Will you not have what you have sent me printed? Haslinger would
have it gladly, I think, and it would be a great pleasure to me
to see my name associated with yours.
If I might make a request, I would ask you to write some trios,
or a quintet or septet. It seems to me that you would do that
admirably, and for a long time nothing remarkable in that line
has been published. If ever you determine to do so, let me know
at once, as I should be anxious to have the honor of making them
known to the public. Adieu, my dear Monsieur Schumann; keep me
always in affectionate remembrance, and accept once more my warm
sympathy and devotion.
F. Liszt
14. To the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde" in Vienna
[Society of Musical Dilettanti, or Amateur Musical Society.
Autograph in the Archives of the Society in Vienna]
Gentlemen,
I am extremely grateful for the honor you have done me in
admitting me among you as a member of the Vienna Musik-Verein
[Musical Union]. I cannot, unfortunately, flatter myself that I
have as yet deserved this distinction, but allow me to say that
it will not be my fault if I do not become worthy of it.
If ever the occasion should offer in which I can be agreeable or
useful to the Society of the Musik-Verein, be assured that I
shall gladly avail myself of it, and that you will henceforth
have a claim on my gratitude and devotion.
I have the honor to be, gentlemen,
Yours faithfully,
F. Liszt
Venice, June 1st, 1838
15. To Simon Lowy in Vienna
[Autograph in the possession of Herr O. A. Schulz, bookseller in
Leipzig. - Addressed to a Vienna banker, an intimate friend of
Liszt The "Soirees de Vienne," composed on Schubert Valses, are
dedicated to him.]
I am very sensible, my dear sir, of your friendly remembrance.
Your kind letter found me in the midst of the official hurly-
burly of the coronation fetes. What business on earth had I to do
with such an affair? I have not the least idea. Thank Heaven we
are now at the end of it all, safe and sound, rejoicing, and
sated with amusement!
I found at Milan a certain number of my Vienna connections. One
or two of the persons whom you will not mention to me (and whose
anonymity I respect) were also there. I know that a great many of
the people who approach me with a smile on their lips, and
protestations of friendship on their tongues, have nothing better
to do than to pull me to pieces as best they can as soon as they
are outside my door. It is, moreover, the fate of all the world.
I resign myself to it willingly, as I do to all the absurd and
odious necessities of this lower world.
