Church Music Association Public Rehearsal

“C. M. A. rehearsal with orchestra, 3 p.m. Full attendance. My contribution to the performance was a series of sneezes, partly muffled in my handkerchief. They must have sounded like weird mutterings from some ghostly bass-drum, outside the orchestra. Spohr’s ‘Last Judgment’ is certainly most elegant sweet & solemn.

I hear that Watson of the ‘Art Journal’ is pitching into me with all sorts of personalities, Watson being a friend (& I guess almost the only friend) of Pech’s, and also because he (Watson) receives no complimentary tickets from the Philharmonic. I think I remember hearing that he had been dropped from the list, with sundry other obscure editors, but I had nothing whatever to do with it, & never gave a moment’s thought to him, or to his little periodical. I have seen none of Watson’s lucubrations, & they are utterly insignificant. But it is a shame that a man denounced & abused in print should be practically without a remedy.”

“Everything went very smoothly and satisfactorily on Wednesday [i.e., Thursday] and there is reason to believe that the great work selected for the concert will be finely performed.”