To Susan Sturgis de Sastre
Madrid, Spain. April 8, 1912
Dear Susie: During Holy Week I tried to see the things you recommended, not always succeeding; but I got glimpses that were interesting of several functions. Mercedes got me a ticket, through the Duquesa de la Conquista, for the Lavatorio in the royal palace; but evidently they had been very lavish with them, for it proved impossible to get into the hall, and inside there were shrieks and fainting-fits. I saw the procession, however, in the gallery, very well; and I have of course seen the King and Queen, and other royalties, on many occasions. Yesterday I went (as you suggested) to San Francisco el Grande, and heard the music. It was a mass by Perosi, very nice in itself, but sung as I thought too furiously, and without taste. The organist was the most obstreperous, and the singers seemed to catch the infection. But they had fine voices.—The singing in the body of the Church seems to have been given up.
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Two, 1910-1920. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.
Location of manuscript: Alderman Library, University of Virginia at Charlottesville