your friendly letter. Mademoiselle Wieck, whom I have been so
happy as to meet here, will express to you, better than I can,
all the sympathy, all the admiring affection I have for you. I
have been such a nomad latterly that the pieces you were kind
enough to address to me at Milan only reached me on the eve of my
departure from Venice about a fortnight ago; and since then we
have been talking so much of you, day and night, that it hardly
occurred to me to write to you. Today, however, to my great
astonishment, I get a fresh token of your friendly remembrance,
and I certainly will not delay thanking you many times for it, so
I have just left a charming party of very pretty women in order
to write these few lines to you. But the truth is you need hardly
thank me for this little sacrifice, for it is a great pleasure to
me to be able to have a little chat with you.
The "Carneval" and the "Fantasiestucke" have interested me
excessively. I play them really with delight, and God knows that
I can't say as much of many things. To speak frankly and freely,
it is absolutely only Chopin's compositions and yours that have a
powerful interest for me.
The rest do not deserve the honor of being mentioned...at least,
with a few exceptions,--to be conciliatory, like Eusebius.
In six weeks to two months I shall send you my twelve Studies and
a half-dozen of "Fantasiestucke" ("Impressions et Poemes")--I
consider them less bad than others of my making. I shall be happy
to think that they do not displease you.
May I confess to you that I was not very much struck with
Henselt's Studies, and that I found them not up to their
reputation? I don't know whether you share my opinion, but they
appear to me, on the whole, very careless. They are pretty to
listen to, they are very pretty to look at, the effect is
excellent, the edition (thanks to our friend Hofmeister) is most
carefully done; but, all counted, I question whether H. is
anything but a distinguished mediocrity. [How highly Liszt
thought, later on, of Henselt's Concerto and other of his
compositions is well known, and is spoken of in a subsequent
letter to Baroness Wrangel, in May, 1883.] For the rest, he is
very young, and will doubtless develop. Let us, at least, hope
so.
I am extremely sorry that I cannot come and pay you a little
visit at Leipzig at present. It is one of my keenest desires to
make your personal acquaintance and to pass some days with you.
But as that is not possible now, let us, at least, try not to be
entirely separated, and let us combat, as far as we can, the
laziness about writing, which is, I think, equally in us both.
In a fortnight I am returning to Venice. I shall be back in Milan
at the time of the coronation (towards the end of August). Next
winter I expect to pass in Rome, if the cholera or some other
plague does not stop it. I will not induce you to come to Italy.
Your sympathies would be too deeply wounded there. If they have
even heard that Beethoven and Weber ever existed, it is as much
as they have done.
Will you not have what you have sent me printed? Haslinger would
have it gladly, I think, and it would be a great pleasure to me
to see my name associated with yours.
If I might make a request, I would ask you to write some trios,
or a quintet or septet. It seems to me that you would do that
admirably, and for a long time nothing remarkable in that line
has been published. If ever you determine to do so, let me know
at once, as I should be anxious to have the honor of making them
known to the public. Adieu, my dear Monsieur Schumann; keep me
always in affectionate remembrance, and accept once more my warm
sympathy and devotion.
F. Liszt
14. To the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde" in Vienna
[Society of Musical Dilettanti, or Amateur Musical Society.
Autograph in the Archives of the Society in Vienna]
Gentlemen,
I am extremely grateful for the honor you have done me in
admitting me among you as a member of the Vienna Musik-Verein
[Musical Union]. I cannot, unfortunately, flatter myself that I
have as yet deserved this distinction, but allow me to say that
it will not be my fault if I do not become worthy of it.
If ever the occasion should offer in which I can be agreeable or
useful to the Society of the Musik-Verein, be assured that I
shall gladly avail myself of it, and that you will henceforth
have a claim on my gratitude and devotion.
I have the honor to be, gentlemen,
Yours faithfully,
F. Liszt
Venice, June 1st, 1838
15. To Simon Lowy in Vienna
[Autograph in the possession of Herr O. A. Schulz, bookseller in
Leipzig.--Addressed to a Vienna banker, an intimate friend of
Liszt The "Soirees de Vienne," composed on Schubert Valses, are
dedicated to him.]
I am very sensible, my dear sir, of your friendly remembrance.
Your kind letter found me in the midst of the official hurly-
burly of the coronation fetes. What business on earth had I to do
with such an affair? I have not the least idea. Thank Heaven we
are now at the end of it all, safe and sound, rejoicing, and
sated with amusement!
I found at Milan a certain number of my Vienna connections. One
or two of the persons whom you will not mention to me (and whose
anonymity I respect) were also there. I know that a great many of
the people who approach me with a smile on their lips, and
protestations of friendship on their tongues, have nothing better
to do than to pull me to pieces as best they can as soon as they
are outside my door. It is, moreover, the fate of all the world.
I resign myself to it willingly, as I do to all the absurd and
odious necessities of this lower world. There is, besides, just
this much good in these sad experiences of various relations with
men--which is, that one learns to relish and appreciate better
the devotion of the few friends whom chance has thrown in your
path.
In a few days from now I shall start for Bologna, Florence, and
Rome. In spite of all my desire to return to Vienna, where people
have been so kind and indulgent to me, I do not yet see when I
shall be able to get there. However this journey may be put off,
I hope, nevertheless, my dear sir, that you will continue till
then the affectionate feelings you so kindly entertain towards
me. Receive in return my assurances of consideration and
affectionate devotion.
F. Liszt
Milan, September 22nd, 1838
Will you be so good as to give the enclosed note to the charming
woman who is good enough to remember me so kindly?
16. To M. Pacini, Music Publisher in Paris
[Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet at Valentigney.]
My Dear Monsieur Pacini,
In two or three days at latest from now you will receive the
manuscript for which you asked me for the book of the Hundred and
One. [A collective work with contributions by celebrities of the
day.] Mr. Hugot has kindly undertaken to bring it to you.
As the title implies, it is an Etude (di Bravura) after Paganini.
[Bravura Studies on Paganini's Capricci, arranged for the
pianoforte, brought out by Haslinger, Vienna, in 1839. A second,
newly arranged edition, dedicated to Clara Schumann, "Grandes
Etudes de Paganini," was brought out by Breitkopf and Hartel in
1851.] You will oblige me by recommending the engraver to engrave
it very spaciously. In addition, you had better, I think, reprint
directly afterwards this Etude facilitee, which I have also sent
you. This second arrangement is by M. Schumann, a young composer
of very great merit. It is more within the reach of the general
public, and also more exact than my paraphrase.
Many apologies for having kept you waiting so long for such a
small thing, and kind remembrances to Emilien.
Yours affectionately,
F. Liszt
Please send the corrected proofs of this study to Haslinger,
musical editor to the Court, at Graben, Vienna.
I must have at least two corrected proofs. Prego! Prego!! [I
beg!] leave only such mistakes as are absolutely necessary in
order that an edition may be supposed to be correct.
Padua, September 30th, 1838
17. To Breitkopf and Hartel.
[This is the first of the Liszt letters extant in the archives of
the firm.]
I am really grieved, gentlemen, at the trouble you have been good
enough to take about these unlucky Symphonies, and I hardly know
how to express my acknowledgments. As I have already had the
honor of telling you, Mr. Mori had been previously engaged to
publish these Symphonies, and, as the steps you have taken have
not been crowned with success, I will keep to this first
publisher, with whom I have every reason to be satisfied up to
now.
You can then publish this work in two or three months from now.
[Pianoforte scores of the C minor and Pastoral Symphonies of
Beethoven.] Only it is essential that I should correct the last
proof, so that the edition may be absolutely correct. I also wish
to add the fingering to several passages, to make them easier for
amateurs. Be so good, therefore, as to send me, through the
Embassy (or by any other opportunity which is not too expensive),
two proofs to Rome, where I shall be in about twelve days, and
where I expect to remain till the middle of March.
I hope, gentlemen, that you will not have cause to regret the
obliging advances that you have made to me in this matter, and
for which I am sincerely grateful to you. If you will be so good
as to add to the proofs of the Beethoven Symphonies such of the
songs of Beethoven (or Weber) as you would like me to transcribe
for piano solo, I will then give you a positive answer as to that
little work, which I shall be delighted to do for you, but to
which I cannot assent beforehand, not knowing of which songs you
are the proprietors. If "Leyer und Schwert" was published by you,
I will do that with pleasure. I think that these songs, or at any
rate four or five of them, would be rather satisfactory for the
piano.
Accept, gentlemen, the expression of my high esteem.
F. Liszt
Florence, January 3rd, 1839
18. To Princess Christine Belgiojoso in Paris
[Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet at Valentigney.--
Addressed to the celebrated writer and patriot. In 1837 a charity
concert took place in her salons, at which Liszt and Thalberg
both played.]
It would be self-conceit in me, Princess, to complain of your
silence. Your letters have always been for me a favor, a charm. I
am not meaning to say that I have the slightest right to them.
Nevertheless, as you do not reply to me any more, I hope you will
at least permit me to tell you how very much I feel the very
slightest marks of your kindness, and what a price I set upon
your remembrance.
Some numbers of the Gazette or Revue Musicale, which have
accidentally fallen into my hands at the house of one of my
Russian friends (for in this happy country of the Arts, and of
music in particular, you can well imagine that no one is foolish
enough to spend a thirty francs' subscription on the Revue
Musicale), have informed me that you had decidedly raised altar
for altar, and made your charming salon echo with magnificent
harmonies. I confess that this is perhaps the one regret of my
winter. I should so immensely have liked to be there to admire
you, to applaud you. Several people who had the honor of being
present at these choice evenings have spoken to me about them
with enthusiasm.
What a contrast to the tiresome musical soliloquies (I do not
know what other name to give to this invention of mine) with
which I contrived to gratify the Romans, and which I am quite
capable of importing to Paris, so unbounded does my impudence
become! Imagine that, wearied with warfare, not being able to
compose a programme which would have common sense, I have
ventured to give a series of concerts all by myself, affecting
the Louis XIV. style, and saying cavalierly to the public, "The
concert is--myself." For the curiosity of the thing I copy one of
the programmes of the soliloquies for you:--
1. Overture to William Tell, performed by M. L.
2. Reminiscences of the Puritani. Fantaisie composed and
performed by the above-mentioned!
3. Etudes and fragments by the same to the same!
4. Improvisation on themes given--still by the same. And that was
all; neither more nor less, except lively conversation during the
intervals, and enthusiasm if there was room for it.
A propos of enthusiasm, I ought at least to talk to you of St.
Peter's. That is the proper thing to do when one writes from
Rome. But, in the first place, I am writing to you from Albano,
whence I can only discern the dome, and, secondly, this poor St.
Peter's has been so disguised, so embellished by papier-mache
wreaths, horrid curtains at alcoves, etc., etc., all in honor of
the five or six last saints whom His Holiness has canonised, that
I try to put away the recollection of it. Happily there have not
been any workers of miracles to glorify at the Coliseum and the
Campo Vaccino, otherwise it would have been impossible to live in
Rome.
If nothing occurs to prevent it, I expect to pass the end of next
winter (March and April) in Paris. Will you permit me then to
fill up all the gaps in my correspondence from the Rue d'Anjou?
[Here the Princess lived.] I count always upon your friendly and
indulgent kindness. But shall you extend this so far as to give
me a sign of life before the close of my stay in Italy? I do not
know. In any case, letters addressed poste restante, Florence,
will reach me till the 1st of next September.
I beg you, Madame la Princesse, to accept the expression of my
profound and most devoted respect.
F. Liszt
Albano, June 4th, 1839
Will you be good enough to remember me affectionately to (Madame)
your sister and to Mr. d'Aragon?
19. To Robert Schumann
[From a copy from the Royal Library in Berlin.]
Albano, June 5th, 1839
My dear Monsieur Schumann,
At the risk of appearing very monotonous, I must again tell you
that the last pieces you were so kind as to send me to Rome
appear to me admirable both in inspiration and composition. The
"Fantaisie" dedicated to me is a work of the highest kind--and I
am really proud of the honor you have done me in dedicating to me
so grand a composition.
Op. 17, C dur. With the motto:--
"Durch alle Tone tonet
Im bunten Erdentraum
Ein leiser Ton gezogen
Fur den, der heimlich lauschet."
("Through all the sounds of nature,
In earth's fair dream of joy,
An under-current soundeth
For him whose ears can hear."]
I mean, therefore, to work at it and penetrate it through and
through, so as to make the utmost possible effect with it.
As to the "Kinderscenen," I owe to them one of the greatest
pleasures of my life. You know, or you don't know, that I have a
little girl of three years old, whom everybody agrees in
considering angelic (did you ever hear such a commonplace?). Her
name is Blandine-Rachel, and her surname Moucheron. [Pet name;
literally, "little fly."] It goes without saying that she has a
complexion of roses and milk, and that her fair golden hair
reaches to her feet just like a savage. She is, however, the most
silent child, the most sweetly grave, the most philosophically
gay in the world. I have every reason to hope also that she will
not be a musician, from which may Heaven preserve her!
Well, my dear Monsieur Schumann, two or three times a week (on
fine and good days!) I play your "Kinderscenen" to her in the
evening; this enchants her, and me still more, as you may
imagine, so that often I go over the first repeat twenty times
without going any further. Really I think you would be satisfied
with this success if you could be a witness of it!
I think I have already expressed to you, in one of my former
letters, the desire I felt to see you write some ensemble pieces,
Trios, Quintets, or Septets. Will you pardon me for pressing this
point again? It seems to me that you would be more capable of
doing it than any one else nowadays. And I am convinced that
success, even commercial success, would not be wanting.
If between now and next winter you could complete some ensemble
work, it would be a real pleasure to me to make it known in
Paris, where that sort of composition, when well played, has more
chance of success than you perhaps think. I would even gladly
undertake to find a publisher for it, if you liked, which would
moreover in no wise prevent you from disposing of it for Germany.
In the interim I mean to play in public your "Carnaval," and some
of the "Davidsbundlertanze" and of the "Kinderscenen." The
"Kreisleriana," and the "Fantaisie" which is dedicated to me, are
more difficult of digestion for the public. I shall reserve them
till later.
Up to the present time I only know the following works of
yours:--
Impromptus on a theme by Clara Wieck.
Pianoforte Sonata, dedicated to Clara.
Concerto without orchestra.
"Etudes Symphoniques"
"Davidsbundlertanze"
"Kreisleriana."
"Carnaval."
"Kinderscenen" and my "Fantaisie."
If you would have the kindness to complete your works to me it
would be a great pleasure to me; I should like to have them bound
all together in three or four volumes. Haslinger, on his side,
will send you my Etudes and my other publications as they come
out.
What you tell me of your private life has interested and touched
me deeply. If I could, I know not how, be in the least pleasant
or useful to you in these circumstances, dispose of me as you
will. Whatever happens, count on my absolute discretion and
sincere devotion. If I am not asking too much, tell me if it is
Clara of whom you speak. But if this question should seem to you
misplaced, do not answer it.
Have you met at Leipzig Mr. Frank, [Dr. Hermann Frank edited
Brockhaus' Allgemeine Zeitung for a year.] at the present moment
editor of the Leipzig Allgemeine Zeitung? From the little I know
of him (for he has been much more intimate with Chopin and Hiller
than with me) I think he is capable of understanding you. He has
left a charming impression behind him in Rome. If you see him,
give him my affectionate regards.
My plans remain the same. I still intend to be in Vienna at the
beginning of December, and in Paris at the end of February. I
shall be capable of coming to look you up in Leipzig if you will
let me make the journey from Paris with you. Try! Adieu, my dear
Monsieur Schumann; write soon (address care of Ricordi, Florence:
I shall be in the neighborhood of Lucca till the middle of
September), and depend always on my sincere esteem and lively
affection.
Yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
20. To Breitkopf and Hartel
[Milan, June, 1839]
Gentleman,
About three weeks ago I gave to Mr. Ricordi (who was on his way
to Rome) the proofs of the two Symphonies you addressed to me. I
hope they have reached you by now. Forgive me for having kept
them so long, and also for having corrected them with so much
care. But, firstly, they did not reach me till about the 20th of
February, and then I did not know how to send them to you direct,
for the diligences in this happy country are so insecure. I am
therefore of necessity (though very unwillingly) behindhand.
Allow me to ask you for a second proof (for it is of great
consequence to me that the edition should be as correct as
possible), and this time I will beg you to send me three proofs
of each Symphony, so that I may forward one to Paris and the
other to London. Probably there will not be any more corrections
to make in this second proof, and in that case I will let you
know in two words (without returning your proof), telling you at
the same time the date of publication.
My intention being to visit Vienna, Munich, and perhaps Leipzig
at the beginning of next year (before going to England in the
month of April), I shall take advantage of this opportunity to
let the Symphonies be heard at my concerts, so as to give them a
certain publicity.
I have looked through the Lieder you have been good enough to
send me. I shall certainly do the "Adelaide," however difficult
it may seem to me to transcribe simply and elegantly. As regards
the others, I am afraid I cannot find the necessary time.
Moreover, that good Haslinger overwhelms me with Schubert. I have
just sent him twenty-four more new songs ("Schwanengesang" and
"Winterreise"), and for the moment I am rather tired with this
work.
Would you be so kind as to send me, at the same time with the
proofs of the Beethoven Symphonies, Mr. Mendelssohn's "Preludes
and Fugues"? It is an extremely remarkable work, and it has been
impossible to get it in Italy. I shall be greatly obliged if you
will send it me.
When you see Mr. Schumann please remember me very kindly to him.
I have received the "Fantaisie" which he has done me the honor to
dedicate to me, and the "Kinderscenen." Don't you think you ought
to publish a book of Studies by him? I should be extremely
curious to make acquaintance with them. All his works interest me
in a high degree. It would be difficult for me to say as much of
many of the compositions of my respected colleagues, with some
exceptions.
I beg to remain, Gentlemen,
Yours most sincerely,
F. Liszt
Address the Symphonies to Mr. Ricordi, Florence. From the 15th of
June till the 1st of September I shall be in the neighborhood of
Lucca. Ricordi's address is the safest.
21. To the Beethoven Committee at Bonn
[Printed in L. Ramann's Biography of Liszt, vol. 1]
Gentlemen,
As the subscription for Beethoven's monument is only getting on
slowly, and as the carrying out of this undertaking seems to be
rather far distant, I venture to make a proposal to you, the
acceptance of which would make me very happy. [In Bonn,
Beethoven's birthplace, a committee had been formed to erect a
Beethoven monument. Yet, in spite of the assent which met the
proposal, the contributions flowed in so meagrely--Paris, for
example, contributed only 424 francs 90 centimes--that Liszt, on
reading this in a paper, immediately formed the noble resolution
mentioned in the above letter. "Such a niggardly almsgiving, got
together with such trouble and sending round the hat, must not be
allowed to help towards building our Beethoven's monument!" he
wrote to Berlioz. Thus the German nation has in great measure to
thank Franz Liszt for the monument erected to its greatest
composer at Bonn.]
I offer myself to make up, from my own means, the sum still
wanting for the erection of the monument, and ask no other
privilege than that of naming the artist who shall execute the
work. That artist is Bartolini of Florence, who is universally
considered the first sculptor in Italy.
I have spoken to him about the matter provisionally, and he
assures me that a monument in marble (which would cost about
fifty to sixty thousand francs) could be finished in two years,
and he is ready to begin the work at once. I have the honor to
be, etc.,
Franz Liszt
Pisa, October 3rd, 1839
22. To Count Leo Festetics in Pest
[Printed in F. von Schober's "Letters about Liszt's Sojourn in
Hungary."]
Dear Count,
Shall you like to have me again at Pest this year? I know not. In
any case you are threatened with my presence from the 18th to the
22nd of next December. I shall come to you a little older, a
little more matured, and, permit me to say, more finished an
artist, than I was when you saw me last year, for since that time
I have worked enormously in Italy. I hope you have kept me in
remembrance, and that I may always count on your friendship,
which is dear to me.
What joy, what an immense happiness it will be to be once more in
my own country, to feel myself surrounded by such noble and
vigorous sympathies, which, thank God, I have done nothing to
forfeit in my distant and wandering life. What feelings, what
emotions will then fill my breast! All this, dear Count, I will
not attempt to express to you, for in truth I should not know
how. Let it suffice you to know that the love of my country, of
my chivalrous and grand country, has ever lived most deeply in my
heart; and that, if unhappily it does not seem likely that I can
ever show to my country what a love and devotion I feel for it,
the sentiments will remain none the less unchanged in my heart.
But I will not tire you any longer with myself and my sentiments.
I forgot to tell you that for nearly a week I have been confined
to my bed with a very severe fever, which might easily have
become more serious still. My second concert was obliged to be
put off on account of it. Today my doctor has given me permission
to play on Wednesday. I don't really know whether I shall be able
to do it, for my hand trembles fearfully. Excuse this horrible
writing, but I did want to send you a few words. It is a sort of
anticipation of Pest, which is sweet to me.
A revoir then very soon, dear Count; meanwhile believe me, as
ever, yours most sincerely,
F. Liszt
November 24th, 1839, in bed
23. To Clara Wieck
[The great pianist, afterwards Schumann's wife.]
Pest, December 25th, 1839