Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

244
MY MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
know how glad I was to see him once more. He was
pleased when I reached him, quite out of breath, and
said, 'Meister, Meister, just stop a moment!' and
then he went iii, and I had a lovely walk through the
leafy alleys and out into the open country until it
grew quite dark, and I went home to my Mtel garni
and retired to rest.
At seven the next morning, while I was taking
coffee in my room, the maid came to tell me that
' Excellency von Henselt ' was downstairs, and asking
for me ;
and when I ran down, there was the venerable
Meister, looking so kind, so genial, so hearty, that I
was in great delight, and augured on the spur of the
moment—what turned out afterwards quite the
reverse—a very happy summer. The trying state
of Frau von Henselt affected the Meister's spirits so
much, that it was all one could do to keep him from
falling into gloom and despondency. It was, indeed,
a privilege, but a sad one, to be, with one or two
others, the companion of his walks, and to try to get
him even for a while to think of something else.
One privilege fell to my lot to which I shall ever
look back with almost unalloyed pleasure. We had
often spoken of Mozart's stringed quartets and quin-
tets, Henselt saying that they were so beautiful as
duets for the pianoforte, that to play them was, to
his thinking, one of the greatest pleasures a musician
can know. He had, I knew, tried one or two with a
young lady (the one previously referred to), and I