night for the wars, and the Lady Etha's
loss of the wedding ring. The next number, a solo quartet and chorus
("Ah! Huntsman, who gave thee the Diamond Ring?"), is very dramatic in
its delineation of the return of the victorious Knight, who, observing
the ring on the finger of the huntsman, slays him, and then in a fit of
jealousy hurls the Lady Etha from the tower where she was waving his
welcome. The next number is a female chorus ("On mossy Bed her gentle
Form reposes"), very slow in its movement and plaintive in character. It
is followed by a weird and solemn chorus ("Through the Night rings the
Horn's Blast with Power"), picturing the mad ride of the Knight through
the darkness, accompanied by the dismal notes of ravens and mysterious
sounds like "greetings from the dead," which only cease when he discovers
the corpse of his lady with the cross on its breast. A short closing
chorus, funereal in style, ends the mournful story:--

"Toggenburg all is in mourning array,
The banners wave, the gate stands wide,
Count Henry returns to his home this day,
In death he anew has won his bride.
Once more for their coming the hall is prepared,
Where flickering tapers are ranged around,
And far through the night in the valley are heard
The chants of the monks with their mournful sound."

Though the work has somewhat both of the Schumann and Mendelssohn
sentiment in it, it is nevertheless original and characteristic in
treatment. The melodies are pleasing throughout, and cover a wide range
of expression, reaching from the tenderness of love to the madness of
jealousy, and thence on to the elegiac finale.

ROMBERG.

Andreas Romberg was born April 27, 1767, at Vechte, near Muenster. At a
very early age he was celebrated as a violinist. In his seventeenth year
he made a _furor_ by his playing at the Concerts Spirituels, Paris. In
1790, with his cousin Bernhard, who was even more celebrated as a
violoncellist (indeed the Rombergs, like the Bachs, were all musicians),
he played in the Elector's band, and also went with him to Rome, where
the cousins gave concerts together under the patronage of one of the
cardinals. During the next four years Andreas travelled in Austria and
France, and during his stay at Vienna made the acquaintance of Haydn, who
was very much interested in his musical work. In 1800 he brought out an
opera in Paris which made a failure. He then left f