Letters of Franz Liszt
Chapter 83 : As might have been foreseen, I must unfortunately give up all thought of paying you and

As might have been foreseen, I must unfortunately give up all thought of paying you and my friends of the Tonkunstler- Versammlung a visit this year. Were it possible for me to get away from here, I should today start for Munich, in honor of the "Meistersinger" which is to be performed next Sunday--and thence I should go to Weimar and Altenburg. In place of this I have to remain here till the end of the month. After that I mean to go to the neighborhood of Ancona for some sea baths. Please send me at once, in a wrapper, the notices of the Altenburg Musical Festival that have appeared in the Neue Zeitschrift.

Sgambati asks me to send you his kindest excuses. He would have much liked to wander to Germany, but he too is nailed here for this summer. His concerts in Florence with Wilhemj a few weeks ago were very successful. Sgambati is quite a phenomenal pianist for Italy, and is certain to do himself credit elsewhere on account of his sterling qualities, and his rare excellence as a virtuoso is combined with a personality of the greatest amiability and reliable artistic feeling. There is some talk of his getting an appointment in St. Petersburg.

A fortnight ago I heard from Paris that Berlioz was failing in health and suffering greatly. When I saw him last (in the spring of '66) he was then already physically and mentally broken down.

Our personal relations always remained friendly, it is true, but on his side there was somewhat of a gloomy, cramped tone mixed with them...

Neither Schumann nor Berlioz could rest satisfied at seeing the steady advance of Wagner's works. Both of them suffered from a suppressed enthusiasm for the music of the future.

I shall not be able to decide about my proposed stay in Weimar till the end of the year. Till then I shall keep quiet here or in the neighborhood, the extreme boundary to which is indicated by the sea baths of Ancona. Several other invitations have had to be courteously declined. But next year a considerable change may take place in my outward circ.u.mstances, and may again draw me closer to Germany. How this last chapter of my life will shape itself I cannot yet foresee.

The Vienna Mannergesang-Verein have kindly asked me to provide a composition for their Jubilee Festival. This is the reason why I asked Kahnt for the score of the 18th Psalm ("The Heavens declare the glory of G.o.d"), which has at last come, and was despatched to Vienna the day before yesterday [published by Schuberth, Leipzig]. Kahnt has no doubt also received the corrected pianoforte score of the "Elizabeth." And there happily remains only the full score to do, the proofs of which I am expecting now.

During the winter my innumerable social duties rendered it absolutely impossible for me to write any longer compositions.

This enforced idleness vexes me extremely--and I intend to a.s.sume an air of rudeness to rid myself of a great many people. It is more especially intrusive correspondents who are a vexatious waste of time to me. Since the "Coronation Ma.s.s," I have in fact only written one solitary work: a "Requiem" for male voices with simple organ accompaniment [published by Kahnt, Leipzig].

How much I should like to hear Berlioz's colossal Requiem in Altenburg!--Think, when there, in all friendliness of

Your sincerely attached

F. Liszt

Rome, June 17th, 1868

Again I beg you to send me regularly the programmes and the notices of the Altenburg T.K.V. in the Neue Zeitung.

68. To E. Repos

Dear Sir,

As you are kind enough still to remember about the "Ave Maris Stella" it would be inexcusable of me to forget it. My first ma.n.u.script having gone astray I spent the whole of yesterday in rewriting this very simple song, of which you will receive two versions at once by the next possible occasion; one for mezzosoprano voice with Piano or Harmonium accompaniment, the other for 4 male voices with a little Organ accompaniment. In this latter please excuse my very bad writing, over and above whatever there may be defective in the composition. I cannot, here, have several copyists at my disposal as in Germany. The only one whom I can employ is ill--and I have not time to wait till he gets well, for from tomorrow I undertake my pilgrimage to a.s.sisi and Loretto--after which I shall make a villeggiatura of at least six weeks at Grotta-mare (near Ancona, on the sh.o.r.es of the Adriatic).

I depend on your kindness to send me the final proofs of the "Ave Maris Stella" to the address which I will give you shortly.

How shall I manage to get you my biographical notice published in 1843 in the voluminous collection of the Biographae Pascallet? I really do not know. This notice is both the most exact, the best edited, and the kindest of all that have appeared about me in French. Mr. Fetis quotes it in my article of the Biographie univ.

des Musiciens, and I have asked Mr. le Chanoine Barbier de Montault to look for it at Angot the editor's.--The entire collection of the Biographaie Pascallet must be, amongst others, in the library of Mr. Emile de Girardin, but the ill.u.s.trious publicist has so many great matters to attend to that I should scruple to trouble him about such a trifle.

In any case it will be easy to unearth our unhappy little Opus in question in the Bibliotheque imperiale, where, if necessary, it can be copied for the use of Mr. le Ch. de Montault.

Please, dear sir, count on my very sincerely affectionate and devoted sentiments.

F. Liszt

Rome, July 1st, 1868

A thousand thanks for your kind sending of the Repertoire of St.

Sulpice, which is this moment come.

69. To Prof. Carl Riedel in Leipzig

[1827-88, founder and director of the celebrated Riedel Verein in Leipzig, and after Brendel's death President of the Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein.]

Dear Friend,

My sincere congratulation upon your glorious accomplishment--the performance of Berlioz's Requiem in Altenburg, and also my kindest thanks for all the trouble and care you have bestowed upon the "Elizabeth" and the "13th Psalm." I hope to hear Berlioz's "Requiem" next winter in Leipzig, and also some of Bach's contrapuntal "feste Burgen." My ears thirst for them!

Meanwhile let me ask Frau Professor Riedel kindly to accept me herewith in effigy as an inmate.

With sincere esteem, I remain, dear friend,

Your gratefully attached

F. Liszt

Grotta Mare, August 12th [1868]

70. To E. Repos

Dear Sir,

By the same post I return you the proofs of the "Ave Maris Stella," which reached me yesterday. Will you be kind enough to have the various errors of these first proofs corrected on the plates. Exact.i.tude in editions is a duty of the profession, too often neglected.

I will send you, by the first opportunity, a short "Offertoire"

(of some 40 bars) for men's voices. The text forms part of the service of St. Francis--"Mihi autem adh.o.e.rere Deo bonum est," and I composed it lately at a.s.sisi.--In about a week's time I shall be back in Rome, where I left my ma.n.u.scripts; amongst others a "Requiem" for men's voices with Organ accompaniment. The style of it is very simple, and whatever goodwill one brings to it the execution will also be very simple. If it would suit you to publish this "Requiem" (of about some thirty small pages of print) I will send it you with the "Offertoire" of St. Francis.

Accept, dear sir, the expression of my distinguished and devoted sentiments.

F. Liszt

Grotta Mare, August 26th, 1868

Address Rome.--I have not received any letter from you for several months.

71. To Prof. Dr. Siegmund Lebert in Stuttgart

[The addressee was a distinguished pianoforte teacher (1822- 1884), co-founder of the Stuttgart Conservatoire, co-editor of the Grosse Clavierschule (Lebert and Stark), and of the instructive edition of Cla.s.sical pianoforte--works published by Cotta, in which Liszt, Bulow and Faisst took part. It is to these last-mentioned works that the letters here given refer.]

Dear Friend,

To satisfy rational and righteous people is the better part of my life. I am very glad that you approve of the letter to the French edition of your Method, and that you find it appropriate. I have simply said what I think. I pledge myself always to be true in speech and action, however many annoyances and misinterpretations may be hurled at me in return. In confidence I will tell you what is the rule of my whole existence; it consists of the daily prayer: "O veritas Deus, fac me unum tec.u.m in perpetua caritate!"--

Excuse the delay in the return of the 3rd part of the Method. I thought of making use of some favorable opportunity of sending it to Stuttgart to save you the expense of postage; but no such opportunity has presented itself, and so this concluding volume of the Method was despatched to you through the agency of Herr Kolb (Wurtemberg consul in Rome). The added notes are very unimportant, because, in fact, I had no other weightier remarks to make. While playing through the Etudes I found myself put into a thorough good humor, and this must be my excuse for the few bad jokes which my mischievous pencil scribbled down. Please do not let them go further; such jests must be kept quietly to ourselves.