BERLIOZ (Hector). Autograph letter signed "Hector Berlioz" to Johann Christian Lobe. Paris, January 21, 1854. 2 pp. in-8, address on back, wax seal with effigy of a man, apparently the profile of Beethoven. "I thank you for having thought of sending me your leaves, and even more for having accompanied your shipment with such a kind letter. May God grant that I may later fully justify the sympathy you have shown me and not compromise your vote. I'M WORKING A LOT AT THE MOMENT in the hope that the horrible war that is brewing will not take place and will not come in the way of my next trip to Germany [the Crimean war against Russia was to begin in March 1854]. I HAVE ALMOST FINISHED THE SECOND PART OF THE ESCAPE TO EGYPT. This work, much more substantial than the one you know, is called L'Arrivée. It is in fact the arrival of the Holy Family in Saïs; there are (in addition to the reciting tenor) three characters, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, a family father, and large choruses and instrumental music, and it contains 8 pieces. I hope you will be pleased with this score, whose style, I believe, is more elevated than that of the previous one. A thousand sincere regards..." AMONG BERLIOZ'S FIRST AND MOST CHALLENGING ADMIRATES IN GERMANY, THE WRITER AND MUSICIAN JOHANN CHRISTIAN LOBE (1797-1881) was a flautist in the Weimar theater orchestra, before founding a music institute in the same city in 1842. In 1846, he moved to Leipzig, where he ran his own music magazine. Lobe discovered Berlioz's music at a concert in Weimar in 1837, met the composer in Weimar in 1842 and remained in correspondence with him thereafter. In his Memoirs, Berlioz refers to Lobe as "that type of the true German musician".