that I wish to give the young Princess a surprise; and inquire
of her whether it is usual to write Elisabeth and
Tschernichef, or ff. [FOOTNOTE: Chopin dedicated the Prelude,
Op. 45, to Mdlle. la Princesse Elisabeth Czernicheff.]

If you do not wish to do this, don't be bashful with me, and
write that you would rather be excused, in which case I shall
find it out by some other means. But do not yet direct
Schlesinger to print the title. Tell him I don't know how to
spell. Nevertheless, I hope that you will find at my house
some note from them on which will be the name....

I conclude because it is time for the mail, and I wish that my
letter should reach Vienna without fail this week.

[3.] Nohant, Sunday [1841].

I send you the Tarantella [Op. 43]. Please to copy it. But
first go to Schlesinger, or, better still, to Troupenas, and
see the collection of Rossini's songs published by Troupenas.
In it there is a Tarantella in F. I do not know whether it is
written in 6/8 or 12/8 time. As to my composition, it does not
matter which way it is written, but I should prefer it to be
like Rossini's. Therefore, if the latter be in 12/8 or in C
with triplets, make in copying one bar out of two. It will be
thus: [here follows one bar of music, bars four and five of
the Tarantella as it is printed.] [FOOTNOTE: This is a
characteristic instance of Chopin's carelessness in the
notation of his music. To write his Tarantella in 12/8 or C
would have been an egregious mistake. How Chopin failed to see
this is inexplicable to me.]

I beg of you also to write out everything in full, instead of
marking repeats. Be quick, and give it to Leo with my letter
to Schubert. [FOOTNOTE: Schuberth, the Hamburg music-
publisher.] You know he leaves for Hamburg before the 8th of
next month, and I should not like to lose 500 francs.

As regards Troupenas, there is no hurry. If the time of my
manuscript is not right, do not deliver the latter, but make a
copy of it. Besides this, make a third copy of it for Wessel.
It will weary you to copy this nasty thing so often; but I
hope I shall not compose anything worse for a long time. I
also beg of you to look up the number of the last opus--
namely, the last mazurkas, or rather the waltz published by
Paccini [FOOTNOTE: Pacini, a Paris music-publisher. He
published the Waltz in A flat major, Op. 42, in the summer of
18