Joseph Mainzer was born, on the 21st October 1801, at Trêves, 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 Trêves, 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 _fête_ 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
_méthode_ in schools; and soon after, the king of Prussia sent him the
gold medal awarded to men eminent in the arts and sciences. Paris,