Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 2: From Rome to the End

F >> Franz Liszt; letters collected by La Mara and translated >> Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 2: From Rome to the End

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

The day after tomorrow I shall be in Vienna, and shall spend a
fortnight with my near relative and friend Eduard Liszt. After
that I return to Weimar, and hope to see you there in the summer.
I will write to you in good time about the performance of the
Oratorio Christus...

Respectful homage and cordial friendship,

F. Liszt

Pest, March 30th, 1873

128. To Casar Cui

[Russian composer and musical critic.]

Sir,

Pray excuse my delay in thanking you for your very kind letter
that Mr. Bessel brought me with the piano score of your Opera
William Ratcliff. It is the work of a master who deserves
consideration, renown and success, as much for the wealth and
originality of the ideas as for the skilful handling of the form.
As I am persuaded that all intelligent and honest musicians will
be of this opinion, I should like to add to it some assurance on
the next performance of your Ratcliff in Germany. It should be
done at once at Weimar were I in active function at the theater
as in the preceding years (from 1848 to '59); but since my
retirement I am not any longer in a position to take definite
steps, and must confine myself to recommendations--more often
counteracted than followed.

Accept, sir, my sincere thanks, and with every expression of high
esteem I am, yours truly,

F. Liszt

Weimar, May, 1873

129. To Franz Servais.

Dear Monsieur Franz,

My best wishes accompany you "into your cage." [This usually
means "in durance vile," but the word "cage" is preserved here on
account of the context.--Trans.] You do well to put yourself
there, and, if the flight of your genius should find itself
somewhat trammelled, for the time being, before the tribunal of
counterpoint and fugue, it will soar all the more proudly
afterwards. I hope you will come out of your cage glorious and
crowned; in case of bad luck do not be too much disappointed;
more skilful and more valuable men than you and I, dear Franz,
have had to have patience, and to have patience yet again. M. de
Buffon, when he said "genius is patience," did but make the
mistake of an incomplete definition; he took a part for the
whole; but that part is absolutely necessary in the practice of
Art, as in that of earthly life.

Please remember me very affectionately to your mother; give a
shake of the hand to your brother from me,--and depend ever on my
devoted and affectionate feelings.

F. Liszt

Weimar, June 5th, 1873

130. To the Canoness Adelheid von Schorn

Dear Excellent One,

My little travelling plans have been upset by a letter from
Cosima. I did not stop either at Salzungen (where I had arranged
to meet Schuberth) or at Meiningen, and came straight here on
Saturday, in accordance with an invitation from Cosima to a
little fete of the workpeople of the theater of the Nibelungen.

Many idle and gossiping people everywhere are troubling their
heads about this theater, and are asking when and how it will be
finished building. Instead of descanting foolishly or maliciously
about it (the two things sometimes go together), it would be
better to get a "Patronats-Schein" [a receipt of membership], and
thus to join in the grandest and most sublime work of art of the
century. The glory of having created, written and published it is
Wagner's intact; his detractors have only to share the disgrace
of having thwarted it and delayed the bringing of it to the full
light of day, by performance.--

Next week I go to Schillingsfurst, and towards the middle of
August I shall be back at Weimar.

A thousand very cordially affectionate and devoted regards.

F. Liszt

Bayreuth, July 30th, 1873

131. To Eduard von Liszt

Dearest Eduard,

After an absence of 3 weeks I returned here yesterday. I remained
first to days in Bayreuth, from August 26th to September 5th,
[The dates here ought certainly to be from July 26th to August
5th--as Liszt's letter is dated the 19th of August.] and then the
same length of time in Schillingsfurst (with Cardinal Hohenlohe)
and at Langenburg (with Prince Hermann Hohenlohe), whither I had
the honor of accompanying the Cardinal.

Cosima, Wagner and the five children are in the best of health.
The building of the Nibelungen-Theater is progressing famously;
if the necessary sum of 300,000 thalers [some 45,000 pounds] of
which as yet only about 130,000 have been forthcoming, is got
together in time, the performance of the "Festival
Drama"--"The Ring of the Nibelung"--is to take place in the
summer of '75.

.--. Simultaneously with his theater, Wagner is building a
beautiful and exquisitely situated house close to the Hofgarten.
The King of Bavaria has given him 20,000 thalers [some 3,000
pounds] for this. Next spring Wagner will take up his abode
there.

My intercourse with Cardinal Hohenlohe is always pleasant. He
leads a very retired life in Schillingsfurst, receives but few
visits and pays only a few, and occupies himself principally in
building and arranging a large schoolhouse and an institution for
girls under the superintendence of a Benedictine Sisterhood.

Great festivities are being arranged here in honor of the
marriage of the Hereditary Grand Duke. On September 6th the entry
of the bridal pair, on the 7th a Court concert, on the 8th a
Festival-play by Devrient in the theater and a performance of
Beethoven's 9th Symphony, etc., etc. I have undertaken to conduct
the Symphony and also to play a couple of pianoforte pieces at
the Court concert. A second Festival-play, entitled "The Bride's
Welcome to the Wartburg," written by Scheffel and set to music by
me, is to be given on September 2lSt in the Minnesanger Hall in
the Wartburg, where you heard the "Elizabeth" Oratorio.

A few days after this I shall travel to Rome, and remain there 3
or 4 weeks. Before the end of October I shall come to you again
for a couple of days before returning to Pest on November 1st.

The dedication-copies of the "Szoszat" and the "Hymnus" for Count
Andrassy are not yet ready, it seems. Roszavolgyi (Dunkl) has
sent me only a fete ordinary copies of the pianoforte version,
and not one of the score. I shall therefore have to wait till
November before sending or presenting it to Count Andrassy.

From the Grand Duchess I received 1,000 thalers--but these
together with your 500 have all been spent. Be so good as to send
me another 300 thalers next week! For my journey to Rome I shall
probably, towards the middle of September, again have to ask you
for a note of 500 francs. Although I do not go in for any
luxuries, money vanishes quickly and readily in my hands.

Heartiest greetings to your wife and children, and au revoir in
Vienna at the end of October.

Faithfully thine,

F. Liszt

Weimar, August l0th, 1873

132. To Franz Servais

Dear Victorious One,

Your letter had been travelling several days in Bavaria before it
reached me here yesterday morning. I thank you for letting me
take an affectionate part in the success you have obtained, and I
wish to keep that part throughout your future successes--and even
failures. The latter will not do you any great harm, provided
that you know how to keep that attachment to work, and that
perseverance in noble ideas, which are the chief heirloom of the
artist. Lassen tells me that we are shortly to hear your "Tasso"
here: my attentive sympathy is wide awake; so fulfil your
promise, dear Franz, by coming before the end of this month, and
we will talk at our ease at the Hofgartnerei of our aims and
plans.

Please give my respects to your mother, and my cordial
remembrances to Joseph and Godebski.

Your affectionate and devoted

F. Liszt

Weimar, August 19th, 1873

133. To Walter Bache

Dear Friend,

Often I am behindhand and stop short of thanks with you, but it
is certainly not for want of sincere affection and esteem.

Your "9th Annual Concert" has again shown the worth of your
talents and the firm constancy of your character. Now in our
artistic world character is still more rare than talent.

You nobly unite the two; it is a pleasure to me to acknowledge
it, and to count you amongst the most devoted champions of
progress and of musical good sense.

At their head, by right of age and capability, walks
imperturbably and gloriously Hans de Bulow.

Will you give him the enclosed letter? and believe me ever, dear
Bache,

Your very cordially affectionate

F. Liszt

Weimar, August 20th, 1873

134. To Max Erdmannsdorfer, Hofcapellmeister in Sonderhausen

[At present Capellmeister in Bremen; he has rendered good service
to the cause of the New-German musical tendency both in Germany
and Russia.]

Very Dear Herr Capellmeister,

Your friendly invitation for me to attend the performance of your
"Schneewittchen" I am unfortunately unable to accept. Owing to
the festivities at the Wartburg it is impossible for me to get
away next week. Will you kindly convey to the Princess Elizabeth
my regrets as well as my most gracious thanks?

On Sunday, September 28th, I shall have the pleasure of thanking
you personally in Sondershausen for arranging and carrying out
the extraordinary concert programme. It is my special wish that
the two "Faust Episodes" should not be separated--even at the
risk of wearying the public for a few minutes with the
"Nachtlicher Zug." [Two Episodes from Lenau's Faust (Leipzig,
Schuberth).] But this piece does not appear to me altogether so
bad...

I beg you again to repeat my sincere praise to the Sondershausen
artists who played so admirably here last Monday in the 9th
Symphony, and remain, very dear Sir, with marked feelings of
esteem,

Yours in all friendship,

F. Liszt

Weimar, September 16th, 1873

Kahnt, Gille, J. Schuberth, Lassen and several other friends of
mine are going to attend the Sondershausen concerts on the 28th
and 29th September.

The Weimar presentation I will bring you.

135. To Otto Lessmann

Dear Friend,

Best thanks for sending Kiel's "Christus"--a work full of
spiritual substance, of noble and fine sentiments, and masterly
in execution. Riedel proposes to give a performance of it next
winter it Leipzig.

With such a clause as Joachim introduces for the "Novitaten-
Concerten"--"that only such composers shall be taken into
consideration in the programmes whose renown as artistic
representatives of the German nation is established"--Handel,
Bach, Mozart, nay even Beethoven, would have come off badly in
their life-time!

Whether it is appropriate for the Berlin Hochschule to act in so
specially a high and mighty manner remains to be seen. Still it
is to be expected that such procedure is likely itself to meet
with some other restricting "clauses."

Of the arrangement for 8 hands of the Pastorale and March [From
Liszt's Oratorio "Christus."] which I wish to have from you, you
will have already heard from Schuberth. Likewise from Kahnt of
the couple of pieces from the "Elizabeth."

Au revoir on Sunday, the 28th September, in Sondershausen, where
we shall have a curious (sonderliches) Programme. Receive
herewith, dear friend, a special invitation, together with the
assurance of my friendly attachment.

F. Liszt

Weimar, September 24th, 1873

I shall bring you back your copy of Kiel's Christus to
Sondershausen.

136. To Kornel von Abranyi

Dear Valiant Friend,

Your letter, and the printed paper of great fame which
accompanies it, recalls to me the saying, "La joie fait peur."
[Abranyi, who was the Secretary of the Festival Committee which
had been formed for the celebration of Liszt's Artist-Jubilee in
November 1873 at Budapest, had in their name invited Liszt to
take part in this.] Nevertheless I could not suit myself to the
role of a coward; I will therefore endeavor to surmount my fear
and to make myself worthy to share with my brave compatriots in
the joy they have prepared for me.

I beg you, in your capacity of secretary of the Festival
Committee, to present my most grateful thanks, in good Hungarian,
to the most illustrious and most reverend President, Monseigneur
Haynald, [The Archbishop of Kalocsa, afterwards Cardinal, Liszt's
friend of many years. (Being interested in the present
collection, he promised to contribute to it the letters addressed
to him "by the great artist and noble man." His death
unfortunately prevented the fulfilment of his promise, and the
Archiepiscopal Chapter of Kalocsa did not accede to the request
of the editor to be allowed to have these letters.)] and to the
members of the Committee.

Baron Augusz had written me word that he would come here in the
middle of September, to be present at the "Festspiel" [Festival
Play] at the Wartburg. He shall soon receive news from me from
Rome, where I shall arrive on Sunday. Schuberth is sending you
the score and the piano score of the "Christ," together with the
biographical notices for which you asked me. My cousin Eduard
will send you the "postscript" immediately.

Cordial friendship and fruitful collaboration.

F. Liszt

Weimar, October 1st, 1873

Herewith the programmes of the 2 concerts at Sondershausen at
which I was present. This afternoon I start for Rome,--and on the
1st November shall be at Pest.

137. To Martha Remmert

[A pupil of Liszt's; became later Kammervirtuosin (court-pianist)
in Weimar, and lives now in Berlin.]

Pest, December 27th, 1873

Dear Fraulein,

The best "solution" in reply to the ministerial order lies in
your hands. Merely play the first page of Henselt's Concerto and
no one will doubt that I am very kindly disposed towards you. And
I shall be glad to render you further service in your zeal for
study and your ambition as a virtuosa. No matter whether I be in
Pest or in Weimar.

In all friendliness yours,

F. Liszt

138. To ?

[Autograph without address or date in the possession of Count
Albert Amadei in Vienna.--According to him the letter belongs to
the year 1873.]

Very dear Fraulein,

Please reply at once per telegram:--"Please do not come.--Liszt
does not need or wish to be heard, as he has no one for whom he
must strike up."

Tomorrow evening more by word of mouth.

Sincerely yours,

F. Liszt

Monday

139. To Countess Marie Dunhoff in Vienna

[Sketch of a letter in the possession of Herr O. A. Schulz,
bookseller in Leipzig.--The addressee, the wife of the German
ambassador Von Bulow, lives now in Bucharest.]

[Beginning of January, 1874]

Dear Countess,

You speak to me so eloquently of the merit, talent and
superiority of Madame L.B. that I am quite ashamed of not
fulfilling her wish subito. But in reality that would be more
difficult than she imagines; a "petit morceau de piano" would
only be a small part of the matter; the public is a very exacting
master, even in its days of favor; the more it gives the more it
expects...

Half a dozen such requests as that of Madame L.B. have been
addressed to me at Vienna this week. How can one suffice for such
a business, which, be it said in passing, is at once outside and
far beyond my duties?--At my age one must try to behave
reasonably, and to avoid excess; I shall therefore limit myself
in Vienna to the one concert of the "Kaiser Franz Joseph
Stiftung," [Emperor Francis Joseph Scholarship] which reasons of
great propriety, easy to understand, have led me to accept with
alacrity. I am told that it will take place on Sunday, 11th
January; so be it: I shall willingly conform to the arrangements
of the Committee and have no other wish in this matter than...not
to inconvenience anybody. [The concert for the "Emperor Francis
Joseph Scholarship" did not take place till April; and Liszt did
actually play, in the Easter week, for the Countess's protegee,
though not in the Concert Room, but in the Palais Auersperg.]

Permit me to hope, dear Countess, that you will not, under the
pretext of "discretion," inflict upon me the immense punishment
of seeing you less often this time than formerly, and that you
will not retract any of your kindness, on which I place the
greatest store.

A thousand and a thousand sincere and most respectfully devoted
expressions of homage.

F. Liszt

140. To B. Bessel, Music Publisher in St. Petersburg

Horpacs (Chez le Comte Szechenyi), February 2nd, 1874.

Dear Sir,

Pray excuse me for being so late in thanking you,--you and all
those who signed the telegram sent to Pest on the occasion of my
jubilee fete. I am deeply touched with the noble sentiments it
expresses with a chivalrous eloquence, and beg you to convey the
tribute of my most sincere gratitude to Messrs. Balakireff,
Borodine, Cui, Moussorsky, Rimski-Korsakoff, Scherbatcheff, and
Stassoff.

You were kind enough, Sir, to let me see several of their works
at Weimar; I appreciate and esteem them highly, and as far as
depends on myself I will do all I can to make them known, and
shall feel honored thus to respond to the sympathetic kindness
which brave colleagues such as these accord to

Their very devoted

F. Liszt

141. To Professor Skiwa in Vienna

[Printed in the Signale, 1874, No. 20.--Skiwa had dedicated his
"Beitrage zur Literatur des Harmoniums" ("Contribution to
Harmonium Literature") to Liszt.]

Very Dear Sir,

Kindly excuse the delay in my sending you my sincere thanks,
which I shall very shortly take the liberty of expressing to you
personally in Vienna. I shall then also ask you to do me the
favor of making me more intimately acquainted with your excellent
transcriptions. In reading them through one at once observes the
author's masterly style and his care and artistic handling of the
characteristic peculiarities of the harmonium, especially in the
management of the basses and the mid-voice parts. But still the
mere reading your transcriptions does not satisfy me, and I
should like to hear them, so as to be able fully to enjoy them.

Herr Bosendorfer will bring you the manuscript of the
"Consolation," the dedication of which is very acceptable to me.
The transcription of this small piece into A major appears to me
very appropriate, and the arrangement excellent.

With marked esteem and friendly thanks,

F. Liszt

Pest, March 2lst, 1874

142. TO C. F. Kahnt, the Music Publisher

[Published in the Neue Zeitung fur Musik, 14th September, 1892.]

Dear Friend,

The day after tomorrow I again go to Vienna, and remain there
about a week. In case the "Prometheus" proofs are ready send them
to me to my usual address ("Schottenhof bei Hofrath E. v. Liszt")
by the middle of Easter week; after that my address will be
rather uncertain, as I intend spending a few days in Pressburg
and Kalocsa (with Archbishop Haynald), and do not return here
till after April 20th. Hence, if the "Prometheus" proofs are not
ready within the next few days, do not send them till after my
return to Pest (April 21).

Please send the proofs of Mihalovich's songs as soon as possible
to the composer, addressed to

"Servitenplatz, im Teleky'schen Haus."

The Vienna concert in the "Palais Auersperg" is announced for
Easter Monday, April 6th. The following Sunday, or at latest on
Sunday the 19th April, the concert of the "Kirchenmusik-Verein"
is to be given in Pressburg, at which I take a part in piano-
playing--it is to be hoped for the last time this year!--

I think of remaining here from April 2lst to the beginning of
May, and then of wandering straightway to Rome, and to the Villa
d'Este.

I wish you in all friendliness a happy Easter, with satisfactory
business at the Easter's fair, and remain your sincerely attached

F. Liszt

Pest, March 29th, 1874

Have you sent Countess Oriolla the omitted copy of the "Wartburg
Songs"?

143. To Dr. Franz Witt

[1874?]

I look forward with eager interest to the realisation of your
scheme to found a Catholic School of Music. The numerous and
important services you have rendered as composer, conductor,
teacher, promoter and president of the Cacilien-Verein proclaim
and mark you as pre-eminently fitted to organize and direct this
highly important kind of School. I should wish that Hungary, my
fatherland, might set a good example, and might offer you, my
very dear friend, an honorable and influential post in the Musik-
Akademie that was voted for last year in the Chamber. This wish
of mine was seconded with cordiality by His Eminence the Cardinal
Primate, His Excellency the Archbishop of Kalocsa, Haynald, and
H. E. Trefort, the Minister of Public Instruction. Various
political circumstances interfered with the plan of starting a
Musik-Akademie in Pest; but the idea has by no means been given
up, and I have still the hope that you may yet at some future day
be called upon to give your powerful assistance in connection
with the teaching and practice of Church music in Hungary.

144. To Professsor Carl Riedel

Dear Friend,

As at all preceding Tonkunstler-Versammlungen, you have again
this year in Brunswick done the best that was possible. [The
Meeting took place in Halle, instead of in Brunswick.] Five
concerts sound almost alarming, but the programmes are drawn up
and arranged with so much forethought and care that your master-
hand and that indescribable "with avec" (as dear Frau Dr. Pohl
called it) are at once to be recognised. It certainly was
advisable to check the "democratic movements" of the orchestra
without interfering with the well-meant "command." That the
Sondershausen set continue to prove themselves reliable and
friendly I am delighted to hear. I wish all possible success to
Erdmannsdorfer's "Schneewittchen." The youthful and captivating
Frau Kapellmeisterin Erdmannsdorfer is especially capable of
doing justice to Raff's Trio (or Concerto) and other pianoforte
pieces. [Pauline Fichtner, who married Erdmannsdorfer, was a
pupil of Liszt's, and became court-pianist at Weimar and Hesse.]

Will Bulow be able to be present? We have not written to each
other for some time past. Do you know where to address him just
now?

In case my Faust Symphony is given at the 5th concert (as your
programme announces), I beg you to ask Bulow to be conductor.
This work has become his property since he conducted it so
magnificently at the Weimar Tonkunstler-Versammlung ('61), when
the whole orchestra was amazed and astounded at his fabulous
memory. You will remember that not only did he not use a score,
but at the rehearsal referred to the numberless letters and
double letters with unerring accuracy.

With regard to two other matters I wish: A, that Steinway may
have the kindness to lend one of his excellent harmoniums for the
Hunnenschlacht, and that the instrument may be so placed as to be
invisible to the public and yet distinctly heard. B, that the
performance of the Sanctus from the Mass for men's voices be
taken from the editio nova (published a few years ago by Hartel),
and not from the earlier edition. Here, too, Steinway's harmonium
would render excellent service, visible and placed close to the
chorus. Perhaps our friend Stade would have the kindness to play
the harmonium part of the Hunnenschlacht and of the Sanctus.--

I truly regret that I shall not be able to hear that sublime,
grand and overpowering Requiem by Berlioz, nor to attend the
Musical Festival in Brunswick. I am physically and mentally very
exhausted, and need several months' rest; besides my remaining
away from Weimar forbids me from meanwhile visiting any other
German towns.--Before the middle of May I shall go direct to
Rome, and remain there till the end of the year in my former
residence at the Villa d'Este (3-1/2 hours from Rome).

With friendly greetings to your wife, I remain, Yours ever in
esteem and sincere attachment,

F. Liszt.

Pest, April 17th, 1874

Accept my best thanks for cancelling my promise to Metzdorff (in
regard to the performance of his Symphony).

I agree perfectly, of course, with your desideria fog the Musik-
Verein, and hope next year to be able to contribute something
towards their realisation.

"In patientia vestra possidebitis animas vestras."

To Kahnt I wrote at once on my return from Pressburg on Monday.

145. To Dom-Capellmeister [Cathedral Conductor] Dr. Franz Haberl
in Ratisbon

[This letter, like the subsequent one to Haberl, is a copy of the
draft of a letter of Liszt's by Dr. Mirus in Weimar.--Haberl is a
distinguished musical scholar (born in 1840).]

[1874?]

Pardon me if I again come with claims upon your kindness. You may
know that I am working at an Oratorio on St. Stanislaus, and
perhaps might be able to give me some assistance with it by
communicating to me the liturgic hymns referring to the feast of
St. Stanislaus. The Enchyrydion and Directorium Chori designate
the Mass, Protexisti, etc., on May 7th. To receive fuller
information from you on this point would greatly oblige me.
[Haberl also gave Liszt aural communications regarding the
Stanislaus legend. "On one occasion," says Haberl, "Liszt was
specially and greatly delighted to hear of the man whom
Stanislaus summoned out of the grave as a witness that the field
had been paid for, and gave me a sketch of his proposed motives
and tone pictures."]

Pray accept, reverend Sir and friend, the expression of my marked
esteem, and believe me yours gratefully and sincerely,

F. Liszt

146. To Professsor Carl Riedel

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30