Arthur Train - "The Confessions of Artemas Quibble"

Ovid et al - "Fasti"

Robert Neilson Stephens - "Tales From Bohemia"

Lily Dougall - "The Mermaid"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 1, From Paris to Rome:

F >> Franz Liszt; Letters assembled by La Mara and translated >> Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 1, From Paris to Rome:




I send you herewith Cornelius's article on the Prize Symphony and
the "Girondistes" Overture. It is very nicely written, and will
probably suit you. If possible put it into your next number.

I cannot now undertake the discussion about the Schumann
collective writings, as I am prevented by musical work for a long
time. Still, if I write later on a couple of articles on the
work, that need not prevent you from bringing out very soon one
or more articles discussing the same work. There is much to take
in and to bring out in it, which one critic alone is scarcely
capable of conceiving. The best plan of all would be if you
yourself will undertake the discussion of the Schumann writings.
Should you, however, not have time for it, then Pohl would be the
best man for this work. His predilection for Schumann, and his
familiarity with Schumann's views, qualify him thoroughly for
this.

My articles on the "Flying Dutchman" must not wait so long as you
propose to me in your letter. I wish explicity that the two
articles on the "Weisse Dame" and "Alfonso and Estrella" should
appear as soon as possible, and immediately afterwards the
"Flying Dutchman", so that by the end of September this series of
twelve opera discussions may have all appeared in the Neue
Zeitschrift.

At the same time with the proofs of the article on the "Weisse
Dame" you will receive the "Alfonso and Estrella" article, and,
as soon as these are out, the "Flying Dutchman", which must be
published in September--for various reasons, which cannot well be
explained in a letter.

Raff's book "Die Wagnerfrage" [The Wagner Question] has arrived
here today, and I have already read it. The author is so pleased
with himself that it would be a miracle if his readers were
joined to him in the same proportion, and Raff is specially at
variance with miracles!--

This book makes on me the effect of a pedagogic exuberance. Even
the occasional good views (on harmony, for example) that it
contains are obscured by a self-sufficiency in the tone and
manner of them, of which one may well complain as insupportable.
What Raff wishes to appear spoils four-fifths (to quote the time
which he adapts so ridiculously to "Lohengrin" of what he might
be. He is perpetually getting on scientific stilts, which are by
no means of a very solid wood. Philosophic formulas are sometimes
the envelope, the outside shell, as it were, of knowledge; but it
may also happen that they only show empty ideas, and contain no
other substance than their own harsh terminology. To demonstrate
the rose by the ferule may seem a very scientific proceeding to
vulgar pedants; for my part it is not to my taste; and without
being unjust to the rare qualities of Raff's talent, which I have
long truly appreciated, his book seems to me to belong too much
to the domain of moral and artistic pathology for it to help in
placing questions of Art in their right light.

I beg you, dear friend, not to repeat this to anybody, for I
could not go against Raff in any but the most extreme case, for
which I hope he will not give me any occasion. Against the many
charges to which he has exposed himself I even intend to shield
him as far as possible, but I am very much grieved that he has
mingled so much that is raw and untenable in his book with much
that is good, true and right.

Farewell, dear friend, and give most friendly greetings to your
wife from

Yours most sincerely,

F. Liszt

August 12th, 1854

In the "Favorita" article a great error has been allowed to
remain. "No lover, no knight behaves thus"--and not "A lover
behaves thus," etc. Send me at once the proofs of the "Weisse
Dame", and in September bring the "Fliegende Hollander", which
must not wait any longer.

I am now working at my Faust Symphony. The three-keyboard
instrument arrived yesterday from Paris. It might be well to take
the opportunity of my Catalogue appearing at Hartel's to see
about a special article on it in your paper.



119. To Anton Rubinstein

[August, 1854]

My dear Van II.,

Whatever scruple I may have in making the shadow of an attempt on
the liberty of your determinations and movements,--a scruple of
which I gave you a pertinent proof by not insisting any further
on your choosing Weymar instead of Bieberich as your villegiatura
during this last month,--yet duty (and a theatrical duty!)
obliges me to snatch you from your Rhine-side leisure, to set
yourself to work afresh at your business on the banks of the
Ilm,--

"Non piu andrai, farfalone," etc. [Aria from Mozart's "Figaro"]

We have to hunt the Siberian bear; ["The Hunters of Siberia", an
opera of Rubinstein's.] and whether it is the season or not, I
don't trouble myself about that. Mr. de Beaulieu has just
answered me in the affirmative about the proposition I made to
him to give your "Hunters of Siberia" at the beginning of
November (the 9th, a date already made famous by the "Homage to
Art" a Prologue which will be again given this season), and asks
me particularly to push on as fast as possible the copying of all
the parts. Now one must kill the bear before selling his skin--
that is to say, translate the libretto, fit it to the music, and
arrange the score for the performance at Weymar.

According to what we arranged verbally, I spoke about it to
Cornelius, who accepts the work of translator with pleasure, and
will fulfill it promptly, and, I am persuaded, to your
satisfaction. The only thing wanting is for you to come at once,
and spend a fortnight at Weymar to finish everything. I give you
then rendez-vous at the Altenburg, where your former quarters
await you. No one will bother you there, and you can give
yourself up to cultivating murrendos [La Mara thinks there was a
joke in connection with this; I cannot help thinking it is a
corruption of morendo, and that perhaps Rubinstein joked about
cultivating a particular touch or nuance.--Translator's note] to
your heart's content whenever the fancy takes you. Try therefore
not to be too long over your farewells to the Tannhausers of the
banks of the Rhine (and if by chance Madame S. is there, pack
yourself off secretly so as not to provoke a scene of too much
frenzy), so as to get to Weymar by 1st to 3rd September, for your
score must be given to be copied by the 15th to the 20th. I will
keep your three books till you come, and will give them you back
at the Altenburg, and I take great pleasure in advance in your
success on our stage.

A revoir then, my dear Rubinstein, in a week's time.

Yours ever in friendship,

F. Liszt

Write me simply a word to fix the date of your arrival, so that I
may let Cornelius know, as he is gone for a week to his mother, a
few hours away from here.

In the matter of news I will tell you that my instrument with
three keyboards is installed in the second etage of the
Altenburg, and that I have finished the first part of my Faust
Symphony (a third of the whole)--the two other parts will be
ready in November, I hope.

I shall also have a little friendly quarrel to pick with you,
which I reserve for our after-tea conversations.

A bientot!



120. To Alexander Ritter in Dresden.

[Ritter at this time joined the Weimar Hofcapelle (Court
orchestra); was afterwards music director at Stettin, and lives
now in Munich; is celebrated as the composer of the operas "Der
Faule Hans" and "Wem die Krone."]

Hearty good wishes on your marriage, dear friend. I reproach
myself for disturbing you in your honeymoon. Well, a little music
to it won't hurt anybody. So come as soon as it is agreeable to
you. The matter is not so very pressing; I only beg you to send a
few lines in reply to Herr Jacobi, the secretary of the Court
theater, who wrote to you previously, and to tell him the date of
your arrival in Weymar. As your marriage takes place on the 12th
of this month, you are quite justified in asking for a few days'
respite. If it suits you to stay a fortnight longer in Dresden,
then fix the 1st of October for your coming to Weymar. With
regard to your quarters, I am quite ready to help you in word and
deed.

In case Pohl is in Dresden you can tell him that his wife is also
engaged from the 15th of September (on which date the theater
here reopens). I wrote yesterday to Brendel, in order to get
Pohl's exact present address. I expect the answer tomorrow, and
Herr Jacobi will immediately write to Frau Pohl.

Meanwhile remember me most kindly to your wife, and dispose
entirely--without ceremony--of

Yours most sincerely,

F. Liszt

Weymar, September 6th, 1854



121. To Bernhard Cossmann, Schloss Chanceaux bei Loches in
Touraine

Weymar, September 8th, 1854

Dear Friend,

Whilst you are promenading at your leisure beneath the fine oaks,
beeches, birches, horse-chestnuts, etc., of Chanceaux, I have the
sotte chance [Silly opportunity] of gaping chanceusement
[doubtfully] to the crows of Weymar, where we have certainly no
Chanceaux, but pretty well of gens sots [stupid people] im Loch
[In this hole. All plays upon words, and given therefore in the
original.] (near Loches!!). This almost attains to the height of
punning of our friend Berlioz, does not it?--I should not be able
to keep on such heights, and therefore I hasten to descend to
more temperate regions (des regions plus temperees),-"le Clavecin
bien tempere of J. S. Bach," for example, or to some "Beau lieu"
with or without marque au nez (Marconnay). [A play on words. The
name of the Intendant of the Weimar Court theater was Beaulieu-
Marconnay.] (I implore you to keep this execrable improvisation
to yourself, for, in my position as Maitre de Chapelle, I should
run the risk of being fined by the "Hofamt" [office in the royal
household] for allowing myself such an application of Berlioz's
treatise on instrumentation--but I really don't know what
tarantula of a pun is biting me at this moment!)

Mr. de Beaulieu has just done two graceful acts for me, for which
I am very grateful. Madame Pohl is engaged as harpist to the
Weymar Kapelle, and A. Ritter of Dresden--the brother of Hans de
Bulow's friend--as violinist in place of little Abel, who is
leaving us to go and probably assassinate some Cain at a second
or third desk in an orchestra, somewhere!

A. Ritter is going to marry Mdlle. Wagner on the 12th of this
month (the sister of Johanna), who has played in comedy at the
Breslau theater, and who, by her husband's orders, will not
continue playing when she has her home to keep. Let us hope so at
least! These two new engagements are a great pleasure to me, and
I shall willingly console myself for the loss of the innocent
Abel.

And as Mr. de Beaulieu is just in such a good temper, I advise
you to profit by the circumstance to write him a letter,
artistically turned, to beg for a prolongation of your holiday,
which he will grant you with a good grace, I am sure.

The theater will reopen the 15th September. The 16th "Ernani"
will be given. In the course of October we shall have the
"Huguenots", with a new singer from Prague, Mdlle. Stoger, of
whom one hears wonders.

For the 9th October (fiftieth anniversary of the entry of H.I.H.
the Grand Duchess Marie Paulowna into Weymar) a rather curious
performance will be arranged:--

1st. The Homage to Art by Schiller.

2nd. One of my Poemes Symphoniques.

3rd. "The Hunters of Siberia", Opera in one Act--Music by
Rubinstein.

4th. The Finale of "Lorelei" by Mendelssohn.

For the winter season they are thinking of giving the two
"Iphigenies", "in Aulis" and "in Tauris", by Gluck, and
Schumann's "Genoveva".

Rubinstein and Wasielewski (of Bonn) have been here some days.
Raff has published his volume "The Wagner Question." I would
neither answer nor vindicate it!--My monster instrument with
three keyboards has also arrived a fortnight ago, and seems to me
to be a great success--and on your return I shall pretty nearly
have finished my Faust Symphony, at which I am working like a
being possessed.

This is all my news from here, to which I add the expression of
the old and sincere friendship of your very affectionate

F. Liszt

P.S.--I, on my side, will also write to Mr. de Beaulieu about
you, but it is the thing for you to write him a few lines. The
matter in itself will not present any difficulty.



122. To Gaetano Belloni in Paris

[autograph in the possession of M. Etienne Charavay in Paris]

[September 9th, 1854]

My dear Belloni,

Will you do me the kindness to tell Mr. Escudier that on my last
visit to H.R.H. the Duke of Gotha I gave Monseigneur the volume
on Rossini, and spoke to him at the same [time] of the desire
that Mr. Escudier had mentioned to me in his last letter to be
admitted into the order of H.R.H., before putting himself at his
command? It goes without saying that I warmly recommended Mr.
Escudier to the Duke; but nevertheless he seemed to turn a little
deaf, at any rate with one ear, to the side of the ribbon. In the
course of this month I shall probably see the Duke again, and
will speak to him again about it. On your side do not neglect
Oppelt [a Belgian writer; translated the Duke's opera], who
frequently corresponds with Gotha, and rest assured that I shall
not fail to be agreeable to your friends on this occasion.

Yours ever,

F. Liszt

Nothing new here. The theatrical season will open with "Ernani"
on the 16th September at latest; they talk of mounting
"Rigoletto" or the "Foscari." Unfortunately the German
translations of Verdi's operas are not worth a straw, and we are
great purists at Weimar. In November the "Huguenots" will also be
given, for the first time at Weymar, the late Grand Duke never
having permitted the performance of this work on account of his
respect for Luther, whom his ancestors had specially protected.

Hartel is going to engrave several of my scores. Four or five of
them will appear in the course of the winter ("Tasso"--the
"Preludes"--"Orphee"--"Mazeppa" will be printed first) under the
title of "Poemes Symphoniques."

I won't write to Escudiers--it will be enough if you let them
know of my good intentions in regard to them. You know that I am
overdone with correspondence, and, unless it is absolutely
necessary for me to write, I abstain from it, so as not to
interrupt my work of composition, which is my first raison
d'etre.



123. To Eduard Liszt in Vienna

What affliction and what desolation, my very dear friend! [Eduard
Liszt, then member of the provincial Court of Justice in the
Civil Senate, had lost his wife from cholera.] Alas! in trials
such as these even the sympathy felt by those who are nearest to
us can do but little to alleviate the overwhelming weight of the
cross which we have to bear. And yet I wish to tell you that in
these days of sorrow my heart is near to yours, sympathizing with
your suffering, and trusting that "the peace of the Lord," that
peace which the world can neither give nor take away, may sustain
you.

Ever yours,

F. Liszt

October 10th, 1854

P.S.--Try to come and see me soon!



124. To Anton Rubinstein

Weimar, October 19th, 1854

Schott makes me ashamed, my dear Rubinstein. Here come the new
proofs of the "Kamenoi-Ostrow," [Rubinstein had written a number
of short pianoforte pieces named after the Emperor's summer
residence near St. Petersburg.] which he addresses to me for you,
and I have not yet sent you the previous ones! To excuse myself I
must tell you that I am frightfully busy (especially at the
theater), and that I did not want to put the proofs in a wrapper
without writing and thanking you for your charming and clever
letter from Leipzig. Well, here is the whole packet at last,
which you can send direct to Schott. Nevertheless, I am in your
debt for the carriage (which please beg Redslob to put to my
account), and for ten crowns which I borrowed from you at the
railway. As you are coming back here at the beginning of November
we shall have plenty of time to settle these little matters.

The rehearsals of your "Chasseurs de Siberie" begin in the course
of next week. You may trust in my zeal, and be assured that your
work will be suitably prepared. I only beg you to be here about
the 4th November, in order to give us your own ideas at the final
rehearsals. If you decidedly prefer to be a spectator at the
performance, I will willingly conduct the work--but perhaps at
the general rehearsals the fancy may take you to mount the
conductor's chair, as I proposed to you at first: whatever you
definitely decide in this matter will only be agreeable to me.
Therefore just do as you generally do, I beg you, without
ceremony or bother of any kind.

How do you find yourself as regards the musical atmosphere of
Leipzig? Has your "Ocean" obtained the suffrages of the Areopagus
which must be its first judge? At which Gewandhaus Concert will
Mr. Van II. be heard? If you already know anything positive as to
your debuts in Leipzig, write it to me, with a continuation of
the commentaries which amused me so much in your former letter.
We have nothing of special news here which can interest you.
Madame Wagner returns to Weymar the day after tomorrow, and next
Sunday "Lohengrin" will be given. The Wednesday after that a new
singer (Mdlle. Stoger, the daughter of the director at Prague),
who possesses a beautiful voice and appears to be highly endowed,
will make her debut in "Lucrezia Borgia." On the 24th October I
expect Madame Schumann, whom you will already have seen and heard
at Leipzig. When you have an opportunity please tell her not to
delay her journey to Weymar, for I have made all the arrangements
with Mr. de Beaulieu, etc., from the 24th to the 26th, for the
Court Concert and for the one which will take place at the
theater in her honor.

My "Faust" is finished, and I am going to give it to the copyist
in a couple of days. I am very curious to make acquaintance with
yours, and to see in how far the beaux-esprits differ whilst
meeting on common ground! Your "murrendos" at Leipzig will have
proved favorable to your conversations with the Muse, and I look
forward to a fine Symphony. A revoir then, dear friend; on the
4th November, or the 5th at latest, we have the first performance
of an unpublished tragedy, "Bernhard von Weymar," for which Raff
has written a grand Overture and a March, and on the following
days your general rehearsals.

Yours in all friendship,

F. Liszt



125. To Dr. Franz Brendel

[Beginning of November, 1854]

Dear Friend,

Pohl's article on Lieder und Spruche, etc. (Songs and Sayings),
appears to me to be of general interest to the public--therefore
I begged you to put it in your paper.

Touching what you have reserved of Raff's, I am quite of opinion
that you should also make room for him in his critical
examinations of the Minnesingers. [The German poet-singers of the
Middle Ages.] The ground is an interesting and attractive one--
and if a rather warm discussion should ensue later on between
Raff and Pohl, the field of the Minnegesang (love-song) is by far
the most agreeable for both, as well as the more entertaining for
your readers. Ergo, put Pohl's article into your next number.
Raff can then spring his mines in honor of the Minnegesang when
he pleases. This may make a quite pleasant and harmless joke--
perchance a crown of lilies will mingle with it in the end and
shape the affair into a University concern...Your paper, in any
case, will not suffer. Therefore set to work and go through with
it!

In Bussenius [Bussenius, under the pseudonym W. Neumann,
published the set of biographies "The Composers of Recent Times"
(Balde, Cassel).] you have rightly found the man of whom I
previously foretold you somewhat. I think that by the New Year he
will settle at Gotha, and carry on there with his firm (Balde)
greater literary and publishing undertakings. Meanwhile don't
speak of this. When the outlook is more certain, and things are
favorably settled, I will tell you more.

I gladly accept your friendly invitation to write an article for
your New Year's number. In the course of the next few days you
will receive the article on Clara Schumann, and shortly
afterwards the second half of "Robert Schumann."

Cornelius has been rather unwell for several days, which has
delayed the translation. [Peter Cornelius translated the articles
written in French by Liszt--with the collaboration of the
Princess Wittgenstein--for the Neue Zeitschrift; those which are
published in vols. iii. to v. of the "Gesammelte Schriften."]

Will you, dear friend, be so good as to give my special thanks to
Herr Klitzsch for his article in today's number? By the favorable
manner in which he enters into the intentions of my Mass, and the
artistic sympathy he shows for my endeavour, he has given me a
very great pleasure. Probably a good opportunity will present
itself, later on, for me to undertake a further work in the
religious style, as I feel and conceive it, by the composition of
a "Missa Solemnis" for mixed chorus and orchestra...For the
present I cannot, however, occupy myself with this; but
aufgeschoben soll nicht aufgehoben heissen. [A German proverb--
"Put off is not given up."]

When I come to Leipzig I shall have the pleasure of calling on
Klitzsch and giving him my best thanks in person. If you think I
ought to write him a few lines before then, let me know.

Litolff was here several days, and we have come nearer together
both from a friendly and an artistic standpoint. His fourth
Concerto (Conzert-Symphonie) is a marked advance on the previous
ones. He played this, as well as the third Concerto, the day
before yesterday, in a truly masterly and electric, living
manner. Frau Dr. Steche will have told you about it. Perhaps in
your next number you will put in a short appreciative notice of
Litolfff's appearance here.

Rubinstein left for Leipzig at midday today. The performance of
his Symphony ["Ocean"; given for the first time, November 16th,
1854, at the Gewandhaus Concert for the Poor.] is fixed for the
16th at the Gewandhaus, and later on he will also appear as a
pianist. Hartel, Hofmeister, and Schott have already taken about
thirty of his manuscripts, which is about the smaller half of his
portfolio!--

About the Berlin "Tannhauser" affair I cannot for the moment say
more than that I have always made Wagner feel perfectly at
liberty to put me on one side, and to manage the matter himself,
according to his own wishes, without me. But so long as he gives
me his confidence as a friend, it is my duty to serve him as a
discreet friend--and this I cannot do otherwise than by giving no
ear to transactions of that kind, and letting people gossip as
much as they like. Don't say anything more about it for the
present in your paper. The matter goes deeper than many
inexperienced friends of Wagner's imagine. I will explain it to
you more clearly by word of mouth. Meanwhile I remain passive--
for which Wagner will thank me later on.

Yours most truly,

F. Liszt

N. B.--Pohl wishes his Minnesinger article not to be signed with
the name Hoplit, but with the letters R. P., when it appears in
your paper.



126. To Anton Rubinstein

Your "Dialogue Dramatique" a propos of your "Ocean" is a little
chef-d'oeuvre, and I shall keep it, in order, later on, to put it
at the disposal of some future Lenz, who will undertake your
Catalogue and the analysis of the three styles of Van II. We
laughed with all our hearts, a deux, in the little blue room of
the Altenburg, and we form the most sincere wishes that Gurkhaus,
[Principal of the music firm F. Kistner in Leipzig.] the deus ex
machine, may have come to put you out of the uncomfortable state
of suspense in which the Gewandhaus public did you the honor to
leave you. To tell the truth, this decrescendo of applause, at
the third movement of your Symphony, surprises me greatly, and I
would have wagered without hesitation that it would be the other
way. A great disadvantage for this kind of composition is that,
in our stupid musical customs, often very anti-musical, it is
almost impossible to appeal to a badly informed public by a
second performance immediately after the first; and at Leipzig,
as elsewhere, one only meets with a very small number of people
who know how to apply cause and effect intelligently and
enthusiastically to a piece out of the common, and signed with
the name of a composer who is not dead. Moreover I suspect that
your witty account is tainted with a species of modesty, and I
shall wait, like the general public, for the accounts in the
newspapers in order to form an opinion of your success. Whatever
may come of it, and however well or ill you are treated by the
public or criticism, my appreciation of the value that I
recognize in your works will not vary, for it is not without a
well-fixed criterion, quite apart from the fashion of the day,
and the high or low tide of success, that I estimate your
compositions highly, finding much to praise in them, except the
reservation of some criticisms which almost all sum up as
follows--that your extreme productiveness has not as yet left you
the necessary leisure to imprint a more marked individuality on
your works, and to complete them. For, as it has been very justly
said, it is not enough to do a thing, but it must be completed.
This said and understood, there is no one who admires more than I
do your remarkable and abundant faculties, or who takes a more
sincere and friendly interest in your work. You know that I have
set my mind upon your "Ocean" being given here, and I shall beg
you also to give us the pleasure of playing one of your
Concertos. In about ten days I will write and tell you the date
of the first concert of our orchestra.

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