Though King Frederick-William IV. did not himself add anything to royal musical literature, as did his predecessors on the throne, he devoted much attention to ecclesiastical melody and song.  The Berlin cathedral choir of men and boys—­trained to sing without musical accompaniments—­owes its origin to his ambition for having a choir in his own Protestant basilica at Berlin, corresponding more or less to the Pope’s in the Sistine Chapel of Rome.  It was he who engaged Mendelssohn as director of this choir, as well as composer; and it was the latter’s successor, the director of the music of the Chapel Royal at the Prussian court, who compiled a collection of volumes containing settings of many of the Psalms of David, most beautifully arranged.

Among living Hohenzollerns, musical talent is most strongly developed.  Prince Albert, regent of Brunswick, is not only a composer of rare genius, but likewise a most talented organist.  His son, Prince Joachim, has inherited his talent for composition, and is the author of some eight works, which have been printed for circulation, in court circles only, and have not become the property of the public; the cleverest of them being a festal march, written for his father’s birthday, and a grand funeral march.  He shares his father’s intense devotion to Bach and Handel, as well as his fondness for the works of Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Mozart, and is a most accomplished performer on the violoncello, being a pupil of the well-known master of that instrument, Professor Luedemann.  Prince Albert’s sister, the widowed Duchess William of Mecklenberg-Schwerin, has been particularly active as a composer of songs for mezzo soprano, but none of her works, which are printed for private circulation under the initials of “A.H.M.”, have been placed on public sale.  Her songs, some thirty in number, are melodious and full of feeling.  She seems to thoroughly understand how to bring out the meaning of the words of her composition, the melody of one of them, "Ein Duerres Blatt" furnishing a particularly striking illustration of this peculiarity; they left a very lasting impression upon my mind.  Among her collections is an English song, beginning with the words: 

  “No ditch is too deep,
  And no wall is too high,
  If two love each other
  They’ll meet by-and-by.”

The music of this is particularly sweet, graceful and tender.

Prince Henry, the sailor brother of the kaiser, has written a number of pieces, one of the best known and most popular of which is called the "Matrosen Marsch," which is to be purchased in all large music stores.  He also holds his own as a first-class amateur performer, both on the violin and the piano.  His sister, the crown princess of Greece, a pupil of Rufer, excels on the organ, as does also the widowed Empress Frederick, while there is not one of the children of the present kaiser who does not possess musical gifts of a high order, which are being developed both in theory and in practice by celebrated professors and masters.