.—. Be so good as to give Herr Krall the sum (24 florins) for the four seats kindly placed at my disposal for the two concerts of the Mozart Festival. Although I have only paid in cash six gulden of the amount, because the other gentlemen insisted on sending me several gulden, yet I expressly wish that the receipts should not be any smaller through me—any more than that the performance should suffer by my conducting!—Therefore please don't forget the twenty-four gulden.
Berlioz arrived here yesterday evening, and I shall be over head and ears in work with Cellini, the great Court concert on the 17th, and the performance of Berlioz' Faust in the course of next week, the preparations for which I have undertaken.
Cellini I shall conduct—with the two others I only direct the rehearsals.
In faithful friendship thy Saturday, February 9th, 1856.F. Liszt
149. To Dr. von Seiler, Mayor of Vienna. [Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet, of Valentigney.]
Dear Sir,
As it was not permitted me to see Your Worship again at home before my departure, I venture to express once more in these few lines my warmest thanks for the very great kindness shown to me during my stay in Vienna, the remembrance of which will not fade from my grateful thoughts.
The worthy example which you, dear Mr. Mayor, and the Town Council of Vienna have given on the occasion of the Mozart Festival, guaranteed and attained the desired prosperity and success of the affair. This example will doubtless bring forth fruit in other places, so that the whole artist society will owe you the most grateful acknowledgments for it. As regards myself and my modest services on that occasion, I am very happy to think from the kind letter signed by yourself and Herr Councillor Riedel von Riedenau, that what I did so gladly was well done—and I only cherish the wish that coming years may offer me an opportunity of devoting my poor, but seriously well-intentioned services in the cause of music to the city of Vienna, whose musical traditions shine forth so gloriously. Accept, dear sir, the assurance of high esteem with which I have the honor to remain
Your most obliged
F. Liszt
Weymar, February 10th, 1856
150. To Dr. Franz Brendel
Dear Friend,
Before everything else I must give you my warmest thanks for the manifold proofs of your friendship and attachment which you have given me lately; especially has the article in the last number but one of the paper, taken from the concluding chapter of your musical history, truly rejoiced me, and I should have written you at once a couple of lines in grateful acknowledgment had I not been so very much engaged, on my return here, that I have had no leisure hour until now. In Leipzig I could only stay from the time of one train to the other, and could not go to see any one except Hartel, whom it was necessary for me to see. Scarcely had I arrived here than I had to go to Gotha (where I was present at Berlioz' concert), and the previous week we had enough to do with the preparations and rehearsals of "Cellini" and the Court concert. The performance this time was really capital. Caspari had studied his part admirably, and made a good thing of it; the opera, thanks to him, made quite a different impression from what it did formerly, when poor Beck (now the proprietor of a cafe in Prague, where I saw him lately) had to fit himself as best he could into the Cellini jacket!—Probably Pohl will send you a full account, and also mention the concert which took place the day before yesterday at the Castle. Berlioz conducted it, and Fraulein Bianchi very much pleased the nobility as well as the rest of the audience—so that she is again engaged for a small concert next Thursday.
In contrast to many other artists of both sexes, Fraulein Bianchi is well-bred, without being stupidly stuck up, and, in addition, a pleasant and well-trained singer whom one can safely recommend.
The few lines which she brought me from you were her best introduction to me—only I will beg you, another time, not to be in doubt as to "whether I still think of you with the old friendship." Once for all, you may be perfectly certain on this point, that I shall not develop any talent for Variations towards you, but be always ready to give a proof, on every opportunity, of how highly I prize your services in matters musical, and how sincerely friendly I am to you personally.
F. Liszt
February 19th, 1856
Next Sunday "Lohengrin" will be given (with Fraulein Marx from Darmstadt as Ortrude)—and on Thursday, the 28th February, the entire "Faust" of Berlioz.
151. To Dionys Pruckner in Vienna
[Liszt's pupil; has been a professor at the StuttgartConservatorium since 1858.]
Dearest Dionysius,
The joyful tidings of your success ever find the most joyful echo in Weymar, and I thank you much for the pleasant tidings in your letter. Haslinger, on his side, was so kind as to write me a full account of your first concert, as well as the Court soiree at H.R.H. the Archduchess Sophie's—and yesterday evening v. Dingelstedt gave me also full details of your concert ravages in Munich. All this plainly shows dass man Bock-Bier trinken kann, ohne deswegen Bocke zu schiessen! [A play on words: that one may drink "Bock" beer, without thereby making blunders.]
I entirely approve of your intention of spending some months in Vienna and its charming environs—also of your closer intercourse with the Master Czerny, whose many-sided musical experiences may be of the greatest use to you practically and theoretically. Of all living composers who have occupied themselves especially with pianoforte playing and composing, I know none whose views and opinions offer so just an experience. In the twenties, when a great portion of Beethoven's creations was a kind of Sphinx, Czerny was playing Beethoven exclusively, with an understanding as excellent as his technique was efficient and effective; and, later on, he did not set himself up against some progress that had been made in technique, but contributed materially to it by his own teaching and works. It is only a pity that, by a too super-abundant productiveness, he has necessarily weakened himself, and has not gone on further on the road of his first Sonata (Op. 6, A-flat major) and of other works of that period, which I rate very highly, as compositions of importance, beautifully formed and having the noblest tendency. But unfortunately at that time Vienna influences, both social and publishing, were of an injurious kind, and Czerny did not possess the necessary dose of sternness to keep out of them and to preserve his better ego. This is generally a difficult task, the solving of which brings with it much trouble even for the most capable and those who have the highest aims.
When you see Czerny remember me to him as his grateful pupil and devoted, deeply respectful friend. When I pass through Vienna this summer, I shall rejoice to have a couple of hours with him again. I shall probably find you still there. According to what has been written to me, the consecration of the Gran Cathedral will take place at the beginning of September, in which case I shall start from here at the beginning of August.
Excuse me for not having been willing to send you the orchestral parts to the "Turkish Capriccio." It seemed to me, on the one hand, unsuitable to ask Hans for it—apart from the fact that the sending of the parts backwards and forwards from Berlin to Vienna is very roundabout—and, on the other hand, I could not but suppose that you would find first-rate copyists in Vienna, who would do the copying for you far better in a fortnight. Principles of economy are UTTERLY WORTHLESS in copying, and, if you will believe my experience, always choose therefore the best, and consequently most expensive, copyists for transcribing the parts that you want. Recommend them, into the bargain, to do them with great care, and to add the cues (which are a great help towards a good performance).
Bronsart wrote to you at my direction, to let you know in good time that you should get the parts copied out in Vienna yourself, and should look them over carefully with the copyist before the rehearsal—a work which I have often done in earlier years, and in which I generally make a rule of not sparing myself.
Please find out for me at Spina's, on a convenient opportunity, how far the engraving of the Schubert Fantasia [Fantasia in C major, on the Wanderer.] (instrumented by me) has progressed, and whether he can soon send me the proofs. Bronsart played the Fantasia with orchestral accompaniment lately at Jena.
Fare you well, dearest Dionysius, and send soon some good tidings of yourself to
Yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
Weymar, March 17th, 1856.
152. To Breitkopf & Hartel
Dear Sir,
Whatever fate may be in store for my Symphonic Poems, however much they may be cut up and pulled to pieces and found fault with through their performances and reviews everywhere, yet the sight of the beautiful manner in which these first six numbers are published and got up will always be a pleasant satisfaction to me, for which I give you my warmest and heartiest thanks..—. The two scores still wanting (Nos. 1 and 9) I will send you at the end of this month, and will request you to publish them in the same size and manner. Although there is somewhat of the SPECULATIVE in these things, yet [I] by no means seek
to make a speculation of it, and only expect your friendly favor in so far as a favorable pecuniary result may arise from it in future years. I am expecting next time the proofs of the two- piano arrangements, and you shall receive the two remaining piano arrangements at the same time as the two last scores..—.
In the matter of the Handel-Gesellschaft, [Handel Society] the scheme of which you have sent me, pray be assured of my most complete readiness. The choice of Messrs. Hauptmann, Dehn, Chrysander (Otto Jahn?), as the musical directors proper, I consider thoroughly suitable—as also of Messrs. Gervinus and Breitkopf and Hartel as members of the committee—and, as soon as the pecuniary basis of the undertaking is fixed, I shall not fail to get you some subscriptions, as I did for the Bach- Gesellschaft.
With warm thanks and esteem,
Yours very truly,
F. Liszt
Weymar, May 15th, 1856
If it is possible to you to send me soon the proofs of the five piano arrangements I shall be glad, as they make the comprehension and spread of the scores easier.
153. To Louis Kohler
Dear Friend,
After I had seen about your commission to Dr. Hartel, and he had sent me your Methode, [Systematic method of teaching for pianoforte playing and music, 1857 and 1858.] I delayed writing to you, because the result (favorable, as might be expected) of the little business had been already communicated to you through Hartel, and I wished at the same time to send you somewhat of my wares. Unfortunately, I have been hindered by multifarious occupations from getting through the proofs of my Symphonic Poems quickly; and, besides this, these proofs have taken up a great deal of my time; for although I had not omitted, in the first proofs, to have things altered in the scores many times, yet many things looked different to me in print from what I wished them to be, and I had to try them over again plainly with the orchestra, have them written out again, and ask for fresh proofs. At last the six first numbers have come out, and even if they are very badly done I can no longer do them otherwise or better. No doubt you have already received from Hartel the copy destined for you, and within a short time you will receive the somewhat freely arranged pianoforte edition—for two pianos—of the same things. I tried at first a four-hand arrangement of them, which would be much more practicable for sale, but gave up this mutilation, as I saw that in four-hand pieces the working into one another of the hands stands too much in the way of my tone-picture. The two- piano arrangement sounds passable, if I mistake not. Bulow, Bronsart, Pruckner, etc., have played it several times, and you will assuredly find in Konigsberg a partner (masculine or feminine) who will beguile you into it. I shall be very glad if the things please you somewhat. I have labored too much in order to realize the requisite proportion and harmony, for them to be able to give me any other pleasure if some sympathy, and also some understanding of the spirit of them on the part of my few friends, does not fall to my share. However that may be, tell me, dear friend, quite candidly, without any compliments, what impression the pieces have made on you. The three numbers which will appear next are still longer, worse, and more venturesome. But I cannot let matters rest there, for these nine numbers serve only as Prolegomena [Prologue, preface] to the "Faust" and "Dante" Symphonies. The former is already settled and finished, and the second more than half written out. "Away, away," [Written in English.] with Mazeppa's horse, regardless of the lazy hack that sticks in the mud of old patterns!
Let me soon hear from you how you dispose of your time in Konigsberg. In Frau Knopp you have got an excellent Ortrude. What have you been giving this winter? Do you keep on a good understanding with Marpurg? Is Pabst remaining in K.?
Don't forget also to let me have your Methode (I forget the exact title) through Hartel. Although I have grown too old and too lazy to improve my piano-playing, yet I will get some good out of it for my pupils, amongst whom are two or three really brave, earnest fellows. Beyond that I have very little to tell you of Weymar. Since Berlioz' stay here, which gave occasion for the Litolff cudgel-smashing newspaper rubbish, Carl Formes and Johanna Wagner have been playing here; the latter with well- deserved and extraordinary success in Gluck's "Orpheus" and "Iphigenia in Aulis" (in Wagner's translation and arrangement). This evening the "Sleeping Beauty" (a fairy-tale epic), by Joachim Raff, will be given. According to my opinion, this is Raff's most successful and grateful work.
Farewell, dear friend, and bear in friendly remembrance
Your very sincere and obliged
F. Liszt
Weymar, May 24th, 1856
154. To Louis Kohler
My Very Dear Friend,
At last I have come out of my "Purgatory"—that is to say that I have come to the end of my symphony to Dante's "Divina Commedia." Yesterday I wrote the final bars of the score (which is somewhat smaller in bulk than my "Faust" Symphony, but will take pretty nearly an hour in performance); and today, for rest and refreshment, I can allow myself the pleasure of giving you my friendliest thanks for your friendly letter. The dedication of your work "Systematic Method of Teaching for Pianoforte Playing and Music" (the latter must not be forgotten!) pleases me much, and you will allow me to take a modest revanche [revenge] shortly, in dedicating one of my latest works to you. Probably Schlesinger will bring out several books of my songs next winter, in which you will perhaps find much that is in sympathy with your ideas of the melody of speech. Hence I wish that you would not refuse me the pleasure of using your name in connection with them, and of letting it precede them, as an interpretation, as it were, of the intention of the songs. Hartel will send you in a couple of days the first seven numbers of the arrangements for two pianofortes of my Symphonic Poems which have already appeared. An arrangement of that kind is not so easy to make use of as a four-hand one. Nevertheless, after I had tried to compass the score of Tasso plainly into one pianoforte, I soon gave up this project for the others, on account of the unadvisable mutilation and defacement by the working into and through one another of the four-hand parts, and submitted to doing without tone and color and orchestral light and shade, but at any rate fixing an abstract rendering of the musical contents, which would be clear to the ear, by the two-piano arrangement (which I could arrange tolerably freely).
It is a very agreeable satisfaction to me that you, dear friend, have found some interest in the scores. For, however others may judge of the things, they are for me the necessary developments of my inner experiences, which have brought me to the conviction that invention and feeling are not so entirely evil in Art. Certainly you very rightly observe that the forms (which are too often changed by quite respectable people into formulas) "First Subject, Middle Subject, After Subject, etc., may very much grow into a habit, because they must be so thoroughly natural, primitive, and very easily intelligible." Without making the slightest objection to this opinion, I only beg for permission to be allowed to decide upon the forms by the contents, and even should this permission be withheld from me from the side of the most commendable criticism, I shall none the less go on in my own modest way quite cheerfully. After all, in the end it comes principally to this—WHAT the ideas are, and HOW they are carried out and worked up—and that leads us always back to the FEELING and INVENTION, if we would not scramble and struggle in the rut of a mere trade.
When is your Method of teaching coming out? I rejoice beforehand at all the incitement and forcible matter contained in it. You will shortly receive a circular with a letter from E. Hallberger (Stuttgart), who asks me to undertake the choice of pieces to appear in his edition of the "Pianoforte." Do send something soon to it; it is to be hoped that the establishing and spreading of this collection will prove quite satisfactory.
Fare you well in your work, dear friend, and think affectionately of
Yours ever sincerely,
F. Liszt
Weymar, July 9th, 1856.
P.S.—In your next letter send me your exact address.
155. To Hoffmann von Fallersleben
[The well-known poet (1798-1874), who was living at that time in Weimar; was an intimate friend of Liszt, and in 1854 founded, with him, the Neu-Weimar-Verein, which, under the presidency of Liszt, was joined by all the most distinguished musicians, authors, and painters of Weimar.]
Dear Friend,
In your [The second person singular is employed in this letter] pleasant villeggiatura, where you will find no lack of the Beautiful and Good, let yourself also be welcomed by a friend of the New-Weymar
School, who is truly yours. It is true I have nothing new to tell you. You already know that the Grand Duke received your poem on the morning of his birthday, and said the kindest things about it to me later on. Most of our colleagues of the Neu-Weimar-Verein are away and scattered in various countries;—Singer in Pesth; Soupper [Eugen v. Soupper, concert singer, a countryman of Liszt's, was in Weimar in 1855-56.] in Paris, where he is trying the solitude of a crowd (according to Chateaubriand's expression, "the crowd, that vast desert—not dessert—of men"); Stor [Music director in Weimar; died 1889.] at the bathing-place Heringsdorf, probably drawn there by a secret affinity between his herring form and the name of the place; Winterberger in Holland, to inspect the Haarlem and other organs, which he will certainly do in a masterly way; and Preller goes today to Kiel. On the Altenburg no change worth mentioning has taken place: visits of strangers to me fail not summer or winter, and, still less, works which have become my life's task. I might almost sing, like Hoffmann von Fallersleben,
"Hier sitz ich fest, ein Fels im Meer, Woran die Wellen toben; 's geht drunter, dran and druber her—Ich bleibe fortan oben"—
["Here firm I sit, a rock sea-girt, On which the waves are dashing, But I remain above, unhurt, Nor heed the waters' lashing."]
if only there were more waves and less marsh!—
My travelling plans are still somewhat vacillating, because I cannot yet decide whether I shall go to Hungary or not. In any case I shall go and see R. Wagner, in the middle of September at latest, at Zurich, where Stahr at present is with his wife (Fanny Lewald). Stahr will shortly publish a new volume of Paris Letters (about the Exhibition), and is translating Suetonius for the Classical Library coming out at Stuttgart. He told me that there is a passage in Suetonius which one can quite apply to the baptism of the Prince Imperial in Paris! After this precedent, why might not everything in the Horoe belg, and the Weymar Year- Book be proved as referring to something?
Remember me most warmly to your dear Amphitrion, whom I unfortunately did not manage to see again before her departure, and, if the Mildes are in the same house as you, give them my best greetings, woven into a toast.
Fare thee well, dearest friend, and do not remain too long away.
Thine in heartfelt friendship,
F. Liszt Weymar, July 14th, 1856
156. To Wilhelm wieprecht, General Music Director of the Military Corps of the State of Prussia
[Autograph in the possession of Herr Otto Lessmann at Charlottenburg. The addressee (1802-72) was one of the inventors of the bass-tuba, and improved many of the wind instruments.]
Dear Friend, I learn from several Berliners, who have passed through here, that you have had the great kindness to instrument my march "Vom Fels zum Meer" ["From the Rock to the Ocean."] splendidly, and have had it performed several times. Permit me to express my warmest thanks to you for this new proof of your friendship, and at the same time to remind you of a promise the fulfillment of which is very much desired by me.
It is that, in my last visit to Berlin, you were so kind as to say that the Symphonic Poem Tasso would not be amiss arranged by you for a military band, and you, with your well-known readiness for action, expressed your willingness to arrange the instrumentation accordingly. Allow me today to lay claim to half your kind offer, and to beg you to strike out forty-two pages of this long score, and so to dispose your arrangement that, after the last bar of page 5 (score), you make a skip to the second bar of page 47 (Lento assai), by this means shortening the lamento of Tasso and of the public also.
[Here, Liszt illustrates with a musical score excerpt of the last bar of page 5.]
[Here, Liszt illustrates with another musical score excerpt, from the second bar of page 47.]
By the same post I send you the score and the piano arrangement (for two pianofortes) for convenience in looking it over. If the concluding figure (Letter M., Moderato pomposo) seems to make a better effect in the instrumentation by following the piano arrangement with the simple quaver figure [Liszt illustrates with a brief musical score excerpt] instead of the triplets, according to the score, I have not the slightest objection to it, and beg you altogether, dear friend, to feel quite free to do as you like in the matter. The flattering thing for me would be just this— that the work should please you sufficiently for you to be allowed to take what liberties you wish with it.
Some years ago Dahlmann gave a lecture at Bonn upon immature enthusiasm. God preserve us rather from untimely pedantry! Certainly no one shall have to suffer from this from my side!
I am sending you, together with the "Tasso" score, that of"Mazeppa" also. Take an opportunity of looking at the concluding"March" (beginning page 89 of the score):—
[Here, Liszt illustrates with a musical score excerpt]
(N.B—It must begin with the 4/6 chord, perhaps after a couple of introductory bars roll on the drum—without any distinct tone.)
Perhaps the subject may suit for some occasion or other.
Forgive me, dear friend, for being so pressing, and behold in this only the joy which the fulfillment of your promise will give me. Next winter I hope to give you my thanks in person in Berlin.
Meanwhile accept the expression of high esteem of yours truly and with all friendly acknowledgments,
F. Liszt
Weymar, July 18th, 1856
If, as I imagine, the Finale from "Tasso" could be so arranged that moderate military bands could play it fairly well, I should of course be glad. However I leave it entirely in your hands to do with it whatever seems best to you, and give you my best thanks beforehand for your kindness.
157. To Concertmeister Edmund Singer
Dear Friend,
In consequence of the definite decision which was made known to me yesterday by T. R. the Titular Bishop and the Cathedral Cantor Fekete, my Mass is to be performed on the day of the consecration. [Of the Cathedral of Gran] I shall therefore get to Pest by the 11th or 12th August, as I had previously arranged, and shall be very glad to see you and two or three others of my friends again. I am also reckoning on you for certain as leader of the orchestra at the rehearsals and performance of the Mass. I am writing tomorrow to Winterberger, who is making a tremendous sensation in Holland, to beg him to undertake the organ part, and to be in Pest by the middle of August.
While speaking of Holland, I may add that Herr Vermeulen (General Secretary of the "Maatschappy" ["Maatschappy tot bevordering der toonkunst."]) is coming to see me here early in August. This offers me a good opportunity of being of service to you in regard to your concert arrangements in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, etc., of which I will not fail to make use. More of this viva voce. Meanwhile, it would be better for you not to write there.
I enclose several notes of acknowledgment for E., Dr. F., B. andK., to which I beg you will kindly attend.
And now one more commission, which you can easily fulfill through Rosavoegly, [Music publisher in Budapest] with my best greetings to him. In my reply to the official letter of H. R. von Fekete yesterday I forgot to repeat that, in order to avoid loss of time, it is easy to have the voice parts (solos and chorus) written out before my arrival, and as carefully as possible, clean and clearly. I will willingly discharge the copyist's fee, and the orchestral parts I will bring with me together with the score, so that the rehearsals may begin as soon as the performers taking part in it are assigned to me.
I confidently hope that we shall have a very fine performance, without trouble and worry, and one in which musicians as well as audience will find pleasure and edification. The length of the Mass will also fulfill the required dimensions, and yesterday I hunted out a couple of "cuts," which could be made, if necessary, without any essential harm to the work. You know, dear Singer, that I am a special virtuoso in the matter of making cuts, in which no one else can easily approach me!—
I am simply not disposed, in spite of much prudent advice, to cut my Mass and myself altogether, all the less so as my friends and countrymen have on this occasion shown themselves so kind and good to me. I therefore owe it to them to give them active proof that their confidence and sympathy in me are not wholly undeserved—and with God's help this shall be irrefragably proved!
For the rest I want to keep very quiet and private this time in Pest. Composers of my sort write, it is true, plenty of drum and trumpet parts, but by no means require the too common flourish of trumpets and drums, because they are striving after a higher aim, which is not to be attained by publicity.
"Auf baldiges Wiedersehen," ["To a speedy meeting"] dear friend— I leave here by the 9th August at latest. Meanwhile best thanks for your letter,—and
Ever yours,
F. Liszt
July 28th, 1856.
158. To Joachim Raff
[Raff (1822-82) lived, as is well known, for some years in Weimar (first of all as Liszt's secretary), and at that time joined the Liszt tendencies as a composer, afterwards going other ways.]
Dear Sir and Friend,
It is very pleasant to me to find from your letter that you have taken aright the recognition in my article on the "Sleeping Beauty," and see unequivocally in its attitude a fresh proof of the high estimation in which I hold your artistic powers, as well as of my readiness to be of use to you as far as my insight and loyalty in Art matters will permit me. In this first discussion of a work so much thought of and so widespread, it was most important that I should draw the attention of Art-fellowship to your entire works and higher endeavors during the past six years. You will still give me the opportunity, I hope, later on, of spreading much deserved praise and of placing more in the shade any chance differences in our views. If I have not placed you this time so completely as I should have wished among the musical fellowship of the time, like a Peter Schlemihl,[The man without a shadow—German fable.] this was partly in consequence of your own oft-repeated advice that "one should not exclusively praise men and works if one wishes to be useful to them."[Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik. Later "Gesammelte Schriften," vol. v.]
I do not always agree with you in this view, but on this occasionI hope I have hit the happy medium.
Accept my best thanks for the friendly interest you have shown in my orchestral compositions in the concert direction of Wiesbaden. Whether I shall be able to comply with several invitations for concerts in the coming winter depends on a good many circumstances which I cannot quite settle beforehand. But in any case I shall be glad if my compositions become more widely spread, and perhaps during your present stay in Wiesbaden the opportunity may offer of conducting one or two numbers of the Symphonic Poems, in accordance with your previous intentions.
At the end of next week at latest I set out for Gran, to conduct my Mass on the 31st of August (in celebration of the consecration of the Basilica). Toward the middle of September I go to Zurich, where, if I am not prevented by any special hindrances, for which I always have to be prepared, I think of spending a couple of weeks with Wagner.
Fare you well, dear Raff, and send soon some tidings of yourself to
Yours most truly,
F. Liszt
Weymar, July 31st, 1856.
Hans von Bulow has been with me a couple of days, and goes to Baden-Baden the day after tomorrow. Winterberger is scoring an extraordinary triumph by his organ-playing in Holland, and played the Prophete and BACH Fugue [Fugue on the name of Bach] before an audience of two thousand people with immense success.
Do not forget to give my friendly greetings to Genast [the celebrated Weimar actor, afterwards Raff's father-in-law] and my homage to Mademoiselle Doris [Afterwards Raff's wife, an excellent actress].
159. To Anton Rubinstein
It is a very great regret to me, my dear Rubinstein, to have to miss your visit the day after tomorrow, of which you sent me word by Mr. Hallberger. You know what a sincere pleasure it always is to me to see you again, and what a lively interest I take in your new works. This time in particular I am at high tension about the completion of your Paradise Lost. If the continuation and the end correspond with the beginning which you showed me, you have reason to be really and truly satisfied with yourself, and you may sleep in peace conscious of having written a grand and beautiful work.
Unfortunately, whatever curiosity I have to be quite assured of this, I cannot stay here any longer, and must start tomorrow morning for Gran, where, in spite of a lot of useless talk, the thread of which you have perhaps followed in the papers, they will end after all by giving my Mass on the 31st of August (the day of the consecration of the Basilica). You see that I have only just time to set the thing on foot, and cannot, without the risk of unpleasantness, defer my arrival beyond the day which, moreover, I officially fixed about a week ago.
Please excuse me then, my dear Rubinstein, for my involuntary fugue, and allow me to make up for it without too much delay. On my return from Hungary I shall come through Stuttgart (towards the middle of September). Perhaps I shall find you still there, which would be a very great pleasure. We would sing together the choruses, solos, and orchestra of your new score with all our might! And Winterberger (who has just had a fabulous success at Rotterdam, Haarlem, etc., where he has given several organ concerts largely attended) might also be one of the party, for I expect to make the journey from Zurich with him, and on our way we shall explore the organs of Ulm, Stuttgart, Friburg, and Winterthur.
Will you let me know by a few lines what your plans are for the end of the summer and autumn? Shall you return to Leipzig? Will it suit you to try your Oratorio first at Weymar? In this latter case, which you may be sure will be the most agreeable to me, I will try to facilitate the arrangements that have to be made as regards copies, and to save you the expense of copying. Toward the end of October, at latest, I shall be back here; and, if we do not meet before, I count on your not letting this year elapse without coming again for a few days to your room at the Altenburg, where you are certain of being always most cordially welcome, for we shall make no changes.
If you have a quarter of an hour to spare do write a piece of a few pages for Hallberger, without making him wait any longer, for I especially want one of your loose works to appear in the first copy of the "Pianoforte."
The Princess bids me give you her best compliments, to which I add the expression of frank and cordial friendship of your very devoted
F. Liszt
August 6th, 1856.
Have you received my things in score? Continue to address me atWeymar.
160. To Joachim Raff
You would be making a great mistake if you put any mistrust in my conduct, and I can assure you with a perfectly good conscience that to me there is nothing more agreeable and more to be desired than to rely entirely on one's friends. With regard to the Wiesbaden affair, I must necessarily await a definite invitation from the concert directors before I can give a definite answer. I think I have too often shown that I am ready and willing, for it to be necessary for me to say more on that point. I was again at Sondershausen last Sunday, and promised to go there again in the course of next winter. The orchestra there, under its conductor Stein (whose acquaintance I had not made until now), has performed two of my Symphonic Poems—"Les Preludes" and "Mazeppa"—with really uncommon spirit and excellence. Should there be a similar willingness in Wiesbaden, it will of course be a pleasure to me to accept the invitation of the concert directors; so also I am greatly obliged to you for being so helpful toward the spread and sympathetic understanding of my works. But from your letter I see that you will not be staying much longer in Wiesbaden, and as I am not acquainted with the present circumstances there I cannot reckon beforehand on the friendly reception without which public performances always prove very unfruitful for composers. According, therefore, to whether these circumstances show themselves favorable or unfavorable to my honest endeavors, I will come, or I will remain at home.
I give you my heartiest good wishes for the performance of your "King Alfred" [an opera of Raff's]. Your two "Tanz-Capricen" (bolero and valse) have been sent me by Hallberger, and I have already recommended a speedy edition of both.
This afternoon I start for Gran. In the middle of September I shall get to Stuttgart and go to Zurich. Letters can be always addressed to me at Weymar, and before the end of October I shall be back here again.
With best greetings and thanks, yours very truly,
F. Liszt
Weymar, August 7th, 1856
161. To Anton Rubinstein
I much regret, dear Rubinstein, to have missed your visit to Weymar, and, while thanking you most sincerely for your kind intention, I am going to beg you to grant me full reparation by a second visit when I return.
By the news which reaches me from the Altenburg I learn that you think of spending part of the winter in Berlin, and will there give your "Paradise Lost," which will doubtless be a piece well found, and from which you will derive benefit. Please do not fail to let me know in good time which day it is to be performed, for I am set upon being present at this first performance, and shall certainly come to Berlin unless anything absolutely unavoidable prevents me.
I expect to be back at Weymar towards the end of October, and to set seriously to work again, a thing which is not possible elsewhere. The rehearsals of my Mass are going on here admirably, and I expect we shall have a very fine performance at Gran on the 31st, where, moreover, there will be so many other things and people of quite a different importance to be seen and heard, that they will scarcely hear three bars of my Mass. Happily my work has the good luck to have two general preliminary rehearsals, public ones, at Pest next week, and a final rehearsal at Gran itself. Zellner will probably be there, and you will hear about it from him. Possibly also the same Mass will be given on the 28th September (the day of St. Wenceslas, the patron saint of Bohemia) at Prague, whence they have just written to me to that effect. You will give me great pleasure, my dear Rubinstein, if you will write me something about your autumn and winter plans; and if by chance I can be of use to you in any way show me the friendship of disposing entirely of me, as of one who is your very sincerely affectionate and devoted
F. Liszt Pest, August 21st, 1856
Address always to Weymar.
I am still expecting to go by Stuttgart to Zurich towards the middle of September, but it is possible that Prague may occasion me a fortnight's delay.
162. To Eduard Liszt
[Pest,] Friday, September 5th, 1856
Dearest Eduard,
Yesterday's performance of my Mass was quite according to my intentions, and was more successful and effective by far than all the preceding ones. Without exaggeration and with all Christian modesty I can assure you that many tears were shed, and that the very numerous audience (the church of the Stadtpfarrei [I.e., the parish church] was thronged), as well as the performers, had raised themselves, body and soul, into my contemplation of the sacred mysteries of the Mass…and everything was but a humble prayer to the Almighty and to the Redeemer!—I thought of you in my heart of hearts, and sought for you—for you are indeed so very near and dear to me in spirit!—Next Monday, the 8th September, at the consecration of the Hermine-Kapelle (which the Cardinal Prince Primate of Hungary will consecrate), my Mass for four men's voices will be sung. Winterberger will accompany it on a Physharmonica of the organ genus. On the same evening (Monday) the concert for the benefit of the Pension Fund will take place at the theater: Singer and Pruckner will play at it, and two of my Symphonic Poems—"Les Preludes" and "Hungaria" (Nos. 3 and 9)- -will be given.
On the 14th September at latest I shall get to Vienna, and I will write to Haslinger more definitely about it. Meanwhile will you please tell Haslinger, as I cannot write to him until the concert in the Hungarian theater is over.
.—. I expect to leave here before the end of next week.
God be with you and with your
At the rehearsal this morning I was told that you have got such an excellent article on the Mass in the Wanderer. I suppose you sent the number to Weymar? If possible let me have one here also.
163. To Louis Kohler
Bravo, dear friend, for the three very graceful and charmingly conceived melody-dialogues! I have pleasure in them, and am certain of the success of this charming selam. [Meaning a musical bouquet.] As an old laborant [Worker in a laboratory] at piano music allow me merely to lay before you a slight alteration in the two bars before the return of the motive (No. I). According to my conception one bar more would have a beneficial effect there, thus:—
[Here Liszt writes out a 5-measure excerpt of piano music]
If you agree with this version, write me simply Yes to the address of Richard Wagner, Zeltweg, Zurich. I shall get there next Sunday, and stay some days with our great friend. At the beginning of November I shall be back in Weymar.
Hearty greetings from yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
Stuttgart, October 8th, 1856.
In No. 3 (in the first two bars) the F seems to me the right sound in the bass, and that was what you had first written:—
[Here, Liszt illustrates with a musical score excerpt]
instead of:—
[Here, Liszt illustrates with another musical score excerpt]
Will you leave these little alterations to me in the proof?
164. To Dr. Gille, Councillor of Justice at Jena
[An ardent friend of Liszt's, a promoter of musical endeavors, a co-founder and member of the Committee (General Secretary) of the Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein, is at the head of the Liszt Museum in Weimar, and lives in Jena, where he is Prince's Council and Councillor of Justice.]
Zurich, November 14th, 1856
My very dear Friend,
I am heartily rejoiced at the honorable proof of the sympathy and attachment of our Circulus harmonicus Academiae Jenensis, which was prepared for me for the 22nd October by your kindness, and I give you my warmest thanks for it, begging you to be so good as to pass them on also to our friends Stade and Herr Schafer, whose names strengthen the diploma.
It touches me deeply that you join the Gran Basilica and my "Missa Solemnis" in this diploma. You may be sure, dear friend, that I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment instead of a paletot, but that it has sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood. "Genitum, non factum"—and therefore I can truly say that my Mass has been more prayed than composed. By Easter the work will be published by the Royal State Printing Office at the cost of the Government, thanks to the kind instructions of His Excellency Minister von Bach, and I am looking forward to the pleasure of presenting one of the first copies to the Circulus harmonicus. The Mass has been given a second time at Prague since I left, and, as Capellmeister Skraup writes, "with increasing interest"; a couple more performances, in Vienna, etc., are pending.
Pray excuse me, dear friend, for not having sent you my thanks sooner. Your letter found me in bed, to which I am still confined by a somewhat protracted illness, which will delay my return to Weymar some weeks. Next week I am to begin to get out into the air again, and I hope to be able to get away in about ten days. At the beginning of December I shall be at Weymar, and shall then soon come to you at Jena.—
I shall have a great deal to tell you verbally about Wagner. Of course we see each other every day, and are together the livelong day. His "Nibelungen" are an entirely new and glorious world, towards which I have often yearned, and for which the most thoughtful people will still be enthusiastic, even if the measure of mediocrity should prove inadequate to it!—
Friendly greetings, and faithfully your
F. Liszt
165. To Dr. Adolf Stern in Dresden
[Poet and man of letters, now professor at the Polytechnikum atDresden, a member of the Committee of the Allgemeine DeutscheMusikverein since 1867.]
Very Dear Sir and Friend,
A long and protracted illness has kept me in bed for a fortnight past—and I owe you many apologies for my delay in sending you my warmest thanks for the very kind remembrance with which you adorned the 22nd of October. The beautiful poem, so full of meaning, and soaring aloft with its delicately powerful flight, goes deeply to my heart, and my dreams hear the charm of your poetry through Lehel's magic horn tones! Perhaps I shall be able shortly to tell you what I have heard, when the disjointed sounds have united in shaping themselves harmoniously into an artistic whole, from which a second part of my Symphonic Poem "Hungaria" might well be formed.
Meanwhile I have ventured to send your poem to a couple of my friends in Pest, who will delight in it like myself.
In spite of my illness I am spending glorious days here with Wagner, and am satiating myself with his Nibelungen world, of which our business musicians and chaff-threshing critics have as yet no suspicion. It is to be hoped that this tremendous work may succeed in being performed in the year 1859, and I, on my side, will not neglect anything to forward this performance as soon as possible—a performance which certainly implies many difficulties and exertions. Wagner requires for the purpose a special theater built for himself, and a not ordinary acting and orchestral staff. It goes without saying that the work can only appear before the world under his own conducting; and if, as is much to be wished, this should take place in Germany, his pardon must be obtained before everything.—I comfort myself with the saying, "What must be will be!" And thus I expect to be also standing on my legs again soon, and to be back in Weymar in the early days of December. It will be very kind of you if you will not let too long a time elapse without coming to see me. For today accept once more my heartfelt thanks, and the assurance of sincere friendship of your
F. Liszt
Zurich, November 14th, 1856
166. To Louis Kohler
Enclosed, dear friend, is a rough copy of the Prelude to "Rheingold," which Wagner has handed me for you, and which will be sure to give you great pleasure.
After having been obliged to keep my bed for a couple of weeks, which has lengthened out my stay here, I am now making ready to go with Wagner the day after tomorrow to St. Gall, there to conduct a couple of my Symphonic Poems with a very respectable orchestra (twenty violins, six double basses, etc.). Toward the middle of December I shall be back in Weymar, and shall continue to write my stuff!—
A thousand friendly greetings.
F. Liszt
Zurich, November 21st, 1856
167. To Eduard Liszt
St. Gall, November 24th, 1856
.—. A really significant concert took place yesterday at St. Gall. Wagner conducted the Eroica Symphony, and I conducted in his honor two of my Symphonic Poems. The latter were excellently given—and received. The St. Gall paper has several articles on the subject, which I am sending you.
By Christmas I will send you the new copies of my Mass (which I think I have considerably improved in the last revision, especially by the concluding Fugue of the Gloria and a heavenward-soaring climax of the subject.
[Here, Liszt illustrates with a vocal score excerpt at the point where the singer sings: "et u-nam sanctam catho-li-camet a-po - sto - - - - li-cam"]
Probably the work will be ready to appear by Easter. If you write by return of post, you can send the ministerial answer to my letter to Bach to me here. The contents, of which you have told me, please me much, and I reckon with confidence that the publishing of the score will fix the sense and meaning of my work in public opinion. The work is truly "of pure musical water (not in the sense of the ordinary diluted Church style, but like diamond water) and living Catholic wine."
.—. Farewell, dearest Eduard, and remain true to me in heart and spirit, as is also to you your
F. Liszt
168. To Alexander Ritter, Music Director in Stettin
Munich, December 4th, 1856
Dear Friend,
I received your letter on a day when I again greatly missed your presence. We were together with Wagner at St. Gall, and the Musical Society there had distinguished itself by the production of an orchestra of ten first, ten second violins, eight violas, six celli and double basses. Wagner conducted the Eroica, and I two of my Symphonic Poems—"Orpheus" and "Les Preludes." The performance and reception of my works were quite to my satisfaction, and the "Preludes" had to be repeated (as they were in Pest). Whether such a production would be possible in Stettin I much doubt, in spite of your friendly advances. The open, straightforward sense of the public is everywhere kept so much in check by the oft-repeated rubbish of the men of the "But" and "Yet," who batten on criticism, and appear to set themselves the task of crushing to death every living endeavour, in order thereby to increase their own reputation and importance, that I must regard the rapid spread of my works almost as an imprudence. You desire "Orpheus," "Tasso," and "Festklange" from me, dear friend! But have you considered that "Orpheus" has no proper working out section, and hovers quite simply between bliss and woe, breathing out reconciliation in Art? Pray do not forget that "Tasso" celebrates no psychic triumph, which an ingenious critic has already denounced (probably mindful of the "inner camel," which Heine designates as an indispensable necessity of German aestheticism!), and the "Festklange" sounded too confusedly noisy even to our friend Pohl! And then what has all this canaille to do with instruments of percussion, cymbals, triangle, and drum in the sacred domain of Symphony? It is, believe me, not only confusion and derangement of ideas, but also a prostitution of the species itself!
Should you be of another opinion, allow me at least to keep you from too greatly compromising yourself, so near to the doors of the immaculate Berlin critics, and not to drag you with myself into the corruption of my own juggling tone-poems. Your dear wife (to whom I beg you to remember me most kindly) might be angry with me for it, and I would not on any account be put into her bad books. Instead of conducting my Symphonic Poems, rather give lectures at home of the safe passport of Riehl's "Haus-Musik," and take well to heart the warning,
"Ruckkehr zum Mass." ["A returning within bounds." A footnote by Liszt follows: "Dabei wird naturlich das Mass der Mittelmassigkeit als einzig massgebend verstanden." ("By this is of course understood the bounds of mediocrity as the one limitation.") A play on the words, "Mass," "Massigkeit," and "Massgebend."]
On this road alone can you soon attain a conductor's post, and the "esteem" due to you as a music director, both from musicians and people of rank.
For the rest you would entirely misconstrue my good advice if you thought you could see in it only a pretext for not keeping my former promise of coming to see you at Stettin. I shall most certainly come to you on the first opportunity, and shall be delighted to spend a couple of days with such excellent friends. But first of all I must stop in Weymar for a while, in order to finish some works begun, and to forget altogether my lengthy illness in Zurich.
I had some glorious days with Wagner; and "Rheingold" and the"Walkure" are incredibly wonderful works.
To my great sorrow, I only saw your brother Carl [A musician, a friend of Wagner's.] a couple of times in the early days of my stay in Zurich. I will tell you vaud voce how this happened, so entirely against my wish and expectation, through a provoking over-sensitiveness on the part of your brother. I am sure you don't need any assurance that I did not give occasion in any way to this. But for the future I must quietly wait till Carl thinks better and more justly of it.
Farewell, dear friend, and let me soon hear from you again.
Yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
Bronsart is going shortly to Paris, where he will stay some time. Cornelius is working at a comic opera [This would be the Barber of Baghdad.—Translator's note.] in the Bernhard's-Hutle. Raff is to finish his "Samson" for Darmstadt. Tausig is giving concerts in Warsaw. Pruckner will spend the winter in Vienna and appear at several concerts. Damrosch composed lately an Overture and Entre- acte music to the "Maid of Orleans." Stor plunges himself into the duties of a general music director. Thus much have I learned of our Neu-Weymar-Verein.
169. To Professor L. A. Zellner in Vienna
[General Secretary of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde ("Society of Lovers of Music") in Vienna; composer and writer on music.]
To my letter of yesterday I have still to add a postscript, my dear friend, concerning the information in your new Abonnement,[The Blatter fur Musik, Theater, and Kunst ("Pages of Music, theater, and Art"), edited by Z.] in which I was struck with the name of Bertini among the classics, which does not seem to me suitable. As far as I know, Bertini is still living, [He did not die till 1876.] and according to the common idea, to which one must stick fast, only those who are dead can rank as classic and be proclaimed as classic. Thus Schumann, the romanticist, and Beethoven, the glorious, holy, crazy one, have become classics. Should Bertini have already died, I take back my remark, although the popularity of his Studies is not, to me, a satisfactory reason for making his name a classic.—Moscheles' and Czerny's Studies and "Methods" would have a much more just claim to such a thing, and your paper has especially to set itself the task of counteracting, with principle and consistency, the confusion of ideas from which confusion and ruin of matters arise. Hold fast then to this principle, both in great and small things, for the easier understanding with the public, that the recognition of posterity alone impresses the stamp of "classical" upon works, in the same way as facts and history are established; for thus much is certain, that all great classics have been reviled in their own day as innovators and even romanticists, if not bunglers and crazy fellows, and you yourself have commented on, and inquired into, this matter many times..—.
In your number of today I read an extract from my letter to Erkel, [A well-known Hungarian composer ("Hunyadi Laszlo")] in which, however, the points are missing. Erkel shall show you the letter on the first opportunity, for he has not left it lying idle in his desk. Of course no public use is to be made of it.
Yours ever, F. L.
January 2nd, 1857
170. To Herr von Turanyi, Musical Conductor of the Town of Aix- la-Chapelle
[Published in the Allgemeine Musikzeitung, July 11th, 1890]
Weymar, January 3rd, 1857
Dear Herr Capellmeister,
Although I am still kept to my bed by a long-continued indisposition, yet I will not delay giving you my warmest thanks for the active pains you have so kindly taken to place my endeavors in the cause of Art in a better light than I could otherwise have expected in your neighborhood.
The result of the choice of myself as conductor of the Musical Festival at Aix-la-Chapelle this year—a result which was notified to me yesterday by the letter of the Committee of the Lower-Rhine Musical Festival—is a welcome sign to me of the gradual recognition which an open and honestly expressed, consistent, and thoroughly disinterested conviction may meet with in different places. Whilst feeling myself especially indebted to you for having brought about this result, I would express to you at the same time the fact of my readiness to answer your very flattering wishes to the best of my powers, and to put aside any hindrances that may be in the way, in order to fulfill the task entrusted to me, if the following remarks are brought to the attention of the Committee, as I consider them essential to the success and also to the importance of the Musical Festival.
My conducting in Aix-la-Chapelle can only have such significance as attaches to the less-known and newer works, and those which are more nearly allied to the Art-interests of today; its justification would be strengthened by an excellent performance of such works. I was on this account completely in accordance with the programme you so kindly sent me (with the addition of one or two numbers), as I am unable to be with the other programme, received in the letter of the Committee yesterday. The latter is as follows:—
First day: Messiah by Handel.—Second day: Mass (in D major) byBeethoven.
The former as follows:—
First day: Mass by Beethoven (preceded by one of the shorter works of Handel—or possibly by a Cantata by Bach [?]).
Second day: Schubert's Symphony (in C); one of the larger choral works of Schumann (say, perhaps, "The Rose's Pilgrimage"—or one of the Ballades), and, as I should propose, one of the longer scenes from Berlioz' "Faust," and one or other of my Symphonic Poems.
You will not expect of me, dear Herr Capellmeister, that I should go off into a great panegyric about Handel and, if you caught me doing it, you might stop me immediately with the words of the ancient Greek who did not want any more praises of Homer—"You praise him, but who is thinking of blaming him?" The fullness and glory of this musical majesty is as uncontested as the pleasant, emulating, easily attainable performance of the "Messiah," a chef-d'oeuvre, which has been for years the "daily bread," so to speak, of great and small vocal societies both in England and Germany. With the exception of Haydn's "Creation" there is scarcely a work of that kind existing which could show such countless performances. I, for my part, chose the "Messiah" for performance again in Weymar (in August 1850)—partly because Herder had interested himself in the preparation of the German text—and in the previous August they celebrated the Middle-Rhine Musical Festival at Darmstadt with it. This latter circumstance enhances my general consideration as to the artistic judiciousness of a repeated performance of the Messiah, up to a special point in regard to the Aix-la-Chapelle Festival, and therefore I should like the question put to the Committee "whether they consider that, in the interests of the 'fresher life of the Musical Festival there,' it can be advantageous for the Lower-Rhine to repeat it after the Middle-Rhine."
The sentence in the letter of the Committee, in which the hope is cherished and expressed that "the celebrated Frau Lind- Goldschmidt may be engaged," leads me to an almost more serious consideration.—
Do not be alarmed, dear sir, and do not be in the least afraid that I am going to struggle, in the usual style of our unchivalrous Don Quixote of musical criticism, with the windmill of virtuosity. You could not fairly expect this of me either, for I have never concealed that, since the grapes of virtuosity could not be made sour for me, I should take no pleasure whatever in finding them sour in somebody else's mouth.
Frau Land-Goldschmidt stands as incomparable in her glittering renown as a singer as Handel in his as a composer, with the difference—which is in Frau Lind's favor to boot—that Handel's works weary many people and do not always succeed in filling the coffers, whereas the mere appearance of Frau Lind secures the utmost rapture of the public, as well as that of the cashier. If, therefore, we place the affairs of the Musical Festival simply on the satisfying and commercial debit and credit basis, certainly no artist, and still less any work of Art, could venture to compete with, and to offer an equal attraction to, the high and highly celebrated name of Frau Lind. Without raising the slightest objection to this, I must express my common-sense opinion that with this magnet all others would be quite superfluous, which, however, cannot be quite so indifferent to me; for, as Louis XIV. represented the State, so Frau Lind would constitute the Musical Festival proper. This avowal (for which I deserve, at the very least, stoning with the usual ingredients of operations of that kind in our civilized age, if I did not happen to implore grace of the divine Diva herself)—this avowal I already made last year, on occasion of the Dusseldorf Musical Festival, to my esteemed friend of many years, Ferdinand Hiller. What is the use of orchestra and singers, rehearsals and preparations, pieces and programmes, when the public only want to hear the Lind, and then hear her again—or, more correctly speaking, when they must be able to say they leave heard her, in order to be able to wallow at ease in their enthusiasm for Art? What I foresaw then was also confirmed to a hair, for it proved, as everybody knows, that all the sympathy of the public went in favor of whatever Frau Lind did, so that the so-called Artist- concert on the third day was the most fully attended, because in it there were an aria from "Beatrice di Tenda" and Swedish songs as special attraction—for which marvels the very simplest pianoforte accompaniment was no doubt sufficient.—Should the Committee of Aix-la-Chapelle be minded to take to heart the motto of Hiller's Symphony, "Es muss doch Fruhling werden," ["The spring will surely come."] in all its artistic endeavour, and, as you write, to steer clear towards the goal of a "fresher rekindling of the Musical Festival," we shall be obliged, alas! to do without the Swedish Nightingale and Europe's Queen of Song.
In short, the point of the matter of this year's Musical Festival at Aix-la-Chapelle is, as concerns myself, as follows:-
If they decide on having the "Messiah," I must beg to be pardoned for having to excuse myself from coming. [Liszt finally dropped his objection to the "Messiah." He had it performed at the Musical Festival, conducted by him.]
If the Committee accepts the programme I have drawn (Schubert Symphony, etc., including the last numbers) for the second day, then it will be a pleasing duty to me to accept the honor of the invitation, always supposing that the means for a brilliant performance of the Beethoven Mass and the other works are forthcoming, as one cannot doubt will be the case in Aix-la- Chapelle—if my share in the Festival does not in any way give offence to the neighboring towns, in which case I should of course gladly and quietly retire, in order not to occasion any disturbance, or unsatisfactorily prepared discord in the customs of the musical Rhine-lands. I think there is no need for me to accentuate the fact that a musical conductor cannot blindly subscribe to just every programme that is put before him, and I hope that the honorable Committee will not consider that there is any assumption in my proposition to place the Aix-la-Chapelle programme more in accord with my own collective endeavors.
I am writing a few lines of thanks by the next post to President Herr Van Houten for the distinction shown to me about the consideration contained in this letter, which I beg that you will communicate to him verbally.
Awaiting further communications from the Committee, I remain, dear Herr Capellmeister, with warm acknowledgements and high esteem,
Yours very truly,
F. Liszt
171. To J. W. von Wasielewski in Dresden
Dear Friend,
Your letter reached me, after some delay, in Zurich, where I had to keep my bed for several weeks—and today I write to you still from my bed, and sulking because the geographical change which I have made has not brought about any improvement in my pathological condition (which, by the way, is quite without danger).
How are you, dear Wasielewski? Have you settled yourself pleasantly in Dresden? Are you working at music industriously and methodically?—How far have you got in your biography of R. Schumann? With regard to this work, the publication of which I am awaiting with great interest, I am sorry to be unable to follow the wish you so kindly express. Many letters addressed to me by Schumann in earlier years are lost, and since my residence in Weymar (from the year 1848) we certainly wrote to one another from time to time, but only when theater or concert performances of his works gave a sort of business occasion for it. Weymar does not deserve the reproach of having kept itself too much in the background in this respect. At the Goethe Festival in 1849 I had the great closing scene to the second part of "Faust" given, which was, later on, repeated; at the beginning of 1852 the music to Byron's "Manfred," with a stage performance of the drama such as he desired, was given several times, and, as far as I know, up to now no other theater has made this attempt. [Liszt was actually the first.] The Weymar theater is likewise the only one which contains in its repertoire Schumann's "Genoveva" (which was indeed given here for the first time in April 1855). It goes without saying that, during the years of my work here, most of his chamber music—Quartets, Trios, Sonatas—as well as his Symphonies, Overtures, and Songs, have been cherished with particular preference and love, and have been frequently heard in various concerts, with the exception of one of the most important; but the very slight amount of public activity of our Vocal Union has prevented, as yet, any performance of the "Peri," which, however, has already been partly studied, and will ere long be given at last.
As a contribution to your biographical studies, dear Wasielewski, I should like to tell you truly with what sincere, heartfelt, and complete reverence I have followed Schumann's genius during twenty years and faithfully adhered to it. Although I am sure that you, and all who know me more intimately, have no doubt about this, yet at this moment the feeling comes over me—a feeling which I cannot resist—to tell you more fully about my relations with R. Schumann, which date from the year 1836, and to give them you here plainly in extenso. Have a little patience, therefore, in reading this letter, which I have not time to make shorter.
After the buzz and hubbub called forth by my article in the Paris Gazette Musicale on Thalberg (the meaning of which, be it said in passing, has been quite distorted), which was re-echoed in German papers and salons, Maurice Schlesinger, the then proprietor of the Gazette Musicale, took the opportunity of asking me to insert in his paper a very eulogistic article on anything new that came out in the world of Art. For months Schlesinger sent me with this object all sorts of novelties, among which, however, I could not find anything that seemed to me deserving of praise, until at last, when I was at the Lake of Como, Schumann's "Impromptu" in C major (properly variations), the "Etudes symphoniques," and the "Concert sans orchestre" [Concerto without orchestra] (published later, in the second edition, under the more suitable title Sonata in F minor) came into my hands. In playing these pieces through, I felt at once what musical mettle was in them; and, without having previously heard anything of Schumann, without knowing how or where he lived (for I had not at that time been to Germany, and he had no name in France and Italy), I wrote the critique which was published in the Gazette Musicale towards the end of 1837, and which became known to Schumann.
Soon afterwards, when I was giving my first concerts in Vienna (April to May 1838), he wrote to me and sent me a manuscript entitled "Gruss an Franz Liszt in Deutschland" ["Greeting to Franz Liszt in Germany"]. I forget at this moment under what title it was afterwards published; the opening bars are as follows:—
[Here, Liszt hand-writes the score for the opening bars. It is the beginning of the second Novelette Op. 21, but not quite correctly quoted by Liszt]
At about the same time followed the publishing of the great "Fantasia" (C major) in three movements, which he dedicated to me; my dedication to him in return for this glorious and noble work was only made three years ago in my "Sonata" in B minor.