old character,
nearly as fine a type as Goethe himself. Heine once said, "Musicians
constitute a third sex." And that there have been some unsexed, or at
least unmanly men, who were great musicians, need not be denied. The art
of music borders more closely upon the dim and mystic realms of the
inspirational than any of the other arts. Music refuses to give up its
secrets in a formula and at last eludes the sciolist with his ever-ready
theorem. But still, all musicians are not dreamers. Zelter, for
instance, was a most hard-headed, practical man: a positivist and
mathematician with a turn for economics, and a Gradgrind for facts. He
was a stone-mason, and worked at his trade at odd times all through his
life, just because he felt it was every man's duty to work with his
hands. Imagine Tolstoy playing the piano and composing instead of making
shoes, and you have Zelter.

This curious character was bound to the Mendelssohn family by his love
for Moses Mendelssohn, the grandfather of Felix. Moses Mendel added the
"sohn" in loving recognition of his father, just as "Bartholdy" was
added by the father of Felix in loving token to his wife. It was the
grandfather of Felix who first gave glory to the name. We sometimes
forget that Moses Mendelssohn was one of the greatest thinkers Germany
has produced--the man who summed up in his own head all the philosophy
of the time and gave Spinoza to the world. This was the man to whom the
erratic Zelter was bound in admiration, and when it was suggested that
he teach musical composition to the grandchild of his idol, he accepted
the post with zest.

But there came a shade of disappointment to the grim and bearded Zelter
when he failed to find a trace of resemblance between the child and the
child's grandfather. The boy was sprightly, emotional, loving; and could
play the piano from his tenth year better than Zelter himself. When
Goethe teasingly suggested this fact, Zelter replied, "You mean he plays
different, not better." Goethe apologized.

Yet the boy was not a philosopher, and this grieved Zelter, who wanted
him to be the grandson of his grandfather, and a musician besides.

The lad's skill in composition, however, soon turned the old teacher's
fears into joy. Such a pupil he had never had before! And he did not
reason it out that no one else had ever had, either. The child, like
Chopin, read music before he read print, and improvised, merging one
tune with another, bringing har