 festivals were at eleven o'clock) I was forced 
 to stand for nearly four hours in a dense 
 crowd, but I was quite oblivious to such 
 effort when a musical treat was in question. 
 Not long before this I had stood outside 
 Her Majesty's Theatre in London in just 
 such another crowd, waiting for the gallery 
 doors to open, on a Jenny Lind opera night. 
 
 Mendelssohn was one of the best con- 
 ductors, but he would seldom beat more 
 than the first sixteen or twenty-four bars of 
 an overture or movement from a symphony; 
 70 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 he would then lay down his baton and 
 listen, often applauding with the audience. 
 He would take it up again when he wished 
 a crescendo or rallentando or any other 
 effect not noted in the parts. 
 
 The sensation produced by the last 
 chorus of the first part of the "Elijah," 
 "Thanks be to God," was truly wonderful. 
 One felt as if the Divine Presence had been 
 evoked, so impressive, so awe-inspiring 
 was its effect upon the listeners. The mar- 
 vellous effect of the rain and rushing of 
 waters given by the violins, and the stu- 
 pendous bass F fortissimo, was beyond 
 human conception. I think Prospere with 
 his monstrous ophicleide added materially 
 to this splendid tone effect. In the chorus 
 of the priests of Baal the brass was particu- 
 larly fine. The bass part was sung by 
 Herr Staudigl, whose broken English took 
 nothing away from the effect of Elijah's 
 declamation. He possessed a grand voice, 
 and I have often heard him sing Schubert's 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 "Wanderer," ending with the low E of the 
 first ledger-line below the bass staff. 
 
 The performance finished with an Italian 
 programme which fell very flat after the 
 tremendous enthusiasm evoked by the 
 "Elijah." Mario sang the "Cujus Ani- 
 mam," and Madame Grisi gave a number 
 or two, but the impression of all this part of 
 the festival has faded from my mind. I 
 have heard Mario and Grisi many times 
 since, when I have been ready to lay my 
 tribute of admiration at their feet, but on 
 this occasion when Mendelssohn left the 
 stage the lights seemed to go out, and it 
 would have been impossible for any one 
 else to arouse the audience again. 
 
 The festival programmes were bound to 
 cover a good deal of ground and a certain 
 length of time, and were calculated to at- 
 tract all classes. People came from great 
 distances and expected to hear as many 
 artists and as much music as possible for 
 their money. The expenses of the per- 
 72 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 formances were defrayed by the city, and 
 the profits went toward the support of the 
 different charitable objects, chiefly hospi- 
 tals. They are still maintained on this 
 principle, and continue to exercise a certain 
 influence over the musical world of to-day. 
 On this occasion there were about one 
 hundred in the orchestra and over two 
 hundred in the chorus. 
 
 The English seem by nature the best 
 chorus singers in the world. Many of them 
 are from the lower middle classes, who are 
 not as a rule very cultured or refined, but 
 the moment the spirit of music is awakened 
 within them they are for the time being 
 transformed, and able to interpret composi- 
 tions of the most lofty and sublime charac- 
 ter. Mendelssohn says, in the same letter 
 before mentioned: "Not less than four 
 choruses and four airs were encored, and 
 not one single mistake occured in the whole 
 of the first part," and further on he adds: 
 "Not the slightest sound was to be heard 
 73 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 among the whole audience, so that I could 
 sway at pleasure the enormous orchestra 
 and choir, and also organ accompaniments 
 ... all executing the music with the utmost 
 fire and sympathy, doing justice not only 
 to the loudest passages, but also to the 
 softest pianos in a manner which I never 
 before heard/' 
 
 When Mendelssohn came to Manchester 
 not long after the Birmingham festival, I 
 had the great pleasure of meeting and talk- 
 ing with him. My father was desirous of 
 sending me to Germany to continue my 
 musical education under his care, but his 
 many engagements made it impossible for 
 him to assume any other responsibilities, 
 and the plan was consequently abandoned. 
 
 My musical studies went on mostly under 
 my father's guidance, with the exception of 
 a few lessons from Leopold de Meyer, the 
 "lion pianist," as he was called. He was 
 one of my youthful infatuations, and noth- 
 ing would satisfy me but to go to London 
 74 
 
Leopold de Meyer 
 
 From a caricature after Dantan 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 3nd have s me lessons from him T, 
 
 trades- 
 
 combination of "1 b " 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 caricatures, representing him as playing 
 with feet as well as hands, while the air 
 about him was filled with the fragments of 
 pianos and notes, the terror-stricken au- 
 dience escaping as best they might from 
 his volcanic technique. He was the au- 
 thor of many brilliant and effective piano 
 compositions not destined, however, to 
 survive a short-lived popularity. 
 
 While in London I stayed with Giulio 
 Regondi, a friend of my family, and at that 
 time a prominent figure in musical society. 
 He played the guitar in a most remarkable 
 manner, as well as the concertina, a small 
 reed instrument invented by Wheatstone of 
 telegraph fame. A most lovely quality of 
 tone was produced by the mixture of differ- 
 ent metals composing the reeds, and Re- 
 gondi's genius developed all its possibilities. 
 A criticism from one of the Manchester 
 papers of that time describing his playing 
 when he appeared there as a youth, gives 
 so good an idea of his unique style, which 
 76 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 for the time being held his audience spell- 
 bound, that I copy it verbatim from my fa- 
 ther's scrap-book: "Giulio Regondi quite 
 took the audience by surprise. That an 
 instrument hitherto regarded as a mere 
 toy the invention, however, of a philo- 
 sophical mind should be capable of giving 
 full expression to a brilliant violin concerto 
 of De Beriot's, was more than even musi- 
 cians who had not heard this talented youth 
 would admit. The close of every move- 
 ment was greeted with a round of applause 
 in which many members of the orchestra 
 joined. The performer has much of the 
 'fanatico per la musica' in his appearance, 
 and manifestly enthusiastic love for his 
 art; he hangs over and hugs his little box 
 of harmony as if it were a casket of jewels, 
 or an only and dearly loved child. His 
 trills and shakes seem to vibrate through the 
 frame, and occasionally he rises on tiptoe, 
 or flings up his instrument as he jerks out 
 its highest notes, looking the while like one 
 77 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 rapt and unconscious of all outward ob- 
 jects, in the absorbing enjoyment of the 
 sweet sounds that flow from his magical 
 
 instrument." 
 
 He played the most difficult music which 
 he adapted to the powers or limitations of 
 the little concertina. Among other things, 
 a concerto of Spohr, which astonished every 
 one. 
 
 My father knew him first when, as a 
 child in Manchester, he was travelling 
 about with the man who called himself his 
 father, but whose subsequent conduct be- 
 lied any such claim. When the boy had 
 made a large sum of money by his concerts, 
 and seemed able to maintain himself by his 
 talents, the so-called father deserted him, 
 taking with him all the proceeds of the 
 child's labors, and leaving poor Giulio to 
 shift for himself. My father befriended 
 him at this time, and his gentle and winning 
 disposition endeared him to all my family. 
 Later in his life when a young man in Lon- 
 
 78 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 don, he often took charge of me, and twice 
 we went to Paris together where we enjoyed 
 some of the choicest musical treats. I heard 
 with him all the great singers and musicians 
 of the day, Tamburini and Lablache, Grisi 
 and Mario, Alboni and Persiani, and most 
 of these before I was sixteen years old. He 
 taught me to play the concertina, but never 
 converted me to any serious affection for 
 the instrument, although to hear Regondi 
 play upon it was always a delight. Ber- 
 lioz 1 in his "Orchestral School" has a 
 treatise on the concertina, which he re- 
 garded with considerable favor. 
 
 Regondi' s playing of the guitar always 
 seemed to me his most remarkable achieve- 
 ment; he had added to the instrument two 
 or three covered strings without frets, which 
 he used at will, and the wonderful expres- 
 sion he could impart to his melodies I have 
 never heard excelled by any voice. I have 
 heard him play Thalberg's "Huguenots" 
 
 'See Berlioz, "Art of Instrumentation." 
 
 79 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 and the "Don Juan," Op. 14, making the 
 guitar respond to the most difficult varia- 
 tions with perfect ease. 
 
 Mrs. Hemans made him the subject of 
 the following poem: 
 
 TO GIULIO REGONDI THE BOY GUITARIST 
 
 Blessing and love be round thee still fair boy! 
 Never may suffering wake a deeper tone 
 Than Genius now, in its first fearless joy, 
 Calls forth exulting from the chords which own 
 Thy fairy touch! O, may'st thou ne'er be taught 
 The power whose fountain is in troubled thought! 
 
 For in the light of those confiding eyes, 
 And on the ingenuous calm of that clear brow, 
 A dower, more precious e'en than genius, lies, 
 A pure mind's worth, a warm heart's vernal glow! 
 God, who hath graced thee thus, O gentle Child! 
 Keep midst the world thy brightness undefiled! 
 
 Her beneficent wishes for his welfare, 
 
 were alas! never realized; for him the 
 
 " cruel wintry wind " was not "more unkind 
 
 than man's ingratitude." His history was 
 
 80 
 
Giulio Regondi 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 sad and full of mystery, which doubtless 
 added further attraction to his talents, and 
 many were the stories whispered as to his 
 birth and parentage. He was much sought 
 after in London, and a great favorite with 
 the nobility, of whom many were his pupils 
 and devoted friends. He was the constant 
 guest of two old ladies of the Bourbon 
 aristocracy living in London, who treated 
 him "en prince/' and always rose when he 
 entered their salon. He never revealed to 
 any one his connection with these people, 
 but I have always thought he belonged to 
 them "de race." We were in constant 
 correspondence until the time of his death, 
 which occurred in the early seventies. 
 His lovely spirit passed away after many 
 months of suffering from that most cruel of 
 all diseases, cancer. 
 
 I remember that a certain hope of re- 
 prieve from the dread sentence of death 
 was instilled by his physician or friends, by 
 telling him that, if only he could obtain 
 81 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 some of the American condurango plant, 
 which at that time was supposed to be a 
 cure for this malady, he might, at least, be 
 greatly relieved. I sent him a quantity of 
 the preparation, but it failed to help him, 
 and so he died, alone, in London lodgings, 
 but not uncared for, nor yet "unwept, un- 
 honored, or unsung/' His fame was too 
 closely allied to his personality to endure 
 after him, save in the hearts of those who 
 knew him best, but while he lived he showed 
 himself a true and noble artist, full of the 
 finest and most exalted love of music, a 
 man whom to know was in itself a privilege 
 not to be over-estimated. 
 
 I think it was in 1840 or 1841, in Man- 
 chester, that I first heard Liszt, then a 
 young man of twenty-eight. At that time 
 he played only bravura piano compositions, 
 such as the "Hexameron" and "Hungarian 
 March" of Schubert, in C minor, arranged 
 by himself. I recollect his curious appear- 
 ance, his tall, lank figure, buttoned up in a 
 82 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 frock coat, very much embroidered with 
 braid, and his long, light hair brushed 
 straight down below his collar. He was 
 not at that time a general favorite in Eng- 
 land, and I remember that on this occasion 
 there was rather a poor house. A criticism 
 of this concert which I have preserved from 
 the Manchester Morning Post will give an 
 idea of his wonderful playing. After some 
 introduction it goes on to say: "He played 
 with velocity and impetuosity indescrib- 
 able, and yet with a facile grace and pli- 
 ancy that made his efforts seem rather like 
 the flight of thought than the result of 
 mechanical exertion, thus investing his ex- 
 ecution with a character more mental than 
 physical, and making genius give elevation 
 to art. One of the most electrifying points 
 of his performance was the introduction of 
 a sequence of thirds in scales, descending 
 with unexampled rapidity; and another, the 
 volume of tone which he rolled forth in the 
 execution of a double shake. The rapture 
 
 83 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 of the audience knew no bounds," etc. 
 I fancied I saw the piano shake and tremble 
 under the force of his blows in the "Hun- 
 garian March." I regret that I never had 
 an opportunity of hearing him later in life, 
 when I am sure I should have had more 
 pleasure both in his playing and his pro- 
 grammes. He had appeared some six- 
 teen years before in Manchester, in 1824, 
 as a youthful phenomenon, in an engage- 
 ment made for him by Mr. Andrew Ward, 
 my father's partner. He stayed at his 
 house while there, as the following letter 
 specifies; both letters form part of a cor- 
 respondence between Mr. Ward and the 
 elder Liszt on this matter. 
 
 LONDON, July 29, 1824. 
 
 Dear Sir: In answer to your letter of the 
 27th inst. I beg to inform you that I wish 
 my Son to play as follows: viz: At the first 
 concert, a grand Concerto for the Piano Forte 
 with orchestral accompaniment composed by 
 Hummel, and the "Fall of Paris" also with 
 84 
 
Liszt when a Young Man 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 grand orchestral accompaniment composed by 
 Moscheles. 
 
 At the ad Concert Variations with orches- 
 tral accompaniments composed by Charles 
 Czerni, and afterwards an Extempore Fantasia 
 on a written Thema which Master Liszt will 
 respectfully request any person of the Company 
 to give him. 
 
 We intend to start to-morrow afternoon at 
 three o'clock by the Telegraph Coach from 
 the White Horse Fetter lane, and as we are en- 
 tire strangers to Manchester it will be very 
 agreeable to us if you will send some one to 
 meet us. 
 
 M. Erard's pianoforte will be in your town 
 on Sunday morning as I shall be glad for my 
 son to play upon that instrument. 
 
 I remain, Dear Sir, 
 
 Yr very humble Servant, 
 
 LISZT. 
 
 15 GT. MARYBOROUGH STREET, 
 
 July 22, 1824. 
 
 Mr. Liszt presents his compliments to Mr. 
 Roe and begs to say, that the terms upon which 
 he will take his son to Manchester to play at the 
 
 8s 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 concerts of the second and fourth of August 
 next will be as follows : 
 
 Mr. Liszt is to receive one hundred pounds 
 and be provided with board and lodgings in Mr. 
 Ward's house during his stay in Manchester for 
 his son and himself, and Mr. Liszt will pay the 
 travelling expenses to and from Manchester. 
 
 Thalberg was a contemporary of Liszt in 
 age, but did not appear in public until much 
 later. He was equally astonishing in his 
 novel passages for the piano-forte, which he 
 accomplished with the greatest ease, and 
 without any theatrical effect. His method 
 of sustaining the melody by the pedal, 
 while both hands roamed from one end of 
 the key-board to the other, was so marvel- 
 lous that the audience used to stand up to 
 see how it was done. I saw more of Thai- 
 berg during his engagement in this country 
 in 1852. I heard him play at all his con- 
 certs, and I was, and still remain, an ardent 
 admirer of his brilliant and facile tech- 
 nique. As a boy I learned nearly all of his 
 86 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 compositions and operatic arrangements, 
 and have never forgotten them, although I 
 have not looked at the notes for twenty-five 
 years or more. 
 
 Of the women pianists of those days, 
 Mesdames Pleyel and Dulcken were among 
 the best, and Mile. Claus was also a charm- 
 ing player, and particularly good in Bach. 
 All these I listened to with avidity; my 
 appetite for music was never satisfied, and 
 as my father knew and entertained many 
 of the musicians and singers who came to 
 Manchester, I was much favored in oppor- 
 tunity to hear them. 
 
 The Novello sisters, daughters of Vin- 
 cent Novello of London, were great friends 
 of my family. Both were charming singers, 
 but Clara, the elder, was a special favorite 
 and in great demand at the English festi- 
 vals. She always stayed at my uncle's 
 house whenever she came to Manchester 
 and was greatly beloved by all of us. I was 
 very young at the time of her greatest 
 87 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 triumphs, but I was taken to hear her sing 
 and can still recall her beautiful voice and 
 charming manner. She was remarkably 
 handsome and in the height of her fame 
 she married an Italian nobleman, Count 
 Gigliucci, who took her to Rome, where 
 she is still living, greatly courted and re- 
 spected by all who know her. 1 Miss Sy- 
 billa and Mr. J. Alfred Novello kindly as- 
 sisted at the only concert I gave in London 
 before coming to this country, at Erard's 
 rooms. 
 
 Those of my recollections which ante- 
 date the half century are hardly mature 
 enough to be of special interest, but they 
 are more numerous than one would sup- 
 pose, as the tendency of that time was to 
 force juvenile talent far beyond what 
 would be tolerated at the present day. I 
 performed at public concerts from the age 
 of six, and at twelve I was playing on three 
 
 1 The Countess Gigliucci has died since these recollections 
 were written. 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 different instruments piano, violin, and 
 concertina in one evening. Besides this, 
 I was already quite well acquainted with 
 the organ, and often took my father's place 
 on Sunday afternoons. When I was hardly 
 thirteen years of age my name was sent in 
 as a candidate for the position of organist 
 at the Prestwich Parish Church. Lord 
 Wilton, an excellent musical amateur, had 
 this appointment as well as the living of 
 the church at his disposition, and I was 
 invited to go to Heaton Park, his country 
 seat near Manchester, to play for him. I 
 was sent on this long drive quite alone in a 
 cab, at about nine in the evening, in order 
 to reach there after dinner. I well recall 
 the ordeal of that memorable occasion. I 
 was ushered into the drawing-room at 
 about ten o'clock, the guests being all as- 
 sembled after dinner. There was an organ 
 at one end, as well as a grand piano, and I 
 had hoped to be asked to play on the latter, 
 but his lordship conducted me to the organ 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 and told me that he wished to judge chiefly 
 of my reading at sight. He put before me 
 some old chorals with figured bass and 
 asked me to play them. I must have done 
 so rather creditably, as he seemed pleased 
 and satisfied and told me I could try the 
 service the following Sunday. In the morn- 
 ing I conducted myself very well and was 
 much praised for it, but in the afternoon I 
 was probably tired (it will be remembered 
 I was only twelve years old) and in the 
 midst of the second chant, when most of 
 the stops were out, and I was putting on 
 all the steam I could command, I suddenly 
 lost my balance on the organ bench, my 
 foot slipping off the swell pedal, and fell 
 headlong onto the key-boards. In trying 
 to avert the catastrophe I plunged from 
 Scylla into Charybdis, tumbling among the 
 foot pedals and creating a cataclysm of 
 sounds that must have scandalized the con- 
 gregation. I recall in a vague sort of way 
 that my brothers never considered the dis- 
 90 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 aster in the light of an accident. I was not 
 very anxious to obtain the position with the 
 work it entailed, and it is barely possible I 
 may have taken this way out of it. ... Be 
 this as it may, Lord Wilton wrote to my 
 father praising my talents, but stating that 
 he considered me too young to assume the 
 responsibility of directing the choir. I had 
 a delightful walk with the rector's daugh- 
 ter between the services in their lovely 
 garden; they had kept me to luncheon, the 
 distance being too great for me to return 
 home, and I wish she might know how 
 gratefully I recall her hospitality of the 
 morning, and her sympathy of the after- 
 noon. 
 
 My father was so great an enthusiast hi 
 the cause of music that he brought up all 
 his children to follow it as a profession. 
 We were a large family, and the ground 
 was already well occupied with aspirants, 
 hence it was decided, in response to an in- 
 vitation from an uncle living in New York, 
 9 1 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 to let me try my fortune in the United 
 States. I played at a concert in Manchester 
 given by my friend Regondi the night 
 before I started for Liverpool, from whence 
 I was to sail on the Cunard steamship 
 Cambria, with Captain Judkins. 
 
 I was about sixteen years old at this time, 
 and when I went on board to find that no 
 stateroom or berth had been reserved for 
 me, I began to feel considerably cast down 
 and low in my mind. My father knew Cap- 
 tain Judkins, who very kindly offered to 
 put me at his table and to find a berth 
 for me before night. I had my concertina 
 in my trunk, and the Captain was very 
 fond of making me play it for the entertain- 
 ment of the ladies whom he invited into his 
 private sanctum on deck. At the expira- 
 tion of sixteen days we landed in Boston, 
 and as I was consigned to the Tremont 
 House by a correspondent in Manchester, 
 they sent some one to meet me and conduct 
 me to the hotel. I was taken a few hours 
 92 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 later to the Chickering warerooms by one 
 of the clerks, who had been deputed to act 
 as my guide. There I made the acquaint- 
 ance of old Jonas Chickering, who met me 
 in his working apron with his tools in his 
 hand. It was not long before they made 
 me sit down at a grand piano (the only one 
 they had, as it happened), and I played 
 upon it to an admiring audience of visitors 
 until I was dragged away from this con- 
 genial employment by the clerk, to see some 
 of the sights of the city. It is just fifty 
 years since my introduction to the Chicker- 
 ing piano, when dressed in an Eton jacket 
 and broad collar I first tested its merits. 
 I have been faithful to it ever since, nor 
 have I had occasion to change my mind 
 as to its uniform excellence. It was in 
 the month of August, and that night I also 
 made my first acquaintance with the Ameri- 
 can mosquito in the fulness of his strength. 
 The morning found me spent with my 
 struggles to conquer him, and when I 
 93 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 started for New York by the Sound boat 
 that evening I was a very much exhausted 
 as well as homesick boy. 
 
 I recollect that I left the boat as soon as 
 it reached the dock and drove at once to 
 my uncle's house on Spring Street, where 
 I arrived before any of the household were 
 awake. There I passed a half-hour or 
 more on the doorstep, sitting on my trunk 
 and waiting for the servants to open the 
 house, while I reflected on the fallacy of 
 that proverb which treats of the early bird. 
 
 Soon after my arrival in New York I 
 was fortunate in finding a friend in Joseph 
 Burke, the violinist, who in great measure 
 supplemented the wise counsels of Regondi, 
 and who, like Regondi, had been a youth- 
 ful prodigy. He went on the stage at the 
 age of eight and was known at that time as 
 "Master Burke," but when he was old 
 enough to choose his own career he forsook 
 the theatre and adopted music as his pro- 
 fession. He studied the violin in Brussels 
 94 
 
Joseph Burke as a Young Man 
 
 Known in boyhood as Master Burke, the Boy Phenomenon 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 under De Beriot, and on his return to the 
 States he made a tour throughout the 
 country with De Meyer. 
 
 I made my first public appearance in 
 New York at a concert given by Burke at 
 the Tabernacle. This was soon followed 
 by one of my own given on Thanksgiving 
 evening, when I realized the uncertain re- 
 turns which may be expected in concert 
 enterprises. I should have been consider- 
 ably out of pocket after this bold venture 
 had it not been for some kind friends, Mr. 
 Ogden Haggerty and Mr. Arthur T. Jones 
 among others, who on the next day sent me 
 receipts for the use of the Tabernacle and 
 all other expenses of the concert. The pub- 
 lic did not turn out in such numbers as I 
 had hoped for, and I found myself with an 
 audience of three or four hundred people 
 in a room, the seating capacity of which 
 was over two thousand. The Tabernacle 
 was a large building on Broadway and 
 Leonard Street, used on Sundays for relig- 
 95 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 ious services and for all kinds of secular 
 entertainments throughout the week. It 
 was the only large room available for 
 public concerts or meetings except Castle 
 Garden (then used for the opera), and its 
 acoustic properties were very good. It was, 
 however, a dismal, badly lighted place 
 and the entrance could only be approached 
 through a long, narrow alley from Broad- 
 way. The New York audiences of to-day 
 would revolt against the inconveniences 
 which were cheerfully endured by their 
 grandparents in 1847. I nac ^ been wiser 
 had I taken the Apollo rooms on Broadway 
 which were smaller and more desirably 
 located. There the Philharmonic Society 
 gave their concerts, and I should have fol- 
 lowed their example, but I was probably 
 suffering from the complaint best known 
 as "swelled head," brought on, I dare say, 
 by overpraise and considerable self-conceit. 
 My preference therefore leaned toward the 
 Tabernacle, and there I learned my first 
 
 96 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 lesson in humility, which doubtless had its 
 good effect on my character. 
 
 The programme for this concert, one of 
 which I have preserved and reproduced 
 here, will show what a rara avis the 
 grand piano was in those days. The one I 
 played upon was made especially for Mr. 
 Jones, a leading amateur in music, and he 
 was good enough to lend it to me on all 
 great occasions. As a general thing I 
 played upon a "square," as the piano 
 manufacturers did not make a "grand" 
 except to order, and all foreign pianists 
 brought their own instruments with them. 
 
 I print a criticism of this concert written 
 by Charles A. Dana, then musical critic 
 of the Tribune, and I like to think that 
 throughout his long career as a journalist 
 and man of letters I kept his friendship and 
 good opinion of my musical work. 
 
 "The bill of Richard Hoffman's Concert 
 last evening was a very attractive one, and 
 we were surprised to see a smaller audience 
 97 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 than the utmost limits of the Tabernacle 
 would accommodate, especially as it was a 
 holiday night, and Mr. Hoffman had the 
 good sense to put the price of admission at 
 half a dollar. Artists are too much in the 
 habit of supposing that it is impossible to 
 charge less than a dollar, no matter what 
 they offer. No concert ticket ought to be 
 a dollar where there is not a full orchestra 
 and the best vocal assistance to be obtained. 
 "Though Mr. Hoffman had not a crowd, 
 the audience was a good one and seemed 
 fully to appreciate his fine talents and the 
 earnestness of his playing. We know no 
 one who seems to maintain so vital a con- 
 nection with his instrument as Mr. Hoff- 
 man. For the time being it is his world, 
 and the music he is playing sole existence. 
 We were able to hear him last evening only 
 in a Fantasie by Prudent; it was a per- 
 formance full of beauty and of promise, 
 though we confess we could not but wish 
 for the absorbed and most prepossessing 
 
 98 
 
TAB lilt]ff A 
 
 THAWCSSIYCTG 
 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN'S 
 
 On Thursday Evening November 25th, XS^T, 
 
 on WHICH eocMtov Ks WILL as AMWTKD IT 
 
 MB, JOSEPH BUBKE, Vioiinwt, 
 MR. H. C. TIMM, 
 
 MR. SCHARFENBERG, 
 
 MR. S. L. LEAOH, Voci*t, 
 
 Prom London, hi, *eee*d apjMwtM* i Amtc, 
 
 HERR SARONI, AHD 
 
 MRS. EASTCOTT, Vocal*- 
 m ti. C. TTMM Win PRCTPE^AT THE 'F1 ANOfOTTE.: 
 
 s^asc&iB^safifi a* 
 
 PART ff. 
 
 I SONO-" Wonin't Lote," MR. LEACH ,. JUm | 
 
 9. GRAND VANTASIE-'Us Bugoenots," arcntad by RICHAUD HOFFMAN, 
 on one of CbicJcering'i Sbptrb Grnd Pianofortes, maBuractored /or aCatlMDU 
 in thiiCH; 
 
 3. " VAKEX CAKPO,- from (he Open of II Cdontllo. MR5. EASTCOTT -,. 
 
 4. FANT ASIE-"LMelDcho>ie"CTeaiUd by Mr. JOSEPH BURKE . 
 
 8. RECITATIVE AND A1R-" R*g thoa tngry Slrm," MB. LEACH , 
 
 . INTRODUCTION AND VARIATIONS" Saainmis," (b; desire) oMeatod by 
 
 RICHARD HOFFMAN; Lou> D* Mzrn \ 
 
 7. OVERTURE TO " GUlLLAUME TELL" 
 
 Arnngad for three Pijuto*, Sr RICHAKD HorrMxn, and executed by Messrs. 
 SCHARFENBERG, H. C, TIMM, and RICHARD HOFFMAN, on three 
 Superb Grind Piuoforto. manufactured.^ Mejtra. Noou & Clark. Stodart. 
 
 and Chickerbg. ' 
 
 It. 
 1. FANTASIF. on Tlieaei from ' Limb de ChaD.ounix." (oy Jir.) executed Of 
 
 9. SONS" On th. Banks of Goadilqoiver," by MRS. EASTCOTT: I/in 
 
 8. GRAND FANTA3IE-nr r taCracoTienn.- executed by RICUABD HOFF- 
 
 MAN , H.V.W 
 
 4. SOJfO W rprot for sorrow," LKACHViolocMlla OL-i'^aJaJiy KEEK SARONf.. 
 
 9. KTCKABD HOFFMAN wilt bare the honor of Introducing to the American Public 
 
 Hew Musical Instrument, called Whoatstono' Patent 
 
 Concertina, and perform on it a FANTASIA on Tbenrai from the Opera 
 '-Jferm." 
 6. CTXNl> DUO CONCERTANTE-from the Opera of - Fr* Diarolo." aecoted 
 
 bj RICHARD HOFFMAN and JOSEPH Bl/RKE H< AWT 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 young artist a school more adequate to his 
 talents than he is likely to find in this 
 country. America is good for the accom- 
 plished master, who seeks a substantial 
 harvest for the early years of labor and 
 preparation; but it is not so good for the 
 forming student who needs the severe in- 
 fluence of great models, and a truly culti- 
 vated public." Tribune, Nov. 26, 1847. 
 
 Soon after this rather disastrous enter- 
 prise I was invited by the Philharmonic 
 Society to play at one of their concerts. I 
 chose the Mendelssohn G Minor Concerto 
 in which to make my first appearance as a 
 classical pianist, and I seem to have acquit- 
 ted myself with some credit on the occasion. 
 I find the following notice of this concert 
 from the New York Express of that date, 
 which I remember gave me great encour- 
 agement at a time when I stood in need 
 of it. 
 
 "Mr. Richard Hoffman deserved richly 
 the compliment paid him by the manage- 
 99 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 ment in inviting him to take part in the first 
 concert of the Philharmonic for the season, 
 and in his admirable performance of Men- 
 delssohn's G Minor Concerto (with full or- 
 chestra). . . . He was warmly applauded 
 and received more than one floral token of 
 approbation at the hands of the fair portion 
 of the audience. We were glad to see him 
 there on this occasion, as it gave him an 
 opportunity of stamping on the minds of 
 some of our most discriminating judges an 
 idea of his genius and talent." 
 
 At the time of my arrival in New York 
 there were many excellent pianists settled 
 here Timm, William Scharfenberg, Dres- 
 el, Fontana (a pupil of Chopin), the two 
 Rackemanns, Louis and Frederic, and a 
 little later William Vincent Wallace took 
 up his residence in this city. The musical 
 critics were also of the best; among others, 
 Henry C. Watson Otis of the Express, and 
 Richard Grant White of the Courier and 
 Enquirer. An occasional " bravo" from 
 
 ICO 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 such men as these did much toward stimu- 
 lating me in my public performances, and 
 in furnishing me with an incentive to study 
 and cultivate a higher grade of music than 
 the general public demanded. My bravura 
 playing always called forth abundant ap- 
 plause from my audiences, and it was a 
 temptation to neglect the more serious 
 music which alone can develop the true 
 musician, but which at that time the musi- 
 cal patrons of New York were only willing 
 to receive in small doses. 
 
 In December of the same year I started, 
 on a concert tour with Joseph Burke, which 
 lasted until the spring. As I look back 
 upon that winter of '49 I often wonder how 
 we held out as long as we did, through all 
 the trials and discomforts attendant upon 
 such an enterprise. Travelling was primi- 
 tive and slow; we went by boat whenever 
 we could, as time was not of the same im- 
 portance then as in these days of rapid 
 transit. Concerts were postponed to suit 
 
 101 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 the weather, and as tickets were rarely se- 
 cured in advance, we suffered the excite- 
 ment of perpetual uncertainty as to the 
 possible receipts from our entertainments. 
 We began our experiences in Albany, 
 where Burke had many friends, and we 
 gave two concerts in Boston. We also vis- 
 ited Worcester and Springfield, and went 
 as far east as Portland. As we attended 
 to our own advertising, it entailed the ne- 
 cessity of staying a day or two in each town 
 before giving the concert, unless we could 
 write in advance to a friend to herald our 
 approach through the local papers. I rec- 
 ollect they told us at Newburyport that it 
 would be useless to ask over twelve and a 
 half cents for tickets, and I think we re- 
 duced them to twenty-five cents for that 
 occasion. When our expenses were paid, 
 my share of the profits in this town was 
 under one dollar. Things were not quite so 
 bad as this everywhere, however, as we 
 managed to make our living out of it; but 
 102 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 the Eastern States proved a barren field for 
 our efforts, and we turned our steps south- 
 ward, going to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and 
 Washington. We returned to New York 
 in the spring, and afterward made a 
 summer tour in the West, taking in Buffalo, 
 Rochester, Detroit, Milwaukee, and even 
 Chicago. Some figures of our receipts may 
 illustrate the scale upon which these con- 
 certs were conducted. 
 
 HECEIPTS EXPENSES 
 
 First conceit in Milwaukee . $89.50 $16.95 
 
 First concert in Buffalo . . 40.00 24.75 
 
 First concert in Rochester . . 57.00 23.00 
 
 Three concerts in Montreal . 215.00 100.00 
 
 As tickets were always fifty cents, this rep- 
 resented fair audiences. 
 
 We often had difficulties in the smaller 
 towns in procuring a piano, and I remem- 
 ber that in the town of Hamilton, Canada, 
 we were in despair of finding one, when 
 some public-spirited citizen offered to lend 
 his square for the occasion, but with special 
 103 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 injunctions to return it the same night. 
 The concert was given in the dining-room 
 of the hotel and, when it was over, it de- 
 volved upon Burke and myself to see that 
 the piano got safely back to its owner. The 
 absence of any "help" at that hour made 
 it necessary for us to do the moving our- 
 selves, and as the dining-room was fortu- 
 ately on the ground floor, we proceeded to 
 wheel it out on its casters into the street and 
 to push it in front of us to its owner's house, 
 a distance of two or three blocks from the 
 hotel, where we finally left it in safety. 
 This illustrates the simplicity of our 
 methods, and savors of the backwoods and 
 early settlers. We were literally among 
 the pioneers of art in this part of the coun- 
 try, and when I contrast our journey of 
 1849 with ne I made last year [1895] over 
 the same ground to Chicago, where I 
 played for the first time since this early 
 experience, it was hard to realize that such 
 changes as I found were possible to have 
 104 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 occurred in a space of time covering less 
 than fifty years. 
 
 On our return to New York we found 
 every one in a state of excited expectancy 
 over the approaching arrival of Jenny Lind. 
 Mile. Lind had been unwilling for some 
 time to listen to any overtures from Bar- 
 num or to sign an agreement for an Ameri- 
 can tour. She even refused to see Mr. Wil- 
 ton, his agent, in England. Mr. Wilton 
 knew my father, however, and begged him 
 to suggest some way by which he might 
 secure an audience with the diva. My fa- 
 ther introduced him to Sir George Smart, 
 who had taught my sister, and also had 
 given some lessons to Jenny Lind. He con- 
 sented to give the agent a letter of introduc- 
 tion, begging her at least to see Mr. Wilton. 
 This plan seems to have succeeded, for 
 after this meeting she signed for the Ameri- 
 can engagement. 
 
 Never had singer or musician such a 
 " reclame" as she. Crowds were on the 
 105 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 docks to witness the landing of the great 
 songstress, crowds followed her to her hotel, 
 and greater crowds were striving to obtain 
 tickets to hear her sing. 
 
 Mr. E. C. Benedict, better known as 
 The Commodore, tells the following an- 
 ecdote of how as a boy he gained a free 
 entrance to the first concert: "The price 
 of tickets for Jenny Lind's first concert in 
 America, in 1851, ranged from $10 to $100, 
 at auction, for choice of seats, and $5 for 
 promenaders. The top price [$300] was 
 paid by John N. Genin, a prominent hatter 
 of that period. I was passionately fond of 
 music, but had not the means to buy a 
 ticket. However, my curiosity to see the 
 Swedish Nightingale (as she was called), 
 and the conductor, Sir Julius Benedict, led 
 me to place myself at the entrance to the 
 bridge which then extended over water 
 from the Battery to Castle Garden, where 
 I felt sure I would catch a glimpse of those 
 distinguished people as they passed in. 
 106 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 "An immense throng had passed without 
 my having seen them, and just as I was 
 about to depart a lad appeared, who had 
 recently been a schoolmate, selling the ' Life 
 and Songs of Jenny Lind/ Expressing to 
 him my unbounded desire to hear her sing, 
 he handed me a bunch of the books and 
 appointed me as salesman. I accepted the 
 position at once and made many sales. 
 When the concert began I squared accounts 
 with him and took my place among the 
 standees. The programme stated that at 
 the close of Part I any vacant seat could be 
 occupied by a promenader. I discovered 
 one in the very front row, and with the 
 last expiring note of Part I, I dropped 
 into it. 
 
 " This explains how I got some of Jenny 
 Lind's notes without giving her any of 
 
 mine." 
 
 It may not be generally known that after 
 her first concert Jenny Lind broke her con- 
 tract with Barnum, refusing to sing again 
 
 107 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 unless he changed the original terms, which 
 were one thousand dollars a night for one 
 hundred and fifty concerts and all expenses. 
 When she found that the receipts for the 
 first night were twenty-eight thousand dol- 
 lars, she demanded one thousand dollars 
 per night, and half the receipts after three 
 thousand dollars, with all expenses paid. 
 Barnum was wise enough to see that he 
 had discovered a gold mine, and fell in with 
 the singer's demands. On the voyage over 
 Jenny Lind had met two young men, civil 
 engineers, who had come to seek their fort- 
 unes in America. One was Charles Sey- 
 ton, a Scotchman, and the other was Max 
 Hjotzberg, a Swede. Young Max had 
 fallen a victim to her attractions, and when 
 she offered him a position as secretary 
 for the American tour, he eagerly accepted, 
 and remained with her throughout the 
 whole period of her engagement. Seyton 
 also was taken into her service, and his 
 business was to watch the box-office, and 
 108 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 see to it that Jenny received her full share 
 of the receipts according to the new con- 
 tract. He was a good friend of mine, and 
 lived with Burke and myself for some time, 
 until he married. He became a successful 
 business man and broker, of the firm of 
 Seyton & Wainwright, the latter a son of 
 the Bishop of New York. 
 
 It seemed a wonderful stroke of good 
 fortune for me to receive at this time the 
 following letter from P. T. Barnum, re- 
 questing me to join the company of artists 
 who were to assist Mile. Lind, and to ap- 
 pear at the first concert on September n, 
 at Castle Garden : 
 
 " BRIDGEPORT, Aug. 14* A, 1850. 
 "RICHARD HOFFMAN, ESQ., 
 
 "Dear Sir: By advice of Mr. Julius Bene- 
 dict, I write to inform you that I will engage 
 you to play for Jenny Lind's Concerts, etc., 
 on the terms named by you and will sign an 
 agreement to that effect on my arrival in New 
 York about 25th inst. 
 
 109 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 "I expect that Miss Andrews (who I un- 
 derstand is your sister) will accompany Jenny 
 Lind. I expect the 1st Concert will be given 
 about the middle of Sept. 
 "Truly yours, 
 
 "P. T. BARNUM." 
 
 Mr. Burke was also engaged as violinist 
 and leader, or concert-meister, of the or- 
 chestra, and played at all the concerts given 
 by Jenny Lind in this country. In places 
 where no orchestra could be obtained, 
 Burke and I generally began the concert 
 with a duet, then each a solo, before the 
 prima donna appeared. It is true that no 
 other performance than the singing of Mile. 
 Lind counted for anything, and that the 
 duet which I played at the first concert with 
 Benedict (afterward Sir Julius), as the pro- 
 gramme will show, was hardly listened to, 
 so eager was the audience to compare notes 
 and exchange its impressions of the wonder- 
 ful singer. Nevertheless, it certainly gave 
 me a start in my career, which many years 
 no 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 of ordinary concert-playing could never 
 have done. 
 
 CASTLE GARDEN 
 
 FIRST APPEARANCE OF 
 
 MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND 
 
 ON 
 
 WEDNESDAY EVENING, IITH SEPTEMBER, 1850 
 PROGRAMME 
 
 PART I 
 
 Overture (Oberon) Weber 
 
 Aria, "Sorgete" (Maometto Secondo) . . Rossini 
 
 SIGNOR BELLETTI 
 
 Scena and Cavatina, "Casta Diva" (Norma) 
 
 Bellini 
 
 MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND 
 
 Duet on two Piano Fortes (Themes from Norma) 
 
 Thalberg 
 
 MESSIEURS BENEDICT AND HOFFMAN 
 
 Duetto "Per piacer alia Signora," (II Turco in 
 Italia) Rossini 
 
 MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND AND SIGNOR BELLETTI 
 PART H 
 
 Overture (The Crusaders) Benedict 
 
 Trio for the Voice and two Flutes, composed ex- 
 pressly for Mademoiselle Jenny Lind (Camp of 
 Silesia) Meyerbeer 
 
 MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND 
 FLUTES, MESSRS. KYLE AND SIEDE 
 III 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Cavatina, "Largo al Factotum" (II Barbiere) 
 
 Rossini 
 
 SIGNOR BELLETTI 
 
 "The Herdsman's Song," more generally known 
 as " The Echo Song" 
 
 MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND 
 
 "The Welcome to America," written expressly for 
 this occasion by Bayard Taylor, Esq. Benedict 
 
 MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND 
 
 Conductor M. Benedict 
 
 The Orchestra will consist of Sixty Performers, 
 including the first instrumental talent in the coun- 
 try. 
 
 Price of tickets Three Dollars. Choice of 
 places will be sold by Auction at Castle Garden. 
 
 Doors open at six o'clock. Concert to com- 
 mence at eight o'clock. 
 
 No checks will be issued. 
 
 Mdlle. Jenny Lind's Second Grand Concert 
 will be given at Castle Garden on Friday evening, 
 i3th instant. 
 
 Chickering's Grand Pianos will be used at the 
 first Concert. 
 
 The pleasure I obtained from hearing 
 this wonderful artist so frequently was in 
 itself an education not to be overestimated. 
 As I remember her voice, it was not so bril- 
 liant as it was deliciously rounded, and of 
 112 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 an exquisite musical timbre. It possessed 
 great volume, and what seemed an inex- 
 haustible reserve force. She had a most 
 attractive personality, and nothing could 
 have been more naive and charming than 
 her manner on the stage. She would trip on 
 and off, as if in an ecstasy of delight at the 
 opportunity of singing, bowing and smiling 
 to her audience, and giving every one pres- 
 ent a flattering sense of contributing in a 
 measure toward the success of the evening. 
 She had three or four songs which showed 
 the wonderful compass and power of her 
 voice, and one or more of these was called 
 for at every concert. A Swedish Echo Song 
 in which she would echo her own voice by a 
 sort of ventriloquism that was quite mar- 
 vellous, and another in which she made a 
 remarkable diminuendo, reaching a pianis- 
 simo as faint as a sigh, but with a carrying 
 power that made it distinctly audible at the 
 most extreme limits of Castle Garden or 
 Tripler Hall, where the later concerts were 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 given. This was a fine building situated in 
 Broadway and Bond Street, and just fin- 
 ished in time for the second series of con- 
 certs. The hall had fine acoustic advan- 
 tages, and it was a great loss to the city 
 when it was destroyed by fire a few years 
 later. The Winter Garden was afterward 
 built on the same site. 
 
 One of the most haunting things to me 
 was her singing of Taubert's bird song " I 
 know not why I am singing." Her shake 
 was the finest I ever heard, so close and 
 even as to be altogether perfect. Her voice, 
 which she said herself was naturally stiff 
 and stubborn, she had educated and prac- 
 tised into such a degree of perfection that 
 her roulades and cadenzas were unparal- 
 leled in their execution. In her sacred 
 songs she rose to the sublime, and on one 
 occasion as she finished singing the aria " I 
 know that my Redeemer liveth," I recollect 
 that Daniel Webster, who was seated in the 
 centre of the balcony, rose from his seat and 
 114 
 
Jenny Lind 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 made her a profound bow. Her rapt ex- 
 pression of face and never-ending volume of 
 voice made her appear like some inspired 
 seraph delivering a divine message. 
 
 She was indebted to Sir George Smart, 
 with whom she had studied in England, for 
 all the traditional renderings of oratorio 
 parts, he being at that time the greatest liv- 
 ing authority in this school of music, but 
 her vocal training was done under Manuel 
 Garcia in Paris. 
 
 In a short work recently published in 
 London, entitled "Jenny Lind, Her Vocal 
 Art and Cadenze," written by U. S. Rock- 
 stro and edited by Otto Goldschmidt, an 
 account is given of her studies with Garcia 
 and the methods by which she attained to 
 some of her most wonderful achievements. 
 She had completed her twenty-first year 
 before she had an opportunity of studying 
 under his guidance, but she remained with 
 him over a year and left him, the most 
 remarkable virtuosa of her time, or perhaps 
 "5 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 of all time. The work tells us that "pre- 
 vious to this her voice had been seriously 
 impaired by the pernicious methods and 
 fatiguing concert tours to which it had been 
 subjected in Sweden," and adds that "the 
 great secret of her perfect mastery over all 
 technical difficulties lay in the fortunate 
 circumstance that Signor Garcia was so 
 very particular about the breathing . . . 
 she learned to fill her lungs with such dex- 
 terity that except with her consent it was 
 impossible to detect either the moment at 
 which the breath was renewed or the method 
 by which the action was accomplished." 
 
 Belletti, one of the assisting artists of the 
 troupe, was a very beautiful singer with a 
 pure, vibrant Italian voice, but with a most 
 amusing pronunciation of the English lan- 
 guage. His singing of "Why do ze naz- 
 zions so fooriosely raage zu geder?" could 
 not be heard without an audible smile from 
 the audience. 
 
 The other members of the company were 
 116 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Salvi and Badiali, and later Otto Gold- 
 schmidt as pianist. There was always a 
 good orchestra of about sixty or seventy, 
 and it was at one of these concerts that 
 Mendelssohn's "Italian Symphony" was 
 given for the first time in this country. 
 When Otto Goldschmidt joined the com- 
 pany it became evident from Jenny Lind's 
 devotion to him that he was destined to 
 become her husband. Sometimes the audi- 
 ences broke out in a tumult of impatience 
 during his performance of Thalberg's long 
 fantasias, and Mile. Lind who always ap- 
 peared in the wings while he was playing 
 took this means of silencing their mur- 
 murs of dissatisfaction. Her own rapt at- 
 tention to the piano numbers made it im- 
 possible for the audience to assert itself, 
 and her presence on the stage compensated 
 in a measure for this delay before her next 
 appearance. 
 
 While we were in Boston it was arranged 
 to give the last two concerts at the enor- 
 117 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 mous hall over the Fitchburg Railroad Sta- 
 tion. Barnum, by some miscalculation of 
 the floor space, had sold many hundred 
 more tickets than the place would hold, and 
 the result was one of the most enraged 
 crowds I ever beheld. I arrived rather late 
 at the hall, and not being able to find any 
 rear door to the stage, I had to explain my 
 situation to the police at the entrance, and 
 by their aid managed to get inside the 
 doors. The aisles were so blocked with 
 people that it was simply impossible to 
 make any progress, and it was finally sug- 
 gested by some enterprising man that I 
 should be lifted up and passed over the 
 heads of the people until I reached the 
 stage. It was not unlike being tossed in a 
 blanket, but I was a youth of slim pro- 
 portions and finally reached the footlights 
 rather more dead than alive, and very much 
 disordered in my general appearance. I 
 was put together, however, and took my 
 place on the programme without causing 
 118 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 any delay. I think this was the only time 
 when a concert was given in a railway sta- 
 tion; a place more obviously unsuited to a 
 musical occasion could hardly have been 
 devised, and we were all indignant at the 
 management for transferring us thither 
 from Tremont Temple, where the previous 
 concerts had been given. 
 
 Jenny Lind made many warm friends in 
 this country, and it was at the house of Mr. 
 Samuel Ward, of Boston, that her marriage 
 with Otto Goldschmidt was solemnized 
 by Doctor (afterward Bishop) Wainwright. 
 She always retained a sincere regard for 
 the American character and some extracts 
 from one of her letters will show how truly 
 she appreciated all that was best in our 
 people, although she was in no wise blind 
 to their undeveloped artistic tastes nor the 
 unusual methods of her impresario. It is 
 addressed to Joseph Burke, with whom she 
 kept up a desultory correspondence for 
 many years, and whom she was ever ready 
 119 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 to welcome to her home near London when 
 chance led him to visit the Old World. 
 
 "DRESDEN, 17 Feby, 1853. 
 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND : It was with a very great 
 pleasure that I received and read your kind, 
 friendly letter of the 1st of January, and many 
 thoughts wandered through my head when I re- 
 flected upon the many changes that have taken 
 place since our first New Year's Eve together in 
 Charleston! It is a beautiful thing in life to find 
 Persons we can esteem and feel friendship for, 
 and you are certainly one of those who have 
 many times cheered me and made me to believe 
 in solid friendship, and I for my part shall always 
 feel interested in your welfare and happiness. 
 
 " I often think of America, it is the new world 
 that is true; there is active life and room to take 
 breath, while Europe is old, quite a Grandmother 
 to the rest of the world. Here are thousands of 
 beautiful things certainly, and life in Europe is 
 rich and full of Art and Poetry, but except Eng- 
 land there is here everywhere great infidelity, 
 great want of moral activity. People here mostly 
 misunderstand life's claim, object, and end 
 and this makes me to feel a stranger. Surrounded 
 120 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 though I am by Kind People I feel already as 
 if I was to spend my whole life in Germany, my 
 soul and my faculties would remain undeveloped 
 for want of such examples as I have seen in Eng- 
 land and in America, and yet how many good 
 qualities do the Germans possess, but the 
 Pride makes them blind and Pride is our great- 
 est and most dangerous joe. 
 
 "We are thank God very well, but I have 
 nevertheless been obliged to make up my mind 
 not to sing at all (I mean in public) this winter 
 for indeed my head and my nerves wanted rest if 
 I am to regain my former Powers once more. 
 America, the anxiety I experienced there every 
 time I sang to a ' Barnumish ' House (you will un- 
 derstand all I mean with that only word) has put 
 me down very considerably and my whole iron 
 constitution was necessary to resist as well as I 
 did. The tranquility I enjoy now does me much 
 good I feel, and my voice is in perfect order, so 
 that it is a great sacrifice for me not to sing. 
 
 "That you did not go to California was in 
 my opinion very wise, you would have regretted 
 your voyage I fear. And Miss Barnum married! 
 She is a good-hearted Person, may she have 
 found the man that can make her happy! 
 121 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 "I wished that you had some nice raison- 
 able Pupils that could cheer you up in your 
 fatiguant lessons as a Music Teacher, but I 
 know well from experience how seldom one finds 
 a little more than commonplace mediocrity in 
 the musical geniuses of the Family celebrities! 
 I remember your playing like that great Pianist 
 with the chromatic passage with the right hand, 
 how we used to laugh then. Poor my Max,* I 
 knew he would have dark days before him, but it 
 will come right again I hope, as he has the gift 
 of throwing off many trials with a real patte de 
 chat. He is to a very high degree violent in his 
 temper, and only hard circumstances will put 
 him down. Our education in London is so 
 foolish, that instead of smoothing down our by 
 nature volcanic, they do all they can to tune us 
 up still higher, and this is a great misfortune. 
 
 "Mr. Goldschmidt begs me to send you his 
 best compliments, he continues to make justice 
 to my opinion of a true, uninterested friend of 
 mine, he is very kind and faithful to me, bears 
 with great patience and mildness my many in- 
 firmities, and my impulsive nature gets smoothed 
 by his equal and dignified temper. God bless 
 
 * Mile Lind's secretary, Max Hjotzberg. 
 122 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 and lead him on in the right way, as I have every 
 reason to love and respect him. 
 
 "Miss Ahmanssen is always the same self- 
 sacrificing friend to both of us with her whole 
 heart and true affection, she has been the greatest 
 use to me through her experience in everything 
 
 and my little begins to walk better with 
 
 every day. John has been with us again all since 
 the month of June but now we send him away 
 
 again Little was left in England she was 
 
 so ill. 
 
 "Our journey through Switzerland was very 
 delightful. That is nature! how beautiful those 
 snowy mountains with their everlasting Winter. 
 I was delighted to look up to those summits 
 into which no human Pride ever will climb but 
 in his thoughts! And the German must feel sul- 
 len, angry, not to be able to tell what century 
 that buildt them. 
 
 "I expect that you like Alboni's singing (al- 
 though she is rather fat as a person!) 'tis true from 
 years ago at least, she sang beautifully with feel- 
 ing, taste and understanding, pity that she has 
 spoiled (broken) her voice by making it a high 
 Soprano, she is by nature intended a Contralto. 
 And now God bless you and protect you, my 
 123 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 dear J: may you remain in good health and 
 Spirit 'till we meet again! Give my best com- 
 pliments and kindest regards to your family. 
 Mr. G : also begs to be most kindly remembered 
 to you all, and I remain now and always your old 
 (new) acquaintance and friend l 
 
 "JENNY GOLDSCHMIDT, 
 
 "born LIND." 
 
 Another letter from Sir Julius Benedict 
 seems to show that he, too, had formed 
 some pleasant friendships on our shores 
 and carried back with him agreeable mem- 
 ories of his visit to our country. 
 
 "2 MANCHESTER SQUARE, LONDON, 
 
 "3 1st March, 1856. 
 
 "DEAR BURKE: I have been so much occu- 
 pied of late that I could not immediately answer 
 your kind letter of last month, but I can assure 
 1 Cadenza from the famous "Echo Song." 
 124 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 you I am quite happy to think that you have not 
 forgotten your old friend. I delivered your note 
 to Madame Goldschmidt who as well as her hus- 
 band and my Godchild are in excellent health 
 and spirits. Their success is even greater than in 
 1847 and 1848. The receipts of the concerts can 
 only be compared with the best in the United 
 States, and instead of flagging the excitement is 
 on the increase. They have now left for a tour 
 in the provinces of 7 to 8 weeks, with Ernst and 
 Piatti, but this being the busiest time for me I 
 could not accompany them; I expect them, how- 
 ever, back about the loth of May, and they then 
 will perform again for the first time at my concert 
 on Wednesday, May aist. You have heard no 
 doubt of the burning of Covent Garden Theatre. 
 Lumley is to open early in May with Bottesini 
 as Musical Director, Albertina, Piccolomini, 
 Viardot as Prima Donnas. Beaucarde, Salvi- 
 ani (whom you have heard at New York) Tenors, 
 Everardi, Angelini as Bassos. Gye has the old 
 favorites with Costa and will open about the 2ist 
 April at the Lyceum. The English Opera at 
 Drury Lane with Lucy Escott and Drayton 
 does a tolerable business. I have accepted the 
 Conductorship of the new Philharmonic con* 
 125 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 jointly with Dr. Wylde. What you told me of 
 P. T. Barnum has quite taken me by surprise. 
 Why could not he let well enough alone with the 
 enormous wealth he has collected ? I saw poor 
 Le Grand Smith at one of Mde. Goldschmidt's 
 concerts just two days before he sailed in the ill- 
 fated Pacific. What a horrible story if she should 
 be lost! Mr. Wilton has just turned up again 
 from Australia where he accompanied G. W. 
 Brooke the Actor. I am glad to see that you keep 
 up your violin playing and that you performed 
 my favorite Concerto at one of the Philharmonic 
 meetings, which I have already heard was quite 
 successful. Belletti is still at Genoa, where he 
 has been singing, but where his career was 
 stopped for a considerable time by illness. I shall 
 give him your friendly greetings. Pray remem- 
 ber me to Hoffman, Timm, Scharfenberg, Racke- 
 mann and all those who yet remember me. I 
 very often think of the happy days we passed to- 
 gether, our Chess Battles, and your beautiful 
 Country where I received so much kindness on 
 all sides and which I fear I shall never see again, 
 "Believe me, my dear Burke, 
 "Ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 "JULES BENEDICT." 
 126 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 So much has been written of the wonder- 
 ful tour of Jenny Lind through the United 
 States that it would seem as if nothing 
 more was left to be said. Her triumphs 
 and her charities went hand and hand, 
 and a quotation from Rosenberg's book, 
 now out of print, describing her first year in 
 this country will show in what high esteem 
 she was held by every one : " She must not 
 be estimated alone as the greatest vocalist 
 who has ever appeared before the lovers of 
 melody on these shores, or on those of Eu- 
 rope. She is essentially one of the noblest, 
 most self-denying and most charitable of 
 living women. None who have met her 
 and known her can doubt this, as none 
 with whom she has at any time been con- 
 nected can fail of appreciating her warm 
 and kindly nature." 
 
 The people of New York and Boston had 
 
 received a strong musical impulse from the 
 
 Lind concerts, and it was not astonishing 
 
 to find them ready to extend as warm, if not 
 
 127 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 as excited, a reception to Thalberg as they 
 had to Jenny Lind. He was not managed 
 by such a showman as P. T. Barnum, but 
 he was well heralded by Ullmann, and I dis- 
 tinctly remember the intense curiosity with 
 which the audience awaited his first per- 
 formance in Niblo's concert room in the 
 autumn of 1855. He was the first really 
 great pianist of European fame to come to 
 this country, and he was known to have 
 divided the honors and opinions of the Old 
 World with Liszt himself. It is true De 
 Meyer had been here and had in turn as- 
 tonished and charmed his audiences by his 
 immense tours de force and his delicate 
 touch, while Gottschalk, fresh from his 
 Parisian triumphs, had also been heard and 
 admired, but the colossal reputation of a 
 Thalberg had worked up the pitch of ex- 
 pectancy to fever-heat. It was not a trifling 
 incident of the day or week to go to one of 
 these concerts, but a much-coveted privilege 
 eagerly sought for and anticipated as a rare 
 128 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 treat. At the matinees, always largely at- 
 tended by ladies, quite a social feature was 
 added by the serving of tea and light con- 
 fectionery during the entr'actes. 
 
 Thalberg was immensely successful, giv- 
 ing as many as three concerts in a day, one 
 in the morning and evening in New York, 
 and a third in the afternoon in Brooklyn. 
 His repertoire consisted only of about 
 twelve of his own fantasias, but these were 
 played with absolute perfection. There is 
 no doubt that the great players of the last 
 generation were much more perfect in 
 technical finish than those of the present 
 time who play everything from Bach to 
 Liszt. Thalberg was wise enough to avoid 
 all compositions which he felt did not be- 
 long to his peculiar genre; he did not en- 
 croach upon the classics, and consequently 
 he never scored any failures. He knew his 
 limitations, but he did not allow others to 
 discover them. He was satisfied to be suc- 
 cessful in his own compositions, which still 
 129 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 remain the best operatic transcriptions ex- 
 tant. His perfect virtuosity was the result 
 of untiring labor. Vincent Wallace once 
 told me that he had heard him practise two 
 bars of his "Don Pasquale" Fantasia in the 
 octave variation on the Serenade for a 
 whole night, never leaving the piano until 
 sunrise. I gave my warmest sympathy to 
 Wallace, but I confess to have enjoyed very 
 keenly the result of the night's work. I 
 think I heard him every time he played in 
 New York, as Ullmann sent me an entree to 
 the concerts for the season. I had always 
 been an ardent apostle of his methods, and 
 the more I heard him the more I felt his 
 claim on my admiration. 
 
 Later in the same year Thalberg and 
 Gottschalk joined forces and played some 
 duets for two pianos at the Niblo concerts. 
 One in particular, on themes from "Trova- 
 tore," composed by both of them, and which 
 I have never seen in print, was wonderfully 
 effective and created the most tremendous 
 130 
 
Sigismond Thalberg 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 furore and excitement. A remarkable 
 double shake which Thalberg played in 
 the middle of the piano, while Gottschalk 
 was flying all over the keyboard in the "An- 
 vil Chorus," produced the most prodigious 
 volume of tone I ever heard from the piano. 
 Gottschalk and Thalberg brought their 
 own European grand pianos with them, 
 the former used a Pleyel, and the latter an 
 Erard, but finding the Chickering grands 
 so satisfactory they both adopted them, as 
 the foreign pianos suffered very much from 
 our changeable climate. The retirement 
 of Thalberg and Gottschalk practically 
 ended the reign of those artists, who de- 
 voted their whole energies and talents to 
 the perfection of execution, and for this end 
 chiefly used their own compositions as 
 mediums of virtuosity. If Gottschalk's 
 reputation as an artist of the first rank has 
 been somewhat dimmed by succeeding virt- 
 uosi as well as by the change which has 
 taken place in the taste of the musical pub- 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 lie, he nevertheless stood alone as master 
 of a style all his own. Possessed of the 
 languid, emotional nature of the tropics, 
 his music recalled the land of his birth and 
 the traits of his people. He became at one 
 time the rage in society; he was over- 
 whelmed with attentions from the fair sex, 
 and was sought after both in public and 
 private. He must have been completely 
 overpowered by these testimonies of esteem 
 had he not been endowed with more 
 strength of character than is generally ac- 
 corded to him. I knew him well, and al- 
 ways found him a generous and sympathiz- 
 ing friend, ever ready to aid in advancing 
 my career, and according to me all the 
 credit which was my due. I often assisted 
 him at his concerts in duets for two pianos, 
 one on themes from Verdi's "Jerusalem," 
 another his own arrangement of "William 
 Tell," and after his return from Cuba we 
 played his Cuban dances for two per- 
 formers on one piano. 
 132 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 At his second concert in New York, after 
 his return from Paris, he chose to play 
 Weber's "Concertstiick," rather a strange 
 choice, as it was physically impossible for 
 him to execute the octave glissando pas- 
 sages as marked, from a habit of biting his 
 nails to such an extent that his fingers were 
 almost devoid of them, and a glissando 
 under these circumstances was out of the 
 question.- He substituted an octave pas- 
 sage, played from the wrist with alternate 
 hands, very cleverly to be sure, but missing 
 a good deal of the desired effect. He was 
 so persistent in this habit of biting his nails 
 that I have known the keys to be covered 
 with blood when he had finished playing. 
 It was the fashion at that time always to 
 wear white gloves with evening dress, and 
 his manner of taking them off, after seating 
 himself at the piano, was often a very 
 amusing episode. His deliberation, his 
 perfect indifference to the waiting audience 
 was thoroughly manifest, as he slowly drew 
 133 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 them off one finger at a time, bowing and 
 smiling meanwhile to the familiar faces in 
 the front rows. Finally disposing of them, 
 he would manipulate his hands until they 
 were quite limber, then preludize until his 
 mood prompted him to begin his selection 
 on the programme. He devoted himself 
 almost entirely to his own compositions, 
 which were full of character and charm, and 
 he remains to-day the one American com- 
 poser of genuine originality, the "Bam- 
 boula," "Marche de Nuit," "Le Bananier," 
 " Jota Aragonesa," and others too numer- 
 ous to mention bearing abundant testimony 
 of his genius. 
 
 I have often seen him arrive at a concert 
 in no mood for playing, and declare that he 
 would not appear; that an excuse might be 
 made, but that he would not play. He 
 cared no more for the public than if he had 
 been in a private drawing-room where he 
 could play or not as he pleased; but a little 
 coaxing and a final push would drive him on 
 134 
 
From a photograph, copyright, 1861, by C. D. Fredericks & Co. 
 
 Louis Moreau Gottschalk 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 to the stage, and after a few moments the 
 fire would kindle and he would play with 
 all the brilliancy which was so peculiarly 
 his own. He was possessed of a ringing, 
 scintillating touch, which, joined to a poetic 
 charm of expression, seemed to sway the 
 emotions of his audience with almost hyp- 
 notic power. 
 
 His eyes were the striking feature of 
 his face, large and dark with peculiarly 
 drooping lids, which always appeared 
 half closed as he played. There must be 
 some youthful grandmothers in New 
 York to-day who have experienced 'the 
 charm of their magnetic albeit languorous 
 glances. 
 
 There was much that was sad and pain- 
 ful about his death, which occurred at Rio, 
 in 1869. A mystery hung over his last days 
 which has never been clearly explained. 
 All that we know is recorded by his sister, 
 who edited his book, published in 1881, and 
 entitled " Notes of a Pianist. " These notes, 
 135 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 originally written in French, are so full of 
 spirit and local color that one is almost 
 inclined to believe that Gottschalk, had 
 he lived, might have been as prolific and 
 original with his pen as he was in his 
 music. 
 
 After I had been in America eight or nine 
 years I frequently went abroad to pass the 
 summer, and it was during one of these 
 visits I first met Charles Halle. I met him 
 one day at Broadwood's, where he was 
 choosing a piano to play upon at a matinee 
 that afternoon at the Musical Union. He 
 made me try it for him, and invited me to 
 go to the concert and hear him play. He 
 gave some selections of Chopin, and later at 
 St. James's Hall I heard him in some of the 
 last "Sonatas" of Beethoven. He had 
 formerly played all of the sonatas by heart, 
 but was not doing so then, and used an in- 
 vention for turning the leaves which was 
 acted upon by a pedal worked with the right 
 
Charles Halle 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 foot. Although he was among the first to 
 play all the Beethoven sonatas by heart, 
 he no longer felt able to continue the mental 
 strain of this herculean task. 
 
 England was justly proud of this great 
 artist, whom she claimed for her own, con- 
 ferring upon him the highest honors re- 
 served for her choicest talent and most es- 
 teemed subjects. 
 
 I made the acquaintance of Ernest Lu- 
 beck at this time about 1863 and heard 
 him play at the London Philharmonic 
 Mendelssohn's "D Minor Concerto," and 
 at the Musical Union Beethoven's "E Flat 
 Sonata" and the last movement of Mendels- 
 sohn's organ "Sonata in F." We after- 
 ward travelled together to Paris, where I 
 dined at his house. He introduced me to a 
 new set of etudes he had just composed, 
 very clever and effective. I had sent some 
 of my pupils to him, who were going abroad 
 for musical study, and he showed me much 
 kindness and hospitality. I learned with 
 137 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 regret that he died soon afterward. I 
 played his "Grand Polonaise" at one of 
 the Philharmonic concerts in New York, 
 but it failed to make the effect I had 
 hoped. 
 
 Another interesting episode of the sum- 
 mer was my acquaintance with the Misses 
 Leech, sisters of John Leech of Punch. I 
 spent many pleasant musical evenings at 
 their house, usually accompanied by my 
 friend, Giulio Regondi. It was my delight 
 to study over and over again the clever 
 sketches by their brother, with which the 
 walls of their house were literally covered, 
 and seeing my interest in them they made 
 me the happy possessor of two, adding to 
 them a photograph of John Leech himself, 
 taken from life. These ladies started a 
 school soon after their brother's death, but 
 the sale of his sketches at Christies' in Lon- 
 don in April, 1866, must have placed them 
 beyond the necessity of any bread-winning 
 labors for the remainder of their lives. 
 
 138 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Lord Ronald Gower in his "Reminis- 
 cences" mentions that some of the water- 
 color sketches brought one hundred pounds 
 apiece, while those in pen and ink and pen- 
 cil sold at proportionately high prices. His 
 success in character-sketching was per- 
 haps equalled, though never surpassed, by 
 the late George du Maurier. But Du 
 Maurier was doubly gifted as artist and 
 writer, and probably no man ever enjoyed 
 a greater notoriety than came to him after 
 the publication of "Trilby." The craze, 
 or the malady, for it amounted to that, at- 
 tacked all sorts and conditions of men, and 
 I was so far infected by it as to compile an 
 album of Trilby music, including the mel- 
 ody of "Ben Bolt." The authenticity of 
 the latter being questioned, and another 
 tune discovered set to the same inspiring 
 words, I determined to try and find out if 
 mine was correct and the one intended by 
 the author. I wrote a little note to him, 
 sending at the same time a copy of the 
 139 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 music, and not long after received the fol- 
 lowing reply: 
 
 "NEW GROVE HOUSE, 
 
 "HEMPSTEAD HEATH. 
 
 "DEAR SIR: Many thanks for the Trilby 
 music, you make me proud indeed. The tune 
 you have put to Ben Bolt is the tune I meant I 
 didn't know there was another. 
 "Pray believe me 
 
 "Very truly yours, 
 
 "GEORGE DU MAURIER." 
 
 In looking backward over the past 
 twenty-five years of musical events in this 
 country I would signalize the following as 
 among the most important: The coming 
 of Christine Nilsson in 1870, the concert 
 season of Anton Rubinstein, and the three 
 engagements of Dr. Hans von Bulow. 
 Add to these the great musical festival of 
 New York in 1881, at the Seventh Regi- 
 ment Armory, conducted by Dr. Leopold 
 Damrosch, and those of Cincinnati, which 
 140 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 did so much to awaken the musical taste 
 of the West and to open out a hitherto un- 
 discovered country to those of the profes- 
 sion who were beginning to find the East 
 overcrowded with aspirants. Of these 
 the first two were perhaps the most emo- 
 tional in their interest and influence, and 
 the last two the most essentially educational. 
 The foreground of this summary contains 
 Tschaikowsky, Dvorak, Paderewski, and 
 the modern opera-singers, all of whom are 
 too near us to judge clearly of their influ- 
 ence upon the future of musical develop- 
 ment, or to come under the head of " Recol- 
 lections." * 
 
 It is true that many singers and musi- 
 cians of note had come and gone in the 
 interval since Jenny Lind and Thalberg, 
 but there had been none since these whose 
 reputation and advent had awakened such 
 lively interest as that aroused by the en- 
 gagement of Christine Nilsson. Great 
 
 1 This was written in 1897. 
 141 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 preparations were made for her reception. 
 Prof. R. Ogden Doremus, who was at that 
 time President of the Philharmonic So- 
 ciety, had issued cards of invitation to all 
 the musical profession and amateurs of 
 New York to meet Mile. Nilsson at a re- 
 ception which he gave in her honor at his 
 house, then standing on the corner of Nine- 
 teenth Street and Fourth Avenue. It was 
 during this entertainment that the Phil- 
 harmonic Orchestra tendered her a sere- 
 nade and offered the Swedish singer a wel- 
 come to America. This house, which has 
 long since disappeared, stood far back from 
 the street, and the gardens in front afforded 
 an excellent vantage-ground for the or- 
 chestra to station itself. I was present on 
 this occasion and recall with pleasure the 
 charming and affable manners of Mile. 
 Nilsson, who made a most agreeable im- 
 pression on every one. She was at this time 
 tall and graceful, with an abundance of 
 blonde hair, made more striking by her 
 142 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 dark eyebrows and deep-set gray eyes. 
 She had just come from the Grand Opera 
 in Paris, where she had created the parts of 
 Mignon and Ophelia in these operas of 
 Ambroise Thomas, and her conception of 
 Marguerite in "Faust" and of Valentine 
 in the "Huguenots" was superlatively fine. 
 We have rarely, if ever, had a finer actress 
 on the operatic stage, whose divas up to this 
 time had seldom developed great histrionic 
 ability. Grisi, it is true, had her moments 
 of dramatic power in "Norma" and the 
 "Huguenots," but Nilsson might have won 
 fame without her musical gifts by her splen- 
 did impersonations in tragedy and melo- 
 drama. In 1873, Campanini joined the 
 Strakosch Company and sang with Nilsson 
 in all her best parts. His voice, then fresh 
 and smooth, possessed many charming 
 qualities. Like Nilsson's, his acting was su- 
 perb, and together they have given some 
 of the finest representations in Italian opera 
 we have ever had in this country. 
 143 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 In recalling the serenade of the Phil- 
 harmonic Society to Mile. Nilsson I am 
 reminded of a custom now fallen into des- 
 uetude, but which at the time I speak of was 
 a favorite method of bestowing a marked 
 compliment upon any one whom you 
 wished particularly to honor. The serenade 
 was not only offered to visitors of distinc- 
 tion, but prevailed extensively as a delicate 
 attention which you might pay to the lady 
 of your choice. It was thought the proper 
 thing at that period for a man to engage 
 the best brass band he could afford and to 
 proceed with it after midnight to the house 
 of his preferred, and then to stand beneath 
 her windows while the musicians played 
 their most sentimental and amorous selec- 
 tions. It was not an uncommon sound, 
 even, to hear a double quartette of male 
 voices, with a French horn thrown in, sing- 
 ing beneath the windows of some favored 
 damsel, while paterfamilias, or the butler, 
 made ready some light refreshment for the 
 144 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 donors of this graceful compliment. These 
 romantic attentions have taken flight with 
 the advent of electric lights, elevated rail- 
 roads, and other voices of the night, but 
 thirty-five or forty years ago even New 
 York had a few hours of stillness after 
 midnight, and the night watchmen lent an 
 indulgent ear to these revellers, who would 
 doubtless be locked up as disturbers of the 
 peace did they hazard such an enterprise 
 under our modern regime. 
 
 If I pass somewhat hastily over the 
 Rubinstein epoch, it is not because I was 
 insensible to its influence. I shall never 
 forget the magnificent en train of his play- 
 ing nor the nobility of his style, but as I had 
 no personal acquaintance with Rubinstein 
 beyond an introduction and a few words of 
 greeting I cannot enlarge upon his charac- 
 teristics. I recall, however, his rather star- 
 tling reply, when I asked him what he was 
 to play at his first concert: "To play?" 
 he answered gloomily. "What matters it 
 145 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 what I play ! but I answer your question 
 certainly," and he mentioned several com- 
 positions. 
 
 I saw much more of Hans von Biilow, 
 who came to the Chickerings in 1875. We 
 met frequently in an informal way, and I 
 played with him two or three times in pub- 
 lic, once in the D minor "Triple Concerto" 
 of Bach, with accompaniment of double 
 string quartette and double bases added, 
 and also in the concerto for four pianos, 
 when a pupil of his and one of mine took 
 the third and fourth pianos. 1 I first met 
 him at Mr. Frank Chickering's, and as he 
 asked me to play for him I began with 
 some of my own compositions, which I 
 thought might interest him more than 
 those with which he was so entirely familiar. 
 In reply to his complimentary criticism I 
 said they were "only trifles," to which he 
 quickly answered : " But trifles make per- 
 fection, and perfection is no trifle." His 
 
 1 Miss Marion Brown; Mrs. C. B. Foote. 
 146 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 wit was ever ready, and his quick repartee 
 and dry humor made him a most enter- 
 taining companion. His audiences at 
 Chickering Hall were composed of the most 
 cultured amateurs of New York as well as 
 those of the profession, and one saw the 
 same people at each concert in their regular 
 places. His programmes were followed 
 with the greatest attention, and all those 
 who were privileged to assist at this series 
 of musical entertainments must have been 
 sensible of the atmosphere of intellectual 
 enthusiasm which pervaded them. 
 
 Von Biilow made the usual tour of the 
 West at this time, but refused to do so 
 when he came in 1884. He was particu- 
 larly amused at the musical criticisms of 
 his playing by the local newspapers of the 
 Western cities, and kept a scrap-book in 
 which he preserved a large number of these 
 choice specimens of belles-lettres accom- 
 panied by marginal comments of his own. 
 These contained rare bits of caustic wit and 
 147 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 would afford a feast of amusement to-day 
 could they be reproduced in fac-simile and 
 given to the public. This scrap-book was 
 in the possession of the Baroness von Over- 
 beck, a very beautiful American who had 
 married a German baron. She was a fine 
 musician herself, and during the first and 
 second Von Biilow engagements happened 
 to be in this country. She attended all the 
 concerts in New York, Washington, and 
 other Eastern cities, and soon found the 
 maestro ready to lay his homage at her 
 feet, and with it this most diverting record 
 of his Western experiences. 
 
 During his third visit, in 1889, when Von 
 Biilow was giving his Beethoven Cycles, 
 and performing the colossal feat of playing 
 all the Sonatas by heart, I persuaded him 
 to come to one of my Trio afternoons given 
 at a private house, when a Bach programme 
 was to be played. One of the numbers 
 was the first "Prelude" with Gounod's 
 "Ave Maria" melody, to which he ob- 
 148 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 jected, saying he liked his Bach unadul- 
 terated. He soon entered into the spirit of 
 the music, however, and constituted himself 
 an impromptu conductor. When the string 
 quartette, which accompanied the concertos 
 for two pianos, played a little too loud, he 
 did not hesitate to hush them down very 
 audibly. He seemed to enjoy the pro- 
 gramme highly, and one of my pupils, 
 who played in the concerto for two piano- 
 fortes, was considerably dismayed when the 
 doctor insisted on turning the leaves for her. 
 I went one evening to hear a Brahms 
 programme, given at a club meeting, when 
 Von Biilow was present. A sonata for 
 piano and violin was played from a proof- 
 copy of the doctor's, and when the per- 
 formance was over he took the music from 
 the desk and presented it to me, which may 
 have struck the performers as hardly fair 
 to them, as I had taken no part in it. But 
 he was an impulsive spirit and it would not 
 have helped matters had I asked him to 
 149 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 amend his preferences, hence I still keep 
 the copy, which I value very much. 
 
 The following letter came to me from 
 him in acknowledgment of the dedication 
 of one of my compositions which I sent to 
 him soon after his return to Germany in 
 1889- 
 
 "HAMBURG, 5th of Jan'y> 1890. 
 "DEAR SIR: 
 
 AND WORSHIP COMPANION 
 FOR THE HEROES BACH, BEETHOVEN AND 
 BRAHMS! 
 
 "I feel most unhappy that you must have 
 considered for many weeks my poor self as a 
 first rate ruffian because I did not answer sooner 
 your kind note. But of course the curse of 
 letters going astray occurs very often in my wan- 
 dering life and the heaping of epistles from every- 
 where. 
 
 "Now revising and putting in order my 
 papers at the threshold of the New Year 
 finally I got repossessing your flattering lines. 
 Accept please one hundred and eleven thanks 
 for the honor you will bestow upon me your 
 E 5 * Minor Scherzo. With best regards to Mrs. 
 
Dr. Hans von Billow 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Hoffman and heartiest albeit retarded greetings 
 of the Season, I remain dear Sir, 
 "Yours most truly, 
 
 "HANS VON BULOW." 
 
 Between the first and second visits to this 
 country, he had married a woman of un- 
 usual culture, charm, and intelligence, who 
 has recently edited with great ability sev- 
 eral volumes of his letters, published in 
 Germany and America soon after his death. 
 It is gratifying to know that in her devo- 
 tion and sympathetic companionship he 
 must have found compensation for the 
 troubles and sorrows of his first matrimonial 
 experience. 
 
 There is no doubt but the musical world 
 of to-day is strongly dominated by Wagner. 
 Musical thought is unconsciously influ- 
 enced by any school of music that suddenly 
 supplants the old traditions, and it is diffi- 
 cult for composers to avoid a certain imita- 
 tion of so subtle and powerful a style as 
 that of Richard Wagner. 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 If the old laws of composition interfere 
 with his inspiration, he discards them and 
 makes his own but he produces tonal 
 effects that are superlatively fine. We all 
 crave new sensations, and he has given 
 them to us sometimes, perhaps, at too 
 great length, since we are mortals and the 
 "sublime" will "weary" if not withdrawn 
 before nature is exhausted. But who has 
 interpreted with greater fascination the 
 sounds of the forest or the rippling of waters, 
 the song of the bird or the crackling of 
 flames! Add to these the love motifs, the 
 picturesque settings of his operas all planned 
 by him, and the stupendous task of adapt- 
 ing the old legends and myths into poems 
 that hold your interest and attention 
 through hours of representation, and you 
 have before you the work of a Titan that 
 claims the admiration of the world. 
 
 It is often a subject of wonder to people 
 how anything new can be evolved from 
 152 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 such well-worn material as the old musical 
 gamut or scale but it is, after all, only a 
 framework, and inspiration has its own 
 tools. We do not criticise the sacred fire if 
 it consumes our oldest traditions. Perhaps 
 the story of Balfe's method of finding mel- 
 odies when inspiration failed may be new 
 to some. He would put the letters of the 
 musical alphabet on separate bits of paper, 
 duplicating each letter several times, then 
 draw them out from a hat, one by one, and 
 note them down, having previously decided 
 upon his key and time. The reiterated 
 notes of some of his melodies certainly war- 
 rant the truth of this : 
 
 And still another of the composer of the 
 "Glory Hallelujah" chorus of war-time 
 fame, who, in consequence of its popular- 
 ity, turned the tune upside down and manu- 
 153 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 factured "When this cruel war is over," 
 and garnered another good harvest: 
 
 But these tricks are unworthy and only 
 fit for the factory which is now striving to 
 enter into competition with the handiwork 
 of the musician, and to give to the world, by 
 means of mechanical contrivances, what he 
 has paid for perhaps with his life's blood. 
 They will have their success and their day 
 of triumph, but they cannot survive. 
 
 It has often amused me to look for musi- 
 cal resemblances; there are so many curi- 
 154 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 ous instances of the same musical phrase 
 being conceived by different great com- 
 posers. It is perhaps remarkable that they 
 do not occur oftener. I have discarded 
 many of my own compositions that I 
 thought rather good, because some one, 
 perhaps one of my own children, would say 
 upon hearing it: "Oh, father, that is just 
 like so and so!" naming possibly some well- 
 known composition. I usually found they 
 were right in their diagnosis, and I would 
 decide to change the treatment or, more 
 often, give up the case. 
 
 If it were possible to look as far into the 
 future as I have into the past, I might pre- 
 dict that the great composers of the twen- 
 tieth century would be found in America. 
 To-day, even, we can name several of 
 whom we are justly proud. Who knows, 
 indeed, but the descendant of the native 
 Indian will be capable of singing the songs 
 of the forest primeval, the rush of the cata- 
 ract, and the legends of his vanished tribe, 
 155 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 in harmonies as yet unheard or even im- 
 agined ? I am told that given the usual ad- 
 vantages of an ordinary education, it takes 
 but one generation from the full-blooded 
 savage to make an excellent orthodox 
 divinity student, as well as a good Ameri- 
 can citizen with right of suffrage. If the 
 road is so short from the prairie to the pul- 
 pit, and from the wigwam shall we say 
 to the White House ? why may not music 
 look for a new prophet among this peo- 
 ple so amenable to the influences of civ- 
 ilization ? They have ever been a silent 
 race, given to but slight interchange in lan- 
 guage; it is not impossible that they should 
 eventually find their inspiration in music, 
 and wring from our well-nigh exhausted 
 gamut tonal effects hitherto unknown. 
 
 The testimonial concert which was ten- 
 dered to me at Chickering Hall on De- 
 cember i, 1897, in celebration of my fifty 
 years of musical work in this country, led 
 me to search the archives of memory for 
 
 156 
 
Richard Hoffman, 1893 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 these musical recollections. Scattered and 
 incomplete as they are, I dedicate them to 
 those who have been my friends and pu- 
 pils in the course of this long period, and 
 who have helped me by their encourage- 
 ment and appreciation to feel that my 
 labors in the cause we have loved have not 
 been in vain. 
 
 157 
 
HOW TO STIMULATE 
 
 THOUGHT AND IMAGINATION 
 
 IN A PUPIL 
 
 BY RICHARD HOFFMAN 
 
 I Reprinted by permission from " The Music of the Modern World." 
 Copyright, 1895, by D. Appleton and Company.] 
 
CO much of the individuality of the 
 ^ teacher must enter into his musical in- 
 struction to others, that it is difficult for 
 him to see himself as others see him and 
 to describe with any accuracy the way in 
 which he achieves his results. While I do 
 not undervalue the necessity of technical 
 studies, it has always seemed to me that un- 
 due attention is being given to them, often 
 to the exclusion of the higher education in 
 music. Of course, the fingers must be 
 trained by a course of technique full of 
 unaccustomed difficulties, which finally 
 leaves us free to think of higher things. 
 But evenness of tone and of touch are not 
 everything in fact, nothing per se for 
 we can combine both in the mechanical 
 pianos and organs so much in vogue at the 
 present time. When an artistic player is 
 heard, it is the variety of tone, the infinite 
 shading, expression, and feeling, which 
 charm and uplift us. And these are not 
 all the result of technical study. He must 
 have gone deeper than this; and although 
 161 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 it is wisely said that poets and artists are 
 born, not made, I think it possible to 
 awaken the faculties of appreciation, which, 
 added to perseverance and zeal, produce a 
 disciple not unworthy of the master. 
 
 A technical stumbling-block to ad- 
 vanced pupils arises from the fact that 
 most of the great modern composers for 
 the pianoforte had very large hands. Hen- 
 selt, Chopin, and Rubinstein have all 
 written etudes which are simply impossible 
 for small hands, and I give here the posi- 
 tion in which Henselt is said to have placed 
 his fingers upon the keyboard, keeping 
 them there while he read a book held open 
 upon the music-desk: 
 
 Hands capable 9f maintaining this position 
 could play his. Etude No. 5, Op. 2, Book I, 
 or Chopin's Etude No. 8, Op. 25, Book 
 II, with comparative ease. Different meth- 
 ods must of necessity be adopted to in- 
 crease the extension of the fingers. Some 
 162 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 pupils have hands so pliable that they can 
 bend the fingers back until they touch the 
 arm; others, again, cannot bend them at 
 all. The average extension of a woman's 
 hand is a ninth, a tenth being rarely 
 reached on the white keys. 
 
 It is a familiar experience to find the ap- 
 petite of the pupil for some coveted piece 
 bringing him safely through difficulties 
 apparently insurmountable. For this rea- 
 son I put the art of interpretation before 
 overmuch technical study. The passion 
 for playing will stimulate the technique of 
 the pupil and create resources by its own 
 desire. Reflection and comparison furnish 
 food for imagination. I try to induce my 
 pupils to make an analysis of whatever 
 they may be studying, and also to stimulate 
 research, by asking questions like the fol- 
 lowing: "Why is it that the great com- 
 posers in depicting a storm have invaria- 
 bly chosen the minor key ? Rossini in the 
 * Overture to William Tell,' Beethoven in 
 the 'Pastoral Symphony,' Spohr in his 
 ' Power of Sound/ Wagner in his ' Walkure' 
 prelude." Also, "Why should the chord of 
 the diminished seventh be always used 
 when the devil appears upon the scene ? 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 Weber in 'Der Freischiitz' (Caspar), 
 Gounod in his 'Faust', and Wagner in his 
 ' Overture to Faust, ' " to mention a few in- 
 stances. Again, I ask them, "Have you 
 noticed that Hungarian airs commence on 
 the down beat, or first of the bar, Wagner's 
 later melodies and subjects doing the 
 same?" 
 
 In pursuance of this system, if a pupil 
 were studying Beethoven's Sonata in A 
 Flat, I should desire to find out his concep- 
 tion of the movement following the funeral 
 march written on the death of a hero. I 
 should ask, "What moved him to intro- 
 duce this light and almost frivolous theme 
 so close upon the footsteps of the mourn- 
 ers?" In many instances the pupil might 
 be young and happy enough not to have 
 thought out such a problem, but the more 
 experienced mind, and one to whom music 
 has many things to say, will see that Bee- 
 thoven only depicts the giddy world which 
 goes on amusing itself in an unceasing 
 whirl of gayety in spite of death and even 
 irreparable loss. In the concluding move- 
 ment of the Chopin sonata containing the 
 funeral march there is much to be thought 
 out and studied; but only the most ad- 
 164 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 vanced pupils would be capable of giving 
 it any meaning, and only one player 1 that I 
 have heard has succeeded in giving an 
 absolutely perfect rendering of what must 
 be the whistling wind sweeping the hurry- 
 ing clouds before the face of the moon and 
 lashing the trees in relentless fury, then 
 moaning itself away like a restless spirit. 
 
 Questions would naturally arise sug- 
 gested by the work in hand, and some of 
 those connected with time and rhythm 
 might not be out of place here such as: 
 " Where does the accent fall in the waltz 
 that is, on what part of the measure? 
 Where, in the mazourka ? polka ?" Again, 
 "Why are so many compositions written 
 in three-fourth time and called waltzes, 
 found to be impossible as dance music?" 
 If the pupil can tell me that the spirit of the 
 waltz with the sentiments and feelings 
 which it inspires in the dancers is as much 
 a part of the composition as the dancing 
 motif, it is safe to believe that the Chopin 
 waltzes and mazourkas will receive an in- 
 telligent interpretation. 
 
 A favorite theoretical question of mine is, 
 "Don't you think the ear could be made 
 
 1 De Pachmann. 
 
 165 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 to accept and even like a scale all the in- 
 tervals of which are whole steps thus: 
 
 instead of the diatonic scale, where the in- 
 terval from the third to the fourth and the 
 seventh to the eighth is a half-step ?" The 
 invariable answer is "No." "Now play 
 it fast, fingering it as marked." 
 
 This pleases better. "Yes, I rather like 
 it." This leads to an explanation of the 
 construction of the Scotch and even the 
 Chinese scales, perhaps branching into a 
 description of the Gregorian tones. One 
 can pursue the subject as far back as the 
 old modes of the ancient Greeks with their 
 quarter tones or steps, although we are 
 daily getting further and further away 
 from these delicate distinctions. Good 
 166 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 violinists have told me that they no longer 
 make any difference in stopping the G 
 sharp and A flat, C sharp and D flat, and 
 the other enharmonic intervals, and one 
 cannot but feel that these finer subdivisions 
 will soon become lost to art. Everything 
 that can interest or stimulate the curiosity 
 of a pupil or tend toward enlarging the 
 scope of his musical ideas is valuable, and 
 while the fingers are resting, the head may 
 work with those finer tools, which together 
 produce an intelligent and finished result. 
 
 Another interesting but more intricate 
 study would be following the different mod- 
 ulations of a composition, for instance: 
 Chopin's Nocturne G major, Op. 37, No. 
 2, or the first movement of Beethoven's 
 Sonata, Op. 53. 
 
 I advise my pupils to hear as much good 
 singing and as many operas as possible. 
 The ear cannot be better trained than by 
 this means. To hear such an artist as Jean 
 de Reszke phrase and enunciate in the 
 "Salut!" cavatina of the garden scene in 
 Gounod's "Faust," or to be able to recall 
 one's impressions on hearing, and I may 
 add seeing, Nilsson and Campanini in the 
 duo of the fourth act of the "Huguenots" 
 167 
 
Richard Hoffman 
 
 with all its conflicting emotions of love, 
 honor, and despair, is an education in 
 itself. I know that it has influenced my 
 own powers of interpretation, and I look 
 back upon the seventy or more operas that I 
 have heard, with frequent repetitions, in my 
 lifetime, as being one of the sources from 
 which I have drawn my musical education. 
 I include in this advice all good orchestral 
 concerts where standard works are played, 
 leading my pupils to mark that in all the 
 classical compositions every note is audi- 
 ble and is given to the right instrument 
 fewer instruments producing by this means 
 as grand an effect as double the number 
 in a more modern work, where a host of 
 
 players are uselessly spending their strength 
 
 i-i -i 
 
 upon passages which are entirely over- 
 powered by the heavier brass of the present- 
 day orchestra. All this head-knowledge 
 will be sure to come out at the finger-ends. 
 Those great pianists who can charm their 
 hearers by their interpretations can be 
 quickly counted, while those who excel in 
 digital dexterity alone are as innumerable 
 as the stars of the firmament. 
 
 168 
 
Ipljilijarmomc &ociet of 
 lirsires to rrprr s,a its rrspect anD 
 p for te late Kk!)3rt> Hoffman, 
 a pianist of iJisttnguieJjeti ability anto 
 for fortp'fifae pearjs an Ijonorarp member 
 of the {Philharmonic orietv* Cie ap* 
 peareU on more t|)an tljirt? Uifferent 
 occasions a0 jsoloiet at tlje concerts of 
 t|)e 
 
 (^i0 laiBt appearance toa0 at t|)e 
 bal Concert0 of tl)e jpiftietl) 
 rp of te g)^ill)armonic, ^9r Hoffman 
 teas born in S^ancl?e3ter t (ZEnglanH, on 
 $pap 24t!) t 1831, anU came to America 
 in 1847, $e Uieti 2ucu0t 17t|), 1909* 
 
 Memorial Notice of the Philharmonic Society in the concert-programme 
 of January 20, 1910. 
 
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