Grand, sublime, immeasurably great things have come to pass here lately. The Episcopate of the whole world assembled here round the Holy Father, who performed the ceremony of the canonisation of the Japanese martyrs at Whitsuntide in the presence of more than 300 bishops, archbishops, patriarchs, and cardinals. I must abstain, dear friend, from giving you any picture of the overpowering moment in which the Pope intoned the "Te Deum;" for in Protestant lands that which I might call the spiritual illumination is wanting. Let us therefore, without any other transition, return to our everyday musical matters!
I am convinced that your determination to make a change in the choice of conductors of the Euterpe has been made only after mature consideration. .—. In my last letter I pointed out, as the chief thing, that in concert societies the principle of stability in the matter of the Musical Direction is the most important thing, whereby I did not in the least mean to say that one must on that account agree to extreme consequences—or rather inconsequences. Well, as your decision is made, any further discussion is useless. Blassmann [He moved to Dresden some years later, and there he died.] has now to approve himself, and actively to fulfil the favorable expectations which his talent and good name justify. So be it, and as Schuberth says, Punktum As regards the place of meeting for the next Tonkunstler- Versammlung I am quite of your opinion. First of all I advise you to consult Bulow. Owing to his long connection with the Court at Carlsruhe he is best qualified to take the preliminary measures ("to pave the way"!). If the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess take up the matter favorably, then without doubt all that is requisite and necessary will be done in the most desirable manner. The most essential things are (a) Letting us have the theater free of charge for two to three evenings—(as at Weimar—would not it perhaps be best to mention this in the 1st letter?). (b) Official preparatory measures by the Intendant to ensure the co-operation of the Carlsruhe orchestra and chorus, also free of charge. You will have to consult more fully with Dr. Devrient and Kalliwoda as to the best time for it. But the thing to be done before all else is to gain the Grand Duke's interest—and if you think it would be practicable for me to write a few lines to H.R.H. later on I will do so with pleasure. I only beg that you will give me exact particulars of the steps already made and their results. For my part I think that to Bulow, a priori, ought to be entrusted the conducting of the Musical Festival, and this point should be at once mentioned as settled in the introductory letter to the Grand Duke. Otherwise Bedow's position in the affair would not be sufficiently supported. To sum up briefly: Request Bulow to undertake the conductorship of the Musical Festival; and address the Grand Duke of Baden, either by letter or by word of mouth (as opportunity may warrant), with the request that H.R.H. would graciously support the proposed Musical Festival of the third Tonkunstler- Versammlung, by giving it his patronage, as the Grand Duke of Weimar did last year, etc., etc. .—. That excellent Pohl has quite forgotten me. I asked him, through Gottschalg, to send me my Gesam- melte Lieder [complete songs], the "Dante Symphony" (in score and arrangement for 2 Pianos), the 4-hand Symphonic Poems, and a couple of copies of my Catalogue (published by Hartel). I have been waiting in vain for these for two months. A few days ago I wrote to Frau von Bulow to send Pohl an execution; perhaps this may help matters at length!