It is easy also to see beforehand that Hanslick will not let the
matter rest at this first notice, and will continue the
discussion.
Hearty greetings.
F.L.P.S. - In case your Vienna correspondent should be quite in
the wrong, it would be better simply to be silent and wait for a
better opportunity.
235. To Dr. Franz Brendel
[March or April 1860]
Dear Friend,
Do not blame me if this time I follow Pohl's example and keep you
waiting for the promised article. I have been working at it
pretty continuously during the past week, and the sketch of it is
quite ready; but I am not quite satisfied with it, and about
Berlioz and Wagner I must say the right thing in the right
manner. [No article of the kind by Liszt is contained in the Neue
Zeitschrift for the year in question; probably it was
unfinished.] This duty requires me to spend more time on it, and
unfortunately I have so much on hand this week that it is hardly
possible for me to busy myself with polemics. Tomorrow is again a
grand Court concert; Bronsart and Fraulein Stark arrived
yesterday; Frau von Bulow comes today, and I expect Hans on
Saturday. Besides this, there is still more important work for
me, which will take up my time entirely till the end of this
month.
Well, I will see to it that, if possible, Berlioz and Wagner do
not remain forgotten! -
Let me first of all answer your questions.
Whether it would be desirable to hold the second Tonkunstler-
Versammlung this year, I already left it to you, at our last
meeting, to decide. In my opinion we might wait till next year
without injury to the affair. [This was done.] As long as I
myself have not made a secure and firm footing in Weymar, I
cannot invite you to convene the meeting here. If you hold to the
dates of the 17th, 18th, and 19th June, we are bound to Leipzig,
where I can then tell you with certainty whether Weymar will suit
for the next meeting.
It goes without saying that you, dear friend, must arrange about
everything that I can undertake and do for the Tonkunstler-
Versammlung. Only my personal help as conductor must be excepted.
At our next consultation we shall easily come to an understanding
as to the desirability of one conductor or several.
I would indicate and emphasize, as absolutely necessary, the
performance of new works by Bulow, Draseke, Bronsart, Singer,
Seifriz, etc. I think I understand and can manage the art of
programme-making in a masterly manner. When once matters have got
so far, I will fix with you the programme of the three
performances.
I agree with the choice of the "Prometheus," and at the religious
performance, if the latter is not filled up with one single great
work, I would suggest perhaps the "Beatitudes," or the 13th Psalm
(the former last about ten minutes, the latter twenty-five).
Will you therefore decide definitely where the Tonkunstler-
Versammlung shall be held this year and the date of it, about
which I have nothing further to say?
