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In the autumn of 1848, accordingly, Neukomm introduced Mainzer to the leading men of that city, who received him so cordially, that he at once took his proper position, and entered on a career both useful and profitable, and which continued to be increasingly successful, until at Christmas 1850, he was laid aside by ill-health.
The age of peace has been heralded in by the songs of Burns and Lady Nairne, the authoress of The Land o' the Leal, who has done much to restore the taste for our beautiful old melodies, by wedding them to pure and appropriate verse. In such pursuits, Mainzer by this time dubbed doctor by a German university passed five years very pleasantly, but, in a worldly point of view, very unprofitably.
With such views and principles, Mainzer arrived in England, to propagate his humanising art; and London soon became the centre of a series of lectures and classes, held in the principal towns accessible by railway such as Brighton, Oxford, Reading, etc.
Mainzer had a peculiar predilection for Scotland: its scenery, its history, its music, all supplied food for his various tastes.
On a page further along on the blotter, however, he saw what appeared to be the impression of an address. He held it up to the glass and gave a whistle of delight. The words could be plainly deciphered here: "MR. LEO PERNBURG, "FRANKFURT AM MAIN, "MAINZER LANDSTRASSE." and above the name was a smear which, after a little study, could be deciphered as the written word "Registered."
There was room and to spare, however, for every system, and Mainzer wished every man good-speed who advanced the cause; but as a fresh field for his own exertions, after two years spent in England, he turned his thoughts towards Edinburgh, where he had been invited by requisition, and warmly received in 1842.
In London, a period of arduous labour commenced. Mainzer arrived without patronage, without the prestige that his name had earned abroad, and, what was a greater drawback, without any knowledge of English!
The success of these normal classes was so great and so rapid, that at the end of the first year the pupils were able to become teachers in their turn in their own schools or homes; and at the close of the second and third sessions, concerts and rural fêtes were held, at which many hundreds of young voices joined in giving true and powerful expression to such works of the great masters as Judas Maccabæus; while for the delight of their parents' firesides, and their own moral improvement, the children carried home with them those simple but touching and expressive melodies, composed by Mainzer for their use.
At this juncture, the Chevalier Neukomm, of European celebrity as a composer and organist, and a valued friend of Dr Mainzer, came to Edinburgh to inspect his friend's normal classes. He was so much delighted with them, and considered Dr Mainzer so little appreciated by the general public, that he persuaded him to try Manchester as his future field of exertion.
The apostle of music, considered as a boon and privilege of 'the million, has lately passed away from the scene of his active labours; and it is but a tribute due to his memory as a philanthropist and man of genius, while we deplore his loss, to pause for a moment and briefly trace his career. Joseph Mainzer was born, on the 21st October 1801, at Trêves, of parents in the middle rank of life.
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