the musical entertainments at court, almost invariably playing the piano accompaniments for the singing of Princess Albert of Saxe-Altenburg, and of Prince Max of Baden, who possesses a rich baritone voice.  The major is the composer of the popular opera “Haschisch,” and has inherited his musical talents from his mother, a Hamburger by birth.  His father is a dignitary of the Court of Baden, while his wife, a most charming woman, was, prior to her marriage, a Fraulein von Puttkamer, a member, therefore, of the same family as the late Princess Bismarck.

But although manifesting a preference for Wagner, the kaiser is not averse to Mozart, or to the Italian school. “Der Freischuetz” is one of his favorite operas, and while he does not care for Falstaff, he is very fond of “I Medici,” and greatly admires Leon Cavallo.  He possesses a very correct ear, and a most pleasing voice, and many of his evenings are passed in trying new songs, his wife, who is an excellent pianist, playing the accompaniment.

Though quite as passionately fond of music as the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs have achieved less distinction as composers, and even as performers.  Indeed, there are but two scions of the reigning house of Austria, who can be said to have won any kind of fame as composers, namely, the missing Archduke John, who was the author of an exceedingly pretty and catchy ballet that still figures on the repertoire of the imperial opera, and Archduke Joseph, so well known by the name of the “Gypsy Archduke,” who has done more than anyone else in Europe to place on record, both in writing and in print, the weird music and extraordinary quaint melodies of the Tziganes, melodies which he has arranged exquisitely for orchestral use.  True, there is not a single archduke or archduchess in Austria and Hungary, who does not play with taste and feeling.  Indeed, music seems to be inborn in them, and while the widowed crown princess is devoted to her piano, on which her performances are characterized by a superb technique, but coupled alas! with a complete absence of sentiment, her husband, the lamented Crown Prince Rudolph, was a composer of no mean power and seemed at times to pour forth his entire soul in the melodies which he coaxed from this instrument.  Indeed he often sat at the piano for hours, playing, in a manner indescribably expressive and touching, airs improvised on the spur of the moment, which, while they remained impressed on the minds and ears of those present, would seem to fade at once from the memory of the prince himself.  His was what may be called a true genius for music.

The member of the House of Hapsburg most famous in the annals of music of the present century, was undoubtedly that Archduke Rudolph, son of Emperor Leopold II., who died a cardinal.  He was the protector, the friend and disciple of Beethoven, many of whose most famous works, would assuredly have remained unwritten had it not been for the fact that he received the same powerful support, both material and moral, from the imperial cardinal as Richard Wagner obtained from King Louis of Bavaria.