... I have also put together a few musical thoughts, among these a kind of mad waltz in Parisian style, as much as I am the one you know is capable of doing something like that. It had turned out that I was invited to an official ball which our attaché here gave in honour of the considerably large number of visitors from our home country. According to a whim of our host we were asked to arrive dressed up, and I had quite some trouble to find something fitting for me here. In what mask I appeared you will have to guess when I am home again, this little joke I have to take in reserve. Of course, there weren't just we Russians but also a lot of Frenchmen, railway shareholders mostly, but with charming company. The little orchestra played dance music, French music, so utterly lilting that one had a hard time not to step also on the parquet floor. This event stayed for quite awhile in my mind, and when taking my walks I found myself filled with melodies which I wrote quickly down at last, waltz melodies I had not had before. Nothing important, alas! but quite nice. With one of the tunes I have portrayed the sight of our attaché as he, appearing to be of a very melancholy nature, spins his circles with his voluminous wife. You can listen to all this very soon, and I can also tell you still more...
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