VOL. I.]

Your worship and dear Mr. Mayor,

The willingness which I had already expressed, at the first
mention of the impending Mozart Festival, becomes to me, by your
kind letter of the 19th of December (which I only received
yesterday, owing to the delay from its having gone to Berlin), a
duty, which it is equally my honor and pleasure to fulfill. With
the utmost confidence and conviction that the resolution of the
Town Council will meet with the fullest assent and most
gratifying recognition among all circles of society--the
resolution is as follows: "That all undertakings in connection
with the Mozart Secular Festival shall be conducted and carried
out in the name of the city of Vienna,"--and in agreement with
the honorable motives of the Town Council "to lend to the
festivities the worthy and higher expression of universal
homage," I, for my part, undertake with the most grateful
acknowledgments the commission to conduct the Festival Concert on
the 27th January, 1856, and its repetition on the 28th according
to your desire; and I hope to fulfill quite satisfactorily every
just claim which is made on the musical director of such a
celebration.

Although the excellent orchestra, chorus, and staff of singers in
Vienna--long intimate with Mozart's works--afford the complete
certainty of a most admirable performance, yet I think it is
desirable that I should come a couple of weeks before the concert
is to take place, in order to have time for the necessary
rehearsals; and immediately on my arrival. I shall have the honor