THALBERG, SIGISMOND. 



THIERS, LOUIS A. 



737 



Eight of the now roads huilding will converge 

 at Houston, at the head of tide-water on Buf- 

 falo Bayou, sixty miles from the Gulf of Mex- 

 icofrom Galveston, Columbia, Oolumhus, San 

 Felipe, Austin City, Central Texas, Northern 

 Texas, and New Orleans ; and, in anticipation 

 of the increase in traffic, the channel is being 

 deepened, so that vessels of the largest size 

 can come up to the city. 



Owing to the opposition of large portions of 

 the white population to the public-school sys- 

 tem adopted by the Legislature in 1870, the 

 work of establishing free schools has progressed 

 through many distracting difficulties. Of the 

 235,000 children in the State, of school age, 

 according to the school census, only about 

 25,000 were at the close of the year receiving 

 education in either public or private schools ; 

 the majority of these were colored. Previous 

 to September, public schools were generally 

 unknown. About one hundred and sixty free 

 schools were in operation in the fall and win- 

 ter. The sum of $504,500 was appropriated 

 by the Legislature for school purposes, to be 

 added to the amount raised by taxation,, esti- 

 mated, as stated in the table elsewhere of esti- 

 mated State income from taxation, at $2,250,- 

 000. The Superintendent of Public Schools, 

 in determining the distribution of the appro- 

 priation for school purposes, fixed on a pro 

 rata of $1.70 to each child. By an act passed 

 by the Legislature in the fall, supplementary 

 to the school law of 1870, the State is divided 

 into twelve educational districts. 



THALBERG, SIGISMOND, the most eminent 

 pianist of the century, born at Geneva, Swit- 

 zerland, January 7, 1812; died at Naples, 

 April 27, 1871. He was the natural son of 

 Count Dietrichstein, Grand-Chamberlain of 

 the Emperor of Austria. His mother was a 

 distinguished and intellectual lady of Geneva, 

 who superintended his education with great 

 care. Having early developed musical tastes, 

 he was sent to Vienna while yet a child, to 

 become a pupil of Sechter, and afterward of 

 Hummel. When not more than twelve years 

 of age, he astonished his preceptors by his 

 wonderful skill and tact in playing. At fifteen 

 he was a successful pianist in saloons and con- 

 certs ; at sixteen he published his own com- 

 positions; at the age of eighteen he com- 

 menced a series of public concerts, which 

 within the next five years made his reputation 

 known throughout Germany. In 1834 he was 

 attached to the Austrian imperial court as 

 pianist, and accompanied the Emperor Ferdi- 

 nand to the Congress at Toplitz. In 1835 he 

 made his first appearance in Paris, where he 

 won a permanent renown, and whence he 

 visited London, to reap there a great harvest 

 for his brilliant performances. He oscillated 

 for some years between London, Paris, and 

 Vienna equally at home in each city. In 

 1845 he married a widowed daughter of the 

 singer Lablache. For several years after _ his 

 marriage he continued to give concerts, visit- 

 VOL. xi. i7 A 



ing the United States, Mexico, and South 

 America, and the distant island-continent of 

 Australia. At length, with a very large fortune, 

 he returned to Europe and took up his resi- 

 dence at Naples, where his father-in-law had 

 long resided. He erected there a beautiful 

 and costly villa, but secluded himself from so- 

 ciety, cultivating his vines, and making and 

 selling wine, of which he really made the best 

 in Southern Italy. He was avaricious and 

 cold in his disposition, but correct and irre- 

 proachable in his deportment. In religion he 

 was a freethinker, and the only expenditure 

 which he made without regret was the pur- 

 chase of such geological works as he thought 

 would enable him to controvert the biblical 

 record. His published music, though some of 

 it of great value, particularly the themes and 

 fantasias, yet loses much from the lack of his 

 wonderful skill, elegance, and brilliancy in 

 performing it, and he perhaps judged wisely 

 when in his will he prohibited his widow from 

 publishing any of his numerous manuscripts. 

 His attempts at opera were not successful, and 

 his song-music has but little value. Of his 

 playing it would be impossible to say too much 

 in the way of commendation ; the charm of 

 his touch was indescribable ; it has never been 

 approached, much less surpassed. In tours 

 de force, Lizt and Rubenstein were more 

 startling and sensational, but in tone and 

 delicacy they did not rival Thalberg. He in- 

 troduced novel effects in piano-forte playing ; 

 he did not follow the classic style of Beet- 

 hoven or Mozart ; he did not imitate Clementi, 

 Dussek, or Hummel. He essayed to do with 

 one hand what his predecessors effected with 

 two hands. His system was to make promi- 

 nent a clear and defined motif, and then to 

 envelop it with brilliant arpeggios, rich har- 

 monies, taking up the entire key-board with 

 the ten fingers instead of working each hand on 

 the treble and bass, with a gap between the 

 two hands in the centre of the piano-forte. By 

 the ingenious use of a single finger and of the 

 thumb, he contrived combinations as sonorous 

 as if two instruments were being played upon. 

 TVith Thalberg the central keys of the piano- 

 forte formed a solo-singer, while the extreme 

 keys in treble and bass constituted his or- 

 chestra. 



THIERS, Louis ADOLPH, was born at Mar- 

 seilles, on April 16, 1796. He came of a family 

 of cloth-merchants who had been ruined by 

 the revolution. He entered upon the study of 

 law in the academy at Aix when eighteen' 

 years old, and afterward engaged in practice 

 at that place. His taste inclined him rather 

 to history, politics, and national economy, than, 

 to the regular duties of his profession. He and 

 his school-friend Mignet went to Paris in 1820, 

 with the view of engaging in journalism. 

 Thiers had some difficulty and delay in securing- 

 a position. Eventually he made the acquaint- 

 ance of Manuel, the popular Deputy, through 

 whose influence he obtained from Lafitte, IIL 



