Highly interesting autograph letter from the important French composer, written in the last year of his life and offering words of both encouragement and gentle rebuke to a fellow artist, apparently a painter and a friend of the composer. May 23, 1921. Apparently responding to his correspondent's complaint that he is not satisfied with his work, Saint-Saëns writes: "You are pursuing an ideal which you will never attain [...] That is the agony of true artists. Ah, you wanted to be more than everyone else, you wanted to create, to attain the prize on top of the greasy pole! You will never reach it. This is the punishment for our pride, but let us console ourselves! Those who are always content with themselves never go far." He continues by quoting one of his own poems, "Le Pays Merveilleux," dedicated to his student Albert Périlhou in his 1890 collection Rimes familières, and goes on to mention the comparison of two portraits by Ingres and Picasso, in Le Matin: "And in music it is the same thing! But as the public cannot read music, we cannot show it to them." Full translation below. 2 pp. 8.25 x 10.5 inches. Hermine water-mark.  One vertical and one horizontal crease, left margin with old staple holes and .25" closed tear. 

Translated from the French, in full:

"As for me, my dear great painter, I am of the opinion that 5 plus 1 francs are not too much to learn that you are an 'unwitting musician.' You are pursuing an ideal which you will never attain. Who are you saying this to? I have started to write again, and what I am doing seems to me as usual so far from what I would like to be doing. That is the agony of true artists. Ah, you wanted to be more than everyone else, you wanted to create, to attain the prize on top of the greasy pole! You will never reach it. 

This is the punishment for our pride, but let us console ourselves! Those who are always content with themselves never go far. '.... The frustration / Of the human soul is the eternal martyrdom, and of their foolish pride the eternal punishment.'

So, a long time since, said a musician who is very fond of you, you and your works, and who at that time, not making music, distracted himself by writing verse.

Only, instead of "of the human soul," he should have said "the artist's soul," because most mortals are content with very little, ideally.

Have a look in today's Le Matin at the comparison between two portraits, one by Ingres and the other by M. Picasso!

And in music it is the same thing! But as the public cannot read music, we cannot show it to them. 

What painter will be needed to [...] at the Academy?

Your old accomplice and good friend,

C. Saint-Saëns."