Let me start off by thanking my friend György Ligeti for his generous words, and at the same time (contradiction being a part of my nature) putting the record straight: to do something as well as possible because one believes in it is a matter of course rather than a cause for gratitude. Herr Peymann replied to an interviewer's remark, that Thomas Bernhard was lucky to be promoted by him: ‘Well, I suppose that is another way of looking at it. For my own part, I have always thought I was lucky that these works existed and I was able to perform them’. Which touches upon one—just one—of the crucial points in the relationship between the creative artist and society.