The following letter was written after Ippolitov-Ivanov had communicated the success of Mazeppa in Tiflis.
To M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov.[110]
“December 6th (18th), 1885.
“ ...As to Mazeppa, accept my warmest thanks. My brother and his wife, who live in Tiflis, and had seen the opera in Moscow and Petersburg, tell me it went splendidly.
“For some time I have been longing to find a subject—not too dramatic—for an opera, and then to write a work suitable to the resources of the provincial stage. Should God grant me a long life, I hope to carry out this plan, and thus to obliterate the unpleasant recollections of the immeasurable trouble which the rehearsals of Mazeppa must have left with you. But the harder your task, the warmer my thanks.”
To Modeste Tchaikovsky.
“Maidanovo, December 9th (21st), 1885.
“I am going to Moscow on December 14th (26th), principally to decide the fate of Les Caprices d’Oxane. I shall make heroic efforts to have my opera produced. I am advised to conduct it myself, and it is possible I may decide to do so. In any case, I shall spend the holidays in Petersburg.... I am working very hard at the corrections of Manfred. I am still convinced it is my best work. Meanwhile The Enchantress is laid aside, but the first act is quite finished. The libretto is splendid. In this I am lucky.”
To N. F. von Meck.
“Maidanovo, December 11th (23rd), 1885.