POPULAR MUSIC—­MAINZER.

In our days, vocal music is beginning to assert in this country the place it has long held abroad as a great moral educator; no longer regarded as a superfluity of the rich, it is now established as a branch of instruction in almost every school, and is gradually finding its way into many nooks and corners, where it will act as an antidote to grosser pleasures, by supplying the means of an innocent and elevating recreation.

The apostle of music, considered as a boon and privilege of ’the million,’ has lately passed away from the scene of his active labours; and it is but a tribute due to his memory as a philanthropist and man of genius, while we deplore his loss, to pause for a moment and briefly trace his career.

Joseph Mainzer was born, on the 21st October 1801, at Treves, of parents in the middle rank of life.  When quite a child, the predominating taste of his life was so strongly developed, that in spite of harsh masters he learned to play on the piano, violin, bassoon, and several wind-instruments; and at the age of twelve could read at sight the most difficult music, and even attempted composition.  Music, however, was not intended to be his profession, and was only carried on as a relaxation from the severer studies to which Mainzer devoted himself at the university of Treves, where he took the highest degree in general merit, and the first prize for natural science.  At the age of twenty-one, he left college to descend into the heart of the Saarbruck Mountains as an engineer of mines, where, according to custom, he had to commence with the lowest grade of labour, and for months drag a heavy wheel-barrow, and wield the pickaxe.  Yet here, in reality, dawned his mission as the apostle of popular music:  he relieved the tedium of those interminable nights of toil—­for days there were none—­by composing and teaching choruses, thus leading the miners both in labour and in song.  This underground life, however, was too severe for his constitution; and he was obliged to return home in impaired health.  He now studied divinity and music; and, after a time, was advised to travel in order to perfect himself in the latter branch of art.  Under Rinck at Darmstadt, and at Vienna and Rome, he enjoyed every advantage; and, on leaving the Eternal City, was invited to a farewell fete by Thorwaldsen, where all the eminent artists of the day were present, and joined in singing his compositions.  On returning home, after two years’ absence, he adopted music as his vocation, and published his first elementary work—­the Singschule, which was introduced in Prussia and Germany as the methode in schools; and soon after, the king of Prussia sent him the gold medal awarded to men eminent in the arts and sciences.  Paris, however, soon offered more attractions to Mainzer than his native place, and thither he repaired and pitched his tent for ten years.  During this period,