Letters of Franz Liszt
Chapter 89 : In a few days a little surprise will reach you in the form of an "Ave Maria"

In a few days a little surprise will reach you in the form of an "Ave Maria" written for the Cherubim Society, and dedicated to the society's dear Maestra. However simple these few bars may be (in which there is not a single repet.i.tion of a word, nor ornamenting of any kind) I hope they will not be unpleasing to you, and I beg you to play them in the form of a prayer for

Your very affectionate

F. Liszt

Rome, October 7th, 1869

In acknowledging the receipt of the "Ave Maria" tell me when you expect Bulow, of whom I have had no tidings since Munich.

Sgambati returned here last week.

94. To Dr. Ludwig Nohl

[The well-known writer on musical subjects (1831-1885)]

Dear Friend,

Let my best thanks for your letter be, to take it to heart--and to comply with it. Meanwhile this much is certain--that we shall see each other in Weimar next May, and that at the Tonkunstler- Versammlung there you will officiate as the worthy biographer of Beethoven.

In spite of too modest a remark in your letter I am convinced that you are peculiarly well qualified for thoroughly grasping, and making others comprehend, the question of the "more modern style of Art." Proofs of this have been gathered recently from all the admirable things you have said in your brochure on Wagner; for instance, in regard to the "refined, firm and proud position held by Music," its "most expressive physiognomy," and "that spirit of love which Music has created for itself"--and also, if you will allow me such presumption in contrast to your modesty, on p. 63, where you say, "The logos alone regulates the thought and gives life to the risings and fallings of the poetic idea"--

Sic vos non vobis--

Innumerable interruptions prevent my beginning the Beethoven Cantata today. But I have at last secured quiet: I shall remain all the winter at the Villa d'Este (3 or 4 hours out of Rome), and take care that I do not lose an immoderate amount of time.

With sincerest thanks and in all friendliness yours,

Villa d'Este, November 17th, 1869

F. Liszt

95. To the Princess Caroline Sayn-Wittgenstein

[According to the Weimarer Zeitung it was printed as follows, fragmentarily, in the Leipziger Tageblatt of December 6th, 1888.]

November 27th, 1869.

.--. The death of Overbeck reminds me of my own. I wish, and urgently entreat and command, that my burial may take place without show, and be as simple and economical as possible. I protest against a burial such as Rossini's was, and even against any sort of invitation for friends and acquaintances to a.s.semble as was done at Overbeck's interment. Let there be no pomp, no music, no procession in my honor, no superfluous illuminations, or any kind of oration. Let my body be buried, not in a church, but in some cemetery, and let it not be removed from that grave to any other. I will not have any other place for my body than the cemetery in use in the place where I die, nor any other religious ceremony than a quiet Ma.s.s in the Parish Church (not any kind of Requiem to be sung). The inscription on my tomb might be: "Et habitabunt recti c.u.m vultu suo.".--.

96. To Franz Servais

Your kind letter has given me very sincere pleasure, dear Monsieur Franz. I hope your health is quite re-established, and that you are plunging into Bach to your heart's content,--that admirable chalybeate spring! I will bear you company, and have given myself, for a Christmas present, the little 8vo edition of Peters of the two "Pa.s.sions," Ma.s.ses and Cantatas of Bach, whom one might designate as the St. Thomas Aquinas of music. Kahnt, who sends me these scores, tells me of his earnest desire to get Cornelius settled at Leipzig, in the position of editor-in-chief of the Neue Zeitschrift, founded, as you know, by Schumann, and bravely carried on by Brendel. It is the sole paper which has, for thirty years past, sustained with steadfastness, knowledge and consistency the works and the men of musical progress. If, as I wish, Cornelius undertakes Brendel's task, I think you would do well to follow out your project of staying again in Leipzig.--In any case I hope to see you again this spring at Weimar; I shall arrive there towards the middle of April, and shall stay till the end of June. During the winter I shall abstain from all travelling, and shall not leave my retreat at the Villa d'Este except to stay a few days in Rome. Many people have very kindly invited me to go to Paris; I have excused myself from doing so for reasons of expediency which you know. Henceforth it is not myself that I have to bring forward, but simply to continue to write in perfect tranquillity and with a free mind. To do this obliges me to seclude myself, to avoid the salons, the half- opened pianos and the society drudgery imposed by the large towns, where I very easily feel myself out of place.

Thank you cordially for your propaganda of the "Missa Choralis;"

I shall be much obliged if you will write me a couple of words after the performance. Will you also please tell M. Bra.s.sin that I thank him much for not having been afraid of compromising his success as a virtuoso by choosing my Concerto? Up to the present time all the best-known French pianists--with the exception of Saint-Saens--have not ventured to play anything of mine except transcriptions, my own compositions being necessarily considered absurd and insupportable. People know pretty well what to think by what they hear said, without any need of hearing the works.

How did the orchestra go with the piano in the Concerto? Had they taken care to have enough rehearsals? There are several pa.s.sages that require minute care; the modulations are abrupt, and the variety of the movements is somewhat disconcerting for the conductor. And, in addition to this, the traitor triangle (proh pudor!) [Oh shame!], however excited he may be to strike strong with his cunning little rhythm, marked pianissimo, provokes the most scandalous catastrophe...

Notwithstanding all the regrettable parleying, for in such a matter all sensible people ought to be of the same opinion, I presume that Mr. G.o.debski's bust of Chopin will shortly be placed in the lobby of the theater at Warsaw. Certainly Chopin well merits this mark of honor, which moreover need in no wise prevent people from busying themselves about a larger monument to Lemberg, and from collecting a sufficient sum for that purpose.

At Weimar we will talk of Hal and the pleasure it will be to me to pay you a visit there. Pray present my respectful thanks to your mother, and my affectionate remembrances to Madame G.o.debski,--and believe me, dear Monsieur Franz, your sincere friend,

F. Liszt

Villa d'este, December 20th, 1869

(Address always Rome.)

97. To Dr. Franz Witt in Ratisbon

[Like all the subsequent letters to Dr. Witt, this letter is without date or ending, as printed in Walter's biography of Witt (Ratisbon, Pustet, 1889).--Dr. Witt (1834-80) was a distinguished musical scholar, also a composer, the founder and first general president of the Cacilien-Verein [St. Cecilia Society], and died as a clergyman in Landshut.]

[Rome, towards the end of 1869.]

Very Dear Sir and Friend,

Before I had the honor of knowing you personally the ma.n.u.script of your "Litaniae lauretanae" aroused in me sincere interest and religious sympathy towards you. This first impression is now increased by my deeper knowledge of the substantial value of your compositions and my fuller appreciation of the great services you have rendered to Church Music. That you act as admirably in practice as in precept is evident in other of your works, but especially in the Ma.s.s and the Te Deum which were performed here on the Emperor of Austria's name-day in the Church of the Anima under the leaders.h.i.+p of our dear friend Haberl [On the 4th October, 1869] Both of these works are of rare value--and, what is still more rare, both are equally devoted to Art and the Church. The "Litaniae lauretanae" breathes also a spirit of n.o.bility of soul, and diffuses its pleasant aroma notwithstanding the necessary musical limitation. The collective character of the invocations shows uniformity; and yet the lines of melody are very finely drawn; especially touching to me is

[Here, Liszt writes a 2-bar musical excerpt where the words "Sa-- lus infirmo---rum Refugium peccatorum, Conso-la-trix afllicto--- rum" are sung]

My hearty thanks for the dedication, my very dear friend; it brings me justifiable and joyful pride, which your own exaggerated modesty should dispel.--Next summer I will again come to you for a few days on my way to Szegzard (Hungary), where my Ma.s.s for male voices (2nd very much corrected edition,--now published by Repos, Paris) is to be performed. A few months after my visit you will I hope receive most satisfactory news (through Haberl) about the Cacilien-Verein [Haberl had endeavored, through the intervention of the Bishops a.s.sembled in Council in Rome, to obtain the Pope's approbation of the Cacilien-Verein, and his efforts met with success.], to which, in fullest conviction, I remain firmly attached--as well as to its much esteemed President.

98. To Prof. Dr. Siegmund Lebert

Dear Friend,

The proofs of Weber's and Schubert's Sonatas were despatched to Stuttgart in two parcels by rail the day before yesterday. This is the cheapest and quickest way of sending things, and I beg of you in future to send parcels in this way, as packages sent by spediteur come slowly and cost a great deal. N.B.--The parcels must not be too thick, and must have the address written on the wrapper. As soon as you send me the D minor Sonata, that is still wanting, and Weber's Conzertstuck, I will revise them at once; ere long you will receive Schubert's Impromptus, Valses, etc.

My endeavor with this work is to avoid all quibbling and pretentiousness, and to make the edition a practical one for teachers and players. And for this reason at the very last I added a goodly amount of fingering and pedal marks; kindly get the printers to excuse this, and I trust that the trouble it causes will not prove superfluous.--With regard to the deceptive Termpo rubato, I have settled the matter provisionally in a brief note (in the finale of Weber's A flat major Sonata); other occurrences of the rubato may be left to the taste and momentary feeling of gifted players. A metronomical performance is certainly tiresome and nonsensical; time and rhythm must be adapted to and identified with the melody, the harmony, the accent and the poetry...But how indicate all this? I shudder at the thought of it.

Also kindly excuse me from writing a preface, and write it yourself, dear friend. For you know exactly what I should wish to say, and you would say it much more clearly than I could, for my very small amount of pedagogism is, for the most part, confined to the words of St. Paul: Littera occidit, spiritus vivificat!

Your success delights without surprising me. It is only what ought to be, that Lebert and Stark's Pianoforte Method should meet with general acceptance, and that the Stuttgart Conservatoire should continue to prosper. Both of these points of merit I took the opportunity of mentioning with due honor to H.M.

the Queen of Wurtemberg--on the occasion of her visit to the Villa d'Este here.

Best thanks for sending the Bach Fugue, the 2 Etudes (separate edition) and the last volume of the Method, which I found to contain many, to me, new and praiseworthy items, among others the Etudes of Hiller and Brahms.

Ever, in all friends.h.i.+p, yours