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Barcelona

Friday, 23 October, 1908

I get no chance to write because so much time is wasted here; yesterday's rehearsal dragged on until 12:30 A. M.! Today from 2:00 to 6:00! No one ever hurries, and they all smoke constantly. No sooner have we rehearsed for ten minutes than the conductor sits down, rolls himself a cigarette, and smokes it, and the instrumentalists do likewise… and they don't continue rehearsing until the cigarette has been smoked. Paul could see fiddlers galore here, each fiddling away with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth. At first I was annoyed at the waste of time, but now I am quite domesticated, and I smile.

My dear parents,

I have just been asked to participate in the gala concert that will be given on Monday evening in honor of the king and queen. I have accepted. I am to play a Handel concerto for organ and orchestra and the organ part in Bach's Magnificence. The tickets are horrendously expensive. Some of the boxes cost one thousand francs! The net receipts are earmarked for the Catalonian orphans. I am the only soloist in this concert.

The city and the people generally make the best impression. Everything is clean, everyone works.

Yesterday I was amazed to see that they don't take anything like the same security measure for the monarchs as in Germany. The crowd thronged around the king's carriage, so it could advance only at a walking pace. Freedom reigns here. They did not even clear the streets for the military parade. A woman with a donkey cart held up an entire regiment. It was too comical. We went to the harbor -- immensely huge -- to see the French squadron.

The newspapers have reported very positively on my lecture and my recital. On Saturday evening the auditorium will be sold out. I live very sensibly. I have just taken a big two-hour stroll along the large ring street, which runs from the hotel to the mountains. No rehearsal tomorrow morning! I'll sleep, write… and take a walk.

It is ten-thirty at night. I am writing to you by the open window… the large palm trees are swaying in the wind.

Albert

I embrace you with all my heart,