If You Go To
Leipzig Go And See Him; He Will Please You, And Will Receive You
In The Most Friendly Manner.
He is a friend of Bulow's. Both
names have the same initials, and for a long time Bronsart signed
himself "Hans II." in his letters to me.
-
In the virtuoso line we have lately been hearing Sivori and
Bazzini here several times. The latter is now in Dresden; I told
him that Reubke would perhaps call on him. Get Reubke to do so,
and assure him that he will be most friendlily received. A well-
known piece of Bazzini's, "La Ronde des Lutins," was, by a
printer's error, called "Ronde des Cretins!" ["Rondo of Idiots."]
What an immeasurably large public for such a "Rondo"! If only
half of them would become subscribers to the Anregungen (Hints)!
Once more a thousand thanks, dear friend, for your courageous
battling; I on my side will endeavour not to let us have to
acquiesce with too overpowering a modesty! [An untranslatable pun
on the words "beseheiden" and "Bescheidenheit."
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
[Weimar,] Sunday, January 10th, 1858
195. To Louis Koehler
My very dear friend,
A few days ago I received a letter from Koenigsberg, signed by a
gentleman unknown to me. By chance this letter has got lost,
and I cannot myself remember the exact name. But, as your name
was mentioned in it, I beg you to be so good as to let Herr * * *
know that I do not possess the arrangement of the second movement
of my Faust Symphony made by Zellner in Vienna for pianoforte,
violin, harp, and harmonium, and that consequently I cannot hand
it over to him. Besides this, I do consider such a fragmentary
performance of this work of mine, which stands in such bad credit
with the critics, as rather unsuitable, and would not advise any
concert-giver, and still less any concert-directors, to smuggle
into a programme my name so challenged as a composer. How long
this curious comedy of criticism will last I am unable to
determine; anyhow I am resolved not to trouble my head about the
cry of murder which is raised against me, and to go on my way in
a consistent and undeterred fashion. Whether I shall be
answerable for the scandal, or whether my opponents will entangle
themselves in the scandal, will appear later. Meanwhile they can
hiss and scribble as much as they please. In the course of the
summer my "Faust" and "Dante" Symphonies will be published by
Hartel, together with a couple of new Symphonic Poems. The "Faust
Symphony" is dedicated to Berlioz, and the "Dante" to Wagner. I
am sending them to you, dear friend, with the two pianoforte
arrangements, with the risk that nothing will please you in them,
which however will not prevent us from being good friends. You
may rest assured that I shall always be grateful to you for the
friendliness you have shown me in past years, and that I would
never attempt to compromise you with my future.
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