with her had become more intimateat least that is the way Rubinstein saw it.

But she was avoiding him, and one wonders whether the attention he had been
paying to her had become just a little too personal. With his customary habit
of confronting matters head on, he nally he wrote to her, asking her to clarify
how he must behave toward her: If it is to be as a lady-in-waiting of the court,
then I have grounds for terminating our acquaintance decisively and for good;
if it is as Mlle Edith von Raden, then I shall always value the honor and feel
proud of my friendship with you. And I assure you (although I suppose I do not
need to): whatever happens, from the depths of my soul, I wholly belong to you
even if circumstances force you to avoid my company. Ah! For how long have I
wanted to kiss your sweet hand ardently. How ne it would be if you wanted to
accept me such as I am. But God be with you, do as you wish.78
St. Petersburg was enjoying a rare festival of symphonic concerts, for Balaki-
rev was now conducting the concerts of the Free Music School at the Hall of
the Nobility. On 9/21 March Lomakin conducted choruses by Bach, Marcello,
Handel, Dargomzhsky, Weber, and Schumann, and Balakirev conducted or-
chestral works by Glinka, Dargomzhsky, Cui, and Liszt. Nor did Rubinstein
ignore the contemporary repertory, for, despite hostile claims in the press that
the RMS concerts in the hands of Rubinstein had become a bastion for second-
rate German music, on 12/24 March at the Hall of the Nobility, he conducted,
alongside choruses from the operas of Lully, Rameau, and Mozart, the overture
to Cuis opera Sn Mandarina [The son of the Mandarin], and orchestral works
by Wagner and Schumann. A notable appearance during the concert season
was that made by Hans von Blow at an RMS concert of 26 March/7 April. On
this occasion the German pianist played the Liszt Concerto in E
under Rubin-
steins direction. A week later Rubinstein gave a concert of his own works (as
well as works by Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Liszt) at the City Duma in St. Pe-
tersburg, and on 3/15 May he and Konstantin Lyadov shared the rostrum in the
popular concert organized annually by Lomakin and Kologrivov at the St. Pe-
tersburg Mikhaylovsky Mange; this concert included Balakirevs Second Over-
ture on Russian Themes (revised a few years later as 1000 Years and nally as
Rus) and works by Handel, Wagner, and Glinka.
Some time in May Rubinstein left for Berlin, where Dreyschock visited him
and told him about a long conversation he had had with Count Aleksandr
Borkh, the director of the Imperial Theaters in St. Petersburg, concerning the
idea of closing the government-supported Theater School and transferring its
subsidy to the Conservatory.79 Rubinstein informed Kologrivov: The report
concerning the Theater School will be signed by the minister in the next few
days on the following basis: the Conservatory is obliged to accept all the pupils
from the Theater School without compensation; the minister is to adopt this
measure as an economy and the music section at the Theater School is to be
done away with; a specialist school is to be established at the Theater School for
all the branches of music for the benet of those who have successfully gradu-
ated from the Conservatory for the purpose of higher education and enter-
ing the service of the Directorate. What nonsense, Rubinstein complained to

106 Anton Rubinstein