40 ENVIRONMENT AND EDUCATION -II 



of its reputation, the leading singer being the famous Jo- 

 anna Wagner. But my greatest satisfaction was derived 

 from the "Liebig Classical Concerts. " These were, un- 

 doubtedly, the best instrumental music then given in 

 Europe, and a small party of us were very assiduous in 

 our attendance. Three afternoons a week we were, as a 

 rule, gathered about our table in the garden where the 

 concerts were given, and, in the midst of us, Alexander 

 Thayer, the biographer of Beethoven, who discussed the 

 music with us during its intervals. Beethoven was, for 

 him, the one personage in human history, and Beethoven's 

 music the only worthy object of human concern. He knew 

 every composition, every note, every variant, and had 

 wrestled for years with their profound meanings. Many 

 of his explanations were fantastic, but some were sug- 

 gestive and all were interesting. Even more inspiring 

 was another new-found friend, Henry Simmons Frieze ; a 

 thorough musician, and a most lovely character. He 

 broached no theories, uttered no comments, but sat rapt 

 by the melody and harmony transfigured " his face as 

 it had been the face of an angel. " In these Liebig con- 

 certs we then heard, for the first time, the music of a 

 new composer, one Wagner, and agreed that while it 

 was all very strange, there was really something in the 

 overture to ' ' Tannhauser. " 



At the close of this stay in Berlin, I went with a party 

 of fellow-students through Austria to Italy. The whole 

 journey was a delight, and the passage by steamer from 

 Trieste to Venice was made noteworthy by a new ac- 

 quaintance, James Russell Lowell. As he had already 

 written the "Vision of Sir Launfal," the "Fable for Crit- 

 ics/' and the "Biglow Papers," I stood in great awe of 

 him; but this feeling rapidly disappeared in his genial 

 presence. He was a student like the rest of us, for 

 he had been passing the winter at Dresden, working 

 in German literature, as a preparation for succeeding 

 Longfellow in the professorship at Harvard. He 

 came to our rooms, and there linger delightfully in 



