Dear Friend,
The writing of notes [music] draws me more and more away from the
writing of letters, and my friends have already much to pardon me
in this respect. With the best will in the world to fulfill my
obligations, it is nevertheless impossible for me, owing to the
countless claims that are made on me, to find time to do so. So
do not scold me, dear friend, for having left your last letter
unanswered. I had given myself a great deal to do with some
manuscripts; the final proofs of the Faust and Dante Symphonies,
in particular, which will now soon be engraved, had occupied me
much longer than I expected. The two works are now as well
finished as I am in a position to make them, and will, I hope,
hold their POSITION.
I congratulate you most warmly on the performance of your opera.
You may safely expect various disagreeables in connection
therewith, which are inseparable from musical work. The great
thing is to remain cheerful, and to do something worth doing. The
cuckoo take the rest! -
Let me have a talk with you about the Zellner matter in Vienna,
if, as seems likely, I have to go there at the end of May for the
performance of my Mass. Meanwhile thank you very much for the
pains you have taken over the proof-sheets of this long-
protracted work, and I should be glad if the whole were ready to
come out by the time I reach Vienna.
