The mediocre performances were often a source of annoyance and regret to me, and the one remedy, the appointment of a permanent conductor, was unwisely from time to time postponed; now I feel quite relieved. Once more, to my great delight,I heard Mendelssohn's 'A minor Symphony,' with its fine piquant and original instrumentation. His 'Midsummer Night's Dream' music, given at the fifth, was repeated at the sixth concert, when the Court was present; last of all we had the 'Walpurgis Night,' all the more delightful to me as I had studied its beauties in the pianoforte score.