applied no less to the illustrious patroness of the new institution than to its

teachers. What he wrote to Edith von Raden on 23 February/7 March 1862 is

remarkably bold and demonstrates quite clearly that Rubinstein had no inten-
tion of kowtowing to the whims of the grand duchess or of acquiescing in the
face of her constant desire to meddle in matters that he regarded as his exclusive
prerogative:
You did me the honor in very frankly setting out your point of view on the ques-
tion which we discussed verbally yesterday at your residence, and which I consid-
ered resolved in my favor. As this is not the case, allow me, for my part, to express
my view also very frankly. I cannot do battle with you, who possess eloquence and
beauty of style, sufcient sincerity, nobility, and renement of feeling. Unfortu-
nately I notice, true, rather late, that we shall never understand each other, since
your actions and words derive from humility, and mine from a sense of worth. The
one and the other are falsely interpreted by society here, which sees in the rst ser-
vility, and in the second only haughtiness.
I consider it beneath me to reply to the hidden reproaches of ingratitude con-
tained in your letter, and I only wish to prove how wrong you are in mixing up
two things which have nothing in common between them: art and personal rela-
tions. I do not reproach the mighty of this world for the fact that they do not
understand or love art; their education, unfortunately, has such a pernicious char-
acter that they will never be able to attain that which is noble, divine, life-giving,
and ennobling in art. I shall even go as far as to say that I respect those who are
frankly conscious of this. But what I cannot tolerate is the bigotry of important
personages who make themselves out to be a Maecenas. To become involved as a
patron of the arts and to trample it underfoot wherever the opportunity arises
that is what causes my indignation. I always say: you do not love art, you do not
understand itleave it in peace: Knig, bleib bei diener Krone. Well, let them
concern themselves with it from time to time in order to make their peoples be-
lieve in it, or to have a clear conscience from the consciousness of having fullled,
so to speak, their obligations as important peoplebut that is all. Do not pretend
to the world that you are encouraging it, and at home do not force it to earn its liv-
ing in the anteroom and to endure what lackeys endure. I have already said to you,
Maecenaepatronage obliges you.
But now, as far as my position with regard to her is concerned, then here in very
few words is my point of view: as her leader of the orchestra, I am responsible
for the position occupied by music there, I am responsible for the music they per-
form there; I am responsible for the way artists are treatedI am responsible, not
before her, but before myself, before the artistic world. The acts fullled there, fall
not on her but on me. And then, what could be more natural than to suggest that
which you consider to be right? And if people do not heed you for some reasonto
go away. I shall never forget the moral support with which she honored me during
my precarious youth, and, of course, she will always have in me a loyal and devoted
servant, but I shall never be a despised artist, who allows his art to be treated badly
under the pretext that the patron has the right to demand everything from him.
Once more I detach the personality from the artist.49 Let her demand my hand
when people attack her, my purse when she needs it, my help if she deems it neces-
sary, but not that I should serve toward the humiliation of my art. That is once
and for all my point of view. Render unto art that which is due to art. You see that

98 Anton Rubinstein