Kologrivov. Have they understood you?

And have you understood their reason-

ing? I hasten to inform you about this so that you can clarify this important
question in time (if this is still possible).80 Rubinstein had still received no re-
sponse to his proposal for a new charter for the Conservatory, and he had de-
cided that a sine qua non of his remaining director was that the charter had to
be accepted.
In Leipzig Rubinstein met the eminent German violinist and teacher Ferdinand
David. The latter joined Dreyschock and Rubinstein in a performance of the
Piano Quartet in C, Op. 66, and David even intimated that he would not object
to moving to St. Petersburg if a good position could be found for him. Rubin-
stein reveled in the thought of the prestige this would bring to the Conserva-
tory: Its better than Laub, Becker, and even Vieuxtemps, he told Kologrivov
gleefully, asking him to bring the subject up with Borkh and of letting Wiel-
horski and the grand duchess know about the idea.81 In the end David turned
the proposal down and did not go to Russia.
At the end of 1863 Pauline Viardot and her husband, Louis, had settled per-
manently in Baden-Baden. They were attracted to it by the delightful surround-
ings and the active musical life. Deeply in love with Pauline, Turgenev followed
shortly afterward, renting an apartment on the Schillerstrae. Rubinsteins pro-
fessional association with Pauline inevitably brought him into contact with Tur-
genev, and earlier in the year he had worked with the great novelist on preparing
an edition of Russian songs that Pauline had composed. Arriving in Baden-
Baden in June, Rubinstein gave Sunday matinees attended by a host of espe-
cially invited guests, and lost heavily at the casino. Balakirev remarked derisively
to Csar Cui: He constantly plays roulette and has squandered everything, even
some of his clothes, so that the next day he had to put on an old frockcoat and,
for the temptation of the locals, went gloveless.82 Almost every day he visited
Pauline Viardot, whom he called a remarkable woman. Before long, Clara
Schumann had also arrived in Lichtenthal, just outside Baden-Baden. Here, in
the house which she regularly occupied during the summer months, Rubinstein
visited her in July, and together they played Brahmss Sonata in F minor for two
pianos. Rubinstein probably felt little sympathy for this work, but it can hardly
be a coincidence that he composed his own Fantasy in F minor for two pianos,
Op. 73, over the next few months. As one might expect, the two works are com-
pletely unalike. Brahmss concentration on organic development, his predilec-
tion for complex textures (a factor that eventually led the composer to recast
the work as the Piano Quintet, Op. 34), as well as his avoidance of ostentatious
virtuosity, were largely alien to Rubinsteins musical nature. In his Fantasy, Ru-
binstein was aiming, above all, to create a rich sonority, and in this, the rst of
his extended piano works (except for the sonatas) he achieved his goal with a
tempestuous rst movement (Lento. Allegro con fuoco), and the imaginative set
of variations with which the work concludes.
Before leaving Russia, Rubinstein had had discussions with the writer
Vsevolod Krestovsky about adapting Meys play Pskovityanka [The maid of
Pskov] as an opera libretto. Krestovsky had evidently asked too high a fee, and

The Founding of the Russian Music Society 107