As Far As I Know, Bertini Is Still Living,
[He Did Not Die Till 1876.] And According To The Common Idea, To
Which One Must Stick Fast, Only Those Who Are Dead Can Rank As
Classic And Be Proclaimed As Classic.
Thus Schumann, the
romanticist, and Beethoven, the glorious, holy, crazy one, have
become classics.
Should Bertini have already died, I take back my
remark, although the popularity of his Studies is not, to me, a
satisfactory reason for making his name a classic. - Moscheles'
and Czerny's Studies and "Methods" would have a much more just
claim to such a thing, and your paper has especially to set
itself the task of counteracting, with principle and consistency,
the confusion of ideas from which confusion and ruin of matters
arise. Hold fast then to this principle, both in great and small
things, for the easier understanding with the public, that the
recognition of posterity alone impresses the stamp of "classical"
upon works, in the same way as facts and history are established;
for thus much is certain, that all great classics have been
reviled in their own day as innovators and even romanticists, if
not bunglers and crazy fellows, and you yourself have commented
on, and inquired into, this matter many times.. - .
In your number of today I read an extract from my letter to
Erkel, [A well-known Hungarian composer ("Hunyadi Laszlo")] in
which, however, the points are missing. Erkel shall show you the
letter on the first opportunity, for he has not left it lying
idle in his desk. Of course no public use is to be made of it.
Yours ever, F. L.
January 2nd, 1857
170. To Herr von Turanyi, Musical Conductor of the Town of Aix-
la-Chapelle
[Published in the Allgemeine Musikzeitung, July 11th, 1890]
Weymar, January 3rd, 1857
Dear Herr Capellmeister,
Although I am still kept to my bed by a long-continued
indisposition, yet I will not delay giving you my warmest thanks
for the active pains you have so kindly taken to place my
endeavors in the cause of Art in a better light than I could
otherwise have expected in your neighborhood.
The result of the choice of myself as conductor of the Musical
Festival at Aix-la-Chapelle this year - a result which was
notified to me yesterday by the letter of the Committee of the
Lower-Rhine Musical Festival - is a welcome sign to me of the
gradual recognition which an open and honestly expressed,
consistent, and thoroughly disinterested conviction may meet with
in different places. Whilst feeling myself especially indebted to
you for having brought about this result, I would express to you
at the same time the fact of my readiness to answer your very
flattering wishes to the best of my powers, and to put aside any
hindrances that may be in the way, in order to fulfill the task
entrusted to me, if the following remarks are brought to the
attention of the Committee, as I consider them essential to the
success and also to the importance of the Musical Festival.
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