Three hours before the opening of the doors, the hall had been taken as if by assault. At half-past seven they were obliged to improvise seats on the orchestra, the hall not being sufficiently large to contain the crowd. At three o'clock the steamer had brought a great number of persons from Merges, Vevay, Nyon, and even from Rolles, ten leagues from Lausanne. The public conveyances which arrived in the morning were full of dilettanti from Iverdon and Grandson.
A t'entendre Gottschalk, on passerait la vie;
Par de puissants accords tu sais nous enchanter;
Dans un monde idéal, par ta douce magie,
En ravissant nos cœurs tu sais nous transporter;
Mais si le monde entier t'a decerné la gloire,
Et si ton jeune front a requ le laurier,
Un plus doux souvenir s'attache à ta mémoire
Tu sus ici te faire aimer.
(From the Courier Suisse, Lausanne, 20 December, 1850.)
Mr. Gottschalk gave at Yverdon, on the 17th inst., a second concert which was received with the same enthusiasm. As an artist, he leaves us a unique and ineffable remembrance; as a man, he has gained our hearts. No words are sufficiently powerful to express to him our profound sentiments of sympathy, gratitude, and admiration.
(From the Feuilleton du Siècle, Paris, 1 November, 1850.)
The American pianist, Gottsohalk, has very recently obtained in Switzerland one of those successes which one may, notwithstanding la banalité of the formula, qualify as difficult to describe. Jenny Lind has almost been surpassed, for we have never heard that she was carried off bodily. This accident has happened, it is said, to Gottschalk. A young, pretty, and robust Genevese girl waited for him at the coming out of the concert, where the pianist had been covered with flowers, and enveloping him all at once in a large mantle took him in her arms and carried him off, which the frail and delicate nature of her victim permitted her to do easily, to the general consternation. We do not know if this be true; we tell it as it was told. What is certain is, that the young pianist precipitately left Geneva after having been the delight of the elegant society there, by playing with charming grace his favorite compositions, 'Bamboula,' 'la Savane,' 'le Bananier,' and his caprice on 'le Songe d'une nuit d'été.'
Oscar Commettant.
At the conclusion of his concerts, his friends at Grandson being anxious to have him, he finally concluded to pass the rest of his time at the old chateau they inhabited, which was celebrated for a siege it had sustained, and at which 'Charles le Téméraire' was killed. His visit being completed, he returned to Paris, where shortly after his arrival he received an invitation from the Queen of Spain, who was desirous to hear him play 'Le Bamboula,' which he had dedicated to her.
On the 12th of January, 1851, Mr. L. Escudier, in an
