Strangely enough, it was the thoroughly German element of good military music, to which so much attention is paid in the Austrian army, that brought me into touch with public life in Venice.

The conductors in the two Austrian regiments quartered there began playing overtures of mine, _Rienzi_ and _Tannhaeuser_ for instance, and invited me to attend their practices in their barracks.

There I also met the whole staff of officers, and was treated by them with great respect.

These bands played on alternate evenings amid brilliant illuminations in the middle of the Piazza San Marco, whose acoustic properties for this class of production were really excellent.

I was often suddenly startled towards the end of my meal by the sound of my own overtures; then as I sat at the restaurant window giving myself up to impressions of the music, I did not know which dazzled me most, the incomparable Piazza magnificently illuminated and filled with countless numbers of moving people, or the music that seemed to be borne away in rustling glory to the winds.