About ten subscription concerts were given every winter by the 'Concordia' Society, the orchestra of which consisted of professionals and amateurs, about forty in number, and was conducted by my father.There was also a ' Gesang-Yerein,' which met once a week the whole year through, with the exception of two summer months, and of which my father had also the direction. With the help of this society a few concerts were given in the summer for the performance of some oratorios, a kind of small festival to which the public flocked from all the neighbouring towns. To these societies I owe my earliest acquaintance with most of the works of the greatest composers; for my progress upon the piano had been so rapid that when I was still a child my father made me accompany at the meetings of the ' Gesang-Verein' instead of doing it himself.