Letters from Stuttgart, 1880S A Young Pianist's Brush With Royalty and Date With Death

Armed with a dream, Frederick Lyndon left the cornfields of Kansas City in 1879 at the age of 18 to pursue his love of the piano in Stuttgart, Germany, one of Europe's premier musical centers. During his stay, a fitful time in which he literally begged for financial support and endured droughts of self-doubt, dramatic mood swings and utter loneliness, he caught the eye of the Queen of Wurttemberg with his playing. She briefly financed him but, underfunded, he reluctantly returned home in 1883 to a hero's welcome as an accomplished pianist. Frederick taught and played piano until his untimely death in 1885 at age 24. Through Frederick's letters to his mother and brother, his voice brings back to life the world of the late 19th century and tells the story of a talented but tragic figure. The letters were discovered by Frederick's great niece through her genealogy work a century later.