The Roman candle has attracted many spiritual moths. Goethe, Humboldt,
Platen, Winckelmann, Thorwaldsen, Gregorovius and Liszt--to mention only
the first at hand--fluttered to Rome and ascribe to it much of their
finer productivity. For Franz Liszt it was a loadstone of double
power--the ideality of the place attracted him and its religion anchored
his spiritual restlessness.
Liszt liked a broad soul-margin to his life. Heine touched on this side
of Liszt's character when he wrote of him: "Speculation has the greatest
fascination for him; and still more than with the interests of his art
is he engrossed with all manner of rival philosophical investigations
which are occupied with the solution of all great questions of heaven
and earth. For long he was an ardent upholder of the beautiful
Saint-Simonian idea of the world. Later the spiritualistic or rather
vaporous thoughts of Ballanche enveloped him in their midst; now he is
enthusiastic over the Republican-Catholic dogmas of a Lamennais who has
hoisted his Jacobin cap on the cross.... Heaven knows in what mental
stall he will find his next hobby-horse!" This was written in 1837, and
only two years afterward Liszt paid his first visit to Rome.
Based on letters and diaries of Liszt, Gregorovius, Ad. Stahr, Fanny
Lewald, W. Allmers, Cardinal Wiseman, Jul. Schnorr von Carolsfeld, and
Eugen Segnitz, a study of Franz Liszt in Rome may be made.
The time spent in the Eternal City was unquestionably an important one
in Liszt's life and worthy of the detailed attention given it. Rome in
1839 presented a contradictory picture. Contrasted to the pomp of the
Vatican were the unprincipled conditions of the city itself. Bands of
robbers infested it and the surroundings, making it as unsafe as an
English highway during the glorious but rather frisky times of Jonathan
Wild and his agile confreres. So, for instance, Massocia and his band
kidnapped the pupils of the seminary in Albano, and when the demanded
ransom was not forthcoming defiantly strung up these innocents on trees
flanking the gateways of Rome. So, too, the political freedom of the
city found a concession in the privilege of Cardinal Consalvi, who
permitted foreign papers of every political party to be read openly;
while the papal edict declared null and void all contracts closed
between Christian and Hebrew.
In matters of art things were not much better. The censor swung his axe
in a most irresponsible and, now to us, laughable manner. Overbeck's
Holy Family was condemned because the feet of the Madonna in it were too
bare; Thorwaldsen's Day and Night was offensive in its nudeness;
Raphael's art was an eyesore, and the same discriminating mind, Padre
Piazza, would have liked to consign to the flames all philosophical
books.
The musical taste and standard was not elevating at this time. Piccini,
Paisiello, Cimarosa, Sacchini, Anfossi, Sarti, Righini, Paer, and
Rossini wrote purely for the sensual enjoyment of the people.
Even the behaviour of the masses in theatres was defined by an edict
issued by Leo XII. Any poor devil caught wearing his hat in the theatre
was shown the door; if an actor interpolated either gesture or word not
provided for in the prompt-book he was sent to the galleys for five
years; the carrying of weapons in places of amusement was punishable
with life sentence in the galleys, and wounding another during a row
earned a death verdict for the unfortunate one; applause and hisses were
rewarded by a prison term from two months to half a year.
[Illustration: Countess Marie d'Agoult]
Liszt's first visit to Rome occurred in 1839, and in company with the
Countess d'Agoult. A strange mating this had been. Her salon was the
meeting-place where enthusiastic persons foregathered--aesthetes,
artists, and politicians. Liszt became a member of this circle, and
the impressionable young man of twenty-three was as so much wax in the
hands of this sensation-mongering woman six years his senior. Against
Liszt's wishes she had followed him to Berne, and there is plenty of
evidence at hand that he assumed the inevitable responsibilities with
good grace and treated her as his wife, but evidently not entirely to
her satisfaction. She fancied herself the muse of the young genius; but
the wings of the young eagle she had patronized soon out-stripped her.
Their years of wandering were noteworthy. From Paris to Berne and
Geneva; then two trips back to Paris, where Liszt fought his keyboard
duel with Thalberg. They rested awhile at Nohant, entertained by George
Sand, which they forsook for Lake Como, some flying trips to Milan
and eventually Venice. It happened to be the year of the Danube
flood--1837--and the call for help sent Liszt to Vienna where he gave
benefit concerts for the sufferers. This accomplished, the pair returned
to Venice and threaded their way to Rome by way of Lugano, Genoa, and
Florence.
Originally Liszt had no intention of concertising on this trip; but he
excused his appearances on the concert platforms in the Italian cities:
"I did not wish to forget my trade entirely."
The condition of music of the day in Italy held out no inducements or
illusions to him. He writes Berlioz that he wished to make the
acquaintance of the principal Italian cities and really could hope for
no benefiting influence from these flighty stops. But there was another
reason why he was so little influenced, and it was simply that Italy of
the day had nothing of great musical interest to offer Liszt.
His first public appearance in Rome was in January, 1839. Francilla
Pixis-Goehringer, adopted daughter of his friend Pixis and pupil of
Sonntag and Malibran, gave a concert at this time, and it was here that
Liszt assisted. After that the Romans did what ever so many had done
before them--threw wide their doors to the artist Liszt. Thus encouraged
he dared give serious recitals in face of all the Roman musical
flippancy. He defied public taste and craving and gave a series of what
he called in a letter to the Princess Belgiojoso "soliloques musicaux";
in these he assumed the role of a musical Louis XIV, and politely said:
"le concert c'est moi!" He quotes one of his programmes: