sweatings. [In consequence of a fall, Liszt had been seriously
ill all summer.] This I shall do at Weimar. From the 21st to the
30th September I shall be at Bayreuth, and from October till New
Year in Rome.
I am sending off the duet version of my Symphonic Poem "From
cradle to grave" to Bock to day. .--. I shall send him the score
from Bayreuth, because just now I am not able to work more than a
few hours a day continuously.
There is so much admirable music written that one is ashamed to
write any more. With me it only happens in cases of urgency and
from inner necessity.
Thanking you heartily,
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
281. To Francois Auguste Gevaert, Director of the Brussels
Conservatoire
[Celebrated Belgian music teacher and composer, born 1828]
Very Honored, Dear Friend,
Among the recollections of my long artistic life one of the
dearest to me is that of your kind sympathy. I cherish sincere
gratitude for it, of which I should be glad to give you a proof.
Allow me, to begin with, to dedicate to you the Symphonic Poem I
have just written, which was suggested by a drawing by Michel
Zichy entitled "From the cradle to the grave."--The score is
short enough, and, it seems to me, free from superfluous
repetition.
Lassen has spoken to you about the performance of your Quentin
Durward at Weimar. The Grand Duke desires it to take place; his
Theater-Intendant, Baron von Loen, was preparing for it, and the
singers are certain to take great pains and show all alacrity in
performing their several parts well.
To my own regret, in which his Royal Highness shares, as well as
his theater company and the audience, the performance has to be
adjourned; for the German translation is not forthcoming, and
some dawdling on the part of your publisher throws obstacles in
the way. Let him soon turn over a new leaf. As for the German
translation, I particularly recommend to you my friend Richard
Pohl (who is living at Baden-Baden, where he is editor-in-chief
of the local newspaper of that charming place). Pohl is
distinguished by great musical intelligence and cleverness in
translating, of both of which he has given proof in Berlioz's
Beatrice and Bennedict and Saint-Saens' Samson.
Lassen and Baron Loen will continue to correspond with you
concerning the mise-en-scene of Quentin Durward at Weimar. Small
towns have but small successes to offer. You are entitled by
right to both large and small ones. Accept them.--
I do not scruple to ask a favor of you, my dear friend. The
decoration of the Order of Leopold arrived at a time when I was
ill in bed. It was accompanied by a few complimentary lines from
the Secretary of the Foreign Office, Baron de Lambermont, as well
as by the official document which was to be signed by me. It
would have been my most agreeably imperative duty to have thanked
Baron de L., and to have expressed my lively feelings of
gratitude for this royal favor. This I could not immediately do,
owing to the state of my health, which did not allow of my
writing, and still renders that occupation very difficult. Add to
this that a good deal of disorder had got into my household;
several letters and manuscripts have been mislaid, and,
notwithstanding all my endeavors, I have not been able to find
Baron de L.'s lines again or the document they enclosed. I
therefore beg you, dear and highly esteemed friend, to present my
apologies to the Baron, and to ask him to send me a duplicate of
the document I have to sign. My address from 22nd September to
2nd October will be: Bayreuth (Bavaria); after that, Via and
Hotel Alibert, Rome.
Yours, in high esteem and cordial friendship,
F. Liszt
Weimar, September 19th, 188l
282. To Francois Auguste Gevaert
Highly Honored Master and Dear Friend,
Thanks to your kind help I have at last put my business with
Baron Lambermont in order and have just written him a letter of
very grateful acknowledgment.
Permit me to revenir a nos moutons. Panurge has nothing to do
with them, nor has the honorable biscuit-seller of the Gymnase,
still less his peaceable neighbor, your publisher Mr. Grus. What
we want is the score of your "Quentin Durward" and composer's
consent to the performance of it at Weimar. The Grand Duke's
Theater-Intendant undertakes the payment of the German
translator, my old friend, Richard Pohl, who will certainly take
great pleasure in performing his task in the most satisfactory
way possible. Baron Loen and Lassen will correspond with you
concerning the performance, which is intended to take place in
December '82.
My cordial thanks for your favorable acceptance of my dedication.
Some months are still necessary for the copying and publishing of
the score together with the orchestral parts. Before this is
finished 1 will send you the printed pianoforte arrangement for
one and for two performers.
Be good enough, dear friend, to give my affectionate regards to
Madame Gevaert and to your sons, and ever count upon my very
grateful devotion.
F. Liszt
Bayreuth, October 8th, 1881
I shall be in Rome in eight days.
283. To Eduard von Mihalovich
Dearest Friend,
I must be found guilty [of negligence?]. I do not apologise. My
aversion to letter-writing has grown excessive. But who could
answer more than two thousand letters a year without becoming an
idiot?
I have been ailing a good deal for the last three months. As soon
as there was an improvement, something else appeared. Do not let
us mention this any more, for you know how little my health
occupies my thoughts, and how disagreeable it is to me to hear it
talked of. In short, I feel sufficiently recovered to set out for
Rome the day after tomorrow. My very dear granddaughter Daniela
goes with me, and will remain till the beginning of January. This
is a providential pleasure on which I did not count at all, but
for which I thank the good angels.
I will tell you by word of mouth the minor reasons which
prevented me from sooner communicating your two splendid scores
and the pianoforte duet arrangements of them to the publishers,
Breitkopf and Hartel. Your fine manuscripts have at last reached
Leipzig, and you will soon have a letter from the present
proprietors of the ancient and illustrious house Breitkopf and
Hartel, with their conditions for publication, which will be
their ultaiytalunz. They are aware of the sincere interest I take
in your works, and will, I trust, share it, without leading you
into any expense.
Stern [Adolph Stern in Dresden, author of the libretto.] has
given me fairly good news as to the preparations for the
performance of your Haubar at Dresden. Young composers are always
too impatient.--
Pray remember me cordially to our excellent friends the Veghs,
Albert Apponyi, Madame d'Eotvos and her daughter, Mademoiselle
Polyxena, and...I was just going to add the name of a charming
woman with whom I am out of favor.
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
Bayreuth, October 8th, 1881
My address from the middle of October to the lst of January: Via
and Hotel Alibert, Rome.
You are held in affectionate remembrance at Wahnfried. Wagner is
finishing the instrumentation of the 2nd act of Parsifal, and
gives it his most passionate attention. We shall have something
new, marvellous, unheard of, to hear.
M. Humperdink, the lucky triple laureate of the three
scholarships, "Mozart," "Meyerbeer," "Mendelssohn," is at work
here copying the score of Parstfal; [E. Humperdink, born in 1854,
made Wagner's acquaintance in 1880 at Naples, and at the first
performance of Parsifal conducted the choruses from on high and
the music on the stage. He has been teacher at the Barcelona
Conservatoire since 1885.] Joseph Rubinstein [Born 1847 in
Russia, he lived a great deal in Wagner's society after 1872, and
took an active part in the rehearsals for the Bayreuth Festival
Performances in 1875 and 1876, He died by his own hand the 15th
of September, 1884, at Lucerne.] is continuing his arrangement of
it for piano at Palermo just now, and will complete it later on
at Bayreuth. Other artists on the high road to celebrity are also
employed in copying this same Opus magnum, the performance of
which we shall applaud in July 1882. It will be a next to
miraculous and highly fashionable pilgrimage.
P.S.--The busybody Spiridion has been so careless as to carry off
a little gold watch of mine that I had merely given him leave to
wear while he was in my service. Please ask Spiridion to give you
this watch on New Year's Day. You will return it to me about the
middle of January 1882, when I go back to Budapest.
284. To Jules de Zarembski
Dearest Friend,
I have rarely done a minor work--big ones bother me--with as much
pleasure as that of setting your two Galician Dances for
Orchestra. It is quite finished, with a few additions of which I
hope you will not disapprove; but my scrawl of a manuscript
cannot possibly be sent you: therefore I have asked Friedheim
[One of the most pre-eminent among the younger pupils of the
Master.] to undertake to copy it, and I will send you this copy
before the New Year. If the publisher Simon is inclined to
publish this orchestration I will let him have it for a thousand
marks; if not, keep it yourself; and make any use you like of it;
first of all at the concert in which you are going to bring
forward your own compositions exclusively. I wish I could be
present at it, and on this occasion I renew to you the sincere
and sympathetic esteem in which I hold your noble and rare
talents. They will fructify by means of perseverance.
Friedheim's copy will reach you in time to have the parts copied
and to add the necessary nuances. Please send me a programme of
the concert of which Zarembski as composer is to fill the list.
The other programme you are meditating, to be devoted to my works
for the pianoforte, seems to me to be too long; this is a defect
for which I can only be very thankful to you, and yet I am going
to ask you to reduce your recital to the average proportion. An
hour and a half of pianoforte music of mine, however admirably
played, is more than sufficient.
M. Becquet, President of the Brussels Musical Society, writes to
me concerning the performance of my Elizabeth, and M. Radoux,
Director of the Liege Conservatoire, likewise. I fear the
translation of the libretto and its proper adaptation to the work
will be impediments. Nevertheless, if your friend Franz Servais
were good enough to undertake the work of revision and of
intelligent adaptation to the vocal parts, I should be more easy
in my mind, and should only wish to look through the whole before
the publisher, Kahnt, prints the French version under the German
original. I am now writing this to M. Becquet. Pray give my
cordial regards to Franz Servais and my grateful remembrances to
Maitre Gevaert.
Enclosed are the photographs with signature for MM. Dumon and
Dufour; to which I add a third (recently taken in Rome) for
yourself.
I am honored, flattered, and also...overwhelmed by numbers of
letters. I have received more than a hundred during the last six
weeks; I should have to give ten hours a day to letter-writing if
I were to attempt to pay my debts of correspondence: this I
cannot do. Even the state of my health, which is not bad but
forbids any continuous occupation, is opposed to it. Besides,
when my old mania for writing music lays hold of me--as is the
case just now--I feel quite unable to use my pen in any other
way. I therefore beg you to convey my apologies and very
affectionate thanks to M. and Mme. Tardieu for the kindness they
show me.
I hope to repeat all this to them personally, for it is not said
that I shall not return to Brussels, although travelling is
becoming arduous for me. M. Tardieu's present of spirituous
liquid has restored me several evenings during my work,...which
may be superfluous, but completes what has gone before.
Your very devoted friend,
F. Liszt
Rome, December 4th, 1881
I remain here till the first week in January at Via and Hotel
Alibert.
285. To Camille Saint-Saens
Much-Esteemed Dear Friend,
You are not one of those who are easily forgotten, and you have
won your fame valiantly. My feelings of sincere admiration and
gratitude have followed you for many years; they are confirmed
and increased by the proofs you give of constant and active
sympathy.
I wrote to you last summer from Magdeburg on the occasion of the
festival. Your remarkable work "La Lyre et la Harpe" figured on
the programme; a delay in the translation and in the study of the
choruses obliged me, to my great regret, to defer the performance
of it till next summer, when the Tonkunstler-Versammlung, which
is honored by your active membership and has just named me its
Honorary President, will again meet.
Before Christmas Furstner, the publisher, will send you, from me,
three copies (score and arrangements for pianoforte solo and
duet) of my second Mephistopheles Waltz, dedicated to Camille
Saint-Saens. I thank you cordially for giving it so hearty a
welcome. No one more than myself feels the disproportion in my
compositions between the good-will and the effective result. Yet
I go on writing--not without fatigue--from inner necessity and
old habit. We are not forbidden to aspire towards higher things:
it is the attainment of our end which remains the note of
interrogation, being in this something like the end to the
Mephistopheles Waltz on b, f--
[Here, Liszt illustrates with a musical score excerpt]
intervals which are indicated in the first bars of the piece.
You intimate the friendly desire that I should revisit Paris.
Travelling at my age becomes burdensome, and I greatly fear that
I should be found out of place in capitals like Paris or London,
where no immediate obligation calls me. This fear does not make
me less grateful towards the public, and especially towards my
Parisian friends, to whom I acknowledge myself to be so greatly
indebted. Besides, I should not like completely to give up the
thought of ever seeing them again, although the deplorable
performance of the Gran Mass in 1866 left a painful impression
upon me.
This is easily explained on both sides. Nevertheless, it would be
too much for me in future to expose myself to such
misapprehensions. Without false modesty or foolish vanity I
cannot allow myself to be classed among the celebrated pianists
who have gone astray in composing failures.
By the way, allow me to ask a question. If I were to return to
Paris, would you feel disposed, dear friend, to repeat your
former offence by conducting any of my works in I know not what
orchestral concert? I dare not ask you to do it, but, supposing
that a favorable opportunity should occur, I should be very proud
to be present. Meanwhile be so good as to remember me very kindly
to Viscount Delaborde, and to thank your colleague of the
Institute, Massenet, sincerely for his telegram. He will excuse
me for not answering him at once. To fulfil the duties of a
correspondent is an insoluble problem for your very grateful and
devoted friend,
F. Liszt
Rome, December 8th, 1887.
256. To Ludwig Bosendorfer
Very Dear Friend,
I was raised to a very exhilarated state of mind by the many
tokens of sympathy and friendship on the 22nd October. [Liszt's
70th birthday.] To give it expression, I wrote several pages of
music, but no letters at all. Antipathy to letter-writing is
becoming a malady with me...Have the kindness to beg my friends
in Vienna to excuse this. Perhaps I may yet live long epough to
prove my affection to them in a better way than by words. My
health does not preoccupy me at all; it is fairly good and only
requires care, a thing which is at times irksome to me.
As usual for the last 10 years, I shall return to Budapest in the
middle of January '82.
My best regards to your wife.
Yours faithfully and gratefully,
F. Liszt
Rome, December 8th, 1881
I repeat especially my hearty thanks to Zellner.
287. To Pauline Viardot-Garcia
[The great singer, who still teaches in Paris, was Liszt's pupil
for piano.]
Most Illustrious and Gracious Friend,
A woman distinguished by her shrewdness and talents, the
authoress of several volumes which have had the good fortune to
pass through several editions, has asked me for a line of
introduction to you. I have told her what she and all the world
besides already knows: that Pauline Viardot is the most exquisite
dramatic singer of our time, and besides this a consummate
musician and a composer of the most delicate and lively
intelligence. To which opinion, as merited as it is universal,
Madame X. is prepared to give ample and elegant expression in a
notice she meditates publishing upon you.
Pray give a kind reception to your new correspondent, and keep a
friendly remembrance of your old and most devoted admirer,
F. Liszt
Rome, December 12th, 1881
288. To Madame Malwine Tardieu in Brussels
[The wife of the chief editor of the Independance Belge]
How good of you, Madame, to make such ready allowance for my
delays and shortcomings in correspondence. It is a disagreeable
infirmity of mine not to be able to write longer and better
letters. Your last kind lines delighted me, and I thank you for
them most affectionately. The brilliant success of Massenet's
Herodiade [The first performance of the Opera took place at the
Theater de la Monnaie in Brussels, 19th December, 1881.] gives me
sincere pleasure; all Paris, after having applauded the work on
its first appearance at Brussels, will be all the more ready to
applaud it again in Paris itself. For my own part let me confess
to you quite in a whisper that I am inclined rather to hold back
with respect to certain love-scenes, which, it seems, are
necessary on the stage, when introduced into biblical subjects.
They jar on my feelings--excepting in our admirable and valiant
friend St. Saens' Dalila, where he has made a glorious love duet
which is quite in place; for Dalila and Samson are bound to give
themselves to the devil for love's sake, whilst in Massenet's
Magdalen and Herodfade the whole thing is merely
conventional...theatrical.
Pray forgive me, Madame, for this opinion, which is slightly
pedantic, but without any pretension. When you see Madame Viardot
again, tell her that I still cherish an enthusiastic recollection
of her--a typical Orpheus, Fides and Rosina,--and, besides, an
enchanting composer and a pianist full of ingenious dexterity.
Have you heard anything of her daughter, Madame Heritte? Do you
know her remarkable setting of Victor Hugo's "Feu du Ciel"?
Monsieur Becquet [President of the Brussels Musical Society
(since dissolved).] has sent me an excellent French translation
of my Elizabeth, [By Gustave Lagye.] quite adapted to the sense
and rhythm of the music. When this Legend of St. Elizabeth was
first performed at Budapest (end of August 1865) the Independance
Belge published a most flattering article on the work. .--.
Pray remember most kindly to M. Tardieu your affectionate and
devoted servant,
F. Liszt
Rome, January 20th, 1882.
Zarembski has received my orchestration of his charming "Danses
Polonaises." ["Danses Galiciennes."]
289. To Colonel Alexander Wereschagin
[The brother of the celebrated painter; formerly adjutant to the
Russian General Skobeleff, also an author.]
Dear M. de Wereschagin,
I am very grateful to you for sending me the photograph of one of
your brother's admirable pictures. His "Forgotten" is a dismal,
ghastly symphony of crows and vultures; I understand it, and
deeply enter into his marvellous inspiration.
Be so good as to tell your brother how great is my admiration for
his genius, and accept, dear Sir, the expression of my best and
most devoted regards.
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 5th, 1882.
290. To the Kammervirtuosin Martha Remmert
Dear Martha,
Enclosed are the various readings [Varianten] to my "Todtentanz."
[Dance of Death.] I noted them down after hearing the piece last
May for the first time with Orchestra at the Antwerp Musical
Festival (played by Zarembski in a masterly way). The brief
alterations are easy to insert into the instrumental parts, for
they only apply to the Horns, and consist in the addition of 7
bars; the rest are pauses in the orchestra while the pianoforte
solo continues.
All is accurately indicated in the enclosed copy, so that, should
the publisher Siegel (Leipzig) feel disposed to add a
complementary sheet to the score, it might be easily printed from
this copy. I should not like to trouble Siegel about this; but I
authorise you, dear Martha, to communicate the complementary
pages A, B, C, to Siegel. [The alterations alluded to did not
appear in print.]
I wish you all the success you deserve in your concert
productions, and remain always, Yours sincerely,
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 20th, 1882.
291. To Madame Malwine Tardieu
Dear Madame,
You were beforehand with me in knowing that the performance of my
St. Elizabeth is to take place, for the first time in French, at
Brussels on Sunday, 30th April. If the date is not changed, I
shall arrive on the 27th for the last rehearsals.
I hardly venture to accept the hospitality you are so good as to
offer me, from delicacy; if, however, you help me ever so little
to overcome my scruples, they will vanish. A thousand thanks for
the good news you give me of the success of "Samson" and of other
works by St. Saens in Germany. He has possessed my admiring
friendship for many years.
My very affectionate and grateful regards.
F. Liszt
Budapest, April 11th, 1882
I shall return to Weimar in about ten days, where I shall expect
to receive the printed programme from M. Becquet, which is to fix
my arrival in Brussels.
Pray thank M. Tardieu for his obliging intention of reproducing
the article of the Independance upon the first performance of the
St. Elizabeth at Budapest in August 1865. I will tell you by word
of mouth who penned those lines. [This article, which was signed
Remenyi, was written by Frau Cosima Wagner, Liszt's daughter, and
(according to Madame Tardieu's opinion) had "a high interest on
account of its poetical and brilliant conception."]
292. To Franz Servais
Very Dear Friend,
It is a grief to me that you will be conspicuous by your absence
on the approaching occasion of my return to Brussels. The Liszt-
Concert set afloat and directed by you last spring remains one of
my pleasantest recollections during my too long artistic career.
Even at that time you suggested a performance of my "Elizabeth,"
and I did not think that it would take place during your absence.
My approaching second visit to Brussels is entirely one of
gratitude for the sympathetic reception granted to me there at
the concert which you directed--an excellent performance of some
works of mine. Perhaps the "Elizabeth" may likewise be favored by
good luck...M. Lagye has made an excellent French translation of
it.
The one thing important for you, my dear Franz, is to complete
your Ion [The original tile of the Opera now called
"L'Apollonide", which Servais still keeps in his portfolio,
though it is finished.]. This will be your advent as composer,
for a complete and resounding success in which you have the best
wishes of
Yours ever devotedly,
F. Liszt
Weimar, April 22nd, 1882.
Write to me at Brussels, where I shall be from May 1st to 4th,
and address your letter to Zarembski.
293. To Madame Malwine Tardieu
Unless I receive a countermand from you, I shall be in Brussels
on Sunday evening. [The first performance of "St. Elizabeth in
French took place on the 3rd of May. Saint-Saens, Massenet,
Francis Plante, and others besides were present.] I shall take
the liberty of sending you a telegram on the road to give you the
hour of my arrival. It will interest me greatly to hear the
"Herodiade". [Liszt heard Massenet's opea on 2nd of May.] Bulow's
exceedingly witty article on Saint-Saens' "Samson", which Bulow
declares to be the best and most successful of all the Operas
that have been performed for the last fifteen years (excepting
Wagner's),--this article, which creates a sensation and makes a
noise at "Landerneau," will reach you at the same time as these
lines from your affectionate servant,
F. Liszt
Weimar, April 23rd, 1882
294. To Otto Lessmann
I owe you so many thanks, dear, esteemed friend, that I could
never get to the end of them. If the canon form were less
unfamiliar to me, I would dedicate a symphonic Canone perpetuo of
thanksgiving to you.