"Charles Grobe is one of the most intriguing figures to grace the pages of American musical history. Unlike his contemporary Louis Moreau Gottsschalk, Grobe was not a concert pianist, did not compose virtuosic fantasias and scintillating dances and did not have an international reputation. He was a pragmatic, practical, talented composer-teacher who gave his middle-class public what they wanted--eminently playable, attractive variations and melodious potpourri that are pleasing to both performer and listener."
This quote is the opening paragraph from an article on Charles Grobe called, Charles Grobe, The Bard of Delaware which I received from the Delaware Historical Society about ten years ago.
Note the use of the term Bard indicating that Grobe was a poet and therefore a likely candidate for the poetic Amico letter. He also held the record for the number of sheet music published in his or probably any other lifetime, 2,000 titles.
His first theme and variation set was on the music of Liszt and Beethoven, so Jullien, whose name recognition was almost as high as theirs would have been someone he could approach in the flesh.
Since they had the same publisher, as can seen by the title pages of both Grobe and Jullien's Katy-did polkas, William Hall, he probably did meet with Jullien to discuss the stratagem of an anonymous letter which could be mutually advantageous.
If such were the case, coming from Staten Island in a skiff or row boat could have been a delightful fiction because at concert time there were so many such small boats gathered around the concert hall.
[Note how this opening description of Grobe dovetails with Amico's distinction between the Daydreaming Romantic as opposed to the Realistic Romantic, with his or her suggestion that the real romantic is the one who can deal with the realities of day to day existence.]
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