At the beginning of 1859 the _Journal of Music_ was put into the hands of
Oliver Ditson & Co., who undertook its publication, paying Dwight a stated
salary for his labors upon it. This arrangement relieved him of much
drudgery as publisher, which he had hitherto undertaken. The conduct of
the paper did not essentially change, but with each number was added a
musical composition; the best works of Mendelssohn, Schubert, Wagner,
Gluck, Mozart, and many other composers were thus issued. Dwight also did
much translating for Ditson, turning into English the words which
accompanied some of the best German music.

In July, 1860, Dwight went to Europe for purposes of travel and study.
Shortly after his departure his wife was taken ill, and died in a few
weeks. The blow nearly crushed him, and it took many months for him to
recover himself. In a most sympathetic letter Dr. Holmes told him of the
illness, and the scenes which followed:

"I listened to the sweet music which was sung over her as she lay, covered
with flowers, in the pleasant parlor of her house, by the voices of those
that loved her--I and my wife with me--and then we followed her to Mount
Auburn, and saw her laid in the earth, and the blossoms showered down upon
her with such tokens of affection and sorrow that the rough men, whose
business makes them callous to common impressions, were moved as none of
us ever saw them moved before. Our good James Clarke, as you know,
conducted the simple service. It was one which none of us who were present
will ever forget; and in every heart there was one feeling over all
others, that for the far-distant husband, brother, friend, as yet
unconscious of the bereavement he was too soon to learn."

Dwight spent a few days in England, was for a fortnight in Paris, went