Nothing is known concerning Scheidl. We have more information regarding VINCENZ HAUSCHKA, who was born on January 21, 1766, at Mies, in Bohemia, and died in Vienna, 1840. He received his first musical education as choirboy in the Prague Cathedral. After six years’ study he devoted himself to violoncello playing, in which the Bohemian, Christ, instructed him for a short time. He eventually studied independently. At sixteen he had made such progress that he found a place in the Kapelle of Count Thun. Two years later he was released from this engagement by the death of his benefactor. Hauschka then undertook a tour in Germany. In 1792 he appeared in Vienna, where he gained everywhere applause by his performances. Later, a situation was offered to him in the Imperial State service. From that time he made no professional use of his art. But he did not quite abandon it, as he took part in the foundation of the “Society of the Friends of Music,” or “Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde,” as well as the “Concert Spirituel,” and was occupied also in both these musical institutions which were of such importance to musical life in Vienna. The Dresden Hofkapelle possessed, in the second half of the last century, two noteworthy cellists, HEINRICH MEGELIN and CALMUS. The first, according to Gerber’s testimony, was counted amongst the cleverest players of his instrument. Calmus belonged, in 1797, to the orchestra of the Altona “National Orchestra,” and was then a highly reputed member of the Hofkapelle at Dresden, where he died January, 1809. In Berlin the violoncello first came to be appreciated at its due value through Frederick William II. It is true it had been already well represented under Frederick the Great, in the Court band, by GRAUL[76] and the two cellists MARA (father and son), to be mentioned elsewhere; but that great monarch, whose favourite instrument was the flute, does not appear to have thought much of the violoncello, which he feigned to allude to as the “nasal instrument,” an expression which might have been bestowed formerly on the gamba. His nephew, Frederick William II., liked the violoncello, and well understood how to handle it. He appears to have played the gamba in his younger days, for it is reported that the gambist Hesse[77] first taught him, though this instruction might also have referred to the violoncello, which many gambists took up at the same time. Later on the cellist GRAZIANI was master to the Prussian heir to the throne. But when DUPORT THE ELDER came to Berlin, in 1773, GRAZIANI was dismissed in favour of him. The future king, Frederick William II., must have played with taste and readiness. It is well known that Beethoven dedicated to him his two Cello Sonatas (Op. 5). Amongst the cellists who belonged to the Berlin Chapel towards the end of the last century must be mentioned--