Music was considered a proper relaxation for royalty, and in the eighteenth century every petty court aimed to keep its orchestra and performers, while very often the exalted hearers would try their own hands at playing or composing. Frederick the Great was especially fond of music, and played the flute with much skill and persistence, and his sister, the Princess Anna Amalie, was as gifted as her brother in a musical way. She wrote many compositions, of which an organ trio has been published in a Leipsic collection, while her cantata, "Der Tod Jesu," represents a more ambitious vein. Contemporary with her was Maria Antonia, daughter of the Emperor Charles VII., and pupil of such famous men as Porpora and Hasse. Her musical aspirations took the form of operas, of which two, "Il Trionfo della Fedelta" and "Talestri," have been published recently. Amalia Anna, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, composed the incidental music for Goethe's melodrama, "Erwin and Elmira," and won flattering notices, though part of their praise may have been due to her rank. Maria Charlotte Amalie, Duchess of Saxe-Gotha, published several songs, and wrote a symphony for an orchestra of ten instruments. Coming into the nineteenth century, we find the Princess Amalie of Saxony possessed of considerable talent. Her skill showed itself in the form of various pieces of church music and no less than fourteen operas, best among them "Die Siegesfahne" and "Der Kanonenschuss." The Empress Augusta herself, wife of Kaiser Wilhelm I., besides always fostering the art of music, was gifted with a talent for composing, even in the larger forms. Among her works are an overture, the ballet "Die Maskerade," and several marches, of which one is on the German army lists at present. Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, who lived but twenty-four years, found time to compose several marches and a number of songs and piano pieces. Among living composers, Princess Beatrice of Battenberg is the author of a number of melodious songs, also an orchestral march and some church responses. Saxe-Meiningen seems to hold its own in the present as well as the past. Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Emperor Frederick III., has composed some military and Turkish marches, also a tuneful "Cradle Song" for violin and piano. Marie Elizabeth, of the same principality, counts among her works an "Einzugsmarsch" for orchestra, a Torch Dance for two pianos, a number of piano pieces, and a Romanze for clarinet and piano.