having reached the hotel of the Roman Emperor at Frankfort after
forty-eight hours' travelling, and I take the first opportunity
of telling you anew, though not for the last time, how much I
feel the charming and affectionate reception which you have given
me during my too short, and, unhappily for me, too unfortunate
stay at Sedan. Will you, dear Madame, be so kind as to be my
mouthpiece and special pleader to Madame Dumaitre, who has been
so uncommonly kind and cordial to me? Assuredly I could not
confide my cause (bad as it may be) to more delicate hands and to
a more persuasive eloquence, if eloquence only consists in
reality of "the art of saying the right thing, the whole of the
right thing, and nothing but the right thing," as La
Rochefoucauld defined it; a definition from which General Foy
drew a grand burst of eloquence--"The Charter, the whole Charter
(excepting, however, Article 14 and other peccadilloes!), and
nothing but the Charter."
"But don't let us talk politics any longer," as Lablache so
happily remarked to Giulia Grisi, who took it into her head one
fine day to criticize Don Juan!
Let us talk once more of Sedan, and let me again say to you how
happy I should be to be able one day to show those whose
acquaintance I have made through you in what grateful remembrance
I keep it.
Will you, Madame, give my best and most affectionate thanks to M.
Rondonneau, and accept my very respectful and devoted homage?
F. Liszt
Frankfurt, February 11th, 1846
P.S.--Being pressed for time, and owing, perhaps, to a stupid
feeling of delicacy, I came away without paying my doctor.
If you think well, would you be so kind as to credit me with a
napoleon and give it him from me: Madame Kreutzer will be my
banker in Paris. Adieu till we meet again.
48. To Monsieur Grillparzer
[Original, without date, in the possession of the Baroness
Mayrhofer-Grunbuhel at Klagenfurt. It might belong to the year
1846, during which Liszt arranged ten concerts in Vienna, from
March 1st to May 17th, and lived there during a great part of the
summer. From the same year dates a poem of homage to the
incomparable magician of the piano from the great poet. This
slight and unimportant letter is the only one of Liszt's found
among Grillparzer's effects.]
Will you do me the favor, my dear sir, to come and dine, without
ceremony, with several of your friends and admirers on Friday
next at 3 o'clock (at the "Stadt Frankfurt")? I should be very
much gratified at this kindness on your part. M. Bauernfeld leads
me to hope that you will not refuse me. Permit me to think that
he is not mistaken, and allow me to express once more my high
esteem and admiration.
F. Liszt
Tuesday Morning. [1846?]
49. To Franz von Schober, Coucillor of Legation in Weimar
Prague, April 11th, 1846. [According to the postal stamp.]
Dear Friend,
Your commissions have been attended to. The Wartburg has been
sent through Bauernfeld to the Allgemeine, and will, I trust, not
have to warten [Wait; a play on the words Wartburg and warten. A
treatise on the proposed completion of the Wartburg.] too long. I
have sent a second copy of this article to Paris, where it is to
appear in French garb. The report figures already in the Vienna
Theater-Zeitung, a paper with a wide circulation (and none the
better on that account!), where it makes quite a good appearance.
You would get the best connection with Frankfort through O. L. B.
Wolff (and through his medium, which is at any rate an honest and
proper one, with the German Frankfurtes Journal, or the
Oberpostamts-Zeitung, and even with the Didaskalia).
Talk this over with Wolff!
The same with the "illustrated" Leipzig Journal, in which the
article on the Wartburg should appear as soon as possible with an
illustration. Wolff can also arrange that, and in case it were
necessary, why, in Heaven's name, the sketch can be paid for. The
State of Weimar will not be ruined by it. Pereat Philistia and
its powerless foolery!!!
You have only to write a line to Brockhaus, and the columns of
the Deutsche Allgemeine stand open to you. Your personal and
official position in Weimar entitle you to this. Later on, in
passing through Leipzig, you can very easily consolidate this
connection. My stay in Hungary (Pest) will probably be limited to
the first half of May. I shall in any case see Schwab.
"Sardanapalus" [An opera planned by Liszt] (Italian) will most
probably be produced next season (May) in Vienna.
My stay in Weimar this summer...?? [The continuation of the
letter is missing.]
50. To Franz von Schober, Councillor of Legation in Weimar
Castle Gratz (at Prince Lichnowsky's)
May 28th, 1846
You are curious people at Weimar. You stride on towards a
possibility, and as soon as the thing is well in train you take
fright at it! However that may be, here are the instructions I
have received from Paris, and if you still wish an article on the
Wartburg to appear in a French paper you must conform to them,
and therefore send to my mother's address (20, Rue Louis le
Grand) the indispensable little notice.
The note from my Paris correspondent is as follows:--
"The article in its present form would not be suitable for
publication in any French paper; it will be necessary to write
another, explaining in a few words in what and how the Wartburg
is historically interesting to Europe, and why Europe ought to
interest herself in its restoration; then make a short
architectural description of the castle; but above all do not
forget that the article is to be read by Frenchmen, careless of
what is happening in Germany, and utterly ignorant of German
history and legend."
I continue:--
1st.--A short account, historical and legendary, of the Wartburg.
2nd.--How it has been allowed to fall into ruins.
3rd.--How it is to be restored.
Finally, plenty of facts and proper names, as M. de Talleyrand so
well said. Agreed then! As soon as you have got this sketched out
on the lines above mentioned (it will serve also for the
illustrated), send it to my mother by Weyland. My mother will
already know through me to whom she has to give it.
There is nothing to be done with Schwab. His "Delirium" (as I
call it) [It was a "Tellurium"] stood in my room for a week, and
we stood there not knowing what to make of it. But never and no
how could we bring that good Schwab to try to make us see any
basis or proof of his calculation. My opinion is that, in order
to take away the incognito from his discovery, he ought to send a
sample to the Vienna Academy, and two others to the Berlin and
Paris Academies, for trial and discussion. If I can help him in
this matter with letters to Humboldt and Arago I will do it right
gladly; but it is as plain as day that incompetent private
sympathies are of no import in such a sensitive discovery, and
therefore can do nothing. Meanwhile they have made a subscription
of eight hundred guldens in money, and have bought the machine
for the Pest Museum.
The relic with authentic verification is in the locked-up box at
Wolff's. Beg the Herr Librarian (it would really make me ill if
he is not appointed) to be so good as to find this relic--he will
have no difficulty in recognising it--and to send it me to
Haslinger's address, Graben, Vienna.
About my law-suit more anon in Weimar. Meanwhile thank my
excellent advocate (does he take snuff?) warmly, and beg him to
continue to keep me in his good graces.
If I know that it will be agreeable to his Grace [The former
Hereditary Grand Duke and present Grand Duke of Saxony.] to see
me in Weimar this summer, I shall come, in spite of the upset
which this journey will occasion to me. You know how I am,
heartily and personally, in his favor without any interest. I
should like also to tell him many things, and for this a stay
there in the summer with walks (which as a rule I can't abide, as
you know) would be pleasanter and more convenient.
My stay in Pest might bear serious fruit, were it not that the
Byronic element, which you combat in me, becomes ever more and
more predominant.
Farewell and work hard! I cannot arrange any meeting with you. I
am not my own master. In August I mean to make a peregrination to
Oedenburg, and thence to Leo and Augusz (the latter in Szegzard).
If I come to Weimar it will be in July.
Address always to Haslinger's.
Adieu, my dear excellent Schober. Remain as good to me as you are
dear!
Yours ever affectionately,
F. Liszt
Remember me most kindly to Ziegesar and Wolff.
51. To Alexander Seroff
[Russian musical critic and composer (1820-71)]
I am most grateful, my dear sir, for the kind remembrance you
keep of me since Petersburg, [Seroff was at that time in the
Crimea.] and I beg you to excuse me a thousand times for not
having replied sooner to your most charming and interesting
letter. As the musical opinions on which you are kind enough to
enlarge have for long years past been completely my own, it is
needless for me to discuss them today with you. There could, at
most, be only one point in which we must differ perceptibly, but
as that one point is my own simple individuality you will quite
understand that I feel much embarrassed with my subject, and that
I get out of it in the most ordinary manner, by thanking you very
sincerely for the too flattering opinion that you have formed
about me.
The Overture to "Coriolanus" is one of those masterpieces sui
generis, on a solid foundation, without antecedent or sequel in
analogous works. Does it remind you of Shakespeare's exposition
of the tragedy of the same name (Act i., Scene I)? It is the only
pendant to it that I know in the productions of human genius.
Read it again, and compare it as you are thinking of it. You are
worthy of those noble emotions of Art, by the fervent zeal with
which you worship its creed. Your piano score of the Overture to
Coriolanus does all honor to your artist conscience, and shows a
rare and patient intelligence which is indispensable to bringing
this task to a satisfactory end. If I should publish my version
of the same Overture (it must be among my papers in Germany) I
shall beg your permission to send you, through Prince Dolgorouki
[Prince Argontinski-Dolgorouki, a devoted lover of music. A
friend of Liszt's: had rich property in the Crimea.] (I can't
tell you half the good I think of him), an annotated copy, which
I will beg you to add to the insignificant autograph which you
really estimate too highly in attaching so affectionate a price
to it! Accept once more, my dear sir, my most affectionate
regards.
F. Liszt
Elisabethgrad, September 14th. 1847
52. To Carl Haslinger in Vienna
[The original (without address) in the possession of M. Alfred
Bovet at Valentigney.--There is no doubt that it was written to
the above music publisher (son of the well-known Tobias H.), who
was a pupil of Czerny, and at the same time a pianist and
composer (1816-68), and friend of Liszt]
Woronino, December 19th, 1847
My dear Karolus,
I am delighted to hear from you of the arrival of my box from
Galatz. Will you be so good as to send it off speedily and safely
to Weymar, so that I may find it when I arrive there (at the end
of this month)? and, as I am away, address it to M. le Baron de
Ziegesar, Chamberlain to H.R.H. the Hereditary Grand Duchess. Beg
Lowy to take the same opportunity of sending me the other boxes
belonging to me, which remained behind, whether with him or
elsewhere, to my Weymar address, unless he prefers to bring them
with him when he comes to see me.
In my last letter to my uncle I gave him a commission for you--
namely, to beg you to send me the Melodies and Rhapsodies
Hongroises complete; also the Schwanengesang and the Winterreise
(transcriptions), large size edition, made into a book. As you
have had some proofs made of my new Rhapsodies, make up a parcel
of it all, which will be an agreeable surprise to me on my
arrival.
I have worked pretty well these last two months, between two
cigars in the morning, at several things which do not displease
me; but I want to go back to Germany for some weeks in order to
put myself in tune with the general tone, and to recreate myself
by the sight and hearing of the wonderful things produced there
by...Upon my word I don't know by whom in particular, if not the
whole world in general.
If you want me to...[editor's note: impossible to decipher this
word in Liszt's original letter] anything for you, tell me, and
give me your ideas as to cut and taste.
Send me also the Schumann Opus (Kreisleriana, etc.) published by
yourself and Mechetti, together with Bach's six Pedal Fugues, in
which I wish to steep myself more fully. If the three Sonnets
(both voice and pianoforte editions) are already re-corrected,
kindly send me also an author's copy.
Adieu, dear Karolus. I commend my box to you, and commend myself
to you also
As your sincere friend,
F. Liszt
I need not say that of course you shall be repaid immediately for
sending the box--only hurry on the sending.
Best regards to your wife.
Lowy will tell you what I wish in regard to the credit for my
uncle Eduard.
53. To The Hochwohlgeboren Herr Baron von Dornis, Jena.
[Autograph in the possession of Herr C. Geibel, bookseller in
Leipzig.--The addressee was a sculptor.]
The confidence which you place in me, most esteemed Herr Baron,
is naturally very flattering; but in order to meet it according
to your wishes, I ought to have quite other means at my disposal
than those I have.
It would of course be very gratifying to me to possess one of
your valued works; yet I cannot help taking this opportunity of
remarking that, in view of the far too many busts, medallions,
statuettes, caricatures, medals, and portraits of all kinds
existing of my humble self, I long ago resolved not to give
occasion to any further multiplication of them.
Accept, esteemed Herr Baron, my expressions of great regret that
I cannot meet your kind proposal as you wish, and with the
assurance of my highest esteem,
Believe me yours very truly,
F. Liszt
Weymar, March 6th, 1848
54. To Franz von Schober, Councillor of Legation at Weimar.
Castle Gratz, April 22nd, 1848.
My Dear and Honored Friend,
Your dear letter has brought me still nearer to you in the crisis
of the estro poetico, which the "Hungaria" [One of Liszt's
symphonic poems.] brought forth in me; and, thanks to this good
influence, I hope you will not be dissatisfied with the
composition.
Since my Beethoven Cantata I have written nothing so striking and
so spontaneous. One of these next days the instrumentation will
be completed, and when we have an opportunity we can have it
performed in Weimar in your honor and that of "Weimar's dead."
[Refers to a poem entitled "Weimar's Todten."]
Regardless of the blocking of the Russian frontier the Princess
Wittgenstein has safely passed through Radziwillow and Brody with
a special official outrider, and established herself at Castle
Gratz four days ago with her very charming and interesting
daughter. As it is still somewhat early for the German bath
season, I should like to persuade her to spend a couple of weeks
in Weimar before her Carlsbad "cure" (which, alas! is very
necessary for her). If my wishes should be successful I shall
arrive at Weimar between the 10th and 15th of May, in order to
prepare a suitable house or suite of apartments for the Princess.
I should be so pleased if you had an opportunity of getting to
know the P. W. She is without doubt an uncommonly and thoroughly
brilliant example of soul and mind and understanding (with
immense esprit as well).
It won't take you long to understand that henceforth I can dream
of very little personal ambition and future wrapped up in myself.
In political relations serfdom may have an end, but the dominion
of one soul over another in the region of spirit, is not that
indestructible?...You, my dear, honored friend, will assuredly
not answer this question with a negative.
In three weeks I hope we shall see each other again. Be so good
as to present my respects to our young Duke. What you tell me of
him pleases me. As soon as possible you shall hear more, and more
fully, from me, but do not write to me till then, as my address
meanwhile will be very uncertain. But continue to love me, as I
love and honor you.
F. Liszt
55. To Bernhard Cossmann in Baden-Baden
[The addressee became in 1850 solo-violoncellist and chamber
virtuoso in Weimar, and, later, in Moscow, and has been, since
1878, a Professor at the Hoch Conservatorium at Frankfort-on-
Maine.]
Circumstances! Conditions! My dear sir, these are now the very
ceremonious expressions and excuses of theatrical and directorial
beings. Unfortunately that is the case here too, although our
dear Weymar continuing free, not only from the real cholera, but
also from the slighter, but somewhat disagreeable, periodical
political cholerina, may peacefully dream by its elm,
yet...yet...I am sorry to say I am obliged not to answer your
kind letter affirmatively. Should circumstances and conditions,
however, turn out as I wish, then the Weymar band would consider
it an honor and a pleasure to possess you, my dear sir, as soon
as possible as one of its members.
Meanwhile accept the assurance of high regard of yours very
sincerely,
F. Liszt
Weymar, September 18th, 1848
56. To Carl Reinecke
[The present conductor of the Gewandhaus Concerts in Leipzig
(born 1824), and celebrated composer, pianist, and conductor]
Dear Sir,
Your kind letter has given me much pleasure, and the prospect
which you hold out to me, of seeing you soon again at Weymar, is
very agreeable to me. But come soon, and if possible for a few
days; I on my side shall certainly do all I can to prolong your
stay here and make it seem short to you. The promised Concerto
interests me keenly; it will be sure to give us ample material
for musical talks, and perhaps after many a talk we shall set to
work again and both write a new Concerto.
Would not the best results of criticism altogether be to incite
to new creation?
However that may be, do not put off too long taking up your
quarters at the Erbprinz, and rest assured that your visit is
much desired by me.
Yours very sincerely,
F. Liszt
Weymar, March 25th, 1849
My very best thanks for the splendid stuff for the coat, which
will give me quite an important, well-to-do, stately appearance!
57. To Count Sandor Teleky(?)
[The original (without address) in the possession of Count Albert
Amadei in Vienna.--The recipient of this letter was presumably
Count Teleky, a friend of Liszt's, who often accompanied the
latter on his triumphal European journeys, and who was himself an
active musician and literary man. He died in June, 1892.]
I have to give you threefold thanks, dear Count, and I feel that
I can undisguisedly do so! Your verses, in addition to your prose
and music, are three times welcome to me at Weymar, and the
Fantaisie dedicated to the royal hours of leisure of H.R.H. has
also charmed my leisure hours, as rare as they are modest.
If it would not be a trouble to you to come to Weymar, it would
be most kind of you to give us the pleasure of your company for a
day or two during our theatrical season, which concludes on the
15th of June. We could then chat and make music at our ease (with
or without damages, ad libitum), and if the fantasy took us, why
should we not go to some new Fantasie of leisure on the "Traum-
lied (dream song) of Tony, [No doubt meaning Baron Augusz,
Liszt's intimate friend at Szegzard, who died in 1878.] for
instance, at the hour when our peaceable inhabitants are
sleeping, dreaming, or thinking of nothing? We two should at
least want to make a pair.
May I beg you, dear Count, to recall me most humbly to the
indulgent remembrance of your charming and witty neighbor
[Nachbarin, feminine.] of the Erbprinz, and accept once more my
most cordial expressions for yourself?
F. Liszt
Weymar, May 5th, 1849
58. To Belloni(?)
[The letter written apparently to Belloni (who has already been
mentioned) was, like the present one, published by Wilhelm
Tappert, in a German translation and in an incomplete form, in
the Neue Musik-Zeitung (Cologne, Tonger) of October 1st, 1881.
The editor unfortunately could not obtain possession of it
complete and in the original. According to Tappert, a Belgian
musical paper pronounced it spurious, for reasons unknown to the
former.]
Weimar, May 14th, 1849
Dear B.,
Richard Wagner, a Dresden conductor, has been here since
yesterday. That is a man of wonderful genius, such a brain-
splitting genius indeed as beseems this country,--a new and
brilliant appearance in Art. Late events in Dresden have forced
him to a decision in the carrying out of which I am firmly
resolved to help him with all my might. When I have had a long
talk with him, you shall hear what we have devised and what must
also be thoroughly realized. In the first place we want to create
a success for a grand, heroic, enchanting musical work, the score
of which was completed a year ago. [Lohengrin.] Perhaps this
could be done in London? Chorley, [Chorley (1808-72) had
considerable influence in London as author, critic, and writer in
the Athenoeum.] for instance, might be very helpful to him in
this undertaking. If Wagner next winter could go to Paris backed
up by this success, the doors of the Opera would stand open to
him, no matter with what he might knock. It is happily not
necessary for me to go into long further discussions with you;
you understand, and must learn whether there is at this moment in
London an English theater (for the Italian Opera would not help
our friend!), and whether there is any prospect that a grand and
beautiful work from a master hand could have any success there.
[It was not in London, but in Weimar, as is well known, that the
first performance of "Lohengrin" took place (on August 28th,
1850). It was not until twenty-five years later that London made
acquaintance with Wagner's work on the stage, in the Italian
Opera and with Nicolini in the title-role; and the composer
himself heard it for the first time in Vienna on May 15th, 1861.]
Let me have an answer to this as quickly as possible. Later on--
that is, about the end of the month--Wagner will pass through
Paris. You will see him, and he will talk with you direct about
the tendency and expansion of the whole plan, and will be
heartily grateful for every kindness. Write soon and help me as
ever. It is a question of a noble end, toward the fulfillment of
which everything must tend.
59. To Carl Reinecke
Weymar, May 30th, 1849
Thank you much, dear M. Reinecke, for your welcome lines, and I
am glad to hope that you are happily arrived at Bremen, which
ought to be proud to possess you. The musical taste of that town
has always been held up to me, and I feel assured that the
inhabitants will have the good taste to appreciate you at your
full value, and that you will create a good and fine position for
yourself there without many obstacles.
Wagner, who will probably be obliged to lose his post at Dresden
in consequence of recent events, has been spending some days with
me here. Unluckily the news of the warrant against him arrived
the day of the performance of "Tannhauser", which prevented him
from being present. By this time he must have arrived in Paris,
where he will assuredly find a more favorable field for his
dramatic genius. With the aid of success he will end, as I have
often said, by being acknowledged as a great German composer in
Germany, on condition that his works are first heard in Paris or
London, following the example of Meyerbeer, to say nothing of
Gluck, Weber, and Handel!
Wagner expressed his regret to me that he had not been able to
send a better reply to the few lines of introduction which I had
given you for him. If ever you should be in the same place with
him do not fail to go and see him for me, and you may be sure of
being well received.
I am very much obliged to you for having spoken of me to Schumann
in such a manner as he at least ought to think of me. It
interested me much to make acquaintance with his composition of
the epilogue to "Faust". If he publishes it I shall try to have
it performed here, either at the Court or at the theater. In
passing lately through Frankfort I had a glance at the score of
"Genoveva", a performance of which had been announced to me at
Leipzig for the middle of May at latest. I am very much afraid
that Schumann will have a struggle with the difficulties and
delays which usually occur in trying to get any lofty work
performed. One would say that a bad fairy, in order sometimes to
counterbalance the works of genius, gives a magic success to the
most vulgar works and presides over the propagation of them,
favoring those whom inspiration has disdained, in order to push
its elect into the shade. That is no reason for discouragement,
for what matters the sooner or the later?
A thousand thanks for your exact and obliging packet of cigars.
If you should have the opportunity of sending me some samples of
a kind neither too thin nor too light, at about twenty to twenty-
five thalers the thousand, I shall willingly give an order for
some, which might be followed by a larger order.