Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 1, From Paris to Rome:
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Franz Liszt; Letters assembled by La Mara and translated >> Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 1, From Paris to Rome:
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F. Liszt
Weymar, January 8th, 1858
P.S.--I shall be much obliged if you will send me two
supplementary parts of the quartet (first and second violin,
viola, and bass) of each of Glinka's works.
194. To Felix Draseke
[Now professor at the Dresden Conservatorium, a well-known
composer of importance, also a writer on music (born 1835)]
Your articles [Published in the paper started by Brendel, "Hints"
(or "Suggestions")], which were so universally suggestive, my
dear and valiant friend, have given great pleasure to us on the
Altenburg. I hope to have an opportunity of showing you my
gratitude in a lasting and abiding fashion. Meanwhile be
satisfied with a good conscience in having strengthened and
sustained an honest man in his better purpose.
I have received through Brendel an invitation to Prague, which I
shall probably accept for the beginning of March. I am delighted
to think of seeing you again, dear friend, in passing through
Dresden, and perhaps you might make it possible to accompany me
to Prague. The "Dante Symphony" and the "Ideale" are again to be
given there, and, if I am not mistaken, you will rather like the
former work in its present shape. The Dresden performance was a
necessity to me, in order to realize its effect. As long as one
has only to do with lifeless paper one can easily make a slip of
the pen. Music requires tone and resonance!--I cannot at first
lay claim to effectual results, because I have to meet too much
opposition. The chief thing is that my present works should prove
themselves to be taking a firm footing in musical matters, and
should contribute something towards doing away with what is
corrupt...
What is Reubke [A pupil of Liszt's.] doing, and how does he like
Dresden?--Take him most friendly greetings from me. By-the-by ask
him also to give me tidings as soon as possible (through Herr
Menert) about the copying of the orchestral parts of the
Rubinstein Oratorio "Paradise Lost," and to get Herr Menert to
send me these parts to Weymar by the end of this month at latest.
It is to be hoped that Reubke won't have left the score in his
box like Pohl! But if by chance he has committed such a
transgression I beg that he will make amends as speedily as
possible.
Fischer (the organist) wrote to me lately, to ask me for a
testimonial to his musical ability, as he wants to have one to
show in Chemnitz. Please to make my friendly excuses to him for
not fulfilling his wish--possibly, in view of the enmity which I
have to bear on all sides, such a document would do him more harm
than good; apart from the fact that I very unwillingly set about
drawing up such testimonials. He must not, however, misconstrue
this disinclination on my part, and may rest assured of my
readiness to be of use to him.--
I would still draw your attention to Bronsart's concert in
Leipzig. It will take place in a few days, and if you can get
free I invite you to it. Bronsart is a very dear friend of mine;
I value him as a character and as a musician. If you go to
Leipzig go and see him; he will please you, and will receive you
in the most friendly manner. He is a friend of Bulow's. Both
names have the same initials, and for a long time Bronsart signed
himself "Hans II." in his letters to me.--
In the virtuoso line we have lately been hearing Sivori and
Bazzini here several times. The latter is now in Dresden; I told
him that Reubke would perhaps call on him. Get Reubke to do so,
and assure him that he will be most friendlily received. A well-
known piece of Bazzini's, "La Ronde des Lutins," was, by a
printer's error, called "Ronde des Cretins!" ["Rondo of Idiots."]
What an immeasurably large public for such a "Rondo"! If only
half of them would become subscribers to the Anregungen (Hints)!
Once more a thousand thanks, dear friend, for your courageous
battling; I on my side will endeavour not to let us have to
acquiesce with too overpowering a modesty! [An untranslatable pun
on the words "beseheiden" and "Bescheidenheit."
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
[Weimar,] Sunday, January 10th, 1858
195. To Louis Koehler
My very dear friend,
A few days ago I received a letter from Koenigsberg, signed by a
gentleman unknown to me. By chance this letter has got lost,
and I cannot myself remember the exact name. But, as your name
was mentioned in it, I beg you to be so good as to let Herr * * *
know that I do not possess the arrangement of the second movement
of my Faust Symphony made by Zellner in Vienna for pianoforte,
violin, harp, and harmonium, and that consequently I cannot hand
it over to him. Besides this, I do consider such a fragmentary
performance of this work of mine, which stands in such bad credit
with the critics, as rather unsuitable, and would not advise any
concert-giver, and still less any concert-directors, to smuggle
into a programme my name so challenged as a composer. How long
this curious comedy of criticism will last I am unable to
determine; anyhow I am resolved not to trouble my head about the
cry of murder which is raised against me, and to go on my way in
a consistent and undeterred fashion. Whether I shall be
answerable for the scandal, or whether my opponents will entangle
themselves in the scandal, will appear later. Meanwhile they can
hiss and scribble as much as they please. In the course of the
summer my "Faust" and "Dante" Symphonies will be published by
Hartel, together with a couple of new Symphonic Poems. The "Faust
Symphony" is dedicated to Berlioz, and the "Dante" to Wagner. I
am sending them to you, dear friend, with the two pianoforte
arrangements, with the risk that nothing will please you in them,
which however will not prevent us from being good friends. You
may rest assured that I shall always be grateful to you for the
friendliness you have shown me in past years, and that I would
never attempt to compromise you with my future. For the latter I
alone can and must care.
Please then make my best excuses to Herr * * *, whose kind letter
has, alas! cost me much useless searching, and continue your
personal well-wishing to your ever faithful friend (though fallen
in musical esteem and under your ban),
F. Liszt
Weymar, February 1st, 1858
196. To Professor L. A. Zellner in Vienna
You may believe me, dear friend, when I tell you that all the
disagreeables and vexations which the preparations for the
performance of my Mass [The Gran Festival Mass.] draw upon you
are the most acutely felt by myself. Do you really think it is
desirable to go against trifles of this sort and openly to fight
them? I should not like to decide this "a distance"; but I
promise you that I will not leave you in the lurch if in the end
the indispensable invitation to me follows. The concert at Prague
is to take place on the 12th of March, and I invite you to it.
Then after that I can travel with you on the 14th to Vienna or
return to Weymar. But I hope the former. I have nothing whatever
to say against the invitation of the Pest singers, because the
four persons have remained in my friendly remembrance. Yet I must
remark that the performance of the solos in my Mass offers no
special difficulties, and that consequently it could be quite
suitably and satisfactorily given by Vienna singers, which seems
both simpler and pleasanter. Herr Dr. Gunz, Herr Panzer, and
Fraulein Huber are quite satisfactory to me as soloists, as also
Fraulein Friedlowsky, of whom I have heard the highest praise as
Elizabeth. The tenor and alto are the chief people concerned, as
they have the principal subject in the Kyrie and Benedictus. If
we have two rehearsals with pianoforte, which I shall have great
pleasure in holding with the ladies and gentlemen myself, we
shall thoroughly get to the bottom of it; and if the singers have
steadfastness enough to make an effect with their part the thing
will go of itself.
With regard to the chorus and orchestra I reserve it to myself to
express my thanks to Hellmesberger and the chorus-directors in
writing, as soon as I have definite tidings. But to you, dear
friend, I can only repeat that he who will understand me loves me
also--and that I remain,
Yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
Weymar, February 8th, 1858
197. To Peter Cornelius in Mainz
[Weimar,] February 19th, 1858
It is very bad, dearest Cornelius, that you have so long forsaken
us! Much as I must approve of your decision to finish writing
your Opera ["Der Barbier von Baghdad"] completely, yet I am
dreadfully sorry to be without you for so many months. I did hope
that you would be with us on the 18th of February for certain;
now you announce yourself for the middle of March, at which time
I shall probably not be here. On the 12th of March I conduct a
concert at Prague, at which the "Ideale" and the "Dante Symphony"
will be given. Thence I proceed to Vienna, and later to
Loewenberg (in Silesia) to my noble and most amiable patron
Prince Hohenzollern-Hechingen, who, in spite of political
changes, has not only retained his Hechingen orchestra, but has
also increased it by fresh members.
I wish I could give you better tidings of my work, best friend,
than I am able to do. The last few months have passed without my
being able to do any steady work at my writing. I have merely
sketched and patched.
By May will appear a new edition of the Kuenstler-Chor (with some
important simplifications and improvements), and shortly after
that the volume of my "Gesammelte Lieder" ["Collected Songs."]
(about thirty), one or two of which will not be displeasing to
you. I shall not be able to set to the working out of my
Elizabeth till my return from Vienna.
The three songs [by Cornelius] (dedicated to Princess Marie)
[Princess Wittgenstein, now Princess Hohenlohe in Vienna.] are
charming and excellent. There is in them such a refined and true
proportion in union with such fervent and ardent mood that other
people besides the author must love them.
In order to make no break in my wonted fault-finding, I observe
that in the fifth bar of the first song the A-flat is more
agreeable than G.
[Figure: Music example showing the passage in question.] The
carrying out of the motive in the second song:
[Figure: Here Liszt writes 2 bars of music to illustrate.]
(page 2, last line, and page 3) you have done most happily--also
the moonlight conclusion of it,
[Figure: Here Liszt writes 3 bars of music to illustrate.]
and the poetic delineation of the last verse in the third song
(in which the rests in the voice part and the motive in the
accompaniment, enlivened by the rhythm [Here follows in the
original an illegible sign. In the song there come in here, in
place of the quaver movement which has prevailed hitherto, some
long-sustained chords in the accompaniment, which are again
interrupted by the quaver movement.], make an excellent effect):-
-
"Wenn mein Lied zu Ende geht, Sing ich's weiter in Gedanken,
Wie's im Wald verschwiegen weht, Wie die Rosen sich umranken!"
["When my song is ended quite, Yet in thought I still am singing,
As the wood at silent night Echoes from the day is bringing!"]
Well and good, dearest Cornelius, and now some more soon, let me
beg of you! Don't make too long pauses in your hermitage, and
allow us to tell you and prove to you how truly we love you.
F. Liszt
P.S.--About two months ago I at last sent Schott the proofs of
the second year of the "Annees de Pelerinage," together with the
manuscript of Seroff's arrangement for two pianofortes of
Beethoven's C-sharp minor Quartet. Will you be so good as to get
Schott to let me know the fate of the C-sharp minor Quartet?
Although two-piano arrangements are somewhat thankless articles
of sale, yet perhaps Schott may manage to bring out this Quartet,
of which I should be very glad.
Don't forget, dearest friend, to remind him that he has left my
letter about this matter hitherto unanswered--and I should be
glad to let Seroff know something definite.
198. To Dionys Pruckner in Munich
"Lohengrin" be thanked that I hear something from you again, dear
Dionysius, and I give you my best thanks that you wrote to me
directly after the first performance, and thus gave me fresh good
tidings [Namely after the first performance of Lohengrin in
Munich, on February 28th, 1858]. What criticism will emit about
it by way of addition troubles me little--in our present
circumstances its strength consists mainly in the fear which
people have of it; and, as the Augsburg gentlemen renounce all
claim "to wash to teach us," nothing remains for us but to teach
ourselves better than they can do it.
Ad vocem of the severe gentlemen of Augsburg, I will send you in
a few days Bronsart's brochure "Musikalische Pflichten" ["Musical
Duties." Leipzig, Matthes, 1858] (in answer to the "Musikalische
Leiden" ["Musical Sufferings." In Nos. 353-55 of the supplement
to the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung, 1857.], etc.). The
A[llgemeine]Z[eitung] only made a couple of extracts from it in
its columns, and from these the point was missing. Bronsart
exquisitely accuses our opponents of ill-will, unfairness, and
calumniation. Since they have not succeeded in silencing us in a
conspicuous manner, they would like to kill us insignificantly,
for which, however, other weapons would be necessary than those
which they have at their command.
Meanwhile Bronsart's form of argument will give you a pleasant
hour, and if, as you tell me, you have found in Munich a few
comrades of the same mind, let the "Musikalische Pflichten" be
recommended in their circle.
Amongst other things the assumption of the reporter of the A. Z.
that Wagner himself had never conducted his Lohengrin better than
Franz Lachner, appeared to me very droll. It is well known that
Wagner has never heard this work, let alone conducted it!--
Ignorance of this kind is, moreover, not the worst on the other
side, where intentional and unintentional ignorance and lies (not
to mince the matter) are continually being directed against us.
But enough of that. Let us continue to go on our own way simply
and honorably, and let the tame or wild beasts on our right and
left behave as they like!--
I have not kept your last letter (during my stay in Dresden).
Address, up to the 25th of this month, to Haslinger in Vienna. I
shall get there by the beginning of next week, and shall conduct
the Gran Mass in the Redouten-Saal [Ball-room] on the 22nd and
23rd. Next Thursday the "Dante Symphony" and the "Ideale" will be
given here--and on Sunday "Tasso" (in a Conservatorium Concert).
Tausig and Pflughaupt [A pupil of Henselt and Liszt (1833-71)]
play my two Concertos.
In the E-flat major (No. 1) I have now hit on the expedient of
striking the triangle (which aroused such anger and gave such
offence) quite lightly with a tuning-fork--and in the Finale
(Marcia) I have pretty nearly struck it out altogether, because
the ordinary triangle-virtuosi as a rule come in wrong and strike
it too hard.
Rubinstein and Dreyschock came to see me in Weymar before I left.
The latter is intending to go to Munich. Go and see him and give
him greetings from me.
Write and tell me, dear Dionysius, if I can be of use to you in
any way, and you may always dispose of Yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
Prague, March 9th, 1858
P.S.--Give me some tidings about your stay in Munich. With whom
do you have most intercourse? Do you see many of my friends
there--Kaulbach, Frau Pacher, etc.? Do you give lessons? Are you
thinking of settling there, or do you intend to make a concert
tour, and if so, where?--Send me also your exact address.
199. To Eduard Liszt
Dearest Eduard,
Hearty thanks for your few lines.
The letter of invitation has not yet arrived. It goes without
saying that I shall accept it; and as soon as I know in what form
and to whom I have to reply, I shall write at once. Meanwhile I
intend to reach Vienna on Monday, or Tuesday at latest. After
tomorrow's concert (with "Dante" and the "Ideale") there is still
a Conservatorium Concert to come off on Sunday at midday, at
which I shall conduct "Tasso," and also my first Concerto will be
played by Herr Pflughaupt. I shall either start for Vienna at
once that same evening, or else on Tuesday early. Will you be so
good as to order me rooms, as before, in the Kaiserin von
Oesterreach [Empress of Austria.] hotel? I am bringing Tausig
with me, whose acquaintance you will like to make.
Yours in spirit, and by the ties of flesh and blood,
F. Liszt
Prague, Wednesday early, March 10th, 1858
I received the five hundred gulden all right--and also the big
bill, which was a pleasant surprise to me, for when I left Weymar
I had made up my mind to give up all claim to it. Now that it has
come, however, it must be something good!--I promise you this,
that we shall not disgrace ourselves, and shall even surpass the
expectations of our very few friends!--
200. To Frau Dr. Steche in Leipzig
Vienna, March 20th, 1858
How many excuses I owe you, my dear lady and kind friend, for all
the trouble and disagreeables that the "Preludes" have occasioned
you! I can really scarcely pardon myself for having written the
piece!--When the Princess informed me of your kind intention I
wrote to her that a performance of my things in Leipzig appeared
to me untimely, and that I was resolved to let them fall into
oblivion rather than to importune my friends with them. Hence the
heterogeneousness of the letters and telegrams to you, dear
madam, which I beg you kindly to excuse. Candidly, I still think
it is better not to have the "Preludes" performed now in
Leipzig;[As there had already been a performance of this on the
26th of February, 1857, this can only refer to a performance in
the "Euterpe" Concerts.] but I thank you none the less warmly for
the kind interest you take in my compositions--in spite of their
bad name--and take this opportunity of repeating to you the
expression of high esteem and friendly devotion with which I
remain
F. Liszt
201. To Professor L. A. Zellner in Vienna
Pest, April 6th, 1858
Dear Friend,
With the
[Here Liszt writes a musical score excerpt of a whole note A
falling to quarter note D, in octave below middle C, with the
word 'Cre - do' under the notes]
Cre-do we will conclude this time in Vienna! We must not give
certain gentlemen any occasion to imagine that I concern myself
about them more than is really the case. Faust and Dante can
quietly wait for the due understanding of them. I must send them
next to Hartel, so that they may be published by the end of this
year. Give my very best thanks to Hellmesberger for the kind way
in which he meets me; he will forgive me if I cannot as yet put
it to use. Under existing circumstances it is wise and suitable
for me "to strive with earnest consistency for my high aim,
regardless of adverse circumstances and small-minded people."
At the end of next week I go to Lowenberg, and thence back to
Weymar. Therefore no concert in Vienna for this season--what may
happen later on remains meanwhile undecided.
The Pest concert has also not been given; but possibly my
Symphonic Poems may obtain a hearing in Pest sooner than in
Vienna, because I may expect much more susceptibility to them
here. When I have got my Opera finished, [This must be
"Sardanapalus."] I must in any case stay here a couple of month--
and on that occasion, perhaps, I may be able to bring in my
Symphonic things in three or four concerts. But there is no hurry
whatever for this; the "Elizabeth" and the Opera must be finished
first...
My intention had been to get to Vienna yesterday, and to be
satisfied with calling only on our four solo-singers and Count
Raday in Pest to express my thanks. But I was pressed on all
sides in so kind a manner to let my Gran Festival Mass be heard
again that I willingly acquiesced. The articles in the Austrian
p[aper], and your brochure, have done the most towards stirring
up the general wish. The public is like this--that they only know
what they ought to think of a work when they see it printed in
black and white!--You have therefore to answer for it if the Mass
is performed here a second time--on Friday afternoon in the
Museum-Saal (for the benefit of the Conservatorium) and on Sunday
in the Parish Church. On Monday evening I shall be in Vienna. I
wrote to Tausig yesterday that we would decide on the evening of
our musical meeting at your house after Countess Banffy has
chosen on the evening for her soiree (at which Tausig will play).
If I hear anything further about it Tausig shall let you know at
once, so that you may be able to make your invitations in
advance. On Thursday or on Saturday at latest I leave Vienna. All
further particulars viva voce.
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
There is no truth in the idea of a private concert. I will tell
you in what way I might be able to realize it another time--and
will take counsel and consent about it from you.
202. To Eduard Liszt
Dearest Eduard,
It is not enough that I have already been in all sorts of trouble
here in connection with the two performances of the Gran Mass,
which will take place next Friday and Sunday (for which four to
five rehearsals at the least are indispensable)--but now the post
from Vienna brings me bad tidings, for which indeed I was
prepared, but which, nevertheless, are by no means desired by me.
I had a long letter yesterday from our friend Z., which I am
answering with a decided refusal as regards a nearly impending
performance of my Symphonic Poems in Vienna. For this time we
will stop at the two performances of the Gran Mass--neither a
note more nor less. Later on we will consider how we shall stand
on the next occasion, and I shall take counsel with you about it,
because I have the conviction that you not only intend and act
for the best and kindest as regards me, but also the most
judiciously!--
On Monday evening I shall be back in Vienna--and will expect you
directly I reach home. If possible I shall start from Vienna on
Thursday evening--but at the latest on Saturday early. I have
written to Tausig to take my old rooms for me. Much as I should
like to come to you, yet this time it is simpler for me to stay
at an hotel.
To our speedy meeting, which, alas! will be a good deal clouded
for us by these various obstructions. But in Vienna it can't be
otherwise. On this account you must soon come again to Weymar,
where we can belong to ourselves.
Heartfelt greetings in sincere friendship and loving devotion
from
F. Liszt
Pest, April 7th, 1858
203. To Adolf Reubke, Organ-Builder at Hausneinsdorf in the Harz.
[Written on the death of his son Julius Reubke (died June 3rd,
1858), a favorite pupil of Liszt's.]
Dear Sir,
Allow me to add these few lines of deepest sympathy to the poem
by Cornelius, ["Bein Tode von Julius Reubke" ("On the Death of
Julius Reubke"). Cornelius, Poems. Leipzig, 1890.] which lends
such fitting words to our feelings of sorrow. Truly no one
could feel more deeply the loss which Art has suffered in your
Julius, than the one who has followed with admiring sympathy his
noble, constant, and successful strivings in these latter years,
and who will ever bear his friendship faithfully in mind--the one
who signs himself with great esteem
Yours most truly,
F. Liszt
Weymar, June 10th, 1858
204. To Prince Constantin von Hohenzollern-Hechingen
[Autograph in the possession of Herr Alexander Meyer Cohn in
Berlin.--This very musical Prince was for years Liszt's patron,
and often invited the latter to stay with him at his Silesian
residence at Lowenberg, where he kept up an orchestra.]
Monseigneur,
When Your Highness was kind enough to express your views to me
respecting your noble design of encouraging in an exceptional
manner the progress of musical Art, and to question me as to the
best mode of employing a certain sum of money for this object, I
think I mentioned to you Mr. Brendel, the editor of the Neue
Zeitschrift fur Musik, as the best man to make your liberal
intentions bear fruit. As much on account of the perfect
uprightness of his character, which is free from all reproach, as
for the important and continuous services which his paper and
other of his works have rendered to the good cause for many years
past, I consider Mr. Brendel entirely worthy of your confidence.
It is not lightly that I put forward this opinion--and I venture
to flatter myself that my antecedents will be a sufficient
guarantee to Your Highness that in this matter, as in any others
in which I may have the honor of submitting any proposition to
you, I could follow no other influences, no other counsels, than
those of a scrupulous conscience. Putting aside all
considerations of vanity or personal advantage foreign to the end
in view, my sincere and sole desire is to make Your Highness's
intentions and capital the most productive possible. It is with
this view that I have openly spoken of the matter to Brendel,
whose letter, which I venture to enclose herewith, corresponds,
as it seems to me, with the programme in question.
I venture to beg you, Monseigneur, to look into this attentively,
and to let me know whether you will grant permission to Brendel
to enter into these matters more explicitly by writing to you
direct. In the event of the propositions contained in his letter
meeting with the approval of Your Highness, as I trust they may
do, it would be desirable that you should let him know without
too much delay in what manner you would wish your kind intentions
carried out.
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