Giuseppe Tartini - Lettere e documenti / Pisma in dokumenti / Letters and Documents - Volume / Knjiga / Volume II

379 LETTERS extra zecchino to be provided with a fire to keep warm, and this is customary everywhere. Then there are other small and detailed expenses, for laundry, shoes, haircutting, barber, and violin strings (of which he is completely devoid); also important is the necessary expense of a music copyist to provide him with what he must study, as he has nothing else with him except very few concertos, just six I believe. I do not deem it right that he should copy it himself, because while he writes, he does not study; and there shall be much to write. I mention all these needs in general to Your Excellency, and I beg you, with regard to them, to give me your instructions and explain your intention to me clearly and resolutely, so that with everything put into order, student and teacher do not need to think about anything but proficiency. I come to another detail, and from the liberty that I take with Your Excellency you must not infer any boldness on my part, but on the contrary, the distinction I make between Your Excellency and many other cavalieri , patrons of mine, with whom I would never take it. Money was stolen from me in my house by a person of the household, and not a little money, and in circumstances fatal for me, with no hope of regaining a single penny. In this case, I must think of making money from some item of clothing that is not necessary to me. Among other things, I possess a fur coat (it is an overcoat in the Muscovite fashion) made with the black hides of unborn lambs, which are extracted from the womb of the pregnant mother and killed for this purpose; and in Muscovy itself it is a rarity. This was a gift given to me by the Grand Chamberlain [Narinski?] six years ago, and it was his overcoat. The effect of these hides from a distance of two or three arm’s lengths is like that of a black velvet cut for this purpose, black satin; but the black and the shine of these hides greatly surpasses the effect of velvet. So it is something worthy of great lords, and not of a violin player. Since it’s a gift, I have never wanted to sell it, and since it’s something too noble, I have never used it, and it is in the same condition as it was when it was sent to me, without the slightest wear or damage. All counted, the skins (which are very small) are sixty-six or sixty-seven, all sewn together and made into a fur coat, which reaches the ground with long and extremely wide sleeves, and encompasses the whole person of someone dressed in frills underneath. The price of one of these skins in Muscovy itself is two thalers each, and I know this for certain. Assuming that my need now is to sell it, I do not want to sell it in these lands where it is widely known that I have this rarity in my house, and I have been asked to sell it many times. If there is a prospect in your parts, I shall sell it, and in order to know if there might be an opportunity, I am confiding this fact to Your Excellency and telling you its price to be thirty zecchini , which is my lowest price, cheap because of my need. When Your Excellency was here, I was not in such circumstances. Now that unfortunately I am, I humbly beg you to give me some information on this matter. I convey to Your Excellency my most respectful regards, and as always I remain