Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/494

478 the young composer married, in 1798, Therese Klemm, an actress at the National Theatre; and in the summer of the same year set out on an extended tour, whether with or without Madame Woelfl seems uncertain. He travelled through Brunn to Prague, where he gave a successful concert, and thence to Leipzig. Two concerts, about Michaelmas, signalised his arrival, and his stay was of considerable length. On April 11 and 23, 1799, he gave two more concerts, and then pursued his way through Dresden and Berlin to Hamburg, arriving there in May. At Hamburg he made another considerable stay, and won many friends. Moreover, though the traditions of C. P. E. Bach still lingered in the place, his playing elicited great admiration. From Schmieder he obtained the libretto of an opera called 'Der trojanische Pferd,' and set himself to the composition of the music. It does not, however, appear that the work was ever produced, and perhaps it was never completed. Woelfl had intentions of going on to London, but seems to have left Hamburg at the beginning of December with Righini, probably for Berlin.

The next clear mention of Woelfl is at a concert in Leipzig, Oct. 21, 1800. On Dec. 10, he gave a concert in Berlin at which Mozart's 'Davidde Penitente' was performed. In the next year he journeyed to Paris, perhaps through Brunswick and Mayence, certainly through Hanover, reaching the French capital in September 1801. There he soon began to attract great attention. On the 5th Brumaire (Oct. 26) the Journal de Paris described him as 'l'un des hommes les plus étonnans de l'Europe sur le Piano.' His wit and courtesy suited French taste, and his execution was at its acme. He speedily assumed a leading position, and in the next spring was reported to be writing an opera for the Théâtre Feydeau. This epoch may be regarded as the culminating point in his career. Henceforward he falls, in some strange way, under a cloud.

Whether this was the result of a faux pas cannot be exactly determined. If Fétis's circumstantial story is to be believed, Woelfl struck up a friendship at Paris with the bass-singer Ellmenreich, who was given to card-sharping. In 1804 the pair travelled to Brussels, and gave a concert which proved a failure. But the little social clubs of the town offered opportunities to Ellmenreich of making money by gambling. He was caught cheating, and the pair would have fallen into the hands of the police but for the intervention of the Secretary of the Department of La Dyle. By his exertions they escaped, and went off together to London, where they arrived at the beginning of 1805. Woelfl does not appear to have been a party to the fraud, but his intimacy with Ellmenreich caused society to avoid him. He was not received as before, and finally died in obscurity and great poverty near London, when is quite uncertain. Of course this story amply accounts for the disappointing close of Woelfl's career. But it seems to be incorrect in almost every detail. That Woelfl was brought into relations with Ellmenreich by the project of the latter for establishing a German Opera in Paris is likely enough, but Woelfl appears to have been in Paris throughout 1804, whereas Ellmenreich left Paris at the end of 1803, and was at Vienna at the beginning of 1805. The statement that Woelfl was received with less favour in England than on his previous visit can only be true on the supposition that he had been there before, which, as already observed, is at all events dubious. Moreover, Woelfl had no reason to complain of his reception in England in 1805; he certainly did not die in obscurity, and it is not likely that he died in poverty.

To return to certainties; the three years and a half (Sept. 1801–Apr. 1805) during which Paris was the centre of Woelfl's life were, on the whole, years of success. In the early part of 1804, his opera, 'L'Amour Romanesque,' was produced at the Théâtre Feydeau with success. In the next year he made his most considerable venture with an heroic opera in three acts, called 'Fernando, ou Les Maures,' which was brought out anonymously at the Théâtre Feydeau. It was produced under very unfavourable circumstances, and was more of a failure than it deserved to be. Perhaps this mischance led Woelfl to conceive a disgust for Paris. He certainly left the French capital within a month or two without any other apparent reason, and