M. de Lamartine, with whom I have been spending two or three days
at Montceau, told me that you had read to him "Les Forgerons," so
I played him the music. Permit me still to hope that some day you
may be willing to complete the series, and that I, on my side,
may not be unworthy of this task.
Yours most heartily,
Dijon, June 1st, 1845
F. Liszt
46. To Gaetano Belloni in Paris
[Autograph in the possession of M. Etienne Charavay in Paris. -
Addressed to Liszt's valued secretary during his concert tours in
Europe from 1841-1847.]
Dear and Most Excellent Belloni,
Everything is moving on, and shall not stop either. Bonn is in a
flutter since I arrived and I shall easily put an end to the
paltry, under-hand opposition which had been formed against me.
By the time you arrive I shall have well and duly conquered my
true position.
[This refers to the Festival in Bonn, of several days' duration,
for the unveiling of the Beethoven Monument (by Hahnel), in which
Liszt, the generous joint-founder of the monument, took part as
pianist, composer, and conductor.]
Will you please add to the list of your commissions:
The cross of Charles III.
and the cross of Christ of Portugal, large size? You know it is
worn on the neck.
Don't lose time and don't be too long in coming.
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
July 23rd, 1845.
Kindest regards to Madame Belloni. - I enclose a few lines for
Benacci, which you will kindly give him.
47. To Madame Rondonneau at Sedan
[Autograph in the possession of M. Etienne Charavay in Paris.]
In spite of rain, snow, hail, and frost, here I am at last,
having reached the hotel of the Roman Emperor at Frankfort after
forty-eight hours' travelling, and I take the first opportunity
of telling you anew, though not for the last time, how much I
feel the charming and affectionate reception which you have given
me during my too short, and, unhappily for me, too unfortunate
stay at Sedan. Will you, dear Madame, be so kind as to be my
mouthpiece and special pleader to Madame Dumaitre, who has been
so uncommonly kind and cordial to me? Assuredly I could not
confide my cause (bad as it may be) to more delicate hands and to
a more persuasive eloquence, if eloquence only consists in
reality of "the art of saying the right thing, the whole of the
right thing, and nothing but the right thing," as La
Rochefoucauld defined it; a definition from which General Foy
drew a grand burst of eloquence - "The Charter, the whole Charter
(excepting, however, Article 14 and other peccadilloes!), and
nothing but the Charter."
"But don't let us talk politics any longer," as Lablache so
happily remarked to Giulia Grisi, who took it into her head one
fine day to criticize Don Juan!
Let us talk once more of Sedan, and let me again say to you how
happy I should be to be able one day to show those whose
acquaintance I have made through you in what grateful remembrance
I keep it.
Will you, Madame, give my best and most affectionate thanks to M.
Rondonneau, and accept my very respectful and devoted homage?
F. Liszt
Frankfurt, February 11th, 1846
P.S. - Being pressed for time, and owing, perhaps, to a stupid
feeling of delicacy, I came away without paying my doctor.
If you think well, would you be so kind as to credit me with a
napoleon and give it him from me: Madame Kreutzer will be my
banker in Paris. Adieu till we meet again.
48. To Monsieur Grillparzer
[Original, without date, in the possession of the Baroness
Mayrhofer-Grunbuhel at Klagenfurt. It might belong to the year
1846, during which Liszt arranged ten concerts in Vienna, from
March 1st to May 17th, and lived there during a great part of the
summer. From the same year dates a poem of homage to the
incomparable magician of the piano from the great poet. This
slight and unimportant letter is the only one of Liszt's found
among Grillparzer's effects.]
Will you do me the favor, my dear sir, to come and dine, without
ceremony, with several of your friends and admirers on Friday
next at 3 o'clock (at the "Stadt Frankfurt")? I should be very
much gratified at this kindness on your part. M. Bauernfeld leads
me to hope that you will not refuse me. Permit me to think that
he is not mistaken, and allow me to express once more my high
esteem and admiration.
F. Liszt
Tuesday Morning. [1846?]
49. To Franz von Schober, Coucillor of Legation in Weimar
Prague, April 11th, 1846. [According to the postal stamp.]
Dear Friend,
Your commissions have been attended to. The Wartburg has been
sent through Bauernfeld to the Allgemeine, and will, I trust, not
have to warten [Wait; a play on the words Wartburg and warten. A
treatise on the proposed completion of the Wartburg.] too long. I
have sent a second copy of this article to Paris, where it is to
appear in French garb. The report figures already in the Vienna
Theater-Zeitung, a paper with a wide circulation (and none the
better on that account!), where it makes quite a good appearance.
You would get the best connection with Frankfort through O. L. B.
Wolff (and through his medium, which is at any rate an honest and
proper one, with the German Frankfurtes Journal, or the
Oberpostamts-Zeitung, and even with the Didaskalia).
Talk this over with Wolff!
The same with the "illustrated" Leipzig Journal, in which the
article on the Wartburg should appear as soon as possible with an
illustration.
