Hagen was visited every season by a travelling troupe of singers and actors, who during two months gave performances of operas, dramas, and comedies in the large ballroom of the principal hotel, where a stage was erected, there being no regular theatre in the town. About a month previous to their visit the director, Herr Conradi, came to form the orchestra by inviting all the best amateurs to take part in it along with a few professional players, and asking my father to conduct the performances, without any remuneration of course. The love of music was so great that he never met with a refusal, and my own progress upon the violin having been declared sufficient, I was enrolled as a second violin. Those were fete days for me, and I became intimately acquainted with many of the best operas by taking an active part in them. << less