Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/587

Rh herself a clever harpist and pianist. In London he obtained his greatest success alike as composer, performer, and teacher. Unfortunately, however, he was tempted by the large sale of his numerous compositions to open a music- publishing warehouse in partnership with Montague Corri, a relative of his wife. The result was injurious to his fame and disastrous to his fortune. Writing solely for the sake of sale, he composed many pieces that were quite unworthy of his genius ; and, as he was entirely destitute of business capacity, bankruptcy was inevitable. In he was obliged to flee to Hamburg to escape the claims of his creditors. Some years later he was attached in the capacity of musician to the household of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, with whom he formed an intimate friendship. On the death of his patron in he passed into the service of Prince Ysenburg as court musician. In he went to Paris to fill a similar situation in the household of Prince Talleyrand, which he held until his death in March. Dussekhad an important influence on the development of pianoforte music. As a performer he was distinguished by the purity of his tone, the combined power and delicacy of his touch, and the facility of his execution. As a composer he possessed a distinct individuality of style, and, while much that he wrote has little value, his best works rank high among pianoforte classics. His sonatas known as The Invocation, The Farewell, and The Harmonic Elegy, though not equally sustained throughout, contain movements that have scarcely been surpassed for solemnity and beauty of idea. Two operas, which he composed during his residence in London, were failures.   Plan of Düsseldorf. 1. Ursula Church 9. Town Hall. 2 Government Buildings 10. Elector Wilhelm Statue. 3. Court Church. 11. Theatre. 4. St Lambert s Church. 12. Court of Justice. 5. School of Art. 13. Gymnasium. 6. Mint. 14. Maximilian Church. 7. Hauptwacne 15. Garrison Church. 8. Old Castle 16. Post Office.

DÜSSELDORF, a town of Prussia, at the head of a government in the province of the Rhine, on the right bank of the river, 25 s below Cologne. It is divided into four portions, the Old Town, the Karlstadt, which dates from and is called after the electoral prii.ce Charles Theodore, the New Town, which was in process of formation from to, and the Friedrichsstadt, laid out within recent years. New streets are rapidly stretching out in all directions, and the villages of Pempelfort, Bilk, and Derendorf are already almost in corporated. Within the area of the town proper there are numerous open grounds and public squares, which prevent the regularity of its plan degenerating into monotony : the market-place, with the colossal bronze statute of the electoral prince Johann Wilhelm, the parade, the Allege Strasse, the King s Alley, and the King s Platz may be specially mentioned. Of the ten churches the most notice able are St Andrew s, formerly the Jesuit or court church, with frescoes by Hiibner, Deger, and Mucke, and the embalmed bodies of several of the electors ; St Lambert s, with a tower 180 feet high, and containing monuments in honour of Duke William IV. and Voetius ; and Maximilian s, with frescoes by Settegast and ethers. Besides the old ducal palace, laid in ruins by the French in, but restored in , the secular buildings comprise the former Jesuit college, now occupied by the administrative offices, a town-house dating from, a penitentiary, a lunatic asylum, several hospitals and infirmaries, a theatre completed in, a music hall, a gymnasium, and a polytechnical school. The town also possesses a library of 50,000 volumes, and is the seat of a great number of commercial and intellectual associations ; but to nothing is it more indebted for its celebrity than to the Academy of Painting. This famous institution, originally founded by the electoral prince Charles Theodore in, was reorganized by King Frederick William in , and has since attained a high degree of prosperity as a centre of artistic culture. From till  it was under the direction of Cornelius, a native of the town, from to  under Schadow, and from 1859 to 1864 under Bendemann. From Bendemann s resignation it con tinued in the hands of a body of curators till, when Wiscelinus of Weimar was chosen director. The noble collection of paintings which formerly adorned the Diisseldoii gallery was removed to Munich in, and has not since been restored ; but there is no lack of artistic treasures in the town. The academy possesses 14,000 original drawings and sketches by the great masters, 24,000 engravings, and 248 water-colour copies of Italian originals ; the municipal gallery contains valuable specimens of the local school : and the same is the case with the Schulte collection. The principal names are Cornelius, Lessing, Achenbach, Baur, Tidemann, and Knaus. An annual exhibition is held under the auspices of the Art Union ; and the members of the Artist s Society, or Malkasten, as they are called, annually celebrate festivities and masquerades of a remarkable description. Not only is Diisseldorf situated in the greatest manufacturing province of Prussia, but it is itself the seat of various important industries, cotton and carpet weaving, iron-founding, wire-drawing, sugar-refining, brewing, distillation, and the making of pianos and carriages. The surrounding country is largely devoted to market-gardening, and the Diisseldorf mustard is in special repute. A very extensive trade is carried on both by river and by rail ; the port was declared free in, and is consequently one of the most frequented on the Rhine. The Diisseldorf Steam-boat Company maintains regular communication with Mayence on the one hand and Rotterdam on the other. A little to the north of the town lies the village of Diisselthal, with Count Eecke Volmarstein s establishment for homeless children in the former Trappist monastery : and in the suburban village of Pempelfort is the Jayerhof, the residence at one time of 