immediately on account of the negative decision of Rietz. Very
possibly David will undertake to conduct it, and I advise Brendel
to come to a good understanding with him about it. On the other
hand it might be expected, in a case of necessity, that the
Weimar and Sondershausen orchestras would unite to carry out the
Programme. But this latter must be as strictly adhered to as was
formerly determined, and not lose its exclusive character as
"compositions by collaborators of the newspaper only"--Schumann,
Berlioz, Wagner, R. Franz, and lastly my humble self. I cannot
therefore in any respect agree to the concession enjoined by
Brendel, of admitting works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, etc.,
nor do I see the motive of it. As far as the musical is
concerned, I consider it impossible to give such an exceedingly
rich programme on one evening without stupifying the public; that
would go beyond the ill-famed London concerts which last six
hours, not to speak of the fact that we should have to put the
recognised classics far too much in the shade!--But, above all,
such an over-loaded programme is thoroughly unsuitable to the
jubilee-celebration of the Neue Zeitschrift, which on this
occasion [ought] especially to emphasize its just claims and the
progress in Art which it aims at and supports. On this account it
is necessary to adhere to the limits of the programme originally
agreed upon.
Finally, in case insurmountable hindrances should arise to
prevent the carrying out of this same, I have no inclination to
substitute for the Orclaestral-concert one for Chamber-music. But
the word "Evening entertainment" must, as is self-evident, be
entirely dispensed with. Our business is to raise, to educate the
audience, not to amuse them; and if indeed, as Goethe very
pertinently says, "deep and earnest thinkers are in a bad
position as regards the public," we will therefore not so much
the less, but so much the more earnestly maintain this position.
Meanwhile it is advisable to advertise the first evening's
musical performance by the expression Concert in the Gewandhaus,
until we have quite decided whether it shall be a concert with
orchestra, or only with chamber-music. [An orchestral concert
took place in the theater, when compositions by Mendelssohn,
Schubert, and Chopin were, nevertheless, included among the
others.]
N.B.-Please not to communicate these remarks to any one except
perhaps Brendel, as the very outspoken opinions herein about the
Concert-programme must absolutely be kept secret.
399. To Dr. Eduard Hanslick
[The letter refers to Hanslick's notice of Liszt's book "Les
Bohemiens et leur musique," in the Vienna Presse (the old one).]
Sir,
Experience having taught me to regard as a fate attached to my
name the impossibility of publishing anything which does not
instantly gather round it opinions as contrary as they are
forcibly enunciated, I am, although quite accustomed to these
little storms, very sensitive to the kindly judgment of those
who, not letting themselves be influenced by this transitory
impulse, desire to take into consideration what I have written,
with sobriety and composure, just as you have done in your
account of my book "Des Bohemiens."-I am above all extremely
obliged to you for having admitted that, if the requirements of
my subject, and the opinion which after some twenty years of
reflection I have formed of Bohemian music, compel me to
attribute to a nomad people an art thoroughly imbued with a
poetry which could only have been developed in a wandering
nation, I have none the less endeavored to bring into prominence
everything for which this art is indebted to the comprehension
and taste which the Hungarians have always had for the music of
Bohemia. I desire in no way to diminish the merit of the works,
while at the same time I see the impossibility of considering as
emanating from them the expression of sentiments which could not
in their nature belong to them, however sympathetically they were
associated therewith.--
Still, the point which I notice first, in consequence of the very
violent and premature attacks of which I have been the object, is
not the one which I regard as the most important in my volume. As
a matter of fact it would signify little to me as artist to know
whether this music is originally from India or Tartary. That
which has appeared to me worthy the study of an artist is this
music itself, its meaning, and the feelings it is destined to
reproduce.--It is in trying clearly to account for these latter
that I have only found it possible to connect them with people
placed in the exceptional conditions of the Bohemians; and it is
through asking myself what the poetry of this wandering life
would be (a question so often raised), that I have become
convinced that it must be identical with that which breathes in
the Art of the Bohemians. This identity once made evident to my
mind, I have naturally sought to make it felt by and evident to
my readers. The better to succeed in this I have corroborated my
opinion by grouping together as a sort of complement various
suppositions about the question of these sources. But the
scientific side of this question has never been, in my eyes,
anything but very accessory; I should probably not have taken up
the pen to discuss it. If I have raised it, that has been the
consequence, not the aim of my work. Artist, and poet if you
like, I am only interested in seeing and describing the poetical
and psychological side of my thesis. I have sought in speech the
power of depicting, with less fire and allurement possibly, but
with more precision than music has done, some impressions which
are not derived from science or polemics-which come from the
heart and appeal to the imagination.
Poetical and descriptive prose being little used in Germany, I
can easily conceive that, on the announcement of the title of my
book, a set of lectures, rather than a kind of poem in prose,
will be expected. I own that I would never have attempted to
lecture on a subject the materials of which did not appear to me
sufficient for this purpose. How small a number of people,
moreover, would have been interested in learning the little which
it would be allowable to affirm in this case? Whilst the
expression of the innermost and deep feelings, whatever they be,
from the moment that they have been powerful enough to inspire an
art, is never entirely unattractive, even to the more extended
circle which includes not alone musicians, but all those who feel
and wish to understand music. Thanking you once more, Sir, for
the perfect impartiality and clearness with which you have stated
and criticised the compilation of my book, I beg you to accept
this expression of my complete esteem and distinguished
consideration.
F. Liszt
September 20th, 1859
END OF LETTERS OF FRANZ LISZT, VOL. II.
INFO ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION
This volume of "Letters of Franz Liszt" is the second volume of a
2-volume set. The letters were selected by La Mara, and
translated into English by Constance Bache. The edition used was
an original 1894 Charles Scribner edition (New York), printed in
America. Each page was cut out of the book with an X-acto knife
and fed into an Automatic Document Feeder Scanner to make this e-
text; hence, the original book was, well, ruined in order to save
it.
Some adaptations from the original text were made while
formatting it for an e-text. Italics in the original book were
ignored in making this e-text, unless they referred to proper
nouns, in which case they are put in quotes in the e-text.
Italics are problematic because they are not easily rendered in
ASCII text, although, unlike in the first volume, they often add
some useful emphasis to Liszt's expression.
Almost everything occurring in brackets [ ] are original
footnotes inserted into the text. The marking .--. appeared in
the original volumes and indicates points where original material
in the letters was lost or fragmented.
Also, special German characters like U with an umlaut, and French
characters like a's and e's with various markings above them were
ignored, replaced with their closet single-letter equivalents. U
with an umlaut is U, A with a caret above it is A, and so on.
Words altered include Gotze, Tonkunstler, Gluck, Handel and
Bulow, among numerous others.
In addition, the English spellings of words like "honour,"
"colour," "humour," "splendour," "favour," "endeavour" "labour,"
"vigour," "neighbour" "saviour," "behaviour" and "theatre" were
changed into American equivalents like "honor," "color," "humor,"
"splendor," "favor," "endeavor" "labor," "vigor," "neighbor"
"savior," "behavior" and "theater."
This electronic text was prepared by John Mamoun with help from
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Charles Franks' Distributed Proofreaders website. Thanks to M.
Fong, N. Harris, S. Morrison, J. Roberts, R. Zimmerman, P.
Rydzewski, D. McKee, R. Rowe, E. Beach, M. Beauchamp, K. Rieff,
D. Maddock, T. Mills, B. Wyman, J. Hyllegaard, T. McDermott, M.
Taylor, K. Peterson and several others for proof-reading.
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