Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

HENSELT 209
played some of Henselt's own Studies, one or two
Nocturnes of Chopin, and many of Bach's preludes
and fugues (in which Henselt made me play all the
shakes), and some of Moscheles' Studies.
The reader will, I fancy, like to have some descrip-
tion of Henselt's house and of his ways ; and he, I
know, would not have objected to my giving this
somewhat in detail, for he was much amused when a
German periodical described the castle in G-orlitz,
where many years ago he and his wife lived in
palatial style. This paper even quoted conversations
in which he had taken a prominent part, and made
no attempt to conceal the names of the persons who
were referred, to.
I fancied that Henselt, when in St. Petersburg,
lived in a large mansion, that he had an equipage
and a retinue of servants, and I was much surprised
to find that he had only a first floor, consisting of
five or six rooms. Going through the hall and up to
the first floor, one read in Eussian characters, on a
plate at the right-hand side of the outer door, ' Excel-
lency von Gensel ' (there is no h in the Eussian lan-
guage).
On ringing the bell, his servant-man, if it was in
the winter, helped you to take off all
attire— goloshes, cap, etc.—and then
your outdoor
ushered ,;you
into the ante-room, a small, one-windowed room,
where all the furniture was covered with hoUand of
spotless whiteness.
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