The first letter is to soprano Eugénie Garcia and dated July 8, 1851 with an integral address leaf. It is a letter of introduction for a female pianist, convinced in advance to be well received by you and of the pleasure you will experience listening to her.

In the second letter, which is undated and to an unspecified male recipient, de Bériot writes to settle on a program and performance fees: …we could arrive at easier conditions if it were possible for you to obtain for me other engagements in the south for the same period...I could propose to you with orchestra either the concerto I have composed and performed in Pasdeloup last winter or a very interesting concerto by Grieg which I shall play at the popular concert in the course of January or still a concerto by Mendelssohn. For soli we could take Schumann, Chopin or Liszt.

Charles-Wilfried de Bériot was the son of violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot and soprano Maria Malibran. Because Malibran died when Charles was just three years old, he was mostly brought up by his aunt, Pauline Viardot (also a noted singer). His stepmother, Maria Huber, had been adopted by Prince von Dietrichstein, the alleged natural father of pianist Sigismond Thalberg, who was one of de Bériot's earliest teachers. De Bériot was also a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, where his pupils included Maurice Ravel.

Eugénie Garcia (1815-1880) was a French soprano and the second wife of de Bériot's grandfather, musician Manuel Garcia (1775-1832). Manuel shared daughters Maria Malibran and Pauline Viardot with his first wife.