Letters of Franz Liszt Volume I Part 22

"Inciter et initier,"

as best summing up, according to my ideas, the aim that you fulfill by your twofold talent of distinguished writer and musician ex professo. It is really curious to observe how the well-known saying, "It is from the north that light comes to us today," has been verified lately with regard to musical literature. After Mr. Oulibicheff had endowed us with a Mozart, here come you with a Beethoven. Without attempting to compare two works which are in so many respects as different and separate as the two heroes chosen by their respective historiographers, it is nevertheless natural that your name should be frequently a.s.sociated with that of Mr. Oulibicheff--for each is an honor to Art and to his country. This circ.u.mstance, however, does not do away with your right to lecture Mr. Oulibicheff very wittily, and with a thorough knowledge of the subject, for having made of Mozart a sort of Dalai-Lama, [The head of the temporal and spiritual power in Thibet (Translator's note)] beyond which there is nothing. In all this polemical part (pp. 26, 27, etc.), as in many other cases, I am entirely of your opinion, with all due justice to the talents and merits of your compatriot. From a reading of the two works, Mozart and Beethoven, it is evident that, if the studies, predilections, and habits of mind of Mr.

Oulibicheff have perfectly predisposed him to accomplish an excellent work in its entirety, yours, my dear Lenz, have led you to a sort of intimacy, the familiarity of which nourished a sort of religious exaltation, with the genius of Beethoven. Mr.

Oulibicheff in his method proceeds more as proprietor and professor; you more as poet and lawyer. But, whatever may be said about this or that hiatus in your work, the plan of which has confined you disadvantageously to the a.n.a.lysis of the piano sonatas, and however much people may think themselves justified in cavilling at you about the distribution of your materials, the chief merit, which none could refuse you without injustice, is that you have really understood Beethoven, and have succeeded in making your imagination adequate to his by your intuitive penetration into the secrets of his genius.

For us musicians, Beethoven's work is like the pillar of cloud and fire which guided the Israelites through the desert--a pillar of cloud to guide us by day, a pillar of fire to guide us by night, "so that we may progress both day and night." His obscurity and his light trace for us equally the path we have to follow; they are each of them a perpetual commandment, an infallible revelation. Were it my place to categorize the different periods of the great master's thoughts, as manifested in his Sonatas, Symphonies, and Quartets, I should certainly not fix the division into three styles, which is now pretty generally adopted and which you have followed; but, simply recording the questions which have been raised hitherto, I should frankly weigh the great question which is the axis of criticism and of musical aestheticism at the point to which Beethoven has led us--namely, in how far is traditional or recognized form a necessary determinant for the organism of thought?--

The solution of this question, evolved from the works of Beethoven himself, would lead me to divide this work, not into three styles or periods,--the words "style" and "period" being here only corollary subordinate terms, of a vague and equivocal meaning,--but quite logically into two categories: the first, that in which traditional and recognized form contains and governs the thought of the master; and the second, that in which the thought stretches, breaks, recreates, and fashions the form and style according to its needs and inspirations. Doubtless in proceeding thus we arrive in a direct line at those incessant problems of "authority" and "liberty." But why should they alarm us? In the region of liberal arts they do not, happily, bring in any of the dangers and disasters which their oscillations occasion in the political and social world; for, in the domain of the Beautiful, Genius alone is the authority, and hence, Dualism disappearing, the notions of authority and liberty are brought back to their original ident.i.ty.--Manzoni, in defining genius as "a stronger imprint of Divinity," has eloquently expressed this very truth.--

This is indeed a long letter, my dear Lenz, and as yet I am only at the preliminaries. Let us then pa.s.s on to the Deluge,--and come and see me at Weymar, where we can chat as long and fully as we like of these things in the shade of our fine park. If a thrush chances to come and sing I shall take advantage of the circ.u.mstance to make, en pa.s.sant, some groundless quarrels with you on some inappropriate terms which one meets with here and there in your book,--as, for example, the employment of the word "scale" (ut, fa, la, etc.) instead of arpeggio chord; or, again, on your inexcusable want of gallantry which leads you maliciously to bracket the t.i.tle of "Mamselle" (!) on to such and such a Diva, a proceeding which will draw down upon you the wrath of these divinities and of their numerous admirers. But I can a.s.sure you beforehand that there are far more nightingales than thrushes in our park; and, similarly, in your book the greater number of pages, judiciously thought out and brilliantly written, carry the day so well in worth and valor over any thinly scattered inattentions or negligences, that I join with my whole heart in the concert of praise to which you have a right.

Pray accept, my dear Lenz, the most sincere expressions of feeling and best thanks of

Your very affectionate and obliged

F. Liszt

Weymar, December 2nd, 1852

As Madame Bettina d'Arnim has been pa.s.sing some weeks at Weymar, I let her know about your book. Feeling sure that the good impression it has made on her would be a pleasure to you to hear, I begged her to confirm it by a few lines, which I enclose herewith.--

92. To Robert Radecke in Leipzig

[Printed in the Neue Berliner Musik-Zeitung, November 20th, 1890.--The addressee, afterwards Conductor of the Royal Opera, and present Director of the Royal Academical Inst.i.tute for Church Music in Berlin, was formerly Vice-director of the Leipzig "Singacademie" with Ferdinand David, and, intoxicated with the first performance of Berlioz's Faust at Weimar, he had determined to give such another in the Vocal Union of which he was Co- director. With this object he begged Liszt for the score. But the plan was not carried out, as Radecke exchanged his post at New Year, 1853, for that of a Music Director at the Leipzig Town theater.]

Best thanks, dear Radecke, for your letter and the approved good intention.

The "Faust" score will be at your service with great pleasure as soon as I have got it back from Berlioz. It is probable that the copy which Berlioz will see about for me in Paris will be ready by Christmas, so that I shall be able to send it you soon after New Year.

In the course of the winter I intend also to give a performance of the little oratorio "La Fuite en Egypte," attributed to the imaginary Maitre de Chapelle Pierre Ducre. This graceful and interesting work should meet with approbation in Leipzig, and offers no difficulty either for voice or orchestra. If you keep the secret, and let your Gesangverein [Vocal Union] study it under the name of Pierre Ducre, a composer of the sixteenth century, I am convinced that it will not fail to make an effect.

[Liszt's playful suggestion about the Flight into Egypt was based upon the fact that Berlioz, on its first performance, had mystified the Paris public and brought forward the work under the feigned name of Pierre Ducre, the organist of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris in the year 1679.]

Joachim goes the day after tomorrow to Berlin; Cossmann is in Paris; and Nabich [The first trombone player of the Weimar orchestra, and a most admirable performer on his instrument.] is performing in London, Liverpool, and Manchester. None the less we are giving "Tannhauser" next Sunday (12th) (with subscriptions suspended!), and for this occasion the entire Finale of the second act and the new ending of the third will be studied.

Now farewell, and be active and cheerful, is the wish of yours most sincerely,

F. Liszt

December 9th, 1852

93. To Bernhard Cossmann

[Weimar, December, 1852.]

[The date and ending of the letter are wanting, but from its contents it may be ascribed to this date.]

Thanks, dear friend, for your kind few lines, which have given me sincere pleasure. Joachim is not yet back from Berlin, and Beck [The chief tenor (hero-tenor) at the Court Opera] has again got his old attack of the throat, and I fear rather seriously, from which these six years of cures, it appears, have not succeeded in curing him radically. In consequence of this dearth of tenors, the performances of Wagner's and Berlioz's operas are going to be put off till February, when I hope that Tichatschek will be able to come from Dresden and sing "Tannhauser," "Lohengrin," and the "Flying Dutchman."

As for Cellini [Berlioz's opera]; we shall unfortunately have to wait until Dr. Lieber, the new tenor engaged for next season, at present at the Cologne theater, has learnt the part. I hear Lieber's voice highly spoken of, and it seems that he possesses also a dose of intelligence sufficient to understand how he ought to behave here.--

In the matter of news I have one small item to give you--namely, that on your return your salary will be raised fifty crowns, to make the round sum of four hundred.--Laub [Ferdinand Laub, a noteworthy violinist, was engaged for the 1st of January, 1853, as Joachim's successor as Concertmeister at Weimar.] will arrive very shortly, and accepts the propositions which have been made to him. He will not be...

94. To Wilhelm Fischer, Chorus Director in Dresden

[Autograph in the possession of Herr Otto Lessmann at Charlottenburg.--The addressee was an intimate friend of Wagner's ("Letters to Uhlig, Fischer, and Heine"--Leipzig, Breitkopf and Hartel, 1889).]

Dear Sir,

By today's post I have sent you a minutely corrected copy of the score of the "Flying Dutchman."

As this copy was my own property (Wagner had left it for me after his stay here in 1869) I could not suppose that Uhlig could expect it back from me as a theater score. The last letter from Wagner to me has made the matter clear, and I place this score with pleasure at his further disposal. I have replied to Wagner direct and fully; he is therefore aware that I have sent you my copy. [For fuller particulars about this see the "Wagner-Liszt Correspondence," vol. i., pp. 207-9.]

Allow me to beg you kindly to make my excuses to Herr Heine [Ferdinand Heine, Court actor and costumier, famous through Wagner's letters to him.] that I do not answer his letter just now. His indulgent opinion of our Lohengrtn performance is very flattering to me; I hope that by degrees we shall deserve still better the praise which comes to us from many sides: meanwhile, as the occasion of his writing was just the matter of the "Hollander" score, and as this is now quite satisfactorily settled, it does not require any further writing.

With best regards, yours truly,

F. Liszt

Weymar, January 13th, 1853

Is Tichatschek coming to our "Lohengrin" performance in February?

Please beg him to try to do so. On Weymar's side nothing will be neglected, and it will be a real joy to us both.

95. To Edmund Singer

[Formerly Concertmeister at Weimar; at present Court Concertmeister and Professor at the Stuttgart Conservatorium.]

Dear Sir,

I thank you much for your friendly letter, and commission Herr Gleichauf (in whom you will recognize an admirable viola virtuoso) to persuade you not to retract your promised visit to me at Weymar. It would be very pleasant to me to be able to keep you here a longer time, yet I doubt whether you would be satisfied with such a modest post as our administrative circ.u.mstances warrant. When we have an opportunity we will talk further of this; meanwhile it will be a pleasure to me to see and hear you again. Laub's acquaintance will also interest you; he has just been playing some pieces with a really extraordinary virtuosity and bravura, so that we have all become quite warm about it.

Come, then, as soon as you have a couple of spare days, and be a.s.sured beforehand of the most friendly reception.

With my very best regards,

Yours truly,

F. Liszt

Sat.u.r.day, January 15th, 1853