Letters of Franz Liszt
Chapter 58 : I agree with the choice of the "Prometheus," and at the religious performance

I agree with the choice of the "Prometheus," and at the religious performance, if the latter is not filled up with one single great work, I would suggest perhaps the "Beat.i.tudes," or the 13th Psalm (the former last about ten minutes, the latter twenty-five).

Will you therefore decide definitely where the Tonkunstler- Versammlung shall be held this year and the date of it, about which I have nothing further to say? We will then discuss and settle the rest together.

You will find my remarks as to the statute scheme on the last page of it.

With hearty greetings, your

F. Liszt

P.S.--

A. The revising of the "Leonore" shall be attended to immediately.

B. I shall welcome Fraulein Brauer most cordially.

C. I recommend to you again the ma.n.u.scripts of Pasque and Councillor Muller. Have you replied to Muller?

Herewith is a letter from Weitzmann (14th June, 1859), in which you will find much worthy of consideration and use.

Important! N.B.--When you convene the Tonkunstler-Versammlung, add to it at once the following: "For the foundation of the German Universal Musical Society." This is the princ.i.p.al aim, toward the accomplishment of which we have to work.

[Liszt was, as Princess Wittgenstein distinctly told the editor, the actual founder of the "German Universal Musical Society." He conceived the idea and plan of it, and it was only at his wish that Brendel gave his name to it, and undertook to be president, etc.]

236. To Louis Kohler.

My dear, excellent friend,

You have given me a rare pleasure. Your articles on my "Gesammelte Lieder" are a reproduction, replete with spirit and mind, of what I, alas! must feel and bear much more than I can venture to write down! Reviews such as these are not matters of every-day reviewers--nor must one shame you with such a t.i.tle.

Accept my warmest thanks for them, and allow me to present to you herewith a couple of little singable things in ma.n.u.script. They were jotted down after reading your articles, and, if I mistake not, they spring from the melody of speech. In any case, dear friend, you have a special right to them--as well as to the sincere esteem and faithful attachment with which I remain your

F. Liszt

Weymar, July 5th, 1860

Towards the end of October the two Symphonic Poems, Nos. 10 and 11, which have still to be published--"Hamlet" and the "Hunnenschlacht" [The Battle of the Huns]--will appear at Hartel's; and when these are out all the twelve monsters will have appeared. Shortly afterwards will follow Faust, the choruses to Prometheus, a couple of Psalms, and a new number of songs. I will send you the whole lot. But if possible arrange so that we may soon meet again--at the latest at the next Tonkunstler- Versammlung next year, at which we cannot possibly do without you.

237. To Eduard Liszt

Dearest Eduard,

You remain perpetually in the home of my heart, not at all in countless company, but all the more in picked company. When I think I have done anything pretty good I think of you and rejoice that what I have done will be a pleasure to you--and in the hours when sadness and sorrow take hold of me you are again my comfort and strength by your loving insight into my innermost wishes and yearnings! My thanks, my warmest and truest thanks, to you for all the sustaining and soothing friends.h.i.+p that you show to me.

It is to me a special token of Heaven's favor to me, and I pray to G.o.d that He may unite us for ever in Himself!--

Cornelius writes me word that you will probably come to Weymar towards the end of the summer. That will be a great pleasure to me; I often feel as if I must have a talk with you out of the depths of my heart--for with writing, as you know, I don't exactly get on. I expect the Princess towards the middle of August. Meanwhile I receive good and satisfactory tidings from Rome. I hope all will turn out for the best.

In these latter weeks I have been completely absorbed in my composing. If I mistake not, my power of production has materially increased, while some things in me are made clear and others are more concentrated. By the end of October the last two of the Symphonic Poems will be out ("Hamlet" and the "Hunnenschlacht"). Then come the Psalms, which you do not yet know, and which I much want you to know-and also a new number of songs which will please you. I shall then work at the Oratorio St. Elizabeth, exclusive of all else, and get it completely finished before the end of the year. May G.o.d in His grace accept my endeavors!--

I must express myself not entirely in accord beforehand with your plan for your son, although I consider your way of looking at the present state of things by no means a wrong one. I am also convinced that, when it comes to settling definitely, the talents and capabilities, as well as the bent of mind, of your child will be satisfactory to you. If the young one has a mind for a uniform--well, let it be so. To cut one's way through life with a sabre is indeed for the most part pleasanter than any other mode...The business paper for the Princess I will keep till her return, unless you write to me to forward it to her in Rome.

May I bother you with a commission for provisions? Forgive me for the way in which I am always making use of you, but I do so want to make a little joke for Bulow, and I have no one now in Vienna who could help me in it except just you. It is about sending a pretty considerable amount of Hungarian Paprika [Hungarian, Turkish, or Spanish pepper from Hungary] and a little barrel of Pfefferoni (little green Hungarian pepper-plants preserved in vinegar). Please ask Capellmeister Doppler where these things are to be procured genuine, and send them me as soon as possible to Weymar. I won't hide from you that I intend to go shares with Bulow, as I am particularly fond of Paprika and Pfefferoni. So take care that there is enough sent, and that it arrives in good condition.--And as this will give you occasion to see Doppler, give him my warm thanks for the instrumentation of the Pester Carnaval (in which musical Paprika and Pfefferoni are not wanting). He has again been most successful in it, and I intend to push on in the autumn the publication of the six Rhapsodies for orchestra, for which indeed I shall have to obtain the permission or consent of three separate publishers (Schott, Senff, Haslinger)--a circ.u.mstance which may of itself occasion some delay, especially if the gentlemen behave in regard to my wish as Spina did in so unpleasantly surprising a manner in regard to the instrumentation of the Schubert Marches. To tell you this incident briefly: I wrote to Dachs and asked him to request Spina in my name either to publish the three Marches himself in score--without any remuneration for me!--or else to give me permission to bring them out through another publisher.

Spina's answer, as Dachs gave me to understand, was that he could not consent to either the one or the other of my proposals (which were certainly reasonable enough)! And thus I must wait until Spina can hit on a better plan! When I have an opportunity, I shall venture to apply to him direct.

For the present, in consideration of the fact that Paprika and Pfefferoni make one very thirsty, a barrel of Gumpoldskirchner (with a slightly sharp, flowery after-taste) would be very welcome to me, if by chance you are able to find a good kind and cheap.--Forgive me for all these Lucullian extravagances!--

I will write soon to Cornelius. Give him my heartfelt greetings.

Also please remember me kindly to Dr. Kulke. I will give him my thanks by letter on the first opportunity for his Prometheus articles, as I would have already done through Cornelius, had he not started so suddenly.--

Now farewell, dearest Eduard. Spare yourself and take care of your health. a.s.sure your dear wife of my heartfelt attachment, and kiss your children for your faithful

F. Liszt

Weymar, July 9th, 1860

238. To Ingeborg Stark

[Summer, 1860]

If a sort of idiosyncrasy against letters did not hold me back I should have told you long ago what pleasure your charming letter from Paris gave me, and what a sincere part I have taken in your late successes, dear enchantress. But you must know all that far better than I could succeed in writing it.

So let us talk of something else--for instance, Baron Vietinghoff's [He took the noun de plume Boris Scheel, and in 1885 he performed his opera "Der Daemon" in St. Petersburg, which originated twenty years before that of Rubinstein.] Overture, which you were so kind as to send me, and which I have run through with B[ronsart] during his short stay at Weymar--too short to please me, but doubtless much too long for you!--The Overture in question is not wanting either in imagination or spirit. It is the work of a man musically much gifted, but who has not yet sufficiently handled his subject. When you have an opportunity, will you give my best compliments to the author, and give him also the little scale of chords that I add? It is nothing but a very simple development of the scale, terrifying for all the long and protruding ears, [Figure demonstrating a descending whole-tone scale] that Mr. de Vietinghoff employs in the final presto of his overture (page 66 of the score).

Tausig makes a pretty fair use of it in his Geisterschaff; and in the cla.s.ses of the Conservatoire, in which the high art of the mad dog is duly taught, the existing elementary exercises of the piano methods, [Figure: Musical example; a five-finger exercise]

which are of a sonorousness as disagreeable as they are incomplete, ought to be replaced by this one, which will thus form the unique basis of the method of harmony--all the other chords, in use or not, being unable to be employed except by the arbitrary curtailment of such and such an interval.

In fact it will soon be necessary to complete the system by the admission of quarter and half-quarter tones until something better turns up!--

Behold the abyss of progress into which the abominable "Musicians of the Future" precipitate us!

Take care that you do not let yourself be contaminated by this pest of Art!

For a week past it has done nothing but rain here, and I have been obliged to have fires and stoves lighted in the house. If by chance you are favored with such a temperature at Schwalbach, I invite you to profit by it to make some new Fugues, and to make up, by plenty of work for the pedals, for the pedestrian exercise of which you would be necessarily deprived.

B., to whom I beg you to give my cordial and kind remembrances, led me to hope that you will stay a couple of days at Weymar after your cure. If this could be so arranged I for my part should be delighted, and should pick a quarrel with you (even if it were a German quarrel!) if you were not completely persuaded of it!

Remember me most affectionately to la Sagesse, and do me the kindness to count, under all circ.u.mstances, on

Your very sincerely devoted

F. Liszt