This virtuosa [wrote to me the late keeper of the Musee of the Paris Conservatoire] had no less talent than the Princess Marcelline Czartoryska.  I heard her at Florence in 1852, and I can assure you that she played Chopin’s music in the true style and with all the unpublished traits of the master.  She was of Russian origin.

But enough of amateurs.  Mdlle.  Friederike Muller, now for many years married to the Viennese pianoforte-maker J. B. Streicher, is regarded by many as the most, and is certainly one of the most gifted of Chopin’s favourite pupils. [Footnote:  She played already in public at Vienna in the fourth decade of this century, which must have been before her coming to Paris (see Eduard Hanslick, Geschichte des Concertwesens in Wien, p. 326).  Marriage brought the lady’s professional career to a close.] That the composer dedicated to her his Allegro de Concert, Op. 46, may be regarded as a mark of his love and esteem for her.  Carl Mikuli found her assistance of great importance in the preparation of his edition of Chopin’s works, as she had received lessons from the master for several years, and, moreover, had had many opportunities of hearing him on other occasions.  The same authority refers to Madame Dubois (nee O’Meara) [footnote:  A relation of Edward Barry O’Meara, physician to the first Napoleon at St. Helena, and author of “Napoleon in Exile.”] and to Madame Rubio (nee Vera de Kologrivof) as to “two extremely excellent pianists [hochst ausgezeichnete Pianistinnen] whose talent enjoyed the advantage of the master’s particular care.”  The latter lady was taught by Chopin from 1842 to 1849, and in the last years of his life assisted him, as we shall see, by taking partial charge of some of his pupils.  Madame Dubois, who studied under Kalkbrenner from the age of nine to thirteen, became then a pupil of Chopin, with whom she remained five years.  It was very difficult to obtain his consent to take another pupil, but the influence of M. Albrecht, a common friend of her father’s and Chopin’s, stood her in good stead.  Although I heard her play only one or two of her master’s minor pieces, and under very unfavourable circumstances too—­namely, at the end of the teaching season and in a tropical heat—­I may say that her suave touch, perfect legato, and delicate sentiment seemed to me to bear out the above-quoted remark of M. Marmontel.  Madame Dubois, who is one of the most highly-esteemed teachers of the piano in Paris, used to play till recently in public, although less frequently in later than in earlier years.  And here I must extract a passage from Madame Girardin’s letter of March 7, 1847, in Vol.  IV. of “Le Vicomte de Launay,” where, after describing Mdlle.  O’Meara’s beauty, more especially her Irish look—­“that mixture of sadness and serenity, of profound tenderness and shy dignity, which you never find in the proud and brilliant looks which you admire in the women of other nations “—­she says:—­