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:

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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. and
K., 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 occasion
I 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.

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