Yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
20. To Breitkopf and Hartel
[Milan, June, 1839]
Gentleman,
About three weeks ago I gave to Mr. Ricordi (who was on his way to Rome) the proofs of the two Symphonies you addressed to me. I hope they have reached you by now. Forgive me for having kept them so long, and also for having corrected them with so much care. But, firstly, they did not reach me till about the 20th of February, and then I did not know how to send them to you direct, for the diligences in this happy country are so insecure. I am therefore of necessity (though very unwillingly) behindhand.
Allow me to ask you for a second proof (for it is of great consequence to me that the edition should be as correct as possible), and this time I will beg you to send me three proofs of each Symphony, so that I may forward one to Paris and the other to London. Probably there will not be any more corrections to make in this second proof, and in that case I will let you know in two words (without returning your proof), telling you at the same time the date of publication.
My intention being to visit Vienna, Munich, and perhaps Leipzig at the beginning of next year (before going to England in the month of April), I shall take advantage of this opportunity to let the Symphonies be heard at my concerts, so as to give them a certain publicity.
I have looked through the Lieder you have been good enough to send me. I shall certainly do the "Adelaide," however difficult it may seem to me to transcribe simply and elegantly. As regards the others, I am afraid I cannot find the necessary time. Moreover, that good Haslinger overwhelms me with Schubert. I have just sent him twenty-four more new songs ("Schwanengesang" and "Winterreise"), and for the moment I am rather tired with this work.
Would you be so kind as to send me, at the same time with the proofs of the Beethoven Symphonies, Mr. Mendelssohn's "Preludes and Fugues"? It is an extremely remarkable work, and it has been impossible to get it in Italy. I shall be greatly obliged if you will send it me.
When you see Mr. Schumann please remember me very kindly to him. I have received the "Fantaisie" which he has done me the honor to dedicate to me, and the "Kinderscenen." Don't you think you ought to publish a book of Studies by him? I should be extremely curious to make acquaintance with them. All his works interest me in a high degree. It would be difficult for me to say as much of many of the compositions of my respected colleagues, with some exceptions.
I beg to remain, Gentlemen,
Yours most sincerely,
F. Liszt
Address the Symphonies to Mr. Ricordi, Florence. From the 15th ofJune till the 1st of September I shall be in the neighborhood ofLucca. Ricordi's address is the safest.
21. To the Beethoven Committee at Bonn
[Printed in L. Ramann's Biography of Liszt, vol. 1]
Gentlemen,
As the subscription for Beethoven's monument is only getting on slowly, and as the carrying out of this undertaking seems to be rather far distant, I venture to make a proposal to you, the acceptance of which would make me very happy. [In Bonn, Beethoven's birthplace, a committee had been formed to erect a Beethoven monument. Yet, in spite of the assent which met the proposal, the contributions flowed in so meagrely—Paris, for example, contributed only 424 francs 90 centimes—that Liszt, on reading this in a paper, immediately formed the noble resolution mentioned in the above letter. "Such a niggardly almsgiving, got together with such trouble and sending round the hat, must not be allowed to help towards building our Beethoven's monument!" he wrote to Berlioz. Thus the German nation has in great measure to thank Franz Liszt for the monument erected to its greatest composer at Bonn.]
I offer myself to make up, from my own means, the sum still wanting for the erection of the monument, and ask no other privilege than that of naming the artist who shall execute the work. That artist is Bartolini of Florence, who is universally considered the first sculptor in Italy.
I have spoken to him about the matter provisionally, and he assures me that a monument in marble (which would cost about fifty to sixty thousand francs) could be finished in two years, and he is ready to begin the work at once. I have the honor to be, etc.,
Franz Liszt
Pisa, October 3rd, 1839
22. To Count Leo Festetics in Pest
[Printed in F. von Schober's "Letters about Liszt's Sojourn inHungary."]
Dear Count,
Shall you like to have me again at Pest this year? I know not. In any case you are threatened with my presence from the 18th to the 22nd of next December. I shall come to you a little older, a little more matured, and, permit me to say, more finished an artist, than I was when you saw me last year, for since that time I have worked enormously in Italy. I hope you have kept me in remembrance, and that I may always count on your friendship, which is dear to me.
What joy, what an immense happiness it will be to be once more in my own country, to feel myself surrounded by such noble and vigorous sympathies, which, thank God, I have done nothing to forfeit in my distant and wandering life. What feelings, what emotions will then fill my breast! All this, dear Count, I will not attempt to express to you, for in truth I should not know how. Let it suffice you to know that the love of my country, of my chivalrous and grand country, has ever lived most deeply in my heart; and that, if unhappily it does not seem likely that I can ever show to my country what a love and devotion I feel for it, the sentiments will remain none the less unchanged in my heart.
But I will not tire you any longer with myself and my sentiments.
I forgot to tell you that for nearly a week I have been confined to my bed with a very severe fever, which might easily have become more serious still. My second concert was obliged to be put off on account of it. Today my doctor has given me permission to play on Wednesday. I don't really know whether I shall be able to do it, for my hand trembles fearfully. Excuse this horrible writing, but I did want to send you a few words. It is a sort of anticipation of Pest, which is sweet to me.
A revoir then very soon, dear Count; meanwhile believe me, as ever, yours most sincerely,
F. Liszt
November 24th, 1839, in bed
23. To Clara Wieck
[The great pianist, afterwards Schumann's wife.]
Pest, December 25th, 1839
How grateful I am, Mademoiselle, for the kind remembrance you keep of me! And how much I am already rejoicing at the thought of seeing you and hearing you again soon in Leipzig! I was so vexed not to be in Paris last winter when I knew you were going to spend some time there. Perhaps I should have been able to be of some little use to you there. You know that, at all times and in every country, I shall always be at your service. I should become too lengthy if I allowed myself to reply in detail to your kind questions about my new compositions. I worked immensely hard in Italy. Without exaggeration I think I have written four to five hundred pages of pianoforte music. If you have patience to hear half a quarter of them I shall be delighted to play them to you, so so.
The "Studies after Paganini," which are dedicated to you, will only appear in two months' time; but I will bring you the proofs, which have long been corrected, to Leipzig.
Once more many thanks, and many tender and respectful wishes for everything that can contribute to your happiness. And above all a bientot.
Yours in admiration and sympathy,
F. Liszt
24. To Robert Schumann in Leipzig
[Autograph in the Royal Library in Berlin.]
Dresden, March 27th, 1840
My dear Schumann,
It is all splendid. Only I should prefer to play the "Hexameron" last, so as to finish with orchestra. Please, therefore, have the "Etudes" and the "Carnaval" put after the Mendelssohn Concerto! [Refers to Liszt's third concert in Leipzig, on March 30th, 1840, for the benefit of the Orchestral Pension Fund.]
Best remembrances to Mendelssohn and Hiller; and believe me yours ever,
F. Liszt
I shall certainly return Monday morning, for on Sunday I am giving a concert for the poor here. But if it should de possible for me to come on Sunday…but I doubt it. [Together with this letter a friend, Carl K[ragen?], writes to Schumann: "He [Liszt] has played me the glorious Mendelssohn Concerto. It was divine! Tomorrow Tieck is to read Faust for Liszt at my mother's house, and Liszt is to play at our house with Lipinski!, Do come for it! Ah, if you could only induce Mendelssohn and his wife to come too!"]
25. To Franz von Schober in Vienna
[The autographs of all the letters in this collection to Schober are in the possession of Fran Babette Wolf at Dresden.-Addressed to the poet and writer, an intimate and worthy friend of Franz Schubert. He became Councillor of Legation to Weimar, and died at Dresden in 1882.]
Metz, April 3rd, 1840
I did not get any news from you at Leipzig, dear Schober, as I expected. I am afraid I was very indiscreet in asking you to be so good as to undertake this work, which I should have valued so much, coming from you. [In answer to the distorted reports in various newspapers of Liszt's visit to Hungary (January, 1840), Schober, who had been an eyewitness, thought it right to clear up the misrepresentations, which he did in the form of "Letters about Liszt's Sojourn in Hungary"; these he published, but much later (Berlin, Schlesinger, 1843)] But I will not speak of it any more. If by any chance you have already done it I should be grateful to you to send it me—otherwise we will not speak of it any more.
Do you know that I have been pursued by one constant regret during my journey, the regret not to have induced you to accompany me? Your society has always been beneficial and strengthening to me: I do not know why, but I imagine that we should live smoothly together. Your qualities, your faults (if you have any), your character and temper, all please me and attach me to you. You know that I flatter myself I can understand and appreciate you…Should you see any great difficulty in joining me somewhere next autumn-at Venice, for example—and in making a European tour with me? Answer me frankly on this matter. And once more, the question of money need not be considered. As long as we are together (and I should like you to have at least three free years before you) my purse will be yours, on the sole condition that you consent to undertake the management of our expenses,—and that you are thoroughly convinced beforehand of the gratitude I shall feel towards you.
Excuse me, my dear good friend, for entering so plainly into matters, but we have talked together too openly, it seems to me, for it to be possible that your delicate feeling on certain points should be wounded by this.
I have sent back Kiss, of Dresden. He is a good fellow, but a little awkward, and wanting in a certain point of honor, without which a man is not a man as I understand the word. So I am alone now, and am not going to have any one tacked on to me. A former pupil of mine, Monsieur Hermann, has undertaken to arrange my concerts, which is a great relief to me. A propos of concerts, I gave six (in nine days!) at Prague, three at Dresden, and the same number at Leipzig (in twelve days)—so I am perfectly tired out, and feel great need of rest. That was good, wasn't it? Adieu, my dear good friend-let me hear from you soon (address 19, Rue Pigalle, Paris), and depend entirely upon me—nunc et semper.
Yours ever sincerely,
F. Liszt
Will you be so good as to go to Diabelli's [Music publisher in Vienna] when you pass by, and advise him again not to publish the third part of the Hungarian Melodies (which I sent him by Hartel) without first sending me a proof to Paris to correct. Adieu.
Best remembrances to Kriehuber [A well-known Vienna painter and lithographer, from whom a number of Liszt portraits have come.] and Lowy. Why does not the latter write to me?
26. To Maurice Schlesinger, Editor of the Gazette Musicale in Paris
[Given by L. Ramann, "Franz Liszt," vol. ii., i.]
Sir,
Allow me to protest against an inexact assertion in your last number but one:—
"Messieurs Liszt and Cramer have asked for the Legion of Honor," etc.
I do not know if M. Cramer (who has just been nominated) has obtained the cross.
In any case I think that you, like every one else, will approve of a nomination so perfectly legitimate.
As to myself, if it be true that my name has figured in the list of candidates, this can only have occurred entirely without my knowledge. It has always seemed to me that distinctions of this sort could only be accepted, but never "asked for."
I am, sir, etc.,
F. Liszt
London, May 14th, 1840
27. To Franz von Schober
[London, May or June, 1840]
My worthy friend,
A fortnight ago my mother wrote me word that she had given several letters, which had come for me from Germany, to a gentleman who was to bring them to me to London. I suppose there was one from you among the number, but up to now I have not received anything.
Allow me to repeat once more the request, which I have already made to you, to come for some time with me (a year or two, and more if you can); for I feel deeply that, the more we are separated by time and space, the more my thoughts and my heart go out to you. I have rarely felt this so strongly, and my wish to feel you settled with me grows daily stronger.
Moreover the persuasion that I feel that we should pass a happy and serious life together, makes me again press you further.
Try then to be at liberty as soon as possible, and once for all make a frank and friendly resolve. I assure you that it will not be difficult to ameliorate, by each other, our two lives, which in their different ways are sad and bad thus separated.
Let me have two words in reply on this point—which, to tell the truth, is the only important one for us both at this moment. Speak quite freely to me, and depend on me thoroughly.
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
Address care of Erard, 18, Great Marlborough Street.
Need I again assure you that any question will not be a question between us?
28. To Franz von Schober
Stonehenge, Salisbury, August 29th, 1840
It is with an unspeakable feeling of sadness and vexation that I write to you today, my dear good friend! Your letter had done me so much good; I was so happy at the thought of our meeting at the end of the autumn at latest; I wanted so to feel that I could rest on your arm, and that your heart, so full of kindness and brotherly help, was near me,—and, lo and behold! I am obliged to give it up, or at least to put it off…
An unfortunate engagement which I have just renewed, and which will keep me in England till the end of January, makes it impossible for me to say to you the one word which I wish to say, "Come!"—
England is not like any other country; the expenses are enormous. I really dare not ask you to travel with me here, for it would almost ruin us. Moreover we should hardly be able to be together, for I have three or four compulsory companions, from whom it is impossible for me to separate. I hoped to have done with all that by the beginning of October, but now I have to begin again in the middle of November. If I have time to make my journey to Russia this year it will be the utmost I can do, but it is a journey that I am in a way obliged to make after the gracious invitation of Her Majesty the Empress at Ems. On the 15th of next May I return again to London, probably by the steamer coming direct from St. Petersburg.
Where shall I find you in a year—fifteen months? It is very possible that I shall come and look for you in Vienna, but then I shall assuredly not leave without taking you with me.
I have some thoughts of spending the following winter at Constantinople. I am tired of the West; I want to breathe perfumes, to bask in the sun, to exchange the smoke of coal for the sweet smoke of the narghileh [Turkish pipe]. In short, I am pining for the East! O my morning land! O my Aborniko!—
My uncle writes that you have been very good and obliging to him. I thank you warmly.—Do you meet Castelli from time to time? When you see him beg him from me to translate the article I published in the Paris "Revue Musicale" (of August 23rd) on Paganini, and to get it put into the "Theater-Zeitung". I should be very glad also if it could be translated into Hungarian, for the Hirnok (excuse me if I make a mess of the word!), but I do not know who could do it.
A propos of Hungarian! I shall always value highly the work on my sojourn in Pest. Send it me as soon as you possibly can, and address it to Madame la Comtesse d'Agoult, 10, Rue Neuve des Mathurins, Paris. Most affectionate remembrances to Kriehuber. His two portraits of me have been copied in London. They are without doubt the best.
Adieu, my dear excellent Schober. In my next letter I shall ask you about a matter of some consequence. It is about a Cantata for Beethoven, which I should like to set to music and to have it given at the great Festival which we expect to organize in 1842 for the inauguration of the Statue at Bonn.
Yours ever most affectionately,
F. Liszt
29. To Buloz
[Published in Ramann's "Franz Liszt," vol. ii., I.]
Editor of the Revue des Deux Mondes.
Sir,
In your Revue Musicale for October last my name was mixed up with the outrageous pretensions and exaggerated success of some executant artists; I take the liberty to address a few remarks to you on this subject. [The enthusiastic demonstrations which had been made to him in Hungary, his native land, had been put into a category with the homage paid to singers and dancers, and the bestowal of the sabre had been turned into special ridicule. Liszt repelled this with justifiable pride.]
The wreaths thrown at the feet of Mesdemoiselles Elssler and Pixis by the amateurs of New York and Palermo are striking manifestations of the enthusiasm of a public; the sabre which was given to me at Pest is a reward given by a NATION in an entirely national form. In Hungary, sir, in that country of antique and chivalrous manners, the sabre has a patriotic signification. It is the special token of manhood; it is the weapon of every man who has a right to carry a weapon. When six of the chief men of note in my country presented me with it among the general acclamations of my compatriots, whilst at the same moment the towns of Pest and Oedenburg conferred upon me the freedom of the city, and the civic authorities of Pest asked His Majesty for letters of nobility for me, it was an act to acknowledge me afresh as a Hungarian, after an absence of fifteen years; it was a reward of some slight services rendered to Art in my country; it was especially, and so I felt it, to unite me gloriously to her by imposing on me serious duties, and obligations for life as man and as artist.
I agree with you, sir, that it was, without doubt, going far beyond my deserts up to the present time. Therefore I saw in that solemnity the expression of a hope far more than of a satisfaction. Hungary hailed in me the man from whom she expects artistic illustriousness, after all the illustrious soldiers and politicians she has so plentifully produced. As a child I received from my country precious tokens of interest, and the means of going abroad to develop my artistic vocation. When grown up, and after long years, the young man returns to bring her the fruits of his work and the future of his will, the enthusiasm of the hearts which open to receive him and the expression of a national joy must not be confounded with the frantic demonstrations of an audience of amateurs.
In placing these two things side by side it seems tome there is something which must wound a just national pride and sympathies by which I am honored.
Be so kind as to insert these few lines in your next issue, and believe me, sir,
Yours obediently,
Franz Liszt
Hamburg, October 26th, 1840
30. To Franz von Schober
I will write German to you, dear Schober, in order to tell you all the quicker how much your letter pleased me. I have to thank it for a really happy hour; and that comes so rarely in my intolerable, monotonous life! For a fortnight past I have again put my neck into the English yoke. Every day which God gives—a concert, with a journey, previously, of thirty to fifty miles. And so it must continue at least till the end of January. What do you say to that?—
If I am not more than half-dead, I must still go at the end of February to Berlin and Petersburg,—and come back to London by the first steamer at the beginning of May. Then I think I shall take a rest. Where and how I do not yet know, and it depends entirely upon the Pecuniary results of my journeys. I should like to go to Switzerland, and thence to Venice, but I can't yet say anything definite.
.—. I have today written a long letter to Leo Festetics. I am hungering and thirsting to go back to Hungary. Every recollection of it has taken deep root in my soul…And yet I cannot go back!
I am grieved that you can tell me nothing better of Lannoy. I cannot understand how that is possible. The news of the Queen has given me great pleasure—if you hear anything more about her let me know. I have a kind of weakness for her.
About the Cantata I will write to you fully later.
Farewell, and be happy if possible, dear Schober; write again soon, and remain ever my friend.
Excuse the spelling and writing of these lines! You know that I never write German; Tobias [Tobias Haslinger, the Vienna music publisher.] is, I think, the only one who gets German letters from me.
Manchester, December 5th, 1840
31. To Breitkopf and Hartel
London, May 7th, 1841
Schlesinger has just told me that Mendelssohn's Melodies which I sent you from London have come out. I can't tell you, my dear Mr. Hartel, how much I am put out by this precipitate publication. Independently of the material wrong it does me (for before sending them to you these Melodies were sold in London and Paris), I am thus unable to keep my word to Beale and Richault, who expected to publish them simultaneously with you.
The evil being irremediable I have only thought how to get a prompt vengeance out of it. You will tell me later on if you think it was really a Christian vengeance.
The matter is this: I have just added a tremendous cadenza, three pages long, in small notes, and anentire Coda, almost as long, to Beethoven's "Adelaide". I played it all without being hissed at the concert given at the Paris Conservatoire for the Beethoven Monument, and I intend to play it in London, and in Germany and Russia. Schlesinger has printed all this medley, such as it is. Will you do the same? In that case, as I care chiefly for your edition, I will beg you to have the last Coda printed in small notes as an Ossia, without taking away anything from the present edition, so that the purists can play the integral text only, if the commentary is displeasing to them.
It was certainly a very delicate matter to touch "Adelaide", and yet it seemed to me necessary to venture. Have I done it with propriety and taste? Competent judges will decide.
In any case I beg you not to let any one but Mr. Schumann look over your edition.
In conclusion allow me to remind you that I was rather badly paid for "Adelaide" formerly, and if you should think proper to send me a draft on a London bank, fair towards you and myself, I shall always receive it with a "new pleasure"—to quote the favorite words of His Majesty the King of the French.
With kind regards, believe me, my dear sir, yours most sincerely,
F. Liszt
Be so kind as to remember me very affectionately to Mendelssohn.As for Schumann, I shall write to him direct very shortly.
32. To Simon Lowy In Vienna
[Autograph in the possession of Madame Emilie Dore in Vienna.]
London, May 20th, 1841
I am still writing to you from England, my dear friend. Since my last letter (end of December, I think) I have completed my tour of the three kingdoms (by which I lose, by the way, 1000 pounds sterling net, on 1500 pounds which my engagement brought me!), have ploughed my way through Belgium, with which I have every reason to be satisfied, and have sauntered about in Paris for six weeks. This latter, I don't hide it from you, has been a real satisfaction to my self-love. On arriving there I compared myself (pretty reasonably, it seems to me) to a man playing ecarte for the fifth point. Well, I have had king and vole,—seven points rather than five! [The "fifth" is the highest in this game, so Liszt means that he won.]
My two concerts alone, and especially the third, at the Conservatoire, for the Beethoven Monument, are concerts out of the ordinary run, such as I only can give in Europe at the present moment.
The accounts in the papers can only have given you a very incomplete idea. Without self-conceit or any illusion, I think I may say that never has so striking an effect, so complete and so irresistible, been produced by an instrumentalist in Paris.
A propos of newspapers, I am sending you, following this, the article which Fetis (formerly my most redoubtable antagonist) has just published in the "Gazette Musicale". It is written very cleverly, and summarises the question well. If Fischhof [A musician, a Professor at the Vienna Conservatorium.] translated it for Bauerle [Editor of the Theater-Zeitung (Theatrical Times).] it would make a good effect, I fancy. However, do what you like with it.
I shall certainly be on the Rhine towards the end of July, and shall remain in that neighborhood till September. If Fischhof came there I should be delighted to see him and have a talk with him. Till then give him my most affectionate compliments, and tell him to write me a few lines before he starts.
In November I shall start for Berlin, and shall pass the whole of next winter in Russia.
Haslinger's behaviour to me is more than inexcusable. The dear man is doing a stupidity of which he will repent soon. Never mind; I will not forget how devoted he was to me during my first stay in Vienna.
Would you believe that he has not sent me a word in reply to four consecutive letters I have written to him? If you pass by Graben will you be so kind as to tell him that I shall not write to him any more, but that I expect from him, as an honest man of business, if not as a friend, a line to tell me the fate of two manuscripts ("Hongroises," and "Canzone Veneziane") which I sent him.
I have just discovered a new mine of "Fantaisies"—and I am working it hard. "Norma," "Don Juan," "Sonnambula," "Maometto," and "Moise" heaped one on the top of the other, and "Freischutz" and "Robert le Diable" are pieces of 96, and even of 200, like the old canons of the Republic of Geneva, I think. When I have positively finished my European tour I shall come and play them to you in Vienna, and however tired they may be there of having applauded me so much, I still feel the power to move this public, so intelligent and so thoroughly appreciative,—a public which I have always considered as the born judge of a pianist.
Adieu, my dear Lowy—write soon, and address, till June 15th, at 18, Great Marlborough Street, and after that Paris.
Yours most sincerely,
F. Liszt
Is the Ungher [Caroline Ungher, afterwards Ungher-Sabatier, a celebrated singer.] at Vienna? Will you kindly give or send to her the letter which follows?
Have you, yes or no, sent off the two amber pieces which I gave you at the time of my departure? I have been to fetch them from the Embassy, but they were not there. Let me have two words in reply about this.
33. To Franz von Schober
Truly, dear friend, I should like pages, days, years, to answer your dear letter. Seldom has anything touched me so deeply. Take heart for heart, and soul for soul,—and let us be for ever friends.
You know how I am daily getting more concise; therefore nothing further about myself, nothing further about Berlin. Tomorrow, Thursday, at 2 o'clock, I start for Petersburg.
I have spoken to A. It is impossible on both sides. When we meet and you are perfectly calm, we will go into details. I still hope to meet you next autumn, either in Florence or on the Rhine.
Leo [Count Festetics] has written to me again. Write to me at once to Konigsberg, to tell me where to address my next letter to you. But write directly-simply your address.
I have sent all the proofs of your pamphlet to Brockhaus. Be so good as to give him direct your final orders in regard to this publication. I shall be so pleased to have some copies of it while I am in Petersburg. The subject is very congenial to me; I thank you once more most warmly for it.
One more shake of the hand in Germany, dearest friend, and in heartfelt love yours ever,
F. Liszt
Remember me kindly to Sabatier, [The husband of Caroline Ungher, the celebrated singer previously mentioned.] and don't quarrel with him about me. To Caroline always the same friendship and devotion.
Berlin, March 3rd, 1842.
34. To the faculty of philosophy at the university of Konigsberg.
[Printed in L. Ramann's "Franz Liszt," vol. ii., I.]
Much Esteemed and Learned Gentlemen,
It is in vain for me to attempt to express to you the deep and heartfelt emotion you have aroused in me by your rare mark of honor. The dignity of Doctor, granted by a Faculty in which, as in yours, men of European celebrity assemble, makes me happy, and would make me proud, were I not also convinced of the sense in which it is granted to me.
I repeat that, with the honorable name of Teacher of Music (and I refer to music in its grand, complete, and ancient signification), by which you, esteemed gentlemen, dignify me, I am well aware that I have undertaken the duty of unceasing learning and untiring labour.
In the constant fulfillment of this duty-to maintain the dignity of Doctor in a right and worthy manner, by propagating in word and deed the little portion of knowledge and technical skill which I can call my own, as a form of, and a means to, the True ["The beautiful is the glory of the true, Art is the radiancy of thought." (Author's note.)] and the Divine—
In the constant fulfillment of this duty, and in any results which are granted to me, the remembrance of your good wishes, and of the touching manner in which a distinguished member of your Faculty [Professors Rosenkranz and Jacobi invested Liszt with the Doctor's Diploma.] has informed me of them, will be a living support to me.
Accept, gentlemen, the expression of my highest esteem and respect.
F. Liszt
Mittau, March 18th, 1842
35. To Court-Marshal Freiherr von Spiegel at Weimar
[Given by L. Ramann, "Franz Liszt," vol. ii., 1.]
Monsieur le Baron,
It is very difficult to reply to so gracefully flattering a letter as your Excellency has been good enough to write to me.
I must nevertheless say that I wish with all my heart and in all ways that I could answer it. I shall reach Weimar, bag and baggage, towards the middle of October, and if I succeed in communicating to others a little of the satisfaction I cannot fail to find there, thanks to the gracious kindness of their Highnesses and the friendly readiness of your Excellency, I shall be only too glad.
Meanwhile I beg to remain, Monsieur le Baron, with respectful compliments,
Yours obediently,
Cologne; September 12th, 1862. F. Liszt
36. To Carl Filitsch.
[Autograph in the possession of Count Albert Amadei in Vienna.— Addressed to the talented young pianist, born at Hermannstadt in the Siebenburgen in 1830, died at Venice 1845, studied with Chopin and Liszt in Paris in 1842-43, and created a sensation with his concerts both there and in London, Vienna, and Italy. According to Lenz, Liszt said of him, "When the youngster goes travelling I shall shut up shop!"]
Compiegne, Wednesday Morning [1842 or 1843].
Dearly beloved conjurer,
How sorry I am to disappoint [Literally. "to make a false skip," a play-of-words with the next sentence.] you of our usual lesson tomorrow! Your "false skips" would be a great deal pleasanter to me! but, unless we could manage to put you where we could hear you from the towers of Notre Dame to the Cathedral of Cologne, there is a material impossibility in continuing our sort of lessons, considering that by tomorrow evening I shall already be at Cologne.
If I return, or when I return—I really don't know. Whatever happens, keep a little corner of remembrance of me, and believe me ever yours affectionately,
F. Liszt
Affectionate remembrances to your brother Joseph. Farewell again.I embrace you affectionately.
37. To Franz von Schober in Paris
Berlin, March 4th, 1844
You are a dear, faithful friend, and I thank you with all my heart for your kind letter. God reward you for your love to such a jaded, worn-out creature as I am! I can only assure you that I feel it deeply and gratefully, and that your words soothe many spasmodic annoyances.
At the end of this month we shall certainly see each other in Paris. Villers [Alexander von Villers, a friend of Liszt's, attache of the Saxon Embassy in Vienna.] is coming also. In case Seydlitz is still there make my excuses to him, and tell him that, owing to my delay at Dresden, I only got his letter yesterday. I will answer him immediately, and will address to Lefebre, as he tells me to do. I have had several conferences with the H[ereditary] G[rand] D[uke] and Eckermann. [The editor of Goethe's "Gesprachen"] Our business seems to me to stand on a firm footing. Next autumn the knots will be ready to tie. [Refers probably to Schober's subsequent appointment at Weimar.]
My room is too full. I have got a tremendous fit of Byron on. Be indulgent and kind as ever!
Remember me to the Sabatiers, and stick to me! Yours most affectionately,
F. Liszt
38. To Franz Kroll
[Pupil and friend of Liszt's (1820-1877); since 1849 settled in Berlin as a pianoforte teacher; rendered great service by his edition of Bach's "Das wohltemperirte Clavier."]
My dear good Kroll,
What a first-rate man you are to me, and what pleasure your letter has given me! Probably you already know that I also have been figuring as an invalid these last five weeks.—God be thanked and praised that I am already pretty fairly on my legs again, without rheumatism in the joints or gout! In a few days I shall begin my provincial tour (Lyons, Marseilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux), and then towards the end of August by steamer to Stockholm and Copenhagen. Weymar, our good, dear Weymar, will again be our Christmas Day! Oh what beautiful apples and trifles we will hang on our Christmas tree! and what talks and compositions, and projects and plans! Only don't you disappoint me, and mind you come fresh and well. Leave the bad looks to me, and see that you fill out your cheeks properly. This winter we must be industrious, and struggle through much work.
Your Mazurkas are most excellent and talented. You have put a great deal into them—and, if you will allow me to speak quite freely—perhaps too much into them, for much of it halts. Although the dedication to me is both pleasing and gratifying, I cannot help thinking that it would be to your interest not to publish anything before next spring. Take advantage of being as yet unknown, and give to the public from the beginning a proper opinion of your talent by a collective publication. Write a couple of pleasing, brilliant Studies—perhaps also a Notturno (or something of that sort), and an effective Fantasia on some conspicuous theme. Then let Schlesinger, Hartel, or Mechetti (to whom I will most gladly speak about your works beforehand) publish the six pieces—your Concerto and the C major Study, together with the later pieces—all together, so that publisher, critic, artist, and public all have to do with them at the same time. Instead of dishing up one little sweetmeat for the people, give them a proper dinner. I am very sorry I did not follow this plan myself; for, after much experience, I consider it far the best, especially for pianoforte works. In Weymar we will talk more fully and definitely about this. Conradi [Musician and friend in Berlin] is also to come. I don't require the Huguenot Fantasia at present. He will have time enough for it in Weymar. En attendant, [A German letter, so Liszt's own French expression is kept] Schlesinger will give him a modest payment for the work he has begun. Please kindly see about the enclosed letters for Freund as soon as possible.
With all good wishes, I am, dear Kroll,
Yours most sincerely,
F. Liszt
Port Marly, June 11th, 1844
39. To Freund
[Autograph in the possession of Professor Hermann Scholtz inDresden.]
I am shockingly behindhand with you, my dear Freund, but I won't make any excuses, although an illness of more than a month comes rather a propos to justify me fully and even more.
Herewith letters and cards for Baron Lannoy (Haslinger will give you the address), for Prince Fritz Schwarzenberg, and for Doctor Uwe, Kriehuber, and Simon Lowy, who will soon be back in Vienna. I shall be glad if you will give them in any case, whether now or later. If you want to give me a pleasure you will go and see my uncle Eduard Liszt, and try to distract him a little.
I detest repeating myself in letters so much that I can't write over again to you my plans of travel up to the beginning of winter; these I have just told Kroll in full, and you already know them from Hanover.
Teleky, Bethlen (Friends of Liszt's), and Corracioni are here, and form a kind of colony which I call the Tribe of the Huns!
Probably Teleky will come and pick me up at Weymar towards the middle of February, and we shall go together to Vienna and Pest— not forgetting Temesvar, Debreczin, and Klausenburg!
I hope then to find you in Vienna, and shall perhaps be able to give you a good lift.
Meanwhile acknowledge the receipt of these lines: enjoy yourself, and remain to me always friend Freund. [A play on his name Freund, which means friend.]
Yours most sincerely and affectionately,
F. Liszt
Port Marly, June 11th, 1844.
40. To Franz Von Schober.
Gibraltar, March 3rd, 1845.
Your letter pleases me like a child, my dear good Schober! Everything comes to him who can wait. But I scarcely can wait to congratulate you and to see you again in Weymar [as Councillor of Legation there]. Unhappily it is not probable that I can get there before the end of next autumn. Keep me in your good books, therefore, until then, and accept my best thanks in advance for all you will have done for me and fought for me till then, both in Weymar and in Hungary!
With regard to Vienna, Lowy writes me almost exactly the same as you. To tell the truth I am extremely thankful to the Vienna public, for it was they who, in a critically apathetic moment, roused and raised me [When he came from Venice to Vienna in the spring of 1838, to give a concert for the benefit of his Hungarian compatriots after the inundations, on which occasion, although Thalberg, Clara Wieck, and Henselt had been there before him, he aroused the utmost enthusiasm.]; but still I don't feel the slightest obligation to return there a year sooner or later. My Vienna journey will pretty much mark the end of my virtuoso career. I hope to go thence (in the month of August, 1846) to Constantinople, and on my return to Italy to pass my dramatic Rubicon or Fiasco.
So much for my settled plans.
What precisely is going to become of me this coming spring and summer I do not exactly know. In any case to Paris I will not go. You know why. My incredibly wretched connection with _____ has perhaps indirectly contributed more than anything to my Spanish- Portuguese tour. I have no reason to regret having come, although my best friends tried to dissuade me from it. Sometimes it seems to me that my thoughts ripen and that my troubles grow prematurely old under the bright and penetrating sun of Spain…
Many kind messages to Eckermann and Wolff. [Professor Wolff, editor of "Der poetische Hausschatz."] I will write to the latter from the Rhine, where I shall at any rate spend a month this summer (perhaps with my mother and Cosima). If he is still inclined to return to his and your countries (Denmark and Sweden), we can make a nice little trip there as a holiday treat.
Good-bye, my dear excellent friend. Allow me to give you as true a love as I feel is a necessity of my heart! Ever yours,
F. Liszt
What is Villers doing? If you see him tell him to write me a line to Marseilles, care of M. Boisselot, Pianoforte Maker.
41. To Franz Kroll at Glogau
Weymar, March 26th, 1845
My very dear Kroll,
The arrival of your letter and the packet which accompanied it decided a matter of warm contest between our friend Lupus [Presumably Liszt's friend, Professor Wolff (1791-1851).] and Farfa-Magne-quint-quatorze! [For whom this name was intended is not clear.] It consisted in making the latter see the difference between the two German verbs "verwundern" (to amaze) and "bewundern" (to admire), and to translate clearly, according to her wits, which are sometimes so ingeniously refractory, what progress there is from Verwundern (amazement) to Erstaunen (astonishment). Imagine, now, with what a wonderful solution of the difficulty your packet and letter furnished us, and how pleased I was at the following demonstration:—
"We must admire (bewundern) Kroll's fine feeling of friendship; we may be amazed (verwundern) at the proof he has given of his industry in copying out the Mass; should this industry continue we shall first of all be astonished (erstaunen), and by degrees, through the results he will bring about, we again attain to admiration (Bewunderung)."
I don't know how you will judge, critically, of this example, but what is certain is that it appeared to be quite conclusive to our auditory.
Ernst [The celebrated violinist (1814-65)] has just been spending a week here, during which he has played some hundred rubbers of whist at the "Erbprinz." His is a noble, sweet, and delicate nature, and more than once during his stay I have caught myself regretting you for him, and regretting him for you. Last Monday he was good enough to play, in his usual and admirable manner, at the concert for the Orchestral Pension Fund. The pieces he had selected were his new "Concerto pathetique" (in F~ minor) and an extremely piquant and brilliant "Caprice on Hungarian Melodies." (This latter piece is dedicated to me.) The public was in a good humor, even really warm, which is usually one of its least faults.
Milde, who is, as you know, not much of a talker, has nevertheless the tact to say the right thing sometimes. Thus, when we went to see Ernst off at the railway, he expressed the feeling of us all—"What a pity that Kroll is not here!"
For the most part you have left here the impression which you will leave in every country—that of a man of heart, talent, tact, and intellect. One of these qualities alone is enough to distinguish a man from the vulgar herd; but when one is so well born as to possess a quartet of them it is absolutely necessary that the will, and an active will, should be added to them in order to make them bring out their best fruits,—and this I am sure you will not be slow to do.
Your brother came through here the day before yesterday, thinking he should still find you here. I have given him your address, and told him to inquire about you at Schlesinger's in Berlin, where he expects to be on the 8th of April; so do not fail to let Schlesinger know, in one way or another, when you get to Berlin. As M. de Zigesar [The Intendant at Weimar.] I was obliged to start in a great hurry for The Hague, in the suite of the Hereditary Grand Duchess, I will wait till his return to send you the letters for Mr. de Witzleben. I will address them to Schlesinger early in April.
We are studying hard at the Duke of Coburg's opera "Toni, oder die Vergellung," ["Toni, or the Requital"] which we shall give next Saturday. The score really contains some pretty things and which make a pleasing effect; unluckily I cannot say as much for the libretto.
Your castle in the air for May we will build up on a solid basis in Weymar; for I am quite calculating on seeing you then, together with our charming, good, worthy friend Conradi. Will you please, dear Kroll, tell Mr. Germershausen and his family how gratified I am with their kind remembrance? When I go to Sagan I shall certainly give myself the pleasure of calling on him.
Believe me ever your very sincere and affectionate friend,
F. Liszt
42. To Abbe de Lamennais
[Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet at Valentigney.]
Permit me, illustrious and venerable friend, to recall myself to your remembrance through M. Ciabatta, who has already had the honor of being introduced to you last year at my house. He has just been making a tour in Spain and Portugal with me, and can give you all particulars about it. I should have been glad also to get him to take back to you the score, now completed, of the chorus which you were so good as to entrust to me ("The iron is hard, let us strike!"), but unfortunately it is not with music as with painting and poetry: body and soul alone are not enough to make it comprehensible; it has to be performed, and very well performed too, to be understood and felt. Now the performance of a chorus of the size of that is not an easy matter in Paris, and I would not even risk it without myself conducting the preliminary rehearsals. While waiting till a favorable opportunity offers, allow me to tell you that I have been happy to do this work, and that I trust I have not altogether failed in it. Were it not for the fear of appearing to you very indiscreet, I should perhaps venture to trespass on your kindness for the complete series of these simple, and at the same time sublime, compositions, of which you alone know the secret. Three other choruses of the same kind as that of the Blacksmiths, which should sum up the most poetical methods of human activity, and which should be called (unless you advise otherwise) Labourers, Sailors, and Soldiers, would form a lyric epic of which the genius of Rossini or Meyerbeer would be proud. I know I have no right to make any such claim, but your kindness to me has always been so great that I have a faint hope of obtaining this new and glorious favor. If, however, this work would give you even an hour's trouble, please consider my request as not having been made, and pardon me for the regret which I shall feel at this beautiful idea being unrealized.
As business matters do not necessarily call me to Paris, I prefer not to return there just now. I expect to go to Bonn in the month of July, for the inauguration of the Beethoven Monument, and to have a Cantata performed there which I have written for this occasion. The text, at any rate, is tolerably new; it is a sort of Magnificat of human Genius conquered by God in the eternal revelation through time and space,—a text which might apply equally well to Goethe or Raphael or Columbus, as to Beethoven. At the beginning of winter I shall resume my duties at the Court of Weymar, to which I attach more and more a serious importance.
If you were to be so very good as to write me a few lines, I should be most happy and grateful. If you would send them either to my mother's address, Rue Louis le Grand, 20; or to that of my secretary, Mr. Belloni, Rue Neuve St. George, No. 5, I should always get them in a very short time.
I have the honor to be, sir, yours very gratefully,
F. Liszt
Marseilles, April 28th, 1845
43. To Frederic Chopin
[Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet at Valentigney.— The great Polish tone-poet (1809-49) was most intimate with Liszt in Paris. The latter, in his work "F. Chopin" 1851, second edition 1879, Breitkopf and Hartel; German translation by La Mara, 1880), raised an imperishable monument to him.]
Dear Chopin,
M. Benacci, a member of the Maison Troupenas, and in my opinion the most intelligent editor, and the most liberal in business matters, in France, asks me for a letter of introduction to you. I give it all the more willingly, as I am convinced that under all circumstances you will have every reason to be satisfied with his activity and with whatever he does. Mendelssohn, whom he met in Switzerland two years ago, has made him his exclusive editor for France, and I, for my part, am just going to do the same. It would be a real satisfaction to me if you would entrust some of your manuscripts to him, and if these lines should help in making you do so I know he will be grateful to me.
Yours ever, in true and lively friendship,
F. Liszt
Lyons, May 21st, 1845
44. To George Sand.
[Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet at Valentigney.— A friendship of long years subsisted between Liszt and France's greatest female writer, George Sand. At her home of Nohant he was a frequent guest, together with the Comtesse d'Agoult. Three letters which he wrote (in 1835 and 1837) for the Gazette Musicale—clever talks about Art, Nature, Religion, Freedom, etc.—bear George Sand's address.]
Without wishing to add to your other inevitable troubles that of a correspondence for which you care little, allow me, dear George, to claim for myself your old indulgence for people who write to you without requiring an answer, and let me recall myself to you by these few lines through M. Benacci. Their ostensible object is to recommend the above-mentioned Benacci, so that you, in your turn, may recommend him more particularly to Chopin (and I may add in parenthesis that I should abstain from this negotiation were I not firmly persuaded that Chopin will never regret entering into business relations with Benacci, who, in his capacity of member of the firm of Troupenas, is one of the most important and most intelligent men of his kind); but the real fact of the matter is that I am writing to you above all— and why should I not confess it openly?—for the pleasure of conversing with you for a few moments. Therefore don't expect anything interesting from me, and if my handwriting bothers you, throw my letter into the fire without going any further.
Do you know with whom I have just had endless conversations about you, in sight of Lisbon and Gibraltar? With that kind, excellent, and original Blavoyer, the Ahasuerus of commerce, whom I had already met several times without recognising him, until at last I remembered our dinners at the "Ecu" (Crown) at Geneva, and the famous Pipe!
During the month's voyage from Lisbon to Barcelona we emptied I cannot tell you how many bottles of sherry in your honor and glory; and one fine evening he confided to me in so simple and charming a manner his vexation at being unable to find several letters that you had written to him in Russia, I think, and which have been stolen from him, that I took a liking to him, and he did the same to me. The fact is that there could not possibly be two Blavoyers under the sun, and his own person is the only pattern of which he cannot furnish goods wholesale, for there is no sort of thing that he does not supply to all parts of the globe.
A propos of Lisbon and supplies, have you a taste for camellias? It would be a great pleasure to me to send you a small cargo of them from Oporto, but I did not venture to do it without knowing, in case you might perhaps have a decided antipathy to them.
In spite of the disinterestedness with which I began this letter, I come round, almost without knowing how, to beg you to write to me. Don't do more than you like; but in any case forgive me for growing old and arriving at the point when noble recollections grow in proportion as the narrowing meannesses of daily life find their true level. Yes, even if you thought me more of a fool than formerly, it would be impossible for me to hold your friendship cheap, or not to prize highly the fact that, somehow or other, it has not come to be at variance nor entirely at an end.
As the exigencies of my profession will not allow me leisure to return so soon to Paris, I shall probably not have the opportunity of seeing you for two years. Towards the middle of July I go to Bonn for the inauguration of the Beethoven Monument. Were it not that a journey to the Rhine is so commonplace, I should beg you to let me do the honors of the left and of the right bank to you, as well as to Chopin (a little less badly than I was able to do the honors of Geneva!). My mother and my children are to join me at Cologne in five or six weeks, but I cannot hope for such good luck as that we might meet in those parts, although after your winters of work and fatigue a journey of this kind would be a refreshing distraction for you both.
At the close of the autumn I shall resume my duties at Weymar; later on I shall go to Vienna and Hungary, and proceed thence to Italy by way of Constantinople, Athens, and Malta.
If, therefore, one of these fine days you should happen to be in the humor, send me a word in reply about the camellias; if you will send your letter to my mother (20, Rue Louis le Grand) I shall get it immediately. In every way, count upon my profound friendship and most respectful devotion always and everywhere.
Lyons, May 21st, 1845
F. Liszt
45. T Abbe De Lamennais
[Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet at Valentigney.]
Oh no, there is not, and there never could be, any indiscretion from you towards me. Believe me that I do not deceive myself as to the motive which determined you to write to me with such great kindness, and if it happened that I replied too sanguinely and at too great length I beg you to excuse me. Above all do not punish me by withdrawing from me the smallest particle of your sacred friendship.
M. de Lamartine, with whom I have been spending two or three days at Montceau, told me that you had read to him "Les Forgerons," so I played him the music. Permit me still to hope that some day you may be willing to complete the series, and that I, on my side, may not be unworthy of this task.
Yours most heartily,
Dijon, June 1st, 1845
F. Liszt
46. To Gaetano Belloni in Paris
[Autograph in the possession of M. Etienne Charavay in Paris.—Addressed to Liszt's valued secretary during his concert tours inEurope from 1841-1847.]
Dear and Most Excellent Belloni,
Everything is moving on, and shall not stop either. Bonn is in a flutter since I arrived and I shall easily put an end to the paltry, under-hand opposition which had been formed against me. By the time you arrive I shall have well and duly conquered my true position.
[This refers to the Festival in Bonn, of several days' duration, for the unveiling of the Beethoven Monument (by Hahnel), in which Liszt, the generous joint-founder of the monument, took part as pianist, composer, and conductor.]
Will you please add to the list of your commissions:
The cross of Charles III.
and the cross of Christ of Portugal, large size? You know it is worn on the neck.
Don't lose time and don't be too long in coming.
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
July 23rd, 1845.
Kindest regards to Madame Belloni.—I enclose a few lines forBenacci, which you will kindly give him.
47. To Madame Rondonneau at Sedan
[Autograph in the possession of M. Etienne Charavay in Paris.]
In spite of rain, snow, hail, and frost, here I am at last, having reached the hotel of the Roman Emperor at Frankfort after forty-eight hours' travelling, and I take the first opportunity of telling you anew, though not for the last time, how much I feel the charming and affectionate reception which you have given me during my too short, and, unhappily for me, too unfortunate stay at Sedan. Will you, dear Madame, be so kind as to be my mouthpiece and special pleader to Madame Dumaitre, who has been so uncommonly kind and cordial to me? Assuredly I could not confide my cause (bad as it may be) to more delicate hands and to a more persuasive eloquence, if eloquence only consists in reality of "the art of saying the right thing, the whole of the right thing, and nothing but the right thing," as La Rochefoucauld defined it; a definition from which General Foy drew a grand burst of eloquence—"The Charter, the whole Charter (excepting, however, Article 14 and other peccadilloes!), and nothing but the Charter."
"But don't let us talk politics any longer," as Lablache so happily remarked to Giulia Grisi, who took it into her head one fine day to criticize Don Juan!
Let us talk once more of Sedan, and let me again say to you how happy I should be to be able one day to show those whose acquaintance I have made through you in what grateful remembrance I keep it.
Will you, Madame, give my best and most affectionate thanks to M.Rondonneau, and accept my very respectful and devoted homage?
F. Liszt
Frankfurt, February 11th, 1846
P.S.—Being pressed for time, and owing, perhaps, to a stupid feeling of delicacy, I came away without paying my doctor.
If you think well, would you be so kind as to credit me with a napoleon and give it him from me: Madame Kreutzer will be my banker in Paris. Adieu till we meet again.
48. To Monsieur Grillparzer
[Original, without date, in the possession of the Baroness Mayrhofer-Grunbuhel at Klagenfurt. It might belong to the year 1846, during which Liszt arranged ten concerts in Vienna, from March 1st to May 17th, and lived there during a great part of the summer. From the same year dates a poem of homage to the incomparable magician of the piano from the great poet. This slight and unimportant letter is the only one of Liszt's found among Grillparzer's effects.]
Will you do me the favor, my dear sir, to come and dine, without ceremony, with several of your friends and admirers on Friday next at 3 o'clock (at the "Stadt Frankfurt")? I should be very much gratified at this kindness on your part. M. Bauernfeld leads me to hope that you will not refuse me. Permit me to think that he is not mistaken, and allow me to express once more my high esteem and admiration.
F. Liszt
Tuesday Morning. [1846?]
49. To Franz von Schober, Coucillor of Legation in Weimar
Prague, April 11th, 1846. [According to the postal stamp.]
Dear Friend,
Your commissions have been attended to. The Wartburg has been sent through Bauernfeld to the Allgemeine, and will, I trust, not have to warten [Wait; a play on the words Wartburg and warten. A treatise on the proposed completion of the Wartburg.] too long. I have sent a second copy of this article to Paris, where it is to appear in French garb. The report figures already in the Vienna Theater-Zeitung, a paper with a wide circulation (and none the better on that account!), where it makes quite a good appearance.
You would get the best connection with Frankfort through O. L. B.Wolff (and through his medium, which is at any rate an honest andproper one, with the German Frankfurtes Journal, or theOberpostamts-Zeitung, and even with the Didaskalia).
Talk this over with Wolff!
The same with the "illustrated" Leipzig Journal, in which the article on the Wartburg should appear as soon as possible with an illustration. Wolff can also arrange that, and in case it were necessary, why, in Heaven's name, the sketch can be paid for. The State of Weimar will not be ruined by it. Pereat Philistia and its powerless foolery!!!
You have only to write a line to Brockhaus, and the columns of the Deutsche Allgemeine stand open to you. Your personal and official position in Weimar entitle you to this. Later on, in passing through Leipzig, you can very easily consolidate this connection. My stay in Hungary (Pest) will probably be limited to the first half of May. I shall in any case see Schwab. "Sardanapalus" [An opera planned by Liszt] (Italian) will most probably be produced next season (May) in Vienna.
My stay in Weimar this summer…?? [The continuation of the letter is missing.]
50. To Franz von Schober, Councillor of Legation in Weimar
Castle Gratz (at Prince Lichnowsky's)
May 28th, 1846
You are curious people at Weimar. You stride on towards a possibility, and as soon as the thing is well in train you take fright at it! However that may be, here are the instructions I have received from Paris, and if you still wish an article on the Wartburg to appear in a French paper you must conform to them, and therefore send to my mother's address (20, Rue Louis le Grand) the indispensable little notice.
The note from my Paris correspondent is as follows:—
"The article in its present form would not be suitable for publication in any French paper; it will be necessary to write another, explaining in a few words in what and how the Wartburg is historically interesting to Europe, and why Europe ought to interest herself in its restoration; then make a short architectural description of the castle; but above all do not forget that the article is to be read by Frenchmen, careless of what is happening in Germany, and utterly ignorant of German history and legend."
I continue:—
1st.—A short account, historical and legendary, of the Wartburg.
2nd.—How it has been allowed to fall into ruins.
3rd.—How it is to be restored.
Finally, plenty of facts and proper names, as M. de Talleyrand so well said. Agreed then! As soon as you have got this sketched out on the lines above mentioned (it will serve also for the illustrated), send it to my mother by Weyland. My mother will already know through me to whom she has to give it.
There is nothing to be done with Schwab. His "Delirium" (as I call it) [It was a "Tellurium"] stood in my room for a week, and we stood there not knowing what to make of it. But never and no how could we bring that good Schwab to try to make us see any basis or proof of his calculation. My opinion is that, in order to take away the incognito from his discovery, he ought to send a sample to the Vienna Academy, and two others to the Berlin and Paris Academies, for trial and discussion. If I can help him in this matter with letters to Humboldt and Arago I will do it right gladly; but it is as plain as day that incompetent private sympathies are of no import in such a sensitive discovery, and therefore can do nothing. Meanwhile they have made a subscription of eight hundred guldens in money, and have bought the machine for the Pest Museum.
The relic with authentic verification is in the locked-up box at Wolff's. Beg the Herr Librarian (it would really make me ill if he is not appointed) to be so good as to find this relic—he will have no difficulty in recognising it—and to send it me to Haslinger's address, Graben, Vienna.
About my law-suit more anon in Weimar. Meanwhile thank my excellent advocate (does he take snuff?) warmly, and beg him to continue to keep me in his good graces.