There is no doubt that, but for the weakness of his left arm, Emperor William would have been as skilful a performer as the other members of his family.  As it is, his devotion to music is restricted to composition and to conducting.  The kaiser is very fond of acting as bandmaster during the musical soirees given at court, and other entertainments of this kind honored by the presence of the reigning family.  It has been claimed that he is the first Prussian ruler to thus wield the baton since the days of Frederick the Great.  But this is not the case, for I recall being present, many years ago, at a dinner at the palace of Koblenz, given by Empress Augusta in honor of her consort, old Emperor William, who had come over from Ems for the purpose, when during the dinner the old emperor remarked that the band of the Augusta regiment, which was playing at the further end of the White Hall, had played the ballet melody of "Satanella" in too fast a time.  Rising from his seat, and pushing aside the screen which concealed the band from view, he took the baton from the hand of the bandmaster, and after exclaiming:  “Very quietly and slowly, gentlemen, if you please,” he tapped twice on the music-stand in front of him, and then commenced to conduct with as much skill and art as if he had never done anything else in his life.  Several times during the course of the piece he exclaimed “Noch ruehiger,” (still more gently) and when the end of the piece was reached he laid down the baton with the remark, “Now, that was fine,” and, thanking the band with a very friendly and kindly smile, returned to his seat at table.

The present kaiser’s principal contribution to music is undoubtedly his composition of the melody to the “Sang am Aegir,” a poem of considerable power by his friend Count Philipp Eulenburg.  The composition begins as follows: 

[Illustration:  O Ae-gir Herr der Flu-then dem Nix und Nex sich beugt!]

The words may be rendered as: 

  “Of Aegir, Lord of the Waves,
  Whom mermaids and mermen revere.”

The bars that follow rivet the attention of the listener on account of their weird originality.  They are full of feeling, very melodious, and easily caught by the ear.  Towards the close, the melody breaks off into a purely military strain, so that the final bars are suggestive of the sound of trumpets, recalling to mind some ancient martial fanfare.

William has a very marked predilection for Wagnerian music, and is the life and soul of the “Potsdam-Berlin Wagner Society,” which is one of the most influential social institutions of the Prussian capital.  His principal lieutenant and Adlatus in the management of this association, which is in every sense of the word a court institution, is Major von Chelius, who holds a commission in the kaiser’s own body regiment of Hussars of the Guard.  The major is a particular favorite of both the emperor and the empress, and he takes a very prominent part in all