The season of 1882 began on April 22nd, when I gave the first performance in England of Liszt's great Symphony founded on Dante's " Divina Commedia " which he dedicated to Richard Wagner. It is, of course, a very diffi- cult work, and in the last movement a chorus of women's voices is required, and also an organ. There are three movements in all : (1) Inferno ; (2) Purgatorio ; (3) Paradiso (Magnificat) ; and besides the usual full orchestra I had again to engage several additional instrumentalists, which brought the number of players up to ninety-four. I don't think the audience grasped the beauties of the work, with its sublime last movement, when the female voices come in, and it did not have a good reception with the English Press, save for such enlightened critics as Dr. Francis Hueffer of the Times and a few more, but I was bound to give novelties and not continue to perform humdrum works, and I was justified in following this policy. << less