James Buchanan - "Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws"

Joseph Conrad - "Notes on My Books"

Bartolome de las Casas - "A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies"

Eleanor Hallowell Abbott - "Peace on Earth, Good will to Dogs"

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 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




While taking affectionate part in the success achieved by your
son Alfred, whose talents are duly valued by me, I remain, dear
Madame,

Yours truly,

F. Liszt

Budapest, January 30th, 1880.

My cordial greetings to Madame Helbig.



256. To Professor Klindworth in Moscow

Much-esteemed dear Friend,

My sincere thanks for your masterly arrangement of Chopin's
Concerto. [The Concerto in F minor; score, orchestral parts and
arrangement for 2 pianos published by Jurgenson (Moscow) and Bock
(Berlin).] You showed me the first movement of it some years ago
in Munich. I consider the modifications in the instrumentation
and in the piano part successful. As much transparency as
possible should be preserved in the melodious parts.

I conclude that you will impress on M. Jurgenson the necessity of
not giving way to the ancient careless abuses of publishers in
the 2-piano edition. Thus four lines and two identical copses are
requisite for performance.

As leader and head of the now numerous Chopin-Editors, your
excellent Jurgenson-Edition authorises you to advance a proudly
modest "Sic vos non vobis."

Au revoir this summer in Hall, dear Klindworth. Give my kind
regards to your wife.

Yours faithfully,

F. Liszt

Budapest, February 16th, 1880

The last corrected proofsheets of Tschaikowsky's Polonaise
dedicated to you leave by today's post addressed to Jurgenson.



257. To the Kammervirtuoso Professor Hermann Scholtz in Dresden

[Pianist and composer (born 1845, pupil of Bulow and
Rheinberger), is especially famous as an admirable player of
Chopin.]

Much-esteemed Sir and Friend,

I have sincere pleasure in praising and recommending your Chopin-
Edition. To Klindworth belongs the merit of having preceded you
by his intelligent and practical work. Your publisher, Peters,
might be advised in the next thousand copies he issues of the
Chopin-Edition signed Hermann Scholtz:--

A. Not to fill up the first volume with Waltzes. Why make this
paltry concession to the trifling requirements of the drawing-
room? Chopin's Waltzes are certainly charming, elegant and full
of invention...still his Polonaises and Mazurkas have a far
higher importance.

Chopin is the bewitching musical genius in which the heroically
chivalrous Polish nationality finds expression. This chief
characteristic ought to be distinctly emphasised in classifying
his works. So, first volume: Polonaises, Mazurkas and the
Fantasia upon Polish motives.

B. The clear notation of the melodies (indicated by tails turned
upwards!), as in the Klindworth-Edition, should be maintained.

C. In works having an orchestral accompaniment an arrangement of
that accompaniment for a second piano ought to be printed under
the Solo part of the first piano.

(The brains of most pianists become addled by the usual editions,
where the essentially melodious and rhythmical character, nay
often even the correct bass, is wanting.)

D. This is again addressed to Mr. Peters. He ought not to
withhold from the audience your admirable version of the
Recitative in the Adagio of the F minor Concerto for Piano Solo,
and should add these few pages to your Chopin-Edition.

Yours faithfully,

F. Liszt

Weimar, April 29th, 1880



255. To Sophie Menter

Dear Friend,

The signature of the telegram front Rome announced to me your
return to "Hungaria." I met friend Bosendorfer the day before
yesterday in Frankfort: we began at once of course to talk about
Sophie Menter and her new thickly-leaved Petersburg laurels.
Similar plants will bloom for you everywhere according to the
capacity of the soil, and will always shade your artistic
peregrinations through Europe and America.

Give my kindest regards to Neuschul, from yours cordially,

F. Liszt

Weimar, May 26th, 1880



259. To Jules de Zarembski

Dear Friend,

You have made an excellent choice; and M. Gevaert also. The
Brussels Conservatoire keeps in the first ranks: its very active
and intelligent Director will take good care not to allow it to
degenerate or to sink into idleness; on the contrary, he gives
and will give it an entirely progressive impulse. You will have
to see that your piano class does honor to the Conservatoire, to
its head and to your own name. This will take some years to do;
therefore, persevere.

Your three studies are most uncommon, remarkable and successful.
The second, in F minor, might be signed Chopin. This exceedingly
high praise does not imply that you have in any way been guilty
of plagiarism, for in your works original power is manifest.

Perhaps there may be a slight falling-off towards the middle of
the third Study; still this does not disturb the total good
impression.

When we are chatting together again about music I will explain to
you viva voce my antiquated ideas concerning the whys and
wherefores of matters belonging to our profession.

I am sending Simon at Berlin at once the good copy of your three
Studies. He has sent me the rather bad one of your Mazurkas for
two performers. These I played over with the Baroness von
Meyendorff yesterday evening. She begs me to tell you our very
favorable opinion of these charming productions of your Polish
muse.

I am telling Simon that publishers cannot do better than bring
out works of value such as Zarembski writes.

Pray, dear friend, present the sincere regards to Mme. Zarembska
of your cordially attached

F. Liszt

Weimar, June 1st, 1880

I am just sending off the copies of the Studies and Mazurkas to
Simon.



260. To Professor Bassani

Dear Friend,

Your "Studio sinfonico" is fine poetry in music. It reminds me of
Venice when I was twenty. The solemn, sad motive (5/4)
corresponds to the lagoons and to the gloomy stroke of their
waves round the Bridge of Sighs: the other subject soars on high
accompanied by the gentle sound of the belfries, announcing, as
it were, from a distance the joyfulness of divine hopes.

My cordial sympathy and friendship.

F. Liszt

Weimar, June 4th, 1880



261. To Marie Lipsius

Dear Friend,

Hearty thanks for your persistent kindness; "Carmen" has just
arrived, and I now beg you to find out for and send to me another
tale of Merimee's, called "Les ames du Purgatoire" [Souls in
Purgatory]. It narrates the adventures of Don Juan de Marana,
immortalised by Mozart and Lord Byron. Grabbe has also turned his
poetical attention towards this mauvais sujet, and gives him as a
companion to Faust, which might perplex His Excellency von
Goethe.

I hope soon to see you either in Leipzig or Weimar.

Ever yours gratefully,

F. Liszt

Weimar, June 10th, 1880

Tomorrow I shall write to Hartel's that the edition of my
"Gesammelte Schriften" could not do better than begin with your
excellent version of the "Chopin."



262. To Kornel von Abranyi

Highly Esteemed Dear Friend,

My hearty thanks for the dedication copy of your charming
"Nocturnes." "Near the chapel" and "Starry night" belong to my
most select intimate Programme.

Aladar Juhasz needs but health to stand forth and hold his own as
an excellent artist, virtuoso and composer. The matter of his
stipend is now arranged--as we wished it. Juhasz will certainly
also greatly distinguish himself at the Klausenburg Musical
Festival. My lines of introduction to Trefort, the Minister, must
no longer be presented to His Excellency as mustard after dinner.
The less scribbling and gossiping the better. "Vitam impendere
vero."--

I request that the two accompanying letters in Hungarian may be
answered by the General Secretary of the Royal Hungarian National
Academy of Music, Abranyi Kornel, in my name. Before I left
Budapest we read together the polyphone tattoo by J. K., and I
then requested you to make the composer understand that
Meyerbeer's far-famed "Rataplan, Rataplan, plan, plan" (in the
"Huguenots") is quite enough henceforth for the audience.

Do not delay any longer returning his score to J. Beg Herr P. A.
to excuse me for not being a millionaire.

Till the end of July remains in Weimar Yours most faithfully and
gratefully,

F. Liszt

Weimar, June 20th, 1880



263. To Freiherr Hans von Wolzogen

Highly esteemed Freiherr and Friend,

.--. Wagner has shown and taught us triumphantly "what style is."
You explain the mighty matter admirably in your last writing,
dear Sir. That a "School for the culture of style in Bayreuth"
should be established, is wished by no one more seriously than by

Yours most sincerely,

F. Liszt

Weimar, July 28th 1880



149. To Friedrich Hofmeister, Music Publisher in Leipzig

Weimar, August 17th, 1880

Dear Sir,

For the last twenty years or more Kirchner has known how
sincerely I esteem his compositions. I rejoice to see that he
continues adding to their number with freshness and vigor, and am
much obliged to you for sending me his "Toys," "Caprices,"
"Leaves," etc., which you have brought out.

Yours truly,

F. Liszt



265. To Baroness Helen Augusz, Sister of Mercy in Graz

[Daughter of Liszt's late friend, Baron Anton Augusz, of Szegzard
in Hungary]

Most revered Sister of St. Vincent de Paule,

Pray always dispose of my feeble services. I am writing to the
Baroness de Roner according to your instructions, and request
that you will send her the enclosed lines.

M. Tirindelli's [Professor at the "Liceo Marcello" in Venice;
violinist and composer.] abilities deserve attention,
consideration and encouragement. This you have well understood,
and it will be a pleasure to me to second you.

How can I be of use to him?

By recommending him to some publisher in Germany?

Does he intend to travel and give concerts? Your protege, M.
Tirindelli, may count upon my sincere readiness to oblige him:
the only thing I ask is, that he should write me distinctly in
what way I can be of service to him. Yesterday I took the liberty
of noting several alterations in his melody "All' Ideale," his
Mazurka, and in the Adagio of the Trio which pleases you by its
fine feeling.

By the way, this Adagio has been so badly copied that another
less faulty one will have to be made before sending it to print.
By this same post you will receive the three works with my
alterations.

Having arrived here last Saturday, I shall remain at the Villa
d'Este till New Year. In the middle of January will return to
Budapest

Your very respectful and devoted servant,

F. Liszt

Rome, September 1st, 1880

The most convenient address for me during the next months is:
Albergo a Via Alibert, Roma.



266. To Madame A. Rubinstein

Allow me, dear Madame Rubinstein, to dedicate to you my
transcription of your husband's charming and very famous Lied. To
the very conservative burden "Ach! wenn es doch immer so bliebe"
[Ah! could it remain so for ever!] I add that what will certainly
always remain as now is, your most respectfully and
affectionately obedient servant,

F. Liszt

(Villa d'Este,) October 24th, 1880



267. To Frau Amalie von Fabry in Budapest

Dear Madame,

I do not know whether I talk too much; but I certainly write too
little to those who remain constantly in possession of my sincere
gratitude. I crave your kindly indulgence therefore for my
involuntary shortcomings.

Through your nephew Imre [Baron Augusz, son of Anton Augusz. He
died at an early age.] I hear that his mother, Baroness von
Augusz, has been so good as to look at my new dwelling in the
Academy of Music, and that the arrangement of it, as yet unknown
to me, meets her approval. The solicitude you have shown, Madame,
in this matter--as well as in other similar ones in the
Palatingasse and Fischmarkt during the last 8 years--I beg to
acknowledge with warmest thanks. It never enters my head to make
exaggerated pretensions with regard to my residential
requirements. Decency without display continues to be the right
thing for me. I only have one wish at all times: never to be a
trouble to my friends anywhere.

It will be agreeable to me if Fanny feels disposed to undertake
my modest household service again this winter. She adapts herself
well to it with her pretty smiling face.

Pray accept, dear Frau von Fabry, the renewed expression of my
old devoted affection.

F. Liszt.

Villa d'Este, Tivoli, November 1st, 1880

On the 15th January I shall again arrive at Budapest.



268. To Frau Anna Benfey-Schuppe

[Autograph belonging to Herr Fritz Donebauer at Prague.--The
addressee is an authoress residing at Weimar.]

Dear Madam,

A thousand apologies. I ought long ere this to have written you
and my esteemed friend, Dr. Benfey, a letter of thanks, and to
have sent your sheetful of questions back answered. [The answers
follow in the letter.] Pray excuse this delay.--

I frankly confess that the title of the pamphlet, "Beethoven and
Liszt," [Alludes to a pamphlet contemplated by the late husband
of the lady addressed.] at first frightened me. It called to my
mind a reminiscence of my childhood. Nearly fifty years ago, at
the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, I used often to notice a
harmless poodle keeping company in the same cage with a majestic
lion, who seemed to be kindly disposed towards the little
chamberlain. I have exactly the same feeling towards Beethoven as
the poodle towards that forest-king.

With sincere thanks and regards,

Yours, F. Liszt

November 11th, 1880 (Villa d'Este, Tivoli)

At the end of September, Breitkopf and Hartel sent my own duet
arrangements of my twelve "Poemes Symphoniques" at my request to
Gottschalg (Weimar). This copy is intended for Dr. Benfey.
Gottschalg will likewise willingly place the scores of the
"Dante" and "Faust" Symphonies, as well as the arrangement for
two pianos of both these works, at your disposal.

The names of the greatest performers figure in the Court
concerts, such as, Joachim, Ernst, Vieuxtemps, Bulow, Rubinstein,
Bronsart, Tausig, Madame Viardot-Garcia, etc., etc. A few of
these concerts were conducted by Berlioz, and their programmes in
every case contained nova et vetera (as prescribed in the
gospel).

During my direction of the Opera at Weimar, from '49 to '58, the
following works were performed there, together with the standing
repertoire of Mozart's, Weber's, Rossini's, Meyerbeer's Operas,
etc.

February '49 "Tannhauser;" August 28th, '50, "Lohengrin" (first
performance); later on "The Flying Dulchman," and Wagner's
splendid edition of Gluck's "Iphigenia in Aulis."--Berlioz's
"Benvenuto Cellini;" Schumann's "Manfred" (first performance),
Raff's "King Alfred," two of Lassen's Operas, Spohr's "Faust"
(with the recitatives), Sobolewski's "Comala," Dorn's
"Nibelungen" (first performance), etc., etc.--Finally, Peter
Cornelius' "Barber of Bagdad"--the last operatic performance
which I directed there.

This short list will suffice for your purpose of the pamphlet; to
it we may add that several Oratorios and Symphonic works were
performed under my direction, such as Marx' "Moses," Rubinstein's
"Paradise Lost," Schumann's "Paradise and the Peri" and his
concluding scenes in "Faust," etc.; as for Symphonies, the Great
Pyramid--Beethoven's "Ninth" (for Goethe's Jubilee in '49),
nearly all Berlioz's Symphonies and Overtures, besides other
Symphonies and Overtures by Schumann, Raff, Hiller, Bronsart,
Joachim, Bulow, etc., most of which were at that time scarcely
known or entirely new.

You might obtain better and more detailed information concerning
musical life at Weimar (from '49 to '58) from some who took part
in it either as performers or friends, especially Gille, Lassen,
Gottschalg, Grosse (trombone-player and contrapuntist),
Wahlbrull, Milde and his wife, and Fran Dr. Emilie Merian, than
from the theater archives.

I have no doubt, moreover, that the present Intendant, Baron
von Loen, will readily permit you to inspect the archives of the
theater and see any programmes of the Court concerts of that time
which may still be forthcoming. You may likewise count upon the
obliging readiness of Lassen and Muller-Hartung in making your
pamphlet known.

During my summer stay in Weimar in latter years, some pianists
have taken to coming there regularly who play my Symphonic Poems
well and willingly. I am not able to name any of those who come
during the winter. Ask Lassen and Muller-Hartung about this.
Enclosed you will find an introduction from me to Madame Merian.
She sings my songs with fervent intelligence, from heart to
heart.

F. Liszt

November 11th, 1880 (Villa d'Este)



269. To the Committee of the Antwerp Musical Society

Very Honored Gentlemen,

The expression of my sincere gratitude for your very kind letter
has been delayed owing to a circumstance which was independent of
my will.

I am acquainted with the high character which the Antwerp Musical
Society bears; many of those who were present at your Festivals
in 1876, '77, and have spoken to me in the liveliest terms of
praise of those great musical performances, of the far-famed
merits of your director, Peter Benoit, of his Rubens Cantata and
of his Oratorio [La Guerre, De Oorlog.] recently sung at Brussels
on the occasion of the national commemoration by 900 members of
your Society. Greatly flattered by your invitation, I hope,
Gentlemen, that my answer to it may not appear discourteous to
you. Allow me to decline the honor of directing the Festival you
have in view for 1881 and to be present at it as a simple
listener. Should any work of mine have been admitted to your
programme, I would fain request M. Peter Benoit [One of the chief
representatives of Belgian national music (born 1884), Director
of the Antwerp Conservatoire] to conduct it, since for the last
fifteen years I have declared myself unfit for this work in all
countries.

My engagements keep me at Budapest till Easter. After that time I
shall be charmed to have the opportunity of assuring you again
personally at Antwerp of the sentiments of high consideration and
distinguished esteem with which I remain,

Yours faithfully,

F. Liszt

November 16th, 1880 (Villa d'Este,) Tivoli

[The Lisztt-Festival given by the Societe de Musique d'Anvers
took place on the 26th May, 1881, under Benoit's direction, in
Antwerp. The programme comprised the Gran Mass; the E flat
Concerto, played by Fran Falk-Mehlig; the Dance of Death, played
by Zarembski; Mignon and other songs, sung by the ladies
Kufferath and Schauenburg; and the Preludes.

In a second Festival-Concert on 29th May, arranged by Liszt's
former pupil F. von Servais and Jules de Zarembski, Tasso and the
Faust Symphony, the Concerto Pathetique (played by M. and Mme.
Zarembski), and "Loreley" with orchestra (Mdlle. Kufferath) were
performed. Gevaert, the celebrated musical savant, apostrophised
Liszt in the opening speech as "the incomparable Virtuoso whose
prestige has never been surpassed, nor even equalled; the
prolific and inspired composer, who in the numerous domains of
Art which he has touched has opened new roads, explored new
shores, and left everywhere the luminous imprint of his bold and
innovating genius; the eminent head of a School, who may without
exaggeration be described as the initiator, par excellence, of
the musical movement of our epoch; one of those rare favorites of
the gods for whom posterity begins even during their life-time,"
etc.]



270. To Sophie Menter

Dear, Highly Valued Friend,

If I rightly understand your letter and telegram you are soon
going to Paris and London, and also soon coming to Rome. When?--
tell me this clearly. A Roman Sophie Menter Concert is easily
arranged and will be a great pleasure for me.

Although introductions from me are quite superfluous for you, I
beg you to consider them always at your disposal. The best person
to safeguard your interests with the German Ambassadors in France
and England will be Frau Grafin Schleinitz. Alter, shorten and
improve anything you like in the Fantaisie on the Huguenots.
Pieces of this sort ought only to be brought forward by super-
eminent virtuosi--Sophie Menter, for instance. The transcriber
then hardly serves as "Klecks." [Klecks is the name of Mme.
Menter's favorite cat.]

Yours cordially,

F. Liszt

December 2nd, 1880 (Villa D'este, Rome)

Maybe you will tell me yourself soon in Rome where I am to send
the letters; if not, send me your address. I shall remain here
till January 5th and be at Budapest on the 15th.



271. To Dr. Friedrich Stade in Leipzig

[Musical writer (born 1844) in Leipzig]

Very Dear Sir and Friend,

Your transcription of "Gretchen" [Out of Liszt's Faust Symphony.]
for pianoforte and harmonium is capital, just as I wished. I only
take the liberty of very slightly altering it, and have added ten
bars at the end, which are to be henceforth inserted in the score
and in my own arrangements of the Faust Symphony. [They follow
herewith in the orchestral movement, according to Dr. Stade's
copy.]

If you will kindly take the trouble to arrange the entire Faust
Symphony for two performers on one piano, I shall be greatly
indebted to you. [This was done.] Deal as freely as possible with
the figurations and also with the distribution among the seven
octaves of the odious keyboard. It seems to me that what may be
more laterally accurate ought often to give way to what sounds
better and even to what is more convenient for the players at the
piano.

Thanking you once more, I remain,

Yours most cordially,

F. Liszt

Rome, December 11th, 1880.

We will play your duet arrangement together before it is
published, in Weimar--next spring.

[Here, Liszt illustrates with Musical score excerpts]



272. To Professor S. Jadassoiin in Leipzig

[Composer (born in 1831), teacher at the Leipzig Conservatoire
since 187l]

Dear Sir,

Your setting of the 100th Psalm is nobly religious in feeling and
excellent in style. The working out of the choruses is masterly
throughout, from beginning to end; a passage which comes out with
especial brilliancy is that on pages 14, 15-19, 20, "with
rejoicing," where the trombones, and then the trumpets and
trombones, joyously repeat the subject of the fugue in
augmentation.

The Arioso too which follows, "He made us," is most fervent in
expression. There is a fine field here for beautiful contralto
voices to rejoice in.

My sincere thanks, dear sir, for the dedication of this excellent
work. I shall recommend it for performance to such of my friends
as are conductors; above all, to Hofcapellmeister Muller-Hartung,
whom I shall request to bring out your Psalm at Weimar.

Yours sincerely,

F. Liszt

Villa d'Este, January 10th, 1881



273. To Frau Reisenauer-Pauly in Konigsberg

Dear Madam,

It is one of my duties to deal sparingly in letters of
introduction. Still I am quite willing to repeat my opinion that
your son Alfred is a highly gifted and brilliantly aspiring
pianoforte-player.

Should this conscientious opinion enable him to obtain further
recommendations, he is free to make use of it.

Yours sincerely,

F. Liszt

Budapest, January 29th, 1881



274. To Dionys von Pazmandy, Editor of the Gasette de Hongrie

[This letter is printed in French in the Gazette de Hongrie, but
is only known to the Editor in the German translation (Neue
Zeitschrift fur Musik?).]

Dear Sir and Friend,

You want to know my impression of yesterday's Bulow Concert? Yet
it must have been yours, that of all of us, that of the whole of
the intelligent audiences of Europe. To define it in two words:
admiration, enthusiasm. Bulow was my pupil in music five-and-
twenty years ago, as I myself, five-and-twenty years before, had
been the pupil of my much respected and beloved master, Czerny.
But to Bulow it was given to do battle better and with greater
perseverance than I did. His admirable Beethoven-Edition is
dedicated to me as the "fruit of my tuition." Here however it was
for the master to learn from the pupil, and Bulow continues to
teach by his astonishing performances as virtuoso, as well as by
his extraordinary learning as a musician, and now too by his
matchless direction of the Meiningen Orchestra.--Here you have
the musical progress of our time!

Yours cordially,

F. Liszt

Budapest, February 15th, 1881



275. To Frau Colestine Bosendorfer in Vienna

[The wife of the celebrated pianoforte-maker, who died young]

Not to see you in Vienna this time, Madame, was a grief to me. It
cast, as it were, a melancholy shadow over my stay there, which
otherwise was brightened by so cordial a reception.--

I am accompanied by the roses without thorns of my pleasant
recollections of you, and my hearty and respectful devotion
remains unaltered.

F. Liszt

Weimar, Easter Sunday, April 17th, 1881

Have the kindness to repeat to Bosendorfer the assurance of my
very cordial friendship.



276. To the Most Honorable Committee of the Wagner-Verein, Berlin

Addressed to Professor Otto Lessmann.

Gentlemen,

A distinction such as that which was conferred upon me yesterday
by the Berlin "Wagner-Verein" and by the audience has seldom been
received by the highest masters in the musical art, among whom I
can only count as an apprentice.

["Les Preludes" and "Festklange," the former under Lessmann's,
the latter under Mannstadt's direction, had been performed in the
winter garden of the Central Hotel before a numerous audience
assembled by invitation. Between the two symphonies, Marianne
Brandt sang "Jeanne d'Arc au bucher," and Heinrich Ernst some of
Liszt's songs. A banquet concluded the festival.]

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