Letters of Franz Liszt
Chapter 108 : 184. To Marie Lipsius My Honored Patroness, Your kind promise to translate the "C

184. To Marie Lipsius

My Honored Patroness,

Your kind promise to translate the "Chopin" into beautiful German rejoices me extremely. Hearty thanks for it. I will soon send the revised (French) copy, and I hope the work will be easy and pleasant to you. In the 3rd edition of "Musikalische Studienkopfe" I lately read "Berlioz"--an excellent characterisation and recognition of this extraordinarily great master, who perhaps hovers more in the untrodden regions of genius than anywhere else.

The addition of the "index" is a valuable completion of this third edition. Its success augurs well for what will follow.

With much respect and grat.i.tude,

F. Liszt

(Villa d'Este,) February 3rd, 1876

185. To August von Trefort, The Hungarian Minister of Education in Budapest

[Printed in the Pester Lloyd of that date.--Addressee died 1888.]

Herr Minister,

Although I scruple to weary the extraordinary good-will which the public of Budapest has evinced towards me, I nevertheless make so bold as to offer the a.s.sistance of my two hands for the concert shortly to be given in aid of the sufferers by the floods, if Your Excellency is of opinion that this could still be at all useful. In the year 1838, when I returned for the first time to Vienna, I gave my first concert there in aid of the sufferers by the inundation at Pest. It will be a comfort to me if I can now close my protracted career as virtuoso by the fulfilment of a similar duty. [The concert in aid of the sufferers by the floods in Budapest took place with Liszt's co-operation on the 13th March, 1876] I remain, until death, Hungary's true and grateful son.

Your Excellency's most obedient

F. Liszt

Budapest, March 1st, 1876

186. To Walter Bache

Honored and Dear Friend,

You, in your London "Annual Concerts," have for 12 years worked more wonders than I was able to compose in the "Rosenwunder"

[Rose miracle] of Elizabeth. Hearty thanks for your account of the 12th concert, and all the exertions connected with it! I beg you to present my most respectful compliments to Mrs. Osgood ("Elizabeth"), and, before all, to Constance Bache, the kind translator of the Legend.

Entirely approving of the use of the mute in the pa.s.sage

[Here, Liszt ill.u.s.trates with a musical score excerpt]

and during the chorus of angels, remains, in sincere esteem for the steadfast conductor and friend Walter Bache, his faithful and grateful

F. Liszt

Budapest, March 8th, 1876

187. To Madame Jessie Laussot,

Dear excellent Friend,

The Commander Casamorata has written to me again about the fete of Bartolomeo Cristofori. I have replied to him that my answer had been already received by you in the month of January '75, and that I can only repeat the same excuses. I copy the last lines of my letter to Casamorata that you may have the exact particulars:- -

"Without reckoning that for more than thirty years I have not belonged to the active lists of pianists and only desire the honorable repose of an invalid, I permit myself to remark that the duty of celebrating the inventor of the pianoforte in Italy belongs by preference to Italian pianists of note, such as M.

Buonamici (in Florence) and M. Sgambati (in Rome), etc."--

In conclusion, I scarcely could leave Germany all this summer (except for the visit to the Chateau de Loo), and I shall probably be obliged to return to Hungary after Bayreuth, where I hope still to find you.

Yours very devotedly,

F. Liszt

Budapest, March 18th, 1876

188. To Dr. Leopold Damrosch in New York

[Draft of a letter from a copy by Dr. Mirus in Weimar.--Addressee (1832-1885) came to Weimar in 1855 as a violinist under Liszt, went to Breslau in 1858, and in 1871 to New York, where he had great success and influence as a conductor.]

April 15th, 1876

My dear honored Friend,

You have recommended our young friend Max Pinner to me. He shows himself to be an excellent artist, and I have become much attached to him [Pinner died young.] I beg you to accept through him the renewed expression of my former faithful friends.h.i.+p.

Your beautifully conceived and n.o.bly executed work "Ruth" I have read with sympathetic interest and pleasure. I will not fail to suggest its performance in Germany.

How shall I thank you for the edifying goodwill which you manifest towards my compositions? Your intelligent enthusiastic conducting of my scores prevents any one noticing the defects of the composition.

A hearty greeting to your wife, and with warmest esteem ever yours,

F. Liszt

189. To Friedrich von Bodenstedt

[From a copy by Director Aug. Gollerich in Nurnberg.--Addressee, who died in April 1892, the poet of Mirza Schaffy]

June 8th, 1876