THE JEW SHARP 243 



dinary skill, and of him the following story is told. One summer 

 evening, sitting by an open window, the king overheard strains of 

 music of unusual quality, and on making enquiry learned that they 

 arose from a jewsharp played by a soldier doing sentinel duty in the 

 garden. Thereupon Frederick commanded the musician to ascend to 

 his suite of apartments and to play before him, but young Koch politely 

 refused to do so without an order from his colonel. ' But I am king,' 

 said Frederick. ' I know it, your majesty, but I can not leave my post, 

 or I shall be punished.' Although very angry, the king respected the 

 sentinel's candor and fidelity. On the following day Koch, by invita- 

 tion of the king and an order from the colonel, played in Frederick's 

 apartments and so delighted him that the king gave him a sum of 

 money and an honorable discharge from the army. Koch then traveled 

 through Germany, giving exhibitions of his skill and playing in con- 

 certs, whereby he accumulated a moderate fortune. The chief attrac- 

 tion of Koch's playing was his descriptive music, pieces similar to the 

 ' Turkish Patrol ' ; he used to depict a funeral procession marching 

 along to the tolling of bells, the approach and passing of a chorus of 

 mourners, and their singing of an old German popular dirge. 



In the first decade of the century just closed Heinrich Scheibler, 

 of Cref eld, invented an instrument which he called ' Aura ' ; it con- 

 sisted of ten jewsharps of different keys grouped in two series of five 

 each and fastened to a disk, with the bows towards the center, so that 

 the jaws diverged like rays. With this combination he performed in 

 concerts before large audiences, producing surprising and beautiful 

 effects. 



But by far the most eminent performer on jewsharps was a man 

 named Charles Eulenstein, born in Wiirtemberg about 1802. He spent 

 many years studying the capabilities of the jewsharp, and being an 

 accomplished musician, he found that the best effects could only be 

 obtained with instruments of different pitch, and he had manufactured 

 sixteen jewsharps, on four of which he was able to play at once by 

 connecting them with silken cords so arranged that he could grasp 

 four with his lips. He appeared in London in 1827-8 and had great 

 success playing in concerts and producing effects greatly admired by 

 amateurs. Eventually his teeth were injured and he had them repaired 

 by a clever dentist, who coated them with some glutinous substance 

 that aided him in supporting the iron instrument. He also performed 

 in Scotland and on the Continent; he was still living in 1878 at Ulm. 



Wheatstone wrote of this expert as follows: 



Mr. Eulenstein by using sixteen jewsharps was able to produce effects truly- 

 original and of extreme beautv. Those who have heard only the rude twanging 

 to which the performance of this instrument in ordinary hands is confined can 

 have no idea of the melodious sounds which in Mr. Eulenstein's hands it is 

 capable of producing. 



