* * * * *
“Elated as we were at the prospect before us, our spirits were further
raised by an unexpected invitation to conduct the Birmingham Festival
that I received the other day. Coupled with that, is the good news that
you have promised to take part in it, and to produce a new work of yours
on that occasion; so you can fancy that all is indeed sunshine to me.”
* * * * *
LEIPZIG, Feb. 11, 1846.
Hurrah! your decision is taken, you are coming! Let every one of these
lines rejoice! A more welcome piece of news I have not received since I
have been here, and one that promises so rich a harvest for all of us.
There was a flutter of excitement, such as I have never witnessed in our
ranks, when I produced your letter at the Board meeting the other day. I
had kept it all to myself, to lay before the Directors on that occasion;
and when the time came, I announced that I had received your answer, and
here it was with your acceptance, black on white. They were for
answering at once; but as there were several of them, it took a few
days, so that you get their letter with mine to-day. Not only the leave
of absence for three months, but anything and everything you may desire,
will, I am sure, be agreed to. In fact, it is in everybody’s interest
that you should be made perfectly comfortable; and I do believe you will
be satisfied, and will not be unfavorably impressed by the difference
between the stirring metropolis and our petty provincialism. This much
is certain, that you can nowhere find better intentions, and a heartier
desire on all sides to make you feel at home, than here. Since the Fates
have decreed that you shall return to Germany, and since you cannot, in
this most excellent but somewhat peculiar country, hope to escape a
certain amount of gossip and twaddle, whichever place of abode you may
select, I think you will have no reason to regret your choice having
fallen on Leipzig, and I trust you will like it better and better every
year.
My personal feelings I cannot adequately express. How could I tell you
what it is to me, when I think that you are really coming; that you are
going to live here for good, you and yours, and that what seemed a
castle in the air is about to become a tangible reality; that we shall
be together, not merely to run through the dissipations of a season, but
to enjoy an intimate and uninterrupted intercourse? I shall have a few
houses painted rose-color as soon as you really are within our walls.
But it needs not that; your arrival alone will give the whole place a
new complexion. But what is the use of my scribbling, when you are
coming, and we can thank you verbally? Not that that is necessary; you
know too well, without words, how overjoyed we are. Cécile will write a
few words for herself.
Now, you must soon let me have a long, domestic, non-musical letter,
like my last one, so that we can arrange and settle various things for
you before you arrive. Isn’t it delightful that we have got to that
point already?
Your second letter, with the Birmingham news, just comes too. They have
truly done well in securing you as a conductor; and how splendid it
would be if we could meet there! About my “Elijah,” however, I shall not
be able to decide
[Illustration: 29. From a Cast of Mendelssohn’s Hand.]
anything before the middle of next month. The fact is, my health
frequently leaves much to be desired; and all this conducting and
performing often fatigues me greatly. At such times I scarcely believe I
shall be strong enough to go through a musical festival again. If I
possibly can, I most certainly shall go; but as there is considerable
doubt of my being able to do so, I am doubly glad to know that the
matter is in your hands, feeling sure that thus all must go well.
The letter to Jenny Lind I have sent to Berlin; and when I see her a few
weeks hence, I will put it strongly to her, but I scarcely believe she
will be at liberty to accept. It is wonderful how she is sought after on
all sides, and I believe her engagements are fully made up to the end of
the year.
Beethoven’s “Ruins of Athens,” or rather my selections from that work,
would be appropriate, but they have not yet appeared in print. I believe
Ewer & Co. have the score and the copyright. Pischek, I trust, you will
be able to secure; he would be an important acquisition. More of all
that next time. For to-day, good-by. Once more, thanks and--hurrah! you
are coming!
Ever yours,