"            MUSIC.

     CONCERTS, &c.

[...]

     The endeavours to bring various influences to bear upon the formation of the opinions of musical critics are multitudinous wherever music is practised, but the method which, according to Truth, was recently endeavoured by the composer Anton Brückner has at least the merit of originality. We are told that Brückner appeared before the Austrian Emperor, who, in accordance with custom, bade him make any request he might choose, whereupon he, it is alleged, in reply, asked Francis Joseph to order Professor Hanslick, the critic of the Neue Freie Press, to write a little more favourably of the Brückner compositions. The order, I believe, was not made. Critics, not being infallible, are, of course, not always correct in their prognostications, [... über Joseph Joachim u.a. ...]."            ALLEGRETTO."