A ballad, “Virful cu Dor” (The Heights of Longing), was set to music in 1876, and was performed on the stage of the National Theatre at Bucharest, and afterwards at various other places. The Queen wrote to her mother from Sinaia in September 1875:—
“I have written a libretto from the old legend of “Virful cu Dor,” for which Lubitz has composed the music. It is a little ballad, which is very effective with its choruses, solos, and duets, and it could be represented with tableaux vivants as well. It gives the songs of the Spirits of the Mists in the third canto—the rushing of wind announces the coming of Spring. The trees and the brooks awake from their slumbers. Yesterday we finished arranging the “Song of the Wind” for a bass voice, and it is so poetical that the poem is placed in a new light. I write the words out for you, as they are a poem by themselves. I have given the most beautiful ideas to my friend the West Wind—
“‘Come forth, all ye blossoms!
Start, seeds from the land;
Ye songs of birds, waken,
I, Spring, am at hand!
My touch on the fir boughs,
My kiss in the air,
Makes odours of Heaven
Spread sweet everywhere.
And the fragrance and splendour
Of meadow and grove
I give for a bride-wreath
In free gift to Love.
Come forth, then, blue violets!
Spring calleth on you,
Wake, leaflets and flowerets,
For Love’s coming too!’”
—Translated by Sir Edwin Arnold.
Whilst still a Princess, Carmen Sylva had written a French comedy, “Revenans et Revenus,” for the society of Bucharest. She also put down many very deep and often very philosophical aphorisms in French at that time. These were not intended for publication at first. When the Queen was induced to put these pages in the hands of Herr Ulbach she hesitated at first. But he kept looking up at her whilst he was reading and repeated—“Oh! mais c’est très fort, mais c’est vraiment très fort, celá!” and begged for a copy. Later they were published at Paris with the title “Pensées d’une Reine,” with an introduction by Ulbach. In the spring of 1888 a new, improved, and enlarged edition was published there, to which the Academy accorded a prize. This consists of a gold, a silver, and a bronze coin which bear the title of the work thus crowned, “Les Pensées d’une Reine,” with the date of 1888. They contain rich treasures of deep thought, as for instance—
“Les comètes et les grands hommes laissent une trainée de lumière dans laquelle s’agite une foule d’atômes.”
“Beaucoup de gens ne critiquent que pour ne pas paraître ignorans. Ils ignorent que l’indulgence est la marque de la plus haute culture.”