Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 2: From Rome to the End
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Franz Liszt; letters collected by La Mara and translated >> Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 2: From Rome to the End
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The rehearsals of my Oratorio "Le Christ" are progressing. It
will probably be performed in the early part of July, and I will
have the programme sent to you.
Towards the end of July I shall go to Weimar. The "Wartburg
Festival" is fixed for the 28th August. On that day the Elisabeth
will be heard in the hall of the Minnesingers. A fortnight before
that the concerts of the Tonkunstler-Versammlung will take place
at Meiningen. Possibly you may be able to come and look me up in
the course of this same month of August.
Yours ever from heart and soul,
F. Liszt
Rome, June 20th, 1867
54. To William Mason in New York
Dear Mr. Mason,
Your kind letter gives me a very cordial pleasure, and I beg you
to be assured of the continuance of my very affectionate
feelings. I frequently hear your success in America spoken of.
You deserve it, and I rejoice to know that your talent is justly
appreciated and applauded. Your compositions have not yet reached
me, but I am fully disposed to give them a good reception. In
about a fortnight I shall start for Weimar. The Tonkunstler-
Versammlung is to take place at Meiningen this year from the 22nd
to the 25th August. I shall be present at it, as also at the
Jubilee Festival at the Wartburg, at which my Oratorio "Saint
Elizabeth" will be performed on the 28th August. Perhaps I shall
meet there Mr. Theodore Thomas and Mr. S.B. Mills, of whom you
speak. I have heard the highest praises of the capability of Mr.
Thomas, whom I have to thank particularly for the interest he
takes in my Symphonic Poems. Artists who are willing to take the
trouble to understand and to interpret my works cut themselves
off from the generality of their fraternity. I, more than any
one, have to thank them for this, therefore I shall not fail to
show my thanks to Messrs. Thomas and Mills when I have the
pleasure of making their acquaintance.
The news which reaches me from time to time about musical matters
in America is generally favorable to the cause of the progress of
contemporaneous Art which I hold it an honor to serve and to
sustain. It seems that, among you, the cavillings and blunders
and stupidities of a criticism adulterated by ignorance, envy and
venality exercise less influence than in the old continent. I
congratulate you on this, and give you my best wishes that you
may happily pursue this noble careerof an artist,--with work,
perseverance, resignation, modesty, and the imperturbable faith
in the Ideal, such as was indicated to you at Weimar, dear Mr.
Mason, by your very sincerely affectionate and attached
F. Liszt
Rome, July 8th, 1867
55. To E. Repos, director of the "Revue de Musique sacree" in
Paris
[Autograph of all the letters to Repos in the possession of Herr
Dr. Oscar von Hase in Leipzig.]
Dear sir,
I am very much obliged to you for the kind feelings you express
to me, and beg to assure you of my desire to correspond to them.
By your activity and the character of your publications our
interests are naturally similar; I will take care to make them as
agreeable as possible to you.
The day after tomorrow I will send you four or five small pages
which, if I mistake not, will suit you,--and which may be
propagated. It is a simple and easy version for Organ of the hymn
"Tu es Petrus," lately performed here on the eighteen-hundredth
anniversary of St. Peter. I hope you will find an organist in
Paris who is willing to appropriate this piece and by his talent
to make it worth hearing.
As I am anxious that your edition should be perfectly correct I
beg that you will send me the proofs. Address them to me, from
the loth to the 30th August, at Weimar, Grand Duke of Saxe-
Weimar, Germany. The performance of my Oratorio "Saint
Elizabeth," at the jubilee Festival of the Wartburg on the 28th
August, calls me into those parts of Thuringia which "Saint
Elizabeth" has illustrated.
I shall start from here in about a week. Will you therefore defer
what you are so kindly intending to send me until my return to
Rome (end of October)? Accept, dear sir, my best thanks, together
with the assurance of my very distinguished and devoted
sentiments.
F. Liszt
Rome, July 12th, 1867
Here, as in Germany, my name is enough without any more detailed
address.
56. To Prince Constantine Czartoryski
[From a rough copy in Liszt's own handwriting enclosed in the
following letter. The addressee, President of the Society of the
Friends of Music, died in 1891 in Vienna, where he was Vice-
President of the Herrenhaus.]
My Prince,
The two letters which you have done me the honor to address to me
at Rome and Munich have reached me at the same time. I cannot but
feel myself highly flattered at your kind proposition with regard
to the performance of my Oratorio "Saint Elizabeth" at one of the
concerts of the musical society over which you preside. The great
renown of these concerts, the rare capability of their conductor
Mr. Herbeck, the talent of the artists who take part in them, and
the care that is taken to maintain the traditions of the musical
glory of Vienna, make it very desirable for every serious
composer to take a place in their programme. Thus I am most
sincerely grateful to you, my Prince, for procuring me this
honor, which however, much to my regret, I should not be able to
accept without some delay.
It would be wearisome to enter into many details; one fact alone
will suffice: the score of the "Elizabeth" is to be sent back to
be engraved, and I promised the editor not to let it go anywhere
else before its publication. Besides this the voice and
orchestral parts which were used at the Wartburg are no longer
available.
Kindly pardon me therefore that I cannot in this matter satisfy
your favorable intentions as I should like. "What is deferred is
not lost," says a proverb to which I prefer to attach myself
today, while begging you to accept, my Prince, the expression of
the sentiments of high esteem and consideration with which I have
the honor to be
Your Highness's very humble and devoted servant,
F. Liszt
Munich, October 14th, 1867
57. To Eduard Liszt
Dearest Eduard,
My hearty thanks to you for your letter. It almost made me
determine to send Prince Czartoryski an answer in the
affirmative; but when I came to think the matter over more fully
it did not seem suitable, considering my peculiar position.
Enclosed is a copy of my letter to Czartoryski; I hope you may
not disapprove of it; let me give you a few more reasons.
1st. I really cannot at present send off the only existing copy
of the score of the "Elizabeth", for it is required for printing.
Nor should I care to have the orchestra and chorus parts from
Munich used, and this I wrote to Prince Cz. It was for this very
same reason that I declined offers respecting performances of the
"Elizabeth" from Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden, etc.
2nd. I do not share your rosy hopes of this work proving a
success in towns where my earlier works not only met with little
appreciation, but even received unseemly rebuffs. In Vienna,
Leipzig, Berlin and even larger cities, the hisses of half a
dozen stupid boys or evil-disposed persons were always sufficient
to delude the public, and to frustrate the best intentions of my
somewhat disheartened friends. In the newspaper criticisms these
hissing critics are sure to find numerous supporters and pleasant
re-echoes as long as the one object of the majority of my judges
of this species is to get me out of their way. The improvement,
which is said of late to have shown itself in regard to my
position, may be interpreted somewhat thus: "For years in his
Symphonic Poems, his Masses, Pianoforte works, Songs, etc., Liszt
has written mere bewildering and objectionable stuff; in his
"Elizabeth" he appears to have acted somewhat more rationally--
still, etc., etc."--Now as I am in no way inclined to cry peccavi
for all my compositions, or to assume that the castigations they
received were just and justifiable, I do not consider it
advisable to subscribe to the supposed extenuating circumstances
of the "Elizabeth". I well know the proverb: "Non enim qui se
ipsum commendat, ille probatus est," and do not think I am
sinning against it. However it is possible that my resolute
friends may, in the end, be right in asserting that my things are
not so bad as they are made out to be!--Meanwhile what I have to
do is to go on working quietly and undismayed, without in the
smallest degree urging the performance of my works-nay in
restraining some friendly disposed conductors from undertaking
them.
3rd. After having two years ago excused myself to Herbeck about
allowing a performance of the "Elizabeth" in Vienna, I cannot now
immediately accept the friendly offer of Prince Czartoryski. It
might be somewhat different had Herbeck attended the Wartburg
performance, as I invited him to do through Schelle. But much as
I appreciate and admire Herbeck's talent as a conductor, still I
cannot know in advance whether he likes my work or not, or how
far he agrees with my intentions. At all events I should have to
come to some personal understanding with him on the subject
before a performance is given in Vienna, just because this is a
matter of importance to me, and the performance ought not to be a
dementi of the preceding ones. It is much more to my advantage
not to have my works performed at all, than to allow them to be
performed in a half-and-half or unsatisfactory manner.--I may say
quite frankly that it would certainly be very agreeable to me to
stand in a somewhat better light in Vienna as a composer than I
have hitherto done. But the time has not come for that--and if it
should ever come, half a dozen of my compositions, for instance
the 13th Psalm, the Faust and Dante Symphonies, some of the
Symphonic Poems, and even, horribile dictu! the Prometheus
Chorus, would have to be introduced to the public in proper
style. Three concerts would be necessary for this, and would have
to be announced beforehand, arranged and rehearsed, and there the
"Elizabeth" might also then find a place among them. Herbeck
would be an excellent one to arrange and conduct these concerts,
provided he were not too much afraid of the obligations due to
criticism. My personal position will not permit of my taking any
part in them as a conductor; nevertheless I should not care to be
altogether idle on the occasion, and hence should like, first of
all, to have a careful discussion with Herbeck about various
points that must absolutely be given thus and in no other way. It
was in this sense that I wrote to Czartoryski that: "Ce qui est
differe nest pas perdu" ("Aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben")
["Put off is not given up."]--and so I may possibly come to
Vienna--in the winter of '69.
First of all, however, I need several quiet months in Rome in
order again to take up the work that has been interrupted for so
long. The Bulows have persuaded me to spend my birthday with
them. The Munich Musik-Schule is in full activity and seems as if
it were likely to outstrip the other Conservatoires. Bulow is
assuredly justified in saying, "Go and do likewise"!--
Before the end of the month I shall be back in Rome. All hearty
good wishes to you and yours, from your faithfully attached,
F. Liszt
Munich, October 16th, 1867
P.S.--Before long you will receive a visit from August Rockel.
This name will probably call up to your imagination--as it has
done in many other cases--an ultra-revolutionary agitator; in
place of which you will find a gentle, refined, kindly and
excellent man. I should like you to cultivate his acquaintance,
and can cordially recommend him to you. His daughter (at the Burg
Theater) you are sure to know--and you will also know of his old
friendship with Wagner and Bulow. It was not till I came here
that I became acquainted with Rockel and learned to value him.
Have you read in the Augsburger Allgem. Zeitung the extremely
kind notice of my stay in Stuttgart? Best thanks also for sending
me your article on the "Wanderer."
58. To Eduard von Liszt
Dearest Eduard,
By some mistake I did not receive your letter of the 16th till
today. From my last you will have clearly seen that I do not wish
any further performance of the "Elizabeth" before the score is
published. As I told you, I have declined the offers from
Dusseldorf, Dresden and other towns. Even as regards Leipzig,
where I am under special obligations to Riedel (for he has on
several occasions got his Society to give excellent performances
of the "Gran Mass," the "Prometheus" choruses, the "Seligkeiten,"
etc.), I shall endeavor to defer the promised performance of the
"Elizabeth." The matter would be one of special importance to me
as regards Vienna,--and for this very reason I am anxious not to
be in too great a hurry. Hence I most gratefully accept your
mediation with Prince Czartoryski. Be my kind mediator and point
out to him my peculiar position, so that there may not be any
sort of vexation--and let the "Elizabeth" remain unperformed. I
think I have clearly stated my reasons for this passive, or, if
you prefer it, this expectative mode of action.
It would interest me to know how the "Coronation Mass" was
performed and received in Vienna. Ask Herbeck in my name not to
drag the tempi; the "Gloria," more especially, must be taken the
more rapidly as it proceeds--the time to be beaten throughout
alla breve. Send me word about this to Rome.
To please the Bulows I shall remain here till October 24th,--and
be back in Rome, at latest, on the 30th.
If Bulow goes on working here for a couple of years, Munich will
become the musical capital of Germany. In addition to my interest
in all musical matters here, my stay has offered many other
points of interest and pleasure by my intercourse with Kaulbach,
Liebig, Heyse, Geibel, Redwitz, etc.--
Cordially yours,
F. Liszt
Munich, October 20th, 1867
Enclosed is a tolerably good photograph of my humble self.
59. To Peter Cornelius in Munich
Dearest Cornelius,
I am grieved not to have met you yesterday, so as to have thanked
you at once for the indescribable pleasure your poem gave me. The
little interpreter Lulu [Daniela, the eldest daughter of H. v.
Bulow, now married to Prof. Dr. Thode] recited it twice admirably
without the smallest error or stumbling. I most sincerely wish
that all your works may find such interpreters as Lulu, so fully
able to grasp your sentiments that your audience has nothing to
do but to weep--as was our feeling yesterday with Cosima, when we
both wept like children!
With all my heart, your
F. Liszt
Wednesday, October 23rd, 1867 [Munich]
60. To Eduard von Liszt
Dearest Eduard,
The enclosed letter from Chordirector Kumenecker [The Director of
the Altlerchenfelder Kirchenmusik-Verein, in Vienna, had
requested Liszt to grant him permission to give a performance of
the "Coronation Mass."] I received only on my return to Rome
(November 6th). Be so good as to pay the writer of it a visit in
my name, and ask him kindly to excuse my not complying with his
request. Also tell him that I have not got either the chorus or
the orchestral parts of the "Coronation Mass." The only existing
copies are those belonging to the Court orchestra of Vienna;
hence these parts would have either to be obtained or to be
copied if a performance of the work is to be given elsewhere, and
this I should not care either to advise or disadvise.
The Mass fulfilled its object in Pest on the Coronation Day. If
it should be given on any future occasion, I would recommend the
conductor to take the tempi solemnly always, but never dragging,
and to beat the time throughout alla Breve. And the "Gloria,"
more especially towards the middle and before the commencement of
the "Agnus Dei" up to the Prestissimo, must be worked up
brilliantly and majestically. Whether and when the "Coronation
Mass" is to appear in print I do not know. Dunkl (Roszavoglyi) in
Pest had intended to publish it, but the honorarium of 100 ducats
seems to make him hesitate, and I will not accept any smaller
sum. Two movements from it (the "Offertorium" and "Benedictus") I
have transcribed for the piano, and these may be bought
separately, which will be an advantage to the publisher. And the
pianoforte arrangements for one or two performers are to appear
simultaneously with the score.--It is of no importance to me to
have the work published immediately. If you should meet Carl
Haslinger and have an opportunity, ask him whether he would risk
100 ducats upon it. As he has already published a number of
Masses, this one might suit him as well. If not, it is all the
same to me. Only I cannot make any alteration about the
honorarium I have now fixed upon. [The "Coronation Mass," like
the "Gran Mass," was published by Schuberth, Leipzig.]
Yours,
F. Liszt
Rome, November 6th, 1867
61. To E. Repos
Dear Sir,
Pray excuse me for replying so late to your kind and cordial
letter. Various matters detained me in Germany longer than I
expected, and I have only been back three days at my house at
"Santa Francesca Romana," where I shall spend the winter. Your
publications will be excellent company to me here. I accept with
gratitude the Gradual and Vesperal [Gradual--a portion of the
Mass. Vesperal--book of evening prayer] (in--12) that you are
kind enough to offer me, and beg you to let me have them shortly.
What can I on my side send you that will be agreeable to you?
Something will be found, I hope, for I sincerely desire to
satisfy you.
It seems to me that it would not be of any use for you to
undertake to publish now one or two large works of my
composition. In order to be somewhat accredited, they must first
of all be performed and heard, not en passant, but seriously and
several times. For this I have no support in France, and should
even expose myself to unpleasant dispositions and interpretations
if I in the least endeavored to bring myself forward there. It is
only in Germany, Hungary, and Holland that, in spite of frequent
and lively opposition, my name as a composer has acquired a
certain weight. In those countries they continue performing my
music by inclination, curiosity, and interest, without my asking
anybody to do so. You have probably heard of the favorable
reception that the "Legend of St. Elizabeth" met with at the
Festival of the Wartburg at the end of August. For two years past
this work has been performed several times at Pest, Prague,
Munich, and I have recently been asked for it from Vienna,
Dresden, Leipzig, Aix-la-Chapelle, etc., but as the score has to
be sent to be engraved I have not been able to lend it further. I
shall give myself the pleasure of sending you a copy towards
Easter.-It is also in Germany (probably at Munich) that my
Oratorio "Le Christ" will be first given: now, as it is important
to me that the first complete performance (for the one in Rome on
the occasion of the centenary of St. Peter was only a tentative
and partial one) should be as satisfactory as possible, I must be
present at it. Consequently it will not take place till the
winter of '69--if I am still in this world then,--it being my
intention not to leave Rome for a year.
Pardon me these details, dear sir. As the cordiality of your
letter assures me that we shall have long business relations with
one another, it is better to put you at once in possession of the
facts of my musical situation. It prescribes to me duties
attached to many restrictions which my ecclesiastical capacity
increases still more. "Providemus enim bona non solum coram Deo
sed etiam coram hominibus."--
To return to your publications. Palestrina, Lassus, the masters
of the 16th and 17th centuries, are your models par excellence.
You have plenty of work for years to come to edit their admirable
works, and to put yourself on a par with the collection published
(cheap) at Ratisbon under the title of "Musica divina." Moreover
there is nothing to prevent you from adding many a composition
more or less modern. Dispose of my few, as you are pleased to
admit them. You might begin with the "Credo" (from the
"Coronation Mass"), and the "Te Deum" in plain song [cantus
planus] of which you speak. Later on a tolerably simple Mass,
with organ accompaniment only, might perhaps find a place. Then,
two excerpts from the Oratorio "Christ,"--"the Beatitudes" and
the "Pater noster"--which have already appeared at Leipzig, might
reappear in Paris, especially if there were any favorable
opportunity of getting them heard. As to the Oratorio entire, it
will be better still to wait awhile longer.
"Expectans expectavi"...and let my biographical notice which you
have in view also wait. In order to make it exact and
comprehensive, it would be necessary for me to give some data to
the writer who would undertake the task of representing me today
to the public. Many things have been printed about me in a
transient way. Amongst the most remarkable articles that of Mr.
Fetis, in his "Biographie universelle des Musiciens" (second
edition), of which you tell me, takes the foremost place.
Nevertheless, however much disposed I am to acknowledge the
conscientious and kind intentions towards myself of the
illustrious and learned man, and even whilst really thanking him
for raising the importance of my works which he connects with
"one of the transformations of Art," I shall not have the false
humility of accepting some of his valuations as definitive
judgments. Of all the theorists whom I know, Mr. Fetis is the one
who has best ascertained and defined the progress of harmony and
rhythm in music; on such chief points as these I flatter myself
that I am in perfect accord with him. For the rest he must excuse
me for escaping in different ways from the critical school whose
ways he extols. According to his theory Art ought to progress,
develop, be enriched, and clothed in new forms; but in practice
he hesitates, and kicks against the pricks,--and, for all that,
would insist that the "transformation" should take place without
in the least disturbing existing customs, and so as to charm
everybody with the greatest ease. Would to Heaven that it might
be so! Between this and them, pray accept, dear sir, my best
thanks, together with the expressions of my very distinguished
and devoted sentiments.
F. Liszt
Rome, November 8th, 1867--Santa Francesca Romana
P.S.--My sincere congratulations for the cross of St. Sylvestre.
People outside are quite mistaken in thinking that they are
lavish with decorations here.
I have informed the Princess W. of your kind arrangements
relative to the edition of the work that Monseigneur de Montault
mentioned to you.
62. To Madame Jessie Laussot
Dear Maestra,
No one knows better than you how to relieve the virtue of
obligingness by the most cordial kindness. You make a point of
persuading your friends that you are in their debt for the
services you render them. In so far as they give you the
opportunity of exercising your fine qualities you are perfectly
right, but further than that you are not; and for my part I beg
you to be as fully assured of my sincere gratitude as of my
entire devotion.
I am not going to set about pitying you much for the difficulties
and contradictions that your artistic zeal encounters. The world
is so formed that the practice of the Good and the search for the
Better is not made agreeable to any one; not in the things of
Art, which appear the most inoffensive, any more than in other
things. In order to deserve well one must learn to endure well.
The best specific for the prejudice, malice, imbroglios and
injustice of others is not to trouble oneself about them. It
seems that such and such people find their pleasure where we
should not in the least look for it: so be it, reserving to
ourselves to find ours in nobler sources. Besides, how could we
dare to lament over difficulties that run counter to our good
pleasure? Have not the worthiest and most illustrious servants of
Art had to suffer far more than we?...This consolation has its
melancholy side, I know; nevertheless it confirms the active
conscience in the right road.
This a propos of the prelude extra muros of your last concerts.
Let us pass on to the programmes of them, dear and victorious
Maestra.
The "Panis Angelicus," [By Palestrina.] the Schumann Quintet and
the sublime Prelude to "Lohengrin" are works which a well-
brought-up public ought to know by heart. You will do well
therefore to reproduce them often. There is no criticism
admissible on this subject; and, if you absolutely exact it that
I should make one at all, it would only be on the adjective
"celebrated," appended to the Schumann Quintet, which would do
without it without disadvantage. Pardon me this hairsplitting.-
As to the "Beatitudes" I entirely approve of your not having
exhibited them a second time. You know, moreover, that I usually
dissuade my friends from encumbering concert programmes with my
compositions. For the little they have to lose they will not lose
it by waiting. Let us then administer them in homoeopathic doses-
-and rarely.
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