154 [Nov. 20, 



herself with ardor to the training of a band of choristers, who in time 

 sang the most beautiful music all over the neighborhood ; she gave lovely 

 concerts, and the proceeds enabled her to carry on her pious charity a 

 much longer time. 



Much of all this I learned from her own lips, told so incidentally and 

 naturally, one could see that she did not herself appreciate its admirable 

 character. But it was strikingly confirmed to me by a lady from this city 

 who with her husband traveled through that region only a few years ago. 

 In the mountains she met a peasant whom she asked if he had ever 

 known a Mrs. Emma Seiler who once lived there. His face brightened all 

 over as he assured her that he remembered her well, and then he told 

 with enthusiasm the story of her saving the lives of sq many of his com- 

 rades and the good she had done in many ways to all the people. 



Late in August of 1851, the home at Lagenthal was broken up, the pri- 

 vate asylum came to an end, and Mrs. Seiler found it necessary to sup- 

 port herself and her children by her talent for music, and she left Swit- 

 zerland never to return to it as a home. 



She went first to Dresden, and there took lessons of "Wiek, the father of 

 Clara Schumann, with whom she became intimate. She supported her- 

 self and her children by giving piano lessons while she was cultivating 

 her voice. But while in training there she lost her voice, a bitter disap- 

 pointment to her, because ' she could earn much more by teaching vocal 

 than instrumental music. She remained in Dresden three years, during 

 which time her house was the rendezvous of the principal musical celeb- 

 rities. She worked hard at her piano lessons, but she did not recover 

 her voice. Then she went to her sister Mrs. Canstadt at Breslau and 

 passed a year giving lessons, and then to Heidelberg. Here she found 

 piano lessons poorly paid; every one wanted singing, and this inspired 

 her to study with zeal the laws of vocal physiology, and the causes of the 

 overstrain which had destroyed her own voice and that of so many 

 others. Here at Heidelberg she became intimate with the two Bunsens, 

 the chemist and the statesman, and also with Kirchoff, professor of 

 physics. Bunsen the chemist and Kirchoff together discovered the spec- 

 troscope while she was there, which excited all her enthusiasm. 



In December, 1856, she met Helmholtz, who was made professor extra- 

 ordinary of music. He was then engaged in writing his great w r ork on 

 " Sensation in Sound," and went to Mrs. Seiler almost daily for several 

 months for advice and for verification of his calculations by her ex- 

 periments. After living in Heidelberg nearly six years she went in 1856 

 to Leipsic to study herself, and to give her children a musical education 

 at the conservatory. Here she knew well Moschelles, Drysholk, and 

 David the violinist, and also the professor of physiology Ernest Heinrich 

 "Weber, and with his aid she studied the anatomy and physiology of the 

 voice and published her first book " Old and New in the Art of Singing," 

 which created a profound sensation in musical circles. From Leipsic she 

 went to Berlin. By the care and training she had given herself after she 



