would rebuke the offender on the spot. And if any of the singers ventured to alter a single passage he was reminded that he changed the notes at his peril, and that he had better adhere to the composer's intentions.
Queen Victoria was, in her youthful days, an excellent pianiste and vocalist. Mendelssohn relates that on visiting England he was entertained by the Queen and Prince Consort at Buckingham Palace, and that the Queen sang some of his songs with charming expression and feeling. Says he, "I praised her heartily and with the best conscience in the world." Prince Albert was himself an excellent organist and Mendelssohn leaves record that "his playing would have done credit to any professional." He was also a composer of no mean ability.
The Duke of Edinburg and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha has inherited his father's talent and is quite proficient as a violinist. He has appeared frequently in public both as a violinist and as an orchestral conductor. He is really possessed of much talent, although some of the Liberal papers delight to speak in a sneering way of the "royal fiddler."
The present Princess of Wales has had the degree of Doctor of Music conferred upon her by one of the great English universities, although it was evidently a matter of honoring royalty more than one of honoring a musician.
The royal family of Germany is also quite musical. The recent emperors have had considerable musical training and old Emperor William had been known to take the baton and conduct a military band, in this way securing a performance to his liking. The present Emperor, William II, is much of a musician and has even published a few compositions in march and song style. In one of his recent compositions both words and music are from the royal pen.
