Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1790: 

letter to his wife, Constanze Mozart

(Translated from German)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Constanze Mozart (1762-1842)

Dearest little Wife of my Heart!

If only I had a letter from you, all would be well. I hope that you have received mine from Efferding and Frankfurt…For safety’s sake I should very much like to raise 2000 gulden on Hoffmeister’s draft. But you will have to give some other reason; you may say, for example, that I am making some speculation about which you know nothing. My love, there is no doubt whatever that I shall make something in this place, but certainly not as much as you and some of my friends expect. That I am both known and respected here is undeniable.

…I should like to make that deal with H—as I shall thus obtain some money and not have to pay anything; all I shall have to do is to work and that I shall willingly do for the sake of my dear little wife. When you write to me, always address your letters Poste Restante. Where do you think I am living? In the same house as Böhm, and Hofer is with me too. We pay thirty gulden a month, which is wonderfully cheap, and we also take our meals there.

…As I do not know whether you are at Baden or Vienna, I am addressing this letter again to Madame Hofer. I am as excited as a child at the thought of seeing you again. If people could see into my heart, I should almost feel ashamed. To me everything is cold—cold as ice. Perhaps if you were with me I might possibly take more pleasure in the kindness of those I meet here. But, as it is, everything seems so empty. Adieu, my love. I am ever your husband, who loves you with all his soul.

Mozart

Frankfurt am Main, 30 September 1790

Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky, 1882:

letter to Russian violinist Adolphe Brodsky

(Translated from Russian)

Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

Adolphe Brodsky (1851-1929)

Dear friend Adolph Davidovich!

Your letter, which I received today, has made me very, very happy. I am ineffably glad at your success, and mine, and I would again burst into expressions of gratitude, had you not asked me in your preceding letter to refrain from them. Please be so kind as to convey my gratitude to Richter for his reiterated and so successful conducting of the concerto. How I am pleased that you have earned yourself a status in London which is commensurate with your talent. 

I wish that your successes keep rising in crescendo, and that some day you return to Russia with an acclaimed and authoritative reputation, with which, as well as with yourself, you can adorn our poor and yet dear Moscow Conservatory. 

Perhaps I too, worn out by my nomadic life, will some day return to my old home, and you and I can then work together to support the cause launched by Nikolay Grigoryevich. About myself I must say that I cannot describe to you sufficiently all the pleasure I am experiencing here in the countryside, after a month spent in Moscow, where I went through a great deal of commotion, so loathsome to me, and also had many agonizing and melancholy feelings which were caused by my realizing the irrevocability of the past. You are much younger than I am and you are probably not very familiar yet with that painful feeling. 

The older one becomes, the more keenly, intensely, and frequently this feeling irrupts into one’s life and poisons it. Here, and also in my seclusion in Rome, my moral well-being is sturdier than anywhere else. I am intending to write an opera. I hope that this project will go well—at any rate, I am in a mood for writing, and provided nothing intervenes I should be able to work well. Until we meet, my dear! May God grant you every possible success in your work. 

What has been decided regarding your trip to Moscow this summer? Will you be playing there?

Yours with sincere affection and respect,

P. Tchaikovsky

Giuseppe Verdi, August 1, 1846: 

letter to the impresario Alessandro Lanari

(Translated from Italian)

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)

Alessandro Lanari (1787-1862)

Dear Lanari,

Well then if you don’t want to undo me then throw yourself body and soul into giving me everything that I need, just as I will throw myself body and soul into making the best opera for you that I can.  You must do everything you possibly can to get [Gaetano] Fraschini. 

I would just almost dare to guarantee you (as much as uncertain theatrical things can be) that you and I will certainly do good business. I can’t imagine any other singer. 

And precisely because of this I asked you to take on this task for me so you will not be embarrassed in case you were unable to engage him:  but I repeat to you that if I were in your shoes, I would make every effort to get him. 

I have two projects in mind that if the most esteemed poets had written them for him we could have done better; and the choice of one or the other will also depend on the
female lead whom it is useless to decide upon now and it will be sufficient to arrange for her where the tenor has been decided upon.  

The projects are – (but nobody should know) –  L’Avola, the other is I Masnadieri. I have studied them and studied them and I have done the draft for both of them myself, I have distributed the scenes, the acts, the pieces, the choruses, the finales, so that now all that remains to be done are the verses. I assure you that it is impossible to find subjects that are more beautiful or more novel, and of the utmost interest and passion. I urge you to maintain the utmost secrecy because these would not readily come to mind for others, and I want to make use of them both.

Hurry, hurry to engage Fraschini because I can’t wait to begin writing.

I need to inform you of one other thing:  as you already knew I had to write in January for your son and he had agreed to pay me the first installment on December 15 of this year: well, I can promise you the opera, but I cannot exempt you to pay me the first installment of 300 gold napoleons into payment of 20, because for that time period I have to make a small payment. Reply to me immediately about this.

I have need of yet another favor… You must make provision on my behalf to acquire from someone highly capable at fabric making 26 yards of black Ermisino, one and a half yards wide, of the highest quality. In addition, a straw hat with 60 or 75 laps, sewn with stitches |that are not stacked. – Then send me – cloth and hat – to my address in Milan with the respective amount, so that I will send you a little promissory note, either I will pay it at
the villa, or you will take it out of my first installment as you like best. Forgive me for the trouble and give my regards to your family.

Faithfully yours, G. Verdi