John S. Dwight, the Boston musical critic, in an article on Dr. von
Buelow, written while travelling in Germany with a friend, relates the
following interview with Liszt:
"It was in Berlin, in the winter of 1861, that we had the privilege of
meeting and hearing Buelow. We were enjoying our first and only interview
with Liszt, who had come for a day or two to the old Hotel de
Brandebourg, where we were living that winter. On the sofa sat his
daughter, Mrs. von Buelow, bearing his unmistakable impress upon her
features; the welcome was cordial, and the conversation on the part of
both of them was lively and most interesting; chiefly of course it was
about music, artists, etc., and nothing delighted us more than the
hearty appreciation which Liszt expressed of Robert Franz, then, strange
as it may seem, but very little recognised in Germany. Of some other
composers he seemed inclined to speak ironically and even bitterly, as
if smarting under some disappointment--perhaps at the unreceptive mood
of the Berliners toward his own symphonic poems, to whose glories Buelow
had been labouring to convert them.
"Before we had a chance to hint of one hope long deferred, that of
hearing Liszt play, he asked, 'Have you heard Buelow?' alluding to him
more than once as the pianist to be heard--his representative and heir,
on whom his mantle had verily fallen. Thinking it possible that there
was some new grand composition by some one of his young disciples to be
brought out, and that he had come to Berlin to stand godfather, as it
were, to that, we modestly ventured to inquire. He smilingly replied,
'No; I am here literally as godfather, having come to the christening of
my grandchild.' Presently the conversation was interrupted by a rap at
the door, and in came with lively step a little man, who threw open the
furs in which he was buried, Berlin fashion, and approached the
presence, bowed his head to the paternal laying on of hands, and we were
introduced to Von Buelow."