Letters of Franz Liszt
Chapter 28 : However things may be, never make capitulation with what is idle, cowardly, or false--h

However things may be, never make capitulation with what is idle, cowardly, or false--however high your position may become-and preserve, under all circ.u.mstances, your Murldom!--

The two pieces from Raff's "Alfred" [Arranged by Liszt for the piano.] have been brought out by Heinrichshofen (Magdeburg), and are dedicated to Carl Klindworth. Write me word how I can send them to you in the quickest and most economical manner--together with the Sonata. [It bore the t.i.tle, in Liszt's handwriting, "Fur die Murlbibliothek" (for the Murl Library).] The Dante Fantasia will appear in the autumn, with the other pieces of the "Annees de Pelerinage," at Schott's, and I will tell him to reserve a copy for you.

Since you went away I have worked chiefly at my Symphonic Poems, composing and elaborating. The nine numbers are now quite ready, and seven of them entirely copied out. Next winter I intend to publish the scores, which ought to make about a thousand engraved plates. Immediately after my return from Rotterdam I shall set to work on the Faust Symphony, and hope that I shall have it ready written out by February.

Hartel is publis.h.i.+ng also a couple of transcriptions from "Lohengrin" (the Festal March before the third act, with the Bridal Chorus, Elsa's Dream and Lohengrin's rebuke to Elsa), which I wrote lately.

A propos of Hartel, haven't you heard anything of your arrangement of the Schubert Symphony? The matter is being delayed rather long, and when I go to Leipzig I will inquire at Hartel's.

[The arrangement for two pianos of the C major Symphony was brought out by them.] I have nothing new to tell you of Wagner.

Joachim and Berlioz came to see me in May. Hoffmann von Fallersleben has settled here, and we see each other pretty often. His last poems, "Songs from Weymar," are dedicated to me.

Mason went to London a fortnight ago, and will probably come to Rotterdam. Laub is getting married in Bohemia, and brings his wife here in September. Schulhoff was also with me for a day.

Of Rubinstein I will tell you more when there is an opportunity.

That is a clever fellow--the most notable musician, pianist, and composer, indeed, who has appeared to me from among the newer lights, with the exception of the Murls. Murls.h.i.+p alone is wanting to him still. But he possesses tremendous material, and an extraordinary versatility in the handling of it. He brought with him about forty or fifty ma.n.u.scripts (Symphonies, Concertos, Trios, Quartets, Sonatas, Songs, a couple of Russian Operas, which have been given in Petersburg), which I read through with much interest during the four weeks which he spent here on the Altenburg. [Liszt's home] If you come to Rotterdam you will meet him there.

Now farewell, my dear Klindworth, and let me soon hear from you.

Your

F. Liszt

July 2nd, 1854

From the 10th to the 15th of July letters will find me in Rotterdam--Poste restante. N.B.--Remenyi gives me no reply about the ma.n.u.script of Brahms' Sonata (with violin). Probably he has taken it with him, for I have, to my vexation, rummaged through my entire music three times, without being able to find the ma.n.u.script. Don't forget to write to me about this in your next letter, as Brahms wants this Sonata for printing.

116. To Dr. Franz Brendel

Dear Friend,

I send you herewith a long article on "Harold" and Berlioz, which Pohl will translate, and adopt in his intended book on Berlioz.

Be so good as to see that Pohl gets the ma.n.u.script as soon as possible, as he is probably in Leipzig now.

[The article appeared in the "Neue Zeitschrift" in 1855 (afterwards "Gesammelte Schriften," vol. iv), whereas it did not appear in Pohl's book on Berlioz, which only saw the light thirty years later, in 1884.]

Tonight I go to Rotterdam for the Musical Festival, and thence for a couple of days to Brussels. On the 22nd--24th of July I shall come to Leipzig for a few hours, before I get back to Weimar.

I suppose you have given up your Rotterdam journey. If you have anything to send for from there, write me a line immediately to Poste restante, Rotterdam.

Two articles are ready for your paper, "Die weisse Frau" [The White Lady] and "Alfonso and Estrella." As soon as the "Montecchi" and the "Favorita" appear you shall receive them [the complete "Gesammelte Schriften," vol. iii, 1]. The "Fliegender Hollander" is also ready, but must be copied.["Gesammelte Schriften," vol. iii., 2.] This article is a very long one, and will take up several of your numbers.

Remember me kindly to your wife, and bear me in friendly remembrance as your willing collaborator and attached friend,

F. Liszt

Weymar, July 7th, 1854

117. To Anton Rubinstein.

[Rubinstein (born 1830, at Wechwotynetz in Russian Bessarabia) gave concerts as early as 1839 in Paris, and Liszt, who was there, welcomed in the boy the future "inheritor of his playing,"

and helped him in his studies, both during his stay in Paris, and during his stay in Vienna later on, by giving him lessons. When Rubinstein, in 1854, after a long sojourn in Russia, came back to Germany, Liszt gave him a most hospitable reception at the Altenburg at Weimar.]

What are you doing with yourself, my dear Van II.? [From Rubinstein's likeness to Beethoven Liszt jokingly called him Van II. (that is, Van Beethoven)] Are you settled according to your liking at Bieberich, and do you feel in a fine vein of good-humor and work, or are you cultivating the Murrendo[This must refer to some witty joke.] of your invention?

Your luggage van of ma.n.u.scripts was sent off to you the day after my return, and will have reached you in good condition, I think.

I acquit myself herewith of my little debt of one hundred thalers, with many thanks for your obligingness, until the case arises again. A propos of obligingness, will you please send me the letter of introduction for Cornelius's sister, who is about to begin her theatrical career in the choruses of the Italian opera at St. Petersburg? I told Cornelius that you had promised it to me. And I should be very glad to send it him without too much delay. His sister is an excellent young person, not too pretty, but well brought up, and whom one can introduce with a good conscience. It is to be feared that she will feel herself very isolated there, and will get "Heimweh" [homesickness]!

Let me hear from you soon. As regards myself I have very little to tell you at this moment. Weymar is deserted, as the Court is absent. Schade alone is radiant, for he has already got a heap of subscribers to his "Weymar'sche Jahrbucher" [Weimar Year-books], the first number of which is half printed and will definitely appear on the 28th August. Mr. de Beaulieu will not be back for three weeks; in spite of this send me your scenario of the Russian opera as soon as ever you have finished it, for I will see that he has it, and, if there is no political obstacle (which is a very exceptional circ.u.mstance in these matters), your work shall be given next November. [The opera "The Siberian Hunters"

was, in point of fact, given at Weimar through Liszt's instrumentality.] When you have sufficiently enjoyed the charms of Bieberich, come and see me at the Altenburg. It seems to me that you will be at least as comfortable here as elsewhere (Baden-Baden with Madame * * * excepted!), and Van II may be certain of being always welcome

To his very affectionate friend,

F. Liszt

Weymar, July 31st, 1854

For the translation of your opera I again recommend Cornelius, but you will have to pa.s.s some weeks here to hasten the work.

118. To Dr. Franz Brendel

You would have greatly deceived yourself, dear friend, if you had attributed any sort of personal aim to my last intimation regarding the conduct of the critical part of your paper. By no means could that be the case, and I think I even said to you in the course of conversation that, so long as my set of articles on various operas, which provisionally closes with the "Flying Dutchman", is going on in the Neue Zeitschrift, it seems to me more becoming not to bespeak any other musical productions of mine. None the less do I consider it desirable and quite in the interest of our cause that, for the future, the more important productions, especially the works of R. Schumann, Hiller, Gade, etc., should be brought into consideration more fully and oftener than has been the case of late years. The bookseller's views, as regards the sending or non-sending of works, appear to me unimportant and even injurious for the higher position which your paper maintains.--

I send you herewith Cornelius's article on the Prize Symphony and the "Girondistes" Overture. It is very nicely written, and will probably suit you. If possible put it into your next number.

I cannot now undertake the discussion about the Schumann collective writings, as I am prevented by musical work for a long time. Still, if I write later on a couple of articles on the work, that need not prevent you from bringing out very soon one or more articles discussing the same work. There is much to take in and to bring out in it, which one critic alone is scarcely capable of conceiving. The best plan of all would be if you yourself will undertake the discussion of the Schumann writings.

Should you, however, not have time for it, then Pohl would be the best man for this work. His predilection for Schumann, and his familiarity with Schumann's views, qualify him thoroughly for this.

My articles on the "Flying Dutchman" must not wait so long as you propose to me in your letter. I wish explicity that the two articles on the "Weisse Dame" and "Alfonso and Estrella" should appear as soon as possible, and immediately afterwards the "Flying Dutchman", so that by the end of September this series of twelve opera discussions may have all appeared in the Neue Zeitschrift.

At the same time with the proofs of the article on the "Weisse Dame" you will receive the "Alfonso and Estrella" article, and, as soon as these are out, the "Flying Dutchman", which must be published in September--for various reasons, which cannot well be explained in a letter.

Raff's book "Die Wagnerfrage" [The Wagner Question] has arrived here today, and I have already read it. The author is so pleased with himself that it would be a miracle if his readers were joined to him in the same proportion, and Raff is specially at variance with miracles!--

This book makes on me the effect of a pedagogic exuberance. Even the occasional good views (on harmony, for example) that it contains are obscured by a self-sufficiency in the tone and manner of them, of which one may well complain as insupportable.

What Raff wishes to appear spoils four-fifths (to quote the time which he adapts so ridiculously to "Lohengrin" of what he might be. He is perpetually getting on scientific stilts, which are by no means of a very solid wood. Philosophic formulas are sometimes the envelope, the outside sh.e.l.l, as it were, of knowledge; but it may also happen that they only show empty ideas, and contain no other substance than their own harsh terminology. To demonstrate the rose by the ferule may seem a very scientific proceeding to vulgar pedants; for my part it is not to my taste; and without being unjust to the rare qualities of Raff's talent, which I have long truly appreciated, his book seems to me to belong too much to the domain of moral and artistic pathology for it to help in placing questions of Art in their right light.

I beg you, dear friend, not to repeat this to anybody, for I could not go against Raff in any but the most extreme case, for which I hope he will not give me any occasion. Against the many charges to which he has exposed himself I even intend to s.h.i.+eld him as far as possible, but I am very much grieved that he has mingled so much that is raw and untenable in his book with much that is good, true and right.

Farewell, dear friend, and give most friendly greetings to your wife from

Yours most sincerely,

F. Liszt