Mark Twain compared Berlin to Chicago in the 1890s because of its modern freshly built status in contrast to older cities. “The German Chicago,” first published 1892; reprinted in The German Metropolis Berlin 1880-1940
“The bulk of the Berlin of today has about it no suggestions of a former period. The site it stands on has traditions and a history, but the city itself has no traditions and no history. It is a new city; the newest I have ever seen. Chicago would seem venerable beside it; for there are many old-looking districts in Chicago, but not many in Berlin. The main mass of the city looks as if it has been built last week, the rest of it has a just perceptibly graver tone, and looks as if it might be six or even eight months old.” Berlin “is newer to the eye than is any other city, and also blonder of complexion and tidier; no other city has such an air of roominess, freedom from crowding; no other City has so many straight streets; and with Chicago it contests the chromo for flatness of surface and for phenomenal swiftness of growth. Berlin is the European Chicago. The two cities have about the same population – say a 1,000,000 and a 1/2. 15 years ago Berlin and Chicago were large cities, of course, but neither of them was the giant it now is.”

With respect of music the two cities were comparable because they shared musicians, not least violinists who had studied with Joachim the Hochschule.