Hector Berlioz is working on his sacred trilogy "The Childhood of Christ". 1854.

Hector BERLIOZ (1803.1869)

Autographed letter signed to Johann Christian Lobe.

Two octavo pages. Address and wax seal bearing Beethoven's image.

Paris. January 21, 1854.

"I've almost finished the second part of The Flight into Egypt ."

A very beautiful letter from Berlioz, busy creating The Flight into Egypt , the second part of his sacred trilogy The Childhood of Christ .

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“My dear Lobe, I thank you for thinking of sending me your papers, and even more so for accompanying your gift with such a kind letter. God grant that I may later be able to fully justify the sympathy you show me and not jeopardize your vote. I am working hard at the moment in the hope that the terrible war that is brewing will not take place and will not hinder my upcoming trip to Germany [the Crimean War against Russia was to begin in March 1854]. I have almost finished the second part of The Flight into Egypt . This work, much more substantial than the one you know, is called The Arrival . It is, in fact, the arrival of the Holy Family at Sais; there are (in addition to the tenor reciting) three characters, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, a father of a family, and large choruses and instrumental music, and it contains eight pieces.” I would very much like you to be pleased with this score, the style of which, I believe, is superior to that of the previous one. With my sincere regards, Yours truly, Hector Berlioz…

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L'Enfance du Christ was created in its entirety on December 10, 1854 at the Salle Herz in Paris, under the direction of Berlioz himself, and was an immediate and resounding success.

Among Berlioz's earliest and most ardent admirers in Germany was the writer and musician Johann Christian Lobe (1797–1881), a flautist in the Weimar theater orchestra before founding a music institute in Weimar in 1842. He then moved to Leipzig in 1846, where he edited his own music journal. Lobe discovered Berlioz's music at a concert in Weimar in 1837, met the composer in 1842, and subsequently corresponded with him. In his memoirs, Berlioz refers to Lobe as "that type of true German musician.".