obliging collaborator, Mr. Lagye. His excellent French
translation of my four Psalms is being engraved. As soon as it is
out you shall have it.
In about ten days I shall join the Wagners, and shall spend more
than a month with them at the Palazzo Vendramin, Venice.
Cordial regards to your husband, from your
Very grateful and affectionate
F. Liszt
The director of the subscription concerts at Weimar is going to
give Benoit's "La Guerre," and at the next Musical Festival
Benoit's "Sanctus" and "Benedictus" will be heard. [Both these
intentions of Liszt came to nothing, owing to external causes.]
312. To the Editor of the "Allgemeine Musikzeitung," Otto
Lessmann, at Charlottenburg
Dear Mr. Editor,
As I am very much hindered in my work by overmuch sending of
scores, other compositions, and suchlike writings, I beg you to
make it known that I wish in future not to have my attention
claimed in this manner. I have modestly refrained for many years
past from contributing to collections of autographs.
Yours truly,
F. Liszt
Weimar, November, 1882
313. To Adelheid Von Schorn
Monday, November 20th, 1882
Venezia la bella: Palazzo Vendramin.
Dear Friend,
I don't intend you to hear first through others of my safe
arrival here. Thank Heaven! the Wagners and all the family are in
perfect health.
Your brother will write you word from Nuremberg that the method
of whist, so to say invented and certainly perfected by you, is
being spread on to the Durerplatz also under your name at L.
Ramann's. To get rid of all the aces first of all is really
glorious.
With the exception of one incident, which stricter people than
myself would call a regular fleecing on the part of the Custom
House at Milan, whereby I parted with about 70 francs as a fine
for having brought 50 cigars (!), all my journey passed off very
well. At Zurich I met with the same kind reception on the part of
several members of the Committee--with the President of the town,
Mr. Roemer, at their head--as at the Musical Festival last July.
The proprietor of the Bellevue Hotel, Mr. Pohl (no relation to
his namesake at Baden), insisted on my accepting gratis a
charming room, with dinners, suppers and excellent wines. Such
munificence would have given a fit of fever to the late Hemleb of
the Erbprinz, and his associates will scarcely imitate Mr. Pohl's
amiable proceeding. So I will beg you to recommend the very
comfortable Hotel Bellevue, in the front ranks, to any of your
friends and acquaintances who may pass through Zurich. Without
promising that they will be received gratis, I can assure them
that they will find the beautiful view on to the lake, good
rooms, an excellent cuisine, and attentive service. The Duke of
Altenburg and other princes have stayed in it, and inscribed
their names in the hotel album.
Your friend Ada Pinelli is still here with the Princess Hatzfeld,
at Palazzo Malipieri. I shall go and see her tomorrow. I shall,
however, practise great sobriety in the matter of visits. Wagner
does not pay any, and I shall imitate him on this point to the
best of my ability. My illustrious friend has lodged me
splendidly in a spacious apartment of the Palazzo Vendramin,
which formerly belonged to Madame la Duchesse de Berry. Her son,
the Duke della Grazia, is at present the owner of it, and Wagner
is the tenant for one year. The beautiful furniture still bears
the impress of the old princely regime, and is perfectly
preserved. The main inhabited part of the Palazzo Vendramin is in
the best possible condition, so that Wagner did not have to go to
any special expense, not even for stoves and other requisites,
which are often neglected.
Ever since my first stay in 1837 I have been enamoured of Venice:
this feeling will not grow less this time, but quite the
contrary.
Cordial and very devoted friendship.
F. Liszt
Try to learn something about Bulow, and send me word. It was
heart-breaking to me not to see him again at Meiningen.
314. To Freiherr Hans Von Wolzogen
My Dear Freiherr,
.--. Wagner is perfectly within the truth when he says that
without the extraordinary munificence of H.M. the King of Bavaria
the performances of "Parsifal" at Bayreuth would have been
endangered, and only the sympathy of the public, outside the
Wagner Societies, made the continuance of them possible. But does
it follow from this that the Wagner Societies are useless, and
that this is the opportunity for disbanding them? To my thinking,
No, for they keep up a wholesome agitation, and support the
"Bayreuther Blatter," which essentially promote the good cause.
There does not seem to me to be any advantage in changing the
name Society [Verein] into Fellowship [Genossenschaft]. Wagner's
great name and most important personality are what are most
needed here. Moreover the parliamentariness of the Societies will
not be averse to the absolute authority of the creator of so many
immortal works. In merely minor matters variety of opinions may
be made apparent; in all essentials we are really and truly one.
On this account I desire the continuance, consistency, and
increasing welfare of the Societies.--
It goes without saying that Wagner must reign and govern as
legitimate monarch, until the complete outward realization of his
Bayreuth conception--namely, the model performance of his entire
works, under his own aegis and directions at Bayreuth. It behoves
all who sympathise in the historico-civilised culture of Art in
the coming years of the closing 19th century to endeavor to
promote this aim.
When we have attained the end in question let us sing with
Schiller and Beethoven,
"Freude, schoner Gotterfunken!" ["Joy, thou spark from heaven
descending!"]
Accept, dear Freiherr, the assurance of my true and high esteem.
F. Liszt
Venezia, November 24th, 1882
Pray remember me most kindly to your family.
3l5. To Franz Servais
Dear Franz,
Your welcome lines reached me at Weimar and I thank you cordially
for them...
I tell you again, dear Franz, that you were "born with a silver
spoon in your mouth;" after the hearing of your Opera with the
piano the success of a performance will follow.--Don't get
impatient at a little delay; the most illustrious composers,
including Meyerbeer, could not say, like Louis XIV., "J'ai failli
attendre." ["I nearly had to wait."]...But I hope that the saying
"Tout vient a point, a qui sait attendre" ["All comes to him who
can wait."] will be realised in your case without much delay.
Good courage then and Mistress Patience.
Will you remember me very affectionately to Godebski; his
graceful bust, so perfect in its likeness to the never-to-be-
forgotten Madame Moukhanoff, is ever the precious ornament of my
little salon at the "Hofgartnerei" in Weimar.
The large bust of Rossini which Godebski presented to the Grand
Duke ornaments the lobby of the theater, where it blooms like a
god from Olympus. Tell me what works Godebski has been doing
lately.
When next you see Madame Judith Gautier, please express to her
anew the admiring homage of your very faithful
F. Liszt
Venezia, November 26th, 1882
P.S.--Our friends * * * might, I think, do you good service with
M. Vaucorbeil, and could tell him also, as a "by the way," that I
take a lively interest in your work. Would you perhaps think it
advisable to let some fragment of it be given at a public
concert? I am remaining here till New Year's Day with the
Wagners, at the superb Palazzo Vendramin; then I shall return
direct to Budapest.
316. To Adelheid von Schorn
Venezia, December 8th, 1882
Dear Friend,
Your sad news about Bulow's bad state of health are much the same
as his wife gave to Daniela. Let us hope for more reassuring
news!
Here, in Palazzo Vendramin, a peaceful and most united family
life goes on without monotony. But I cannot speak of the things
which touch me most, except clumsily. So it is better to keep
from doing so. The Princess writes to me from Rome that she shall
be delighted to obtain possession of the two water-colors of
Gleichen for the splendid portfolios of drawings belonging to her
daughter, of which the mother, since the years at Weimar, has
regally provided the greater part. These portfolios are among the
finest collections in Europe.
Joukowski [Widely known by his "Parsafal" sketches and the
portraits of Liszt and of Wagner's family], who has been delayed
by a funeral and by the floods, will arrive here today. Neither
funerals nor floods have been able to prevent Lassen from scoring
our Symphonic Intermezzo "Uber allen Zauber Liebe" ["Above all
magic Love"]. I hope Lassen will conduct it at the Court concert
on New Year's Day, and I beg you to go and hear it and let me
know about it. .--.
I beg Gille to send me the volume "Die deutsche Buhne von einem
Weimaraner" ["The German stage, by a Weimarer"]. Do you know who
it is? According to the index he seems to ignore the doings of
the Weimar theater during the last thirty years, which is not
very honorable to a Weimarer, and looks very like a cowardly
action of a low standard.
Your cordially devoted
F. Liszt
Saturday Morning, December 9th
Joukowski arrived last night, and we began at once to sound your
praises.
Daniela has written to you. I will send you the programme of the
performance of Goethe's "Geschwister" ["Brothers and Sisters"],
which will take place tomorrow at Princess Hatzfeld's. Those old
books of operas, such as "Les Indes galantes" ["The gallant
Indies"], and other antiquities, re-edited in Paris, may
peaceably repose at the "Hofgartnerei;" unless you prefer to lend
them to some one who likes works of that kind, which are sought
by some.
317. To Professor Carl Riedel
Dear Friend,
Draseke's "Requiem" is such a first-rate work, and is so likely
to obtain a good reception from the public, that I again
recommend the performance of it at the next Tonkunstler-
Versammlung. Draseke will presumably also agree to it in the end.
Gustav Weber's Trio, Op. 5, published by Siegel, and dedicated to
me, I consider an eminent work, worthy of recommendation and
performance. I am sure you think the same.
I should like to add to the vocal programme of the Tonkunstler-
Versammlung two songs by your name-sake Riedel, now
Hofkapellmeister in Brunswick. [Hermann Riedel, born 1847, made a
special success with songs from Scheffel's "Trompeter von
Sakkingen."] If they should be ascribed to you they will please
you all the better for that. And a propos, why do you let your
valuable, excellent works be so seldom heard in public? I shall
reproach you further with this injustice to yourself when we come
to talk over the programme, and I hope that you won't continue to
overdo your reserve as a composer. Without pushing one's-self
forward one must still maintain one's position, to which you,
dear friend, are fully entitled. Will you be so kind as to tell
Hartel to send me here quickly 25 sheets of to line, and 25
sheets of 12 line music paper (oblong shape, not square) for
cash, together with a few of the small books of samples,
containing all kinds of music paper, which I have recommended
several musical friends of mine here and elsewhere to buy. One
can rub out easily on this paper, which is one of the most
important things--that is to say, unless one tears up the whole
manuscript, which would often be advisable.
A happy Christmas, and a brave New Year '83.
Ever your faithfully attached
F. Liszt
Venezia, Palazzo Vendramin, December 9th, 1882
318. To Arthur Meyer in Paris, Presidet of the "Presse
Parisienne"
[Copied in the Gazette de Hongrie at Budapest, February 1st,
1883]
Monsieur le Directeur,
My telegram of this morning expressed to you my excuses and deep
regret at being unable to be of use in the programme of your
Festival. [Liszt had been asked to take part in a Festival which
was given at the Grand Opera for the benefit of the sufferers
from the inundations in Alsace-Lorraine. "The Dame of Liszt in
France," they wrote, "is synonymous with triumph, and we know
that it is also synonymous with kindness."]
It would certainly be an honor to me to take part in it, and I am
by no means oblivious of the gratitude I owe to Paris, where my
youthful years were passed. Moreover it would be, it seems to me,
a becoming thing that, after the generous and striking sympathy
shown by Paris--also by a festival at the Grand Opera--to my
compatriots on the occasion of the inundation of Szeged, an
artist from Hungary, who has been favored by so much French
kindness, should make his public acknowledgments at your
approaching grand performance.
Unfortunately my age of 72 years invalidates me as a pianist. I
could no longer risk in public my ten fingers--which have been
out of practice for years--without incurring just censure. There
is no doubt on this point; and I am perfectly resolved to abstain
from any exhibition of my old age at the piano in any country.
Please accept, Monsieur le Directeur, my thanks and best
compliments.
F. Liszt
Budapest, January 28th, 1883
319. To the Composer Albert Fuchs
Your "Hungarian Suite" [For Orchestra, dedicated to Liszt] is an
excellent and effective work. While springing from the musical
ground of Hungary, it nevertheless remains your own property, as
there are no imitations or used-up ornamentations in it, but
rather much new employment of harmonies, and always a national
coloring. For the dedication you are heartily thanked by
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 4th, 1883
320. To Saissy, Editor of the "Gazette de Hongrie in Budapest
[From a rough copy in the possession of Herr O. A. Schulz,
bookseller in Leipzig.]
I come to ask your advice, dear Monsieur Saissy; please give it
me quite frankly, without any reserve, and tell me whether you
think it is an opportune moment for my letter (which I enclose),
relative to my pretended animadversion against the Israelites, to
be published or not. If you think it is, I beg you to insert it
in the next number of the Gazette de Hongrie; otherwise it shall
remain unprinted, as I shall not send it to any other paper.
As the proverb says, "Silence is gold"; but perhaps, under the
given circumstances, in view of the serious question of the
Israelites in Hungary, it would be better to speak in the current
silver money in the papers.
Let us rectify errors, and remain modest but not timid. In
faithful devotion,
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 6th, 1883
321. To The Editor of the "Gazette de Hongrie"
[Published in the Gazette de Hongrie of February 8th, 1883,
Budapest. A translation of it also appeared in German papers;
amongst others, in Lessmann's Allgemeine Musikzeituug, at the
wish of the Master, who was annoyed with the aspersion against
himself of having promoted the Antisemitic movement.]
Mr. Editor,
It is not without regret that I address these lines to you; but,
as there has been some report spread here about my pretended
hostility to the Israelites, I ought to rectify the mistake of
this false report.
As is well known in the musical world, many illustrious
Israelites, Meyerbeer first and foremost, have given me their
esteem and friendship, and the same in the literary world with
Heine and others.
It seems to me that it would be superfluous to enumerate the many
proofs I have given, during fifty years, of my active loyalty
towards Israelites of talent and capacity, and I abstain in like
manner from speaking of my voluntary contributions to the
charitable institutions of Judaism in various countries.
The motto of my patron saint, St. Francois de Paule, is
"Caritas!" I will remain faithful to this throughout my life!
If, by some mutilated quotations from my book on the Gipsies in
Hungary, it has been sought to pick a quarrel with me, and to
make what is called in French une querelle d'Allemand, I can in
all good conscience affirm that I feel myself to be guiltless of
any other misdeed than that of having feebly reproduced the
argument of the kingdom of Jerusalem, set forth by Disraeli (Lord
Beaconsfield), George Eliot (Mrs. Lewes), and Cremieux, three
Israelites of high degree.
Accept, Sir, etc.,
F. Liszt
February 6th, 1883
322. To Rich and Mason in Toronto
[From a rough copy in the possession of Herr O. A. Schulz,
bookseller in Leipzig]
[1883]
Dear Sirs,
The Rich and Mason Grand Piano which you have so kindly sent me
here is a pattern one. And as such will artists, judges, and the
public recognise it.
Together with my hearty thanks I wanted at the same time to send
you the Liszt portrait for which you wished. It was painted by
Baron Joukowski, son of the highly honored tutor and friend of
Alexander II., a man who will also be ever famous in Russian
literature. Now, however, this Liszt portrait has been such a
success that they wanted to have a second one like it for the
Joukowski Museum. The painter kindly consented to the request,
which has necessitated a delay of 2 to 3 months in my sending off
the first portrait to Toronto.
Joukowski had also prepared the sketches for the "Parsifal"
scenery in Bayreuth, which were followed by a successful
performance.
Excuse, dear Sirs, the delay in my acknowledgments, and accept
the assurance of my high esteem.
F. Liszt
323. To Madame Marie Jaell in Vienna
[Autograph in possession of Herr Commerzienrath Bosendorfer in
Vienna.--The addressee was the widow of Alfred Jaell, and was a
pianiste and composer in Paris.]
Chere Admirable [Dear Admirable One],
I give you at once a most cordial welcome to Budapest. Have you
already made your arrangements for concerts here? Can my very
excellent friend Bosendorfer be of use to you as an agent? To my
regret I am not in a position to help you in that, on account of
my being so very decidedly out of touch with the principal
concert arrangers of the neighborhood, who impertinently make a
pitiable trade for the benefit of Art...the art of their own
pocket and predominance.
To our right speedy meeting! Will you let me make acquaintance
with your new compositions, and accept the homage of my admiring
sympathy and affection?
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 12th, 1883
Have you had anything to do with a serious and really
distinguished composer,--Rendano? He is giving his concert in
Vienna one of these next days.
324. To Adelheid Von Schorn
If you were here, dear friend, you would perhaps find means to
put into some sort of order the hundreds of letters that rain
upon me from everywhere. These bothers and burdens of the
amiability with which I am credited are becoming insupportable,
and I really long, some fine day, to cry from the housetops that
I beg the public to consider me as one of the most disagreeable,
whimsical and disobliging of men.
To our cordial meeting at Weimar in the early days of April.
Ever your very affectionate and grateful
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 14th, 1883
325. To Otto Lessmann
Your sad news [After Wagner's death on the 13th February] pierces
my heart. Worthily have you said of the great, undying hero of
Art, "May the memory of him lead us on the right road to truth!"
I abstained from going at once to Venice and Bayreuth, but no
sensible man will on that account doubt my feelings. Until
Passion Week I remain here; then according to what my daughter
arranges I shall either go to Bayreuth or elsewhere, wherever my
dearly beloved daughter may be.
Hearty thanks, dear friend, for your satisfactory, truthful
adjustment of my position, which is neither a doubtful nor a
cowardly one, in the Jewish question.
The watchword and solution of that question is a matter for the
perseverance of the Israelites and for the all-ruling Divine
Providence.
Yours faithfully and gratefully,
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 18th, 1883
I shall send that number of your weekly paper (16th February) to
Cardinal Haynald, my gracious patron of many years' standing--who
was also the President of the Liszt-Jubilee Festival in Budapest.
326. To Lina Ramann
My very dear Friend,
Ever since the days of my youth I have considered dying much
simpler than living. Even if often there is fearful and
protracted suffering before death, yet is death nonetheless the
deliverance from our involuntary yoke of existence.
Religion assuages this yoke, yet our heart bleeds under it
continually!--
"Sursum corda!"
In my "Requiem" (for men's voices) I endeavored to give
expression to the mild, redeeming character of death. It is shown
in the "Dies irae," in which the domination of fear could not be
avoided; in the three-part strophe
"Qui Mariam absolvisti,
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi autem spem dedisti"
lies the fervent, tender accent, which is not easily attained by
ordinary singers...The execution is also made more difficult by
the 2 semitones, ascending in the 1st Tenor, and descending in
the 2nd Tenor and 1st Bass. Progressions of this kind are indeed
not new, but singers so seldom possess the requisite crystal-
clear intonation without which the unhappy composer comes to
grief.
Our 3rd Elegie, "The funeral gondola" ("la gondola funebre"),
written unawares last December in Venice, is to be brought out
this summer by Kahnt, who has already published my 2 earlier
Elegies.
Heartfelt greetings to your respected collaborators, and ever
yours gratefully,
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 22nd, 1883
327. To Madame Malwine Tardieu
Dear Benevolent One,
To great grief silence is best suited. I will be silent on
Wagner, the prototype of an initiatory genius.
Thank you cordially for your telegram of yesterday. [On the
success of Saint-Saens' Opera "Henry VIII." at the opera in
Paris] No one rejoices more than I in the success of Saint-Saens.
There is no doubt that he deserves it; but fortune, grand
sovereign of doubtful manners, is often in no hurry to array
herself on the side of merit.
One has to keep on tenaciously pulling her by the ear (as Saint-
Saens has done) to make her listen to reason.
Be so good as to send me the number of the Independance with the
article on "Henry VIII." I will ask M. Saissy, the director of
the Gazette (French) de Hongrie, professor of French literature
at the University of Budapest, to reproduce this article in his
Gazette. Saissy is one of my friends; consequently he will
publish what is favorable to "Henry VIII."
Saint-Saens has sent me the score of his beautiful work "La Lyre
et la Harpe." Alas! everything that is not of the theater and
does not belong to the repertoire of the old classical masters
Handel, Bach, Palestrina, etc., does not yet gain any attentive
and paying consideration--the decisive criterion--of the public.
Berlioz, during his lifetime, furnished the proof of this.
Please give my love to your husband, and accept my devoted and
grateful affection.
F. Liszt
Budapest, March 6th, 1883
With regard to Lagye, I am contrite. Various things which I had
to send off with care have prevented me from going on with the
revision of the French edition of my Lieder. It shall be done
next month.
328. To Ferdinand Taborszky, Music Publisher in Budapest
Dear Taborszky,
As it is uncertain whether I shall still be alive next year, I
have just written an Hungarian "Konigslied" [Royal Song]
according to an old mode, for the opening of the New Hungarian
Theater in Radialstrasse.
Herewith is the manuscript for pianoforte, two hands, and the
score with text by Kornel Abranyi [German translation by
Ladislaus Neugebauer] will follow in Easter week.
The publishing of my "Konigslied" ought not to take place till
the first performance in the new theater in '84,
Until then we will keep quiet about it.--
Yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
Budapest, March 11th, 1883
329. To Baroness M. E. Schwartz
[Autograph in the Liszt Museum at Weimar]
Budapest, March 22nd, 1883
Dear and most excellent One,
[Chere excellentissime]
It is really extraordinary that after so many years of constant
practice in works of mercy you are not ruined. Your life seems to
me one vast symphony of generosity, munificence, charities, gifts
and attentions as delicate as they are costly. To begin with,
there are Garibaldi and his people, and to continue indefinitely
there are those poor German fellows, ill at Rome, and buried
there at your expense; and then the fighting Cretans, the infirm
people in your hospital at Jena, the societies for the protection
of animals, etc., etc.