Prego!! [I
beg!] leave only such mistakes as are absolutely necessary in
order that an edition may be supposed to be correct.
Padua, September 30th, 1838
17. To Breitkopf and Hartel.
[This is the first of the Liszt letters extant in the archives of
the firm.]
I am really grieved, gentlemen, at the trouble you have been good
enough to take about these unlucky Symphonies, and I hardly know
how to express my acknowledgments. As I have already had the
honor of telling you, Mr. Mori had been previously engaged to
publish these Symphonies, and, as the steps you have taken have
not been crowned with success, I will keep to this first
publisher, with whom I have every reason to be satisfied up to
now.
You can then publish this work in two or three months from now.
[Pianoforte scores of the C minor and Pastoral Symphonies of
Beethoven.] Only it is essential that I should correct the last
proof, so that the edition may be absolutely correct. I also wish
to add the fingering to several passages, to make them easier for
amateurs. Be so good, therefore, as to send me, through the
Embassy (or by any other opportunity which is not too expensive),
two proofs to Rome, where I shall be in about twelve days, and
where I expect to remain till the middle of March.
I hope, gentlemen, that you will not have cause to regret the
obliging advances that you have made to me in this matter, and
for which I am sincerely grateful to you.
