of Liszt and Wagner, he wrote to Liszt on 12/24 November: I do not know

whether you are sufciently interested in the musical events of Russia, and
whether you know that we have founded a music society here, which, among
other things, has set itself the aim of performing the works of all composers,
all schools and all times. The rst concert is set for the 23rd of this month; in
the second Nelisov8 is to play your Concerto in E
, and for future concerts I am
preparing Les Prludes and Orphe. Besides these, I would like to play something
by Wagner, other than the Faust Overture already included in our program. I am
thinking about the introduction to the second act of Der Fliegende Hollnder
with a choir of eighty amateur ladies, but I do not know how to procure the
score. Has it been printed? Do you have it? And could you lend it to me?9
Alongside his work rehearsing and directing a French opera for the grand
duchess, Rubinstein was also thinking about a new opera of his own. He had
earlier complained to Siegfried Saloman: I have absolutely no luck with opera
texts. I have wasted a lot of money and everything has been unusable. Besides,
I have such a passionate desire to write an opera that I am unable with the re-
quired inclination to involve myself in any other kind of work. I am hoping that
with my present attempt, I shall have more luck and then the world will have
something novel in store for it!10 The new four-act opera by which Rubinstein
was setting such store was to be Die Kinder der Haide based on the novel in verse
Janko, der Ungarische Rosshirt by the Hungarian poet Carl Beck. The libretto
had been prepared by the German playwright Solomon Mosenthal, who had
once provided Nicolai with the libretto of Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor.
With his usual condence that the opera could be written quickly, Rubinstein
expressed the hope that it might be completed by the end of the winter and set
his sights on Vienna, for, as he informed Liszt: I would like to stage it in this
city, which has, in my opinion, the best opera house in Germany as regards re-
sources. 11
Meanwhile, the rst concert of the new RMS took place on 23 November/
5 December 1859. Rubinstein conducted the overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila,
Beethovens Eighth Symphony, the unnished fragment of Mendelssohns Lore-
ley, and the nale of Handels oratorio, Jephtha; Carl Schuberth took the baton
for a performance of Rubinsteins Piano Concerto No. 3 in G, with the com-
poser as soloist. Five more concerts were given through November and Decem-
ber that included a balanced mixture of classical and contemporary music, both
Russian and European. A few weeks after the rst concert of the RMS Rubin-
stein learned from Kaleriya Khristoforovna that Yelizaveta (Nikolays estranged
wife) had left Moscow. He hoped that this would be the end of the matter but
foresaw difculties in the future, and remarked: If she takes it into her head to
return sometime, then, with her eccentricity, all the tears, repentance, entreaties,
anger, vengeance, etc. etc. etc. will begin. Then he will be lucky if he can get by
without recourse to litigation.12
The RMS season of concerts continued throughout January. It is interesting
that, in spite of the bitter hostility displayed toward Rubinstein by the nation-

The Founding of the Russian Music Society 85