Letters of Franz Liszt Volume I Part 35

Here am I really on the road to Baden-Baden, dear friend; but that does not advance matters at all, and in spite of myself I must resign myself to remain en route. Tomorrow morning I return to Weymar, where I have promised to meet my two daughters, as well as Mr. Daniel [Liszt's son], who has pretty well distinguished himself at the general compet.i.tion. After pa.s.sing ten days or so with me the girls will take up their abode with Madame de Bulow at Berlin, who is good enough to take charge of them, and Daniel will return to Paris to continue his studies there. I was hoping also to be able to spend a week or two there- -but that cannot possibly be arranged, and on reflection I was obliged to limit myself to conducting the Princess W[ittgenstein]

as far as Eisenach, whence she has continued her journey to Paris with her daughter (with the special view of seeing the exhibition of pictures there); and for my exhibition I shall content myself with that to the north, which I can enjoy from the windows of my room!--This picturesque solemnity is almost up to the height of the musical solemnities of Baden which you describe to me in such bright and lively colors, but with this difference, that at Wilhelmsthal we are very much favored by the element of damp, whereas at Baden the artists who give concerts are drained dry.

At Weymar all the world is out of doors, and the town is pretty full of nothing, offering to the curiosity of travelers only the trenches and practical circ.u.mvallations in honor of gas-lighting which they are going to start in October. Singer is bathing in the Danube (at Ofen), and tells me he shall be back by the roth of September; Raff is promenading amid the rose and myrtle shrubberies of his "Sleeping Beauty" at Wiesbaden; Stor is returning with his pockets full of new nuances which he has discovered at Ilmenau, where he has composed (as a pendant to my Symphonic Poem) "Ce qu'on entend dans la vallee"! ["What is heard in the valley." Liszt's work bears the t.i.tle "Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne" ("What is heard on the mountain.")] Preller [Friedrich Preller, the celebrated painter of the Odyssey pictures] has found beautiful trees in the Duchy of Oldenburg which serve him as a recovery of the "Recovery" [Or a "recreation of the Recreation." I do not know which is meant. The original is "qui lui servent d'Erholung von der 'Erholung.'"--Translator's note.]; Martha Sabinin [A pupil of Liszt's, a Russian] is haunting the "Venusberg" in the neighborhood of Eisenach in company with Mademoiselle de Hopfgarten; Bronsart [Hans von Bronsart, Liszt's pupil, now General-Intendant at Weimar] is gone to a sort of family congress at Konigsberg; and Hoffman [Hoffmann von Fallersleben, the well-known poet] is running through Holland and Belgium to make a scientific survey of them; whilst Nabich is trying to gain the ears of England, Scotland, and Ireland with his trombone!

I, for my part, am in the midst of finishing the 13th Psalm (for tenor solo, chorus, and orchestra), "How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord?" which you will hear this winter; and I shall not leave Weymar till November to go and pay a few days' visit to Wagner at Zurich. Don't altogether forget me, my dear Cossmann, in the midst of your solemnities----[The end of the letter was lost.]

143. To August Kiel, Court Conductor in Detmold

[Autograph (without address) in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet, of Valentigney. The contents lead to the conclusion that the above was the addressee (1813-71).]

I have been prevented until now, by a ma.s.s of work and little outings, from sending you my warmest thanks for your kind forwarding of the opera text of "Sappho," and I beg that you will kindly excuse this delay. The manner in which Rietz's composition to the Schiller dithyramb is to be interwoven with the poem I cannot venture fully to explain. I confess also that the dramatico-musical vivifying of the antique is for me a sublime, attractive problem, as yet undecided, in the solution of which even Mendelssohn himself has not succeeded in such a degree as to leave nothing further to be sought for. Some years ago "Sappho"

(in three acts--text by Augier, music by Gounod) was given at the Paris Opera. This work contains much that is beautiful, and Berlioz has spoken of it very favorably in the Journal des Debats. Unfortunately it did not appear in print, and up to the present time no other theater has performed it, although it made a sensation in Paris and ensured a first-rate position to the composer. If it would interest you, dear sir, to get to know the score, I will willingly write to Gounod and beg him to give me the work to send to you.

I have repeatedly heard the most gratifying tidings of the sympathy and care which you bestow in Detmold upon the works of Wagner and Berlioz. Regardless of the many difficulties, opposition, and misunderstandings which meet these great creations, I cherish with you the conviction that "nothing truly good and beautiful is lost in the stream of Time," and that the pains taken by those who intend to preserve the higher and the divine in Art do not remain fruitless. In the course of this autumn (at the end of November at latest) I am going to see Wagner, and I promise to send you from Zurich a little autograph from his hand. I would gladly satisfy your wish sooner, but that the letters which Wagner writes to me are a perfectly inalienable benefit to me, and you will not take it amiss if I am more than avaricious with them.

Accept, my dear sir, the a.s.surance of my highest esteem, with which I remain

Yours most truly,

F. Liszt

Weymar, September 8th, 1855

Enclosed are Berlioz' letter and the ma.n.u.script of "Sappho."

144. To Moritz Hauptmann

[The celebrated theorist and cantor of the Thomashirche in Leipzig (1792-1868)]

Very dear Sir,

By the same post I send you, with best and warmest thanks for your friendly letter, the volume of Handel's works which contains the anthems. The second of them, "Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet anointed Solomon King," is a glorious ray of Handel's genius, and one might truly quote, of the first verse of this anthem, the well-known saying, "C'est grand comme le monde." ["It is as great as the world."]--

The cantata "L'Allegro, il Pensieroso," etc., enchants me less, yet it has interested me much as an important contribution to imitative music; and, if you will kindly allow me, I want to keep the volume here a few days longer and to send it back with the two others.

I agree entirely, on my side, with your excellent criticism of Raimondi's triple oratorio ["Joseph," an oratorio by the Roman composer, consisting of three parts, which was given with great success in the Teatro Argentina in Rome in 1852]. There is little to seek on that road, and still less to find. The silver pfennig (in the Dresden Art-Cabinet), on which ten Pater Noster are engraved, has decidedly the advantage of harmlessness to the public over such outrages to Art, and the t.i.tus Livius, composed by Sechter, will probably have to moulder away very unhistorically as waste-paper. Later on Sechter can write a Requiem for it, together with Improperias over the corruption of the taste of the times, which have found his work so little to their taste.

With the pleasant expectation of greeting you soon in Leipzig, and of repeating to you my best thanks, I remain, my dear sir, with the highest esteem,

Yours truly,

F. Liszt

Weymar, September 28th, 1855

145. To Eduard Liszt

I have just received your last letter, dearest Eduard, and will not wait till Vienna to give you my warm thanks for your faithful friendship, which you always prove to me so lovingly on all possible occasions. The Mozart Festival seems to me now to have taken the desired turn--that which I suggested from the beginning--and to shape itself into a festival of "concord, harmony, and artistic enthusiasm of the combined Art-fellowships of Vienna." [Liszt was invited by the magistrate of the city of Vienna to conduct two concerts on the 27th and 28th of January, 1856, for thecelebration of the centenary of Mozart's birth.]

It is to be hoped that I shall not stick fast in my task, and shall not let this opportunity go by without attaining the suitable standpoint in Vienna.

Meanwhile I rejoice at the satisfactory prospects which present themselves for the Mozart Festival, and greet you heartily.

F. L.

Berlin, December 3rd, 1855

You will have the most favorable news from Berlin.

146. To Frau Meyerbeer in Berlin

[The wife of the composer of the Huguenots (1791-1864), with whom Liszt stood all his life in such friendly relations that it is veryextraordinary that there are no Liszt letters extant among Meyerbeer's possessions.]

Madame,

Your gracious lines only reached me at the moment of my leaving Berlin, so that it was no longer possible for me to avail myself of the kind permission you were good enough to give me.

Nevertheless, as it is to be presumed that neither the brilliant departure of which I was the hero a dozen years ago, nor the less flattering dismissal with which the infallible criticism of your capital has gratified me this time, will prevent me from returning from time to time, and without too long an interval, to Berlin (according to the requirements of my instructions and of my artistic experiments), I venture to claim from your kindness the continuation of your gracious reception, and thus venture to hope that the opportunity will soon arise for me to have the honor of renewing viva voce, Madame, the expression of my respectful homage.

Your very devoted servant,

F. Liszt

Weymar, December. 14th, 1855

The Princess Wittgenstein is much pleased with your remembrance, and would be delighted to have the opportunity of thanking you personally.

147. To his worship Dr. Ritter von Seiler, mayor of the city of Vienna, etc.

[Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet, of Valentigne--.

VOL. I.]

Your worship and dear Mr. Mayor,

The willingness which I had already expressed, at the first mention of the impending Mozart Festival, becomes to me, by your kind letter of the 19th of December (which I only received yesterday, owing to the delay from its having gone to Berlin), a duty, which it is equally my honor and pleasure to fulfill. With the utmost confidence and conviction that the resolution of the Town Council will meet with the fullest a.s.sent and most gratifying recognition among all circles of society--the resolution is as follows: "That all undertakings in connection with the Mozart Secular Festival shall be conducted and carried out in the name of the city of Vienna,"--and in agreement with the honorable motives of the Town Council "to lend to the festivities the worthy and higher expression of universal homage," I, for my part, undertake with the most grateful acknowledgments the commission to conduct the Festival Concert on the 27th January, 1856, and its repet.i.tion on the 28th according to your desire; and I hope to fulfill quite satisfactorily every just claim which is made on the musical director of such a celebration.

Although the excellent orchestra, chorus, and staff of singers in Vienna--long intimate with Mozart's works--afford the complete certainty of a most admirable performance, yet I think it is desirable that I should come a couple of weeks before the concert is to take place, in order to have time for the necessary rehearsals; and immediately on my arrival. I shall have the honor of paying my respects to you, dear Mr. Mayor, and of placing myself at the service of the Festival Committee.

In the programme which has been sent to me, the music of which will take about three hours in performance, I am pleased with the prospect before us, that the glories which Mozart unfolds in the different domains of Art--Symphony, Opera, Church, and Concert music-are taken into account, and that thus the manifold rays of his genius are laid hold of, as far as is possible in the limits of a concert programme. Whilst thoroughly agreeing with the performance of the different items as a whole, I have nevertheless one request to make--namely, that you would be good enough to excuse me from the performance of the Mozart Pianoforte Concerto which has been so kindly designed for me, and that this number may be given to some other pianist of note. Apart from the fact that for more than eight years I have not appeared anywhere in public as a pianist, and that many considerations lead me to adhere firmly to my negative resolve in this respect, the fact that the direction of the Festival will require my entire attention may prove, in this case, my sufficient excuse.