On returning from his two-week country excursion Bizet found a letter awaiting him from Gounod.

Letter 22

Charles Gounod to Bizet

Paris, 24 May 1858

Dear child, dear friend,

I greatly enjoyed your letter. Quite apart from the fact that it's full of affectionate feelings for me for which I thank you in the hope that they will continue, it also displays a noticeable enlargement of all the human faculties that an artist needs. Character is always the bearer of intelligence and the source of its capabilities. So keep on admiring things, admire things as much as you can. Admiration is a noble faculty and also one of man's most rewarding pleasures, if not the keenest of all. To admire is to grow; and if Italy contributes anything to our development, it is in its capacity to stimulate in us the intensity of life which is the essence of admiration. Think how two years spent where you are now will remain eternally full and intense in the memory! How much more vital it is there than anywhere else! What pulsations of the heart, the soul and the mind are to be felt in the life you have begun to lead! I can address you in a language you understand today and which we’ll speak, God willing, even better when you come back. You’ll bring me back Rome! You’ll bring me back Italy! Or rather, you’ll come looking for it and you’ll find it alive and well in both our memories, and our duet will be in unison (Verdi's abuse of such things notwithstanding).

You ask me, dear Georges, to tell you about three things: Quentin Durward, Litolff, and Sapho.

Quentin Durward: I have not heard it yet. I’ll save that for my next letter.

Litolff: as a composer, he is remarkable. Strong character. Energetic, powerful ideas. Often feverish in detail but always deliberate in design. Rich, piquant, striking orchestration. Never boring! (I’ve only heard him twice.) I am not sure what I would think if I heard the music often. I’m never certain what I think of a piece until I know it almost by heart. If that happens and it grips me every time I hear it, that's a good sign for me. His Fourth Concerto-Symphonique is superb, especially the scherzo and the adagio. His overture Les Guelfes is remarkably fine, with a colossal, overwhelming ending.