Letters of Franz Liszt
Chapter 14 : Dear Sir, Your kind letter has given me much pleasure, and the prospect which you hold

Dear Sir,

Your kind letter has given me much pleasure, and the prospect which you hold out to me, of seeing you soon again at Weymar, is very agreeable to me. But come soon, and if possible for a few days; I on my side shall certainly do all I can to prolong your stay here and make it seem short to you. The promised Concerto interests me keenly; it will be sure to give us ample material for musical talks, and perhaps after many a talk we shall set to work again and both write a new Concerto.

Would not the best results of criticism altogether be to incite to new creation?

However that may be, do not put off too long taking up your quarters at the Erbprinz, and rest a.s.sured that your visit is much desired by me.

Yours very sincerely,

F. Liszt

Weymar, March 25th, 1849

My very best thanks for the splendid stuff for the coat, which will give me quite an important, well-to-do, stately appearance!

57. To Count Sandor Teleky(?)

[The original (without address) in the possession of Count Albert Amadei in Vienna.--The recipient of this letter was presumably Count Teleky, a friend of Liszt's, who often accompanied the latter on his triumphal European journeys, and who was himself an active musician and literary man. He died in June, 1892.]

I have to give you threefold thanks, dear Count, and I feel that I can undisguisedly do so! Your verses, in addition to your prose and music, are three times welcome to me at Weymar, and the Fantaisie dedicated to the royal hours of leisure of H.R.H. has also charmed my leisure hours, as rare as they are modest.

If it would not be a trouble to you to come to Weymar, it would be most kind of you to give us the pleasure of your company for a day or two during our theatrical season, which concludes on the 15th of June. We could then chat and make music at our ease (with or without damages, ad libitum), and if the fantasy took us, why should we not go to some new Fantasie of leisure on the "Traum- lied (dream song) of Tony, [No doubt meaning Baron Augusz, Liszt's intimate friend at Szegzard, who died in 1878.] for instance, at the hour when our peaceable inhabitants are sleeping, dreaming, or thinking of nothing? We two should at least want to make a pair.

May I beg you, dear Count, to recall me most humbly to the indulgent remembrance of your charming and witty neighbor [Nachbarin, feminine.] of the Erbprinz, and accept once more my most cordial expressions for yourself?

F. Liszt

Weymar, May 5th, 1849

58. To Belloni(?)

[The letter written apparently to Belloni (who has already been mentioned) was, like the present one, published by Wilhelm Tappert, in a German translation and in an incomplete form, in the Neue Musik-Zeitung (Cologne, Tonger) of October 1st, 1881.

The editor unfortunately could not obtain possession of it complete and in the original. According to Tappert, a Belgian musical paper p.r.o.nounced it spurious, for reasons unknown to the former.]

Weimar, May 14th, 1849

Dear B.,

Richard Wagner, a Dresden conductor, has been here since yesterday. That is a man of wonderful genius, such a brain- splitting genius indeed as beseems this country,--a new and brilliant appearance in Art. Late events in Dresden have forced him to a decision in the carrying out of which I am firmly resolved to help him with all my might. When I have had a long talk with him, you shall hear what we have devised and what must also be thoroughly realized. In the first place we want to create a success for a grand, heroic, enchanting musical work, the score of which was completed a year ago. [Lohengrin.] Perhaps this could be done in London? Chorley, [Chorley (1808-72) had considerable influence in London as author, critic, and writer in the Athenoeum.] for instance, might be very helpful to him in this undertaking. If Wagner next winter could go to Paris backed up by this success, the doors of the Opera would stand open to him, no matter with what he might knock. It is happily not necessary for me to go into long further discussions with you; you understand, and must learn whether there is at this moment in London an English theater (for the Italian Opera would not help our friend!), and whether there is any prospect that a grand and beautiful work from a master hand could have any success there.

[It was not in London, but in Weimar, as is well known, that the first performance of "Lohengrin" took place (on August 28th, 1850). It was not until twenty-five years later that London made acquaintance with Wagner's work on the stage, in the Italian Opera and with Nicolini in the t.i.tle-role; and the composer himself heard it for the first time in Vienna on May 15th, 1861.]

Let me have an answer to this as quickly as possible. Later on-- that is, about the end of the month--Wagner will pa.s.s through Paris. You will see him, and he will talk with you direct about the tendency and expansion of the whole plan, and will be heartily grateful for every kindness. Write soon and help me as ever. It is a question of a n.o.ble end, toward the fulfillment of which everything must tend.

59. To Carl Reinecke

Weymar, May 30th, 1849

Thank you much, dear M. Reinecke, for your welcome lines, and I am glad to hope that you are happily arrived at Bremen, which ought to be proud to possess you. The musical taste of that town has always been held up to me, and I feel a.s.sured that the inhabitants will have the good taste to appreciate you at your full value, and that you will create a good and fine position for yourself there without many obstacles.

Wagner, who will probably be obliged to lose his post at Dresden in consequence of recent events, has been spending some days with me here. Unluckily the news of the warrant against him arrived the day of the performance of "Tannhauser", which prevented him from being present. By this time he must have arrived in Paris, where he will a.s.suredly find a more favorable field for his dramatic genius. With the aid of success he will end, as I have often said, by being acknowledged as a great German composer in Germany, on condition that his works are first heard in Paris or London, following the example of Meyerbeer, to say nothing of Gluck, Weber, and Handel!

Wagner expressed his regret to me that he had not been able to send a better reply to the few lines of introduction which I had given you for him. If ever you should be in the same place with him do not fail to go and see him for me, and you may be sure of being well received.

I am very much obliged to you for having spoken of me to Schumann in such a manner as he at least ought to think of me. It interested me much to make acquaintance with his composition of the epilogue to "Faust". If he publishes it I shall try to have it performed here, either at the Court or at the theater. In pa.s.sing lately through Frankfort I had a glance at the score of "Genoveva", a performance of which had been announced to me at Leipzig for the middle of May at latest. I am very much afraid that Schumann will have a struggle with the difficulties and delays which usually occur in trying to get any lofty work performed. One would say that a bad fairy, in order sometimes to counterbalance the works of genius, gives a magic success to the most vulgar works and presides over the propagation of them, favoring those whom inspiration has disdained, in order to push its elect into the shade. That is no reason for discouragement, for what matters the sooner or the later?

A thousand thanks for your exact and obliging packet of cigars.

If you should have the opportunity of sending me some samples of a kind neither too thin nor too light, at about twenty to twenty- five thalers the thousand, I shall willingly give an order for some, which might be followed by a larger order.

Schuberth of Hamburg has just sent me your transcriptions of the Schumann songs, which have given me real pleasure. If you publish other things kindly let me know, for you know the sincere interest I feel both in yourself and in your works,--an interest I hope to have the opportunity of showing you more and more.

Meanwhile believe me yours affectionately,

F. Liszt

P.S.--I have not forgotten the little commission you gave me relative to the "Fantasie-Stucke," and in a few weeks I will let you have a copy of the new edition.

60. To Robert Schumann

[original in the Royal Library in Berlin]

Dear, esteemed Friend,

Before everything allow me to repeat to you what, next after myself, you ought properly to have known best a long time ago-- namely, that no one honors and admires you more truly than my humble self.

When opportunity occurs we can certainly have a friendly discussion on the importance of a work, a man, even a town indeed. For the present I am specially rejoicing in the prospect of an early performance of your opera, and beg you most urgently to let me know about it a few days beforehand, as I shall most certainly come to Leipzig on that occasion, and then we can also arrange for it to be studied in Weymar as soon as possible afterwards. Perhaps you will also find time there to make me acquainted with your "Faust." For this composition I am anxiously waiting, and your resolution to give this work a greater length and breadth appears to me most judicious. A great subject demands generally a grand treatment. Although the Vision of Ezekiel attains in its small dimensions the culminating point of Raphael's greatness, yet he painted the School of Athens and the entire frescoes in the Vatican.

"Manfred" is glorious, pa.s.sionately attractive! Don't let yourself be stopped in it; it will refresh you for your "Faust"-- and German art will point with pride to these twin productions.

Schuberth has sent me your "Alb.u.m fur die Jugend" [Alb.u.m for the Young], which, to say the least, pleases me much. We have played your splendid trio here several times, and in a pretty satisfactory manner.

Wagner stayed some days here and at Eisenach. I am expecting tidings from him daily from Paris, where he will a.s.suredly enlarge his reputation and career in a brilliant manner.

Would not your dear wife (to whom I beg to be kindly remembered) like for once to make a romantic country excursion into the Thuringer Wald [the Thuringian Forest]? The neighborhood is charming, and it would give me great pleasure to see her again at Weymar. A very good grand piano, and two or three intelligent people who cling to you with true sympathy and esteem, await you here.

But in any case there will appear in Leipzig as a claqueur [clapper (to applaud)]

Your unalterably faithful friend,

F. Liszt Weymar, June 5th, 1849