Eugène Ysaÿe is interested in the fate of a young virtuoso

Eugène Ysaÿe was only able to obtain the information requested by his friend, concerning the military service of Alfred, a young virtuoso, with considerable delay. "I learned from his comrades that Alfred had decided to take the plunge and was going to Paris." He apologizes for his long silence. "I can't explain at all the 'sleepy carp' silence the young virtuoso maintains. He knows how interested I am in what concerns him. So it is to you, dear sir, that I ask what has become of him. Despite the spirit—the unfortunate tendencies for his studies of an obligation so far removed from the practice of art—it has always seemed to me that the change you mentioned was a very harsh measure whose effect could be worse than the cause itself [...]. And besides, two or three years spent in an active, if not sentimental, environment could only be beneficial, especially from a physical point of view—something of that kind has never killed a man or an artist. The artist can remain—all the same—what he is; one only needs to have deep convictions to escape the most unhealthy contagions—one emerges from it with more knowledge in life, and sometimes one is very proud of oneself after this act of commonplace heroism." [...]. The news from me is the same as always: travel, concerts, teaching, and being a doting dad [...]".

[1892 is the year in which Lekeu dedicated his sonata to Ysaÿe, and Chausson his Concert].