In this letter to an unidentified recipient, Schumann apologizes for his belated response to an earlier letter, giving as the reason a severe headache that has been afflicting him for eight days. He expresses happiness at the prospect of a visit by his correspondent, and suggests the middle of December as an ideal time for it, explaining that he and his wife plan to be in Leipzig in February, and may indeed leave Dresden for good in June. Schumann also thanks his correspondent for the compositions that the latter sent to him, which include an overture to a “tragedy” concerning (or perhaps authored by?) Sophocles.

We are grateful to Oliver Schowalter-Hay, who provided the summary of this letter, as well as the four others on display in our exhibit. He is working on full translations, which will appear here at a later date.