My Life, vol 2 | Page 5

would be wiser to abide by his son's decision, though he did not do so
without evincing a good deal of ill-humour towards me. He had not
replied to a letter I had written him to explain my conduct in the matter,
but I afterwards learned that he had visited his son in Zurich by way of
patching up a reconciliation.
I went several times to St. Gall to see the young men, as they remained
there during the winter months. I found Karl lost in gloomy thought: he
had again met with an unfavourable reception when conducting Gluck's
Overture to Iphigenia, and was keeping aloof from everybody. Hans
was busily rehearsing with a very poor company and a horrible
orchestra, in a hideous theatre. Seeing all this misery, I told Hans that
for the time being he had picked up enough to pass for a practical
musician or even for an experienced conductor.
The question now was to find him a sphere which would give him a
suitable scope for his talents. He told me that his father was going to
send him to Freiherr von Poissl, the manager of the Munich Court
Theatre, with a letter of introduction. But his mother soon intervened,
and wanted him to go to Weimar to continue his musical training under
Liszt. This was all I could desire; I felt greatly relieved and heartily
recommended the young man, of whom I was very fond, to my
distinguished friend.

He left St. Gall at Easter, 1851, and during the long period of his stay in
Weimar I was released from the responsibility of looking after him.
Meanwhile Ritter remained in melancholy retirement, and not being
able to make up his mind whether or not he should return to Zurich,
where he would be disagreeably reminded of his unlucky debut, he
preferred for the present to stay in seclusion at St. Gall.
The sojourn of my young friends at St. Gall had been pleasantly varied
during the previous winter by a visit to Zurich, when Hans made his
appearance as pianist at one of the concerts of the musical society there.
I also took an active part in it by conducting one of Beethoven's
symphonies, and it was a great pleasure to us both to give each other
mutual encouragement.
I had been asked to appear again at this society's concerts during the
winter. However, I only did so occasionally, to conduct a Beethoven
symphony, making it a condition that the orchestra, and more
especially the string instruments, should be reinforced by capable
musicians from other towns.
As I always required three rehearsals for each symphony, and many of
the musicians had to come from a great distance, our work acquired
quite an imposing and solemn character. I was able to devote the time
usually taken up by a rehearsal to the study of one symphony, and
accordingly had leisure to work out the minutest details of the
execution, particularly as the technical difficulties were not of an
insuperable character. My facility in interpreting music at that time
attained a degree of perfection I had not hitherto reached, and I
recognised this by the unexpected effect my conducting produced.
The orchestra contained some really talented and clever musicians,
among whom I may mention Fries, an oboist, who, starting from a
subordinate place, had been appointed a leading player. He had to
practice with me, just as a singer would do, the more important parts
allotted to his instrument in Beethoven's symphonies. When we first
produced the Symphony in C minor, this extraordinary man played the
small passage marked adagio at the fermata of the first movement in a
manner I have never heard equalled. After my retirement from the
directorship of these concerts he left the orchestra and went into
business as a music-seller.
The orchestra could further boast of a Herr Ott-Imhoff, a highly

cultured and well-to-do man who belonged to a noble family, and had
joined the orchestra as a patron and as an amateur musician. He played
the clarionet with a soft and charming tone which was somewhat
lacking in spirit. I must also mention the worthy Herr Bar, a
cornet-player, whom I appointed leader of the brass instruments, as be
exercised a great influence on that part of the orchestra. I cannot
remember ever having heard the long, powerful chords of the last
movement of the C minor Symphony executed with such intense power
as by this player in Zurich, and can only compare the recollection of it
with the impressions I had when, in my early Parisian days, the
Conservatoire orchestra performed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Our production of the Symphony in C minor made a great impression
on the audience, especially on my intimate friend Sulzer, who had
previously kept aloof from