[From a copy from the Royal Library in Berlin.]
Albano, June 5th, 1839
My dear Monsieur Schumann,
At the risk of appearing very monotonous, I must again tell you that the last pieces you were so kind as to send me to Rome appear to me admirable both in inspiration and composition. The "Fantaisie" dedicated to me is a work of the highest kind—and I am really proud of the honor you have done me in dedicating to me so grand a composition.
Op. 17, C dur. With the motto:—
"Durch alle Tone tonet
Im bunten Erdentraum
Ein leiser Ton gezogen
Fur den, der heimlich lauschet."
("Through all the sounds of nature,
In earth's fair dream of joy,
An under-current soundeth
For him whose ears can hear.">[
I mean, therefore, to work at it and penetrate it through and through, so as to make the utmost possible effect with it.
As to the "Kinderscenen," I owe to them one of the greatest pleasures of my life. You know, or you don't know, that I have a little girl of three years old, whom everybody agrees in considering angelic (did you ever hear such a commonplace?). Her name is Blandine-Rachel, and her surname Moucheron. [Pet name; literally, "little fly.">[ It goes without saying that she has a complexion of roses and milk, and that her fair golden hair reaches to her feet just like a savage. She is, however, the most silent child, the most sweetly grave, the most philosophically gay in the world. I have every reason to hope also that she will not be a musician, from which may Heaven preserve her!
Well, my dear Monsieur Schumann, two or three times a week (on fine and good days!) I play your "Kinderscenen" to her in the evening; this enchants her, and me still more, as you may imagine, so that often I go over the first repeat twenty times without going any further. Really I think you would be satisfied with this success if you could be a witness of it!