them will appear in the course of the winter ("Tasso"--the
"Preludes"--"Orphee"--"Mazeppa" will be printed first) under the
title of "Poemes Symphoniques."
I won't write to Escudiers--it will be enough if you let them
know of my good intentions in regard to them. You know that I am
overdone with correspondence, and, unless it is absolutely
necessary for me to write, I abstain from it, so as not to
interrupt my work of composition, which is my first raison
d'etre.
123. To Eduard Liszt in Vienna
What affliction and what desolation, my very dear friend! [Eduard
Liszt, then member of the provincial Court of Justice in the
Civil Senate, had lost his wife from cholera.] Alas! in trials
such as these even the sympathy felt by those who are nearest to
us can do but little to alleviate the overwhelming weight of the
cross which we have to bear. And yet I wish to tell you that in
these days of sorrow my heart is near to yours, sympathizing with
your suffering, and trusting that "the peace of the Lord," that
peace which the world can neither give nor take away, may sustain
you.
Ever yours,
F. Liszt
October 10th, 1854
P.S.--Try to come and see me soon!
124. To Anton Rubinstein
Weimar, October 19th, 1854
Schott makes me ashamed, my dear Rubinstein. Here come the new
proofs of the "Kamenoi-Ostrow," [Rubinstein had written a number
of short pianoforte pieces named after the Emperor's summer
residence near St. Petersburg.] which he addresses to me for you,
and I have not yet sent you the previous ones! To excuse myself I
must tell you that I am frightfully busy (especially at the
theater), and that I did not want to put the proofs in a wrapper
without writing and thanking you for your charming and clever
letter from Leipzig. Well, here is the whole packet at last,
which you can send direct to Schott. Nevertheless, I am in your
debt for the carriage (which please beg Redslob to put to my
account), and for ten crowns which I borrowed from you at the
railway. As you are coming back here at the beginning of November
we shall have plenty of time to settle these little matters.
The rehearsals of your "Chasseurs de Siberie" begin in the course
of next week. You may trust in my zeal, and be assured that your
work will be suitably prepared. I only beg you to be here about
the 4th November, in order to give us your own ideas at the final
rehearsals. If you decidedly prefer to be a spectator at the
performance, I will willingly conduct the work--but perhaps at
the general rehearsals the fancy may take you to mount the
conductor's chair, as I proposed to you at first: whatever you
definitely decide in this matter will only be agreeable to me.
Therefore just do as you generally do, I beg you, without
ceremony or bother of any kind.
How do you find yourself as regards the musical atmosphere of
Leipzig? Has your "Ocean" obtained the suffrages of the Areopagus
which must be its first judge? At which Gewandhaus Concert will
Mr. Van II. be heard? If you already know anything positive as to
your debuts in Leipzig, write it to me, with a continuation of
the commentaries which amused me so much in your former letter.
We have nothing of special news here which can interest you.
Madame Wagner returns to Weymar the day after tomorrow, and next
Sunday "Lohengrin" will be given. The Wednesday after that a new
singer (Mdlle. Stoger, the daughter of the director at Prague),
who possesses a beautiful voice and appears to be highly endowed,
will make her debut in "Lucrezia Borgia." On the 24th October I
expect Madame Schumann, whom you will already have seen and heard
at Leipzig. When you have an opportunity please tell her not to
delay her journey to Weymar, for I have made all the arrangements
with Mr. de Beaulieu, etc., from the 24th to the 26th, for the
Court Concert and for the one which will take place at the
theater in her honor.
My "Faust" is finished, and I am going to give it to the copyist
in a couple of days. I am very curious to make acquaintance with
yours, and to see in how far the beaux-esprits differ whilst
meeting on common ground! Your "murrendos" at Leipzig will have
proved favorable to your conversations with the Muse, and I look
forward to a fine Symphony. A revoir then, dear friend; on the
4th November, or the 5th at latest, we have the first performance
of an unpublished tragedy, "Bernhard von Weymar," for which Raff
has written a grand Overture and a March, and on the following
days your general rehearsals.
Yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
125. To Dr. Franz Brendel
[Beginning of November, 1854]
Dear Friend,
Pohl's article on Lieder und Spruche, etc. (Songs and Sayings),
appears to me to be of general interest to the public--therefore
I begged you to put it in your paper.
Touching what you have reserved of Raff's, I am quite of opinion
that you should also make room for him in his critical
examinations of the Minnesingers. [The German poet-singers of the
Middle Ages.] The ground is an interesting and attractive one--
and if a rather warm discussion should ensue later on between
Raff and Pohl, the field of the Minnegesang (love-song) is by far
the most agreeable for both, as well as the more entertaining for
your readers. Ergo, put Pohl's article into your next number.
Raff can then spring his mines in honor of the Minnegesang when
he pleases. This may make a quite pleasant and harmless joke--
perchance a crown of lilies will mingle with it in the end and
shape the affair into a University concern...Your paper, in any
case, will not suffer. Therefore set to work and go through with
it!
In Bussenius [Bussenius, under the pseudonym W. Neumann,
published the set of biographies "The Composers of Recent Times"
(Balde, Cassel).] you have rightly found the man of whom I
previously foretold you somewhat. I think that by the New Year he
will settle at Gotha, and carry on there with his firm (Balde)
greater literary and publishing undertakings. Meanwhile don't
speak of this. When the outlook is more certain, and things are
favorably settled, I will tell you more.
I gladly accept your friendly invitation to write an article for
your New Year's number. In the course of the next few days you
will receive the article on Clara Schumann, and shortly
afterwards the second half of "Robert Schumann."
Cornelius has been rather unwell for several days, which has
delayed the translation. [Peter Cornelius translated the articles
written in French by Liszt--with the collaboration of the
Princess Wittgenstein--for the Neue Zeitschrift; those which are
published in vols. iii. to v. of the "Gesammelte Schriften."]
Will you, dear friend, be so good as to give my special thanks to
Herr Klitzsch for his article in today's number? By the favorable
manner in which he enters into the intentions of my Mass, and the
artistic sympathy he shows for my endeavour, he has given me a
very great pleasure. Probably a good opportunity will present
itself, later on, for me to undertake a further work in the
religious style, as I feel and conceive it, by the composition of
a "Missa Solemnis" for mixed chorus and orchestra...For the
present I cannot, however, occupy myself with this; but
aufgeschoben soll nicht aufgehoben heissen. [A German proverb--
"Put off is not given up."]
When I come to Leipzig I shall have the pleasure of calling on
Klitzsch and giving him my best thanks in person. If you think I
ought to write him a few lines before then, let me know.
Litolff was here several days, and we have come nearer together
both from a friendly and an artistic standpoint. His fourth
Concerto (Conzert-Symphonie) is a marked advance on the previous
ones. He played this, as well as the third Concerto, the day
before yesterday, in a truly masterly and electric, living
manner. Frau Dr. Steche will have told you about it. Perhaps in
your next number you will put in a short appreciative notice of
Litolfff's appearance here.
Rubinstein left for Leipzig at midday today. The performance of
his Symphony ["Ocean"; given for the first time, November 16th,
1854, at the Gewandhaus Concert for the Poor.] is fixed for the
16th at the Gewandhaus, and later on he will also appear as a
pianist. Hartel, Hofmeister, and Schott have already taken about
thirty of his manuscripts, which is about the smaller half of his
portfolio!--
About the Berlin "Tannhauser" affair I cannot for the moment say
more than that I have always made Wagner feel perfectly at
liberty to put me on one side, and to manage the matter himself,
according to his own wishes, without me. But so long as he gives
me his confidence as a friend, it is my duty to serve him as a
discreet friend--and this I cannot do otherwise than by giving no
ear to transactions of that kind, and letting people gossip as
much as they like. Don't say anything more about it for the
present in your paper. The matter goes deeper than many
inexperienced friends of Wagner's imagine. I will explain it to
you more clearly by word of mouth. Meanwhile I remain passive--
for which Wagner will thank me later on.
Yours most truly,
F. Liszt
N. B.--Pohl wishes his Minnesinger article not to be signed with
the name Hoplit, but with the letters R. P., when it appears in
your paper.
126. To Anton Rubinstein
Your "Dialogue Dramatique" a propos of your "Ocean" is a little
chef-d'oeuvre, and I shall keep it, in order, later on, to put it
at the disposal of some future Lenz, who will undertake your
Catalogue and the analysis of the three styles of Van II. We
laughed with all our hearts, a deux, in the little blue room of
the Altenburg, and we form the most sincere wishes that Gurkhaus,
[Principal of the music firm F. Kistner in Leipzig.] the deus ex
machine, may have come to put you out of the uncomfortable state
of suspense in which the Gewandhaus public did you the honor to
leave you. To tell the truth, this decrescendo of applause, at
the third movement of your Symphony, surprises me greatly, and I
would have wagered without hesitation that it would be the other
way. A great disadvantage for this kind of composition is that,
in our stupid musical customs, often very anti-musical, it is
almost impossible to appeal to a badly informed public by a
second performance immediately after the first; and at Leipzig,
as elsewhere, one only meets with a very small number of people
who know how to apply cause and effect intelligently and
enthusiastically to a piece out of the common, and signed with
the name of a composer who is not dead. Moreover I suspect that
your witty account is tainted with a species of modesty, and I
shall wait, like the general public, for the accounts in the
newspapers in order to form an opinion of your success. Whatever
may come of it, and however well or ill you are treated by the
public or criticism, my appreciation of the value that I
recognize in your works will not vary, for it is not without a
well-fixed criterion, quite apart from the fashion of the day,
and the high or low tide of success, that I estimate your
compositions highly, finding much to praise in them, except the
reservation of some criticisms which almost all sum up as
follows--that your extreme productiveness has not as yet left you
the necessary leisure to imprint a more marked individuality on
your works, and to complete them. For, as it has been very justly
said, it is not enough to do a thing, but it must be completed.
This said and understood, there is no one who admires more than I
do your remarkable and abundant faculties, or who takes a more
sincere and friendly interest in your work. You know that I have
set my mind upon your "Ocean" being given here, and I shall beg
you also to give us the pleasure of playing one of your
Concertos. In about ten days I will write and tell you the date
of the first concert of our orchestra.
Meanwhile your "Chasseurs de Siberie" will be given again on
Wednesday next (the 22nd). I will tell Cornelius to give you
tidings of it, unless the fancy takes you to come and hear it, in
order to make a diversion from your "Voix interieures" [internal
voices] of Leipzig.
Write to me soon, my dear Van II., and believe me wholly your
very affectionate and devoted friend,
F. Liszt
November 19th, 1854
127. To Dr. Franz Brendel
Dear Friend,
Kahnt [The subsequent publisher, for many years, of the Neue
Zeitschrift.] is only known to me by name, as an active and not
too moderately Philistine publisher. Personally I have never met
him, and therefore I cannot give a decided opinion as to his
fitness and suitability for the post of publisher of the Neue
Zeitschrift--yet, on the grounds you give me, it seems quite
right. Nothing is to be expected from Bussenius until he has made
a firm footing at Gotha, which can only come to pass in the
course of the next months; besides this, he has such gigantic
plans for his new establishment in Gotha that the affairs of the
Neue Zeitschrift might be left somewhat in the background. I
entirely agree with you on this point, that you cannot put the
Neue Zeitschrift in the market and offer it to just any publisher
who has shown himself up to now hostile to our tendencies. To do
such a thing as that could never lead to a satisfactory result. I
would, however, remark that the next few years will probably set
our party more firmly on their legs; the invalidity of our
opponents vouches pretty surely for that, apart from the fact,
which is nevertheless the principal point, that powerful talent
is developing in our midst, and many others who formerly stood
aloof from us are drawing near to us and agreeing with us.
Consequently it seems to me that it is not to your interest to
conclude at once a contract for too many years with Kahnt,
unless, which is scarcely likely, he were to make you such an
offer that you would be satisfied with it under the most
favorable conditions. If Kahnt shows the necessary perception and
will for the matter, try to get him to have a consultation with
me about it at Weymar. As he is also a music publisher I could
tell him some things, and make others plainer, which would not be
without interest to him. He need not be afraid that I shall
belabor him with manuscripts or urge him to untimely or useless
sacrifices...(I need not waste more words over the purity of my
intentions!) But I think it is desirable that, if Kahnt consents
to become editor of the Neue Zeitschrift, I should put him on his
guard about several things beforehand which do not come exactly
within the sphere of your activity, but which may essentially
help to the better success of the undertaking. A couple of hours
will be ample for it, and as I shall not be absent from Weymar
during the coming weeks Kahnt will find me any day. Perhaps it
could be arranged for you to come to Weymar with him for a day,
and then we three can make matters perfectly clear and
satisfactory.
Although it is very difficult to me to make time for the more
necessary things, yet I am quite at your service with a short
article for the trial-number on Wagner's "Rheingold." I had
arranged the article so as to do for the New Year's number--you
shall have it in four to five days. Dispose of it as suits you
best. In case the "Clara Schumann" article does not appear in the
next number of the paper, and we do not have to wait too long for
the trial-number, it would be well perhaps to put it in there.
Possibly it might also be reprinted in the trial-number.
I am glad that you, dear friend, after some "jerks and wrenches,"
have come together again with the pseudo-Musician of the Future,
Rubinstein. He is a clever fellow, possessed of talent and
character in an exceptional degree, and therefore no one can be
more just to him than I have been for years. Still I do not want
to preach to him--he may sow his wild oats and fish deeper in the
Mendelssohn waters, and even swim away if he likes. But sooner or
later I am certain he will give up the apparent and the
formalistic for the organically Real, if he does not want to
stand still. Give him my most friendly greetings; as soon as our
concert affairs are settled here I shall write and invite him to
give one of his orchestral works here.
Do not let yourself be grieved at the ever-widening schism in
Leipzig about which you write to me. We have nothing to lose by
it; we must only understand how to assert our full rights in
order to attain them. That is the task, which will not be
accomplished in a day nor in a year. Indeed, it is as it is
written in the Gospel, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the
laborers are few!" Therefore we are not to make ourselves over-
anxious--only to remain firm, again to remain firm--the rest will
come of itself!--
I will do my utmost for Fraulein Riese, [Pianoforte teacher in
Leipzig, who for years went every Sunday to Weimar to study with
Liszt; died 1860] that she may not repent the somewhat trying
journey. It is a splendid and plucky determination of hers to
come regularly to Weymar, and I hope she will gain thereby much
pleasure and satisfaction.
Nauenburg's proposal of a Tonkunstler-Versammlung (meeting of
musicians) in Weymar is very flattering to me; the same was
written to me from several other sides. Hitherto I have always
abstained from it, because I thought it was more prudent not to
sell the bear's skin before the bear is shot. Moreover the
ordinary fine talk without deeds ["much cry and little wool"] is
very distasteful to me: let friend Kuhmstedt [Professor at a
school, and Music Director at Eisenach; died 1858] sing that kind
of philosophical fiortures in Eisenach; I have no talent for it.
None the less we can return to the Nauenburg proposition at a
convenient opportunity, and see how it could be best carried out.
According to my opinion, Leipzig would be the most suitable
place--and the summer a good time for it.
I consider Raff's polemic entirely harmless. Your readers will
get a lesson in history from it, for which they can but be
grateful to you--and we need not be anxious about Pohl. It will
not puzzle him to eat his way out suitably and wittily.
Yours ever,
F. Liszt December 1st, 1854
128. To J.W. von Wasielewski in Bonn
[Formerly Conductor of the Town Vocal-Union at Bonn (born 1822),
afterwards at Dresden; then again in Bonn as Music Director, and
living since 1884 in Sondershausen. Widely known as a literary
man through his biographies of Schumann and Beethoven, and also
through his book "The Violin and its Masters," etc.]
Dear Friend,
Owing to the somewhat long detour of the "Pesther Lloyd," in
which the friendly lines of remembrance have been reprinted which
you dedicated to the "Altenburg" in the Cologne paper, I only
heard of these a few days ago. [Written on the occasion of a
week's visit to Liszt at the Altenburg at Weimar, at which time
A. Rubinstein was also the Master's guest.] Please therefore to
excuse the delay in my thanks, which are none the less sincere
and heartfelt.
I have heard many accounts of your most successful concert
performances in Bonn, all of which unite in giving you due praise
for your excellent conducting. At the beginning of January
concert affairs here, which have hitherto been in a vacillating
and fluctuating condition, owing to various local circumstances,
will take a more settled turn; I will send you the complete
programme shortly. By today's post you will receive the "Songs
and Sayings" from the last period of the "Minnesang," arranged
for four voices by W. Stade (of Jena). It is an interesting work,
and the editors would be very much indebted to you if you would
have the kindness to give a couple of numbers of them at your
concerts. The little pieces make quite a pretty effect, and one
peculiar to themselves, which will prove still more intense with
the beautiful Rhine Voices. Perhaps you would also find time and
inclination to make the public favorably disposed towards the
work by a few lines in the Cologne paper.
How is Hiller? Has his "Advocate" [an opera, "The Advocate." It
had no success, and was publicly ridiculed at the Cologne
Carnival.] won his requisite suit, as I wish from my heart may be
the case? It would be very kind of you to let me know your plain,
unvarnished opinion of the performance. I should like to
recommend an early performance of the opera in Weymar if Hiller
has nothing against it. As you frequently have occasion to see
Hiller I beg you to ask him whether it would be agreeable to him
to send me the text-book and the score, so that I may make the
proposal to the management to give the opera here very soon.--
Should the matter be then so arranged that he himself conducts
the first performance I should be very glad indeed, and I will
write to him more fully about it.
The opera Repertoire here will be rather at a stand-still this
winter. Frau von Milde is in an interesting condition:
consequently there can be no Wagner operas from three to four
months; for Frau von Milde is for us, and for these operas in
particular, not to be replaced. Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini"
must also be left unperformed; all the more because Beck, the
tenor, has entirely lost his upper notes, and is less able than
ever to sing the part of Cellini. But Berlioz will come here in
January to conduct his oratorio "L'Enfance du Christ," etc.
(German translation by Cornelius), and his "Faust." I on my side
have also finished my "Faust Symphony" (in three parts--without
text or voice). The entity or non-entity has become very long,
and I shall in any case have the nine "Symphonic Poems" printed
and performed first, before I set "Faust" going, which may not be
for another year. Rubinstein's "Ocean Symphony" is to figure in
one of our next programmes. If it were not the rule to keep these
concerts exclusively instrumental, I should have begged Hiller
for his "Loreley." Probably a good opportunity will occur for
giving this work when he himself comes to Weymar, as he promised
me he would do.
Joachim sent me, together with his Hamlet Overture, which is in
print, two others--to "Demetrius" (by Hermann Grimm), and to
"Henry IV." (of Shakespeare)--two remarkable scores composed with
lion's claws and lion's jaws!--
Have you any news of Schumann? Give me some good tidings of his
recovery. "Genoveva" will be given here in April at latest.--
Once more best thanks, dear friend, for the very pleasant days
you gave us here, which the inhabitants of the Altenburg most
agreeably remember; they send you most friendly greetings. I have
not forgotten about the Weimar orchestra matter--a half-prospect
has already appeared of realizing my wish, which is in accord
with your own. I cannot help, however, always doubting whether it
will be for your advantage to exchange Bonn for Weymar, for your
position in Bonn appears to me to offer you decidedly improving
chances from year to year, and in these regions so much is
wanting...that I am constrained to be satisfied with small
things. Well, what must be will be. Meanwhile keep in kind
remembrance
Yours in sincere friendship,
F. Liszt
Weymar, December 14th, 1854
129. To William Mason in New York
[A pupil of Liszt's, born 1828 at Boston, esteemed as a first-
rate piano virtuoso in America]
My dear Mason,
Although I do not know at what stage of your brilliant artistic
peregrinations these lines will find you, yet I want you to know
that I am most sincerely and affectionately obliged to you for
the kind remembrance you keep of me, and of which the papers you
send me give such good testimony. "The Musical Gazette" of New
York, in particular, has given me a real satisfaction, not only
on account of the personally kind and flattering things it
contains about me, but also because that paper seems to ingraft a
superior and excellent direction on to opinion in your country.