The singer Hauser, the violoncellist Lindner, the hornist Segisser, the
authoress Fräulein Anna Ettlinger--all resident in Carlsruhe--the
learned Oberschulrath Gustav Wendt, called there in 1867, whose rooms
were the scene of many distinguished gatherings, are to be included in
our list; and of particular interest is the name of the violoncellist
Bernhard Cossmann, of Weimar celebrity, who settled at Baden-Baden in
1870. Brahms was a willing and heartily welcome visitor at his house,
and took part there in performances of his E minor Violoncello Sonata,
and, with the hornist Steinbrügger, of the Horn Trio.
A noteworthy and picturesque figure, familiar in the artist circle, was
that of Tourgenieff, who visited Baden-Baden annually from early in the
sixties until the opening of the seventies. In conclusion is to be added
the name of Pauline Viardot-Garcia, who settled at Baden in 1863,
building a spacious villa in the Lichtenthaler Allée for her summer
residence, which contained a gallery of fine paintings, chiefly of the
Spanish and Netherlands schools. Amongst her possessions was Mozart's
autograph score of 'Don Giovanni,' which she kept enshrined in a
valuable casket. Madame Viardot was a musician in a very comprehensive
sense of the word. Her triumphs on the operatic stage belong to the
history of musico-dramatic art; she had been a pupil of Liszt on the
pianoforte, had studied counterpoint and composition, and composed a
good deal. Several of her operettas, for which Tourgenieff furnished the
text-books, were performed privately by her pupils and children in her
miniature theatre in Baden-Baden, where she was accustomed to entertain
many of the celebrities of the time. One was given in German translation
by Richard Pohl, as 'Der letzte Zauberer,' on the Court stages of
Carlsruhe and Weimar. At the request of some of her girl pupils, Brahms
composed a short choral serenade for her birthday one summer subsequent
to our present date, and conducted its performance by the young ladies,
outside her house, at an early hour of the morning. This pleasant
incident of the seventies recalls that of the forties, when the youthful
Johannes consented to fill the offices of composer and conductor at
Winsen on the occasion of Rector Köhler's birthday.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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