If my wishes should be successful I shall
arrive at Weimar between the 10th and 15th of May, in order to
prepare a suitable house or suite of apartments for the Princess.
I should be so pleased if you had an opportunity of getting to
know the P. W. She is without doubt an uncommonly and thoroughly
brilliant example of soul and mind and understanding (with
immense esprit as well).
It won't take you long to understand that henceforth I can dream
of very little personal ambition and future wrapped up in myself.
In political relations serfdom may have an end, but the dominion
of one soul over another in the region of spirit, is not that
indestructible?...You, my dear, honored friend, will assuredly
not answer this question with a negative.
In three weeks I hope we shall see each other again. Be so good
as to present my respects to our young Duke. What you tell me of
him pleases me. As soon as possible you shall hear more, and more
fully, from me, but do not write to me till then, as my address
meanwhile will be very uncertain. But continue to love me, as I
love and honor you.
F. Liszt
55. To Bernhard Cossmann in Baden-Baden
[The addressee became in 1850 solo-violoncellist and chamber
virtuoso in Weimar, and, later, in Moscow, and has been, since
1878, a Professor at the Hoch Conservatorium at Frankfort-on-
Maine.]
Circumstances! Conditions! My dear sir, these are now the very
ceremonious expressions and excuses of theatrical and directorial
beings. Unfortunately that is the case here too, although our
dear Weymar continuing free, not only from the real cholera, but
also from the slighter, but somewhat disagreeable, periodical
political cholerina, may peacefully dream by its elm,
yet...yet...I am sorry to say I am obliged not to answer your
kind letter affirmatively. Should circumstances and conditions,
however, turn out as I wish, then the Weymar band would consider
it an honor and a pleasure to possess you, my dear sir, as soon
as possible as one of its members.
Meanwhile accept the assurance of high regard of yours very
sincerely,
F. Liszt
Weymar, September 18th, 1848
56. To Carl Reinecke
[The present conductor of the Gewandhaus Concerts in Leipzig
(born 1824), and celebrated composer, pianist, and conductor]
Dear Sir,
Your kind letter has given me much pleasure, and the prospect
which you hold out to me, of seeing you soon again at Weymar, is
very agreeable to me. But come soon, and if possible for a few
days; I on my side shall certainly do all I can to prolong your
stay here and make it seem short to you. The promised Concerto
interests me keenly; it will be sure to give us ample material
for musical talks, and perhaps after many a talk we shall set to
work again and both write a new Concerto.
Would not the best results of criticism altogether be to incite
to new creation?
However that may be, do not put off too long taking up your
quarters at the Erbprinz, and rest assured that your visit is
much desired by me.
Yours very sincerely,
F. Liszt
Weymar, March 25th, 1849
My very best thanks for the splendid stuff for the coat, which
will give me quite an important, well-to-do, stately appearance!
57. To Count Sandor Teleky(?)
[The original (without address) in the possession of Count Albert
Amadei in Vienna. - The recipient of this letter was presumably
Count Teleky, a friend of Liszt's, who often accompanied the
latter on his triumphal European journeys, and who was himself an
active musician and literary man. He died in June, 1892.]
I have to give you threefold thanks, dear Count, and I feel that
I can undisguisedly do so! Your verses, in addition to your prose
and music, are three times welcome to me at Weymar, and the
Fantaisie dedicated to the royal hours of leisure of H.R.H. has
also charmed my leisure hours, as rare as they are modest.
If it would not be a trouble to you to come to Weymar, it would
be most kind of you to give us the pleasure of your company for a
day or two during our theatrical season, which concludes on the
15th of June. We could then chat and make music at our ease (with
or without damages, ad libitum), and if the fantasy took us, why
should we not go to some new Fantasie of leisure on the "Traum-
lied (dream song) of Tony, [No doubt meaning Baron Augusz,
Liszt's intimate friend at Szegzard, who died in 1878.] for
instance, at the hour when our peaceable inhabitants are
sleeping, dreaming, or thinking of nothing? We two should at
least want to make a pair.
May I beg you, dear Count, to recall me most humbly to the
indulgent remembrance of your charming and witty neighbor
[Nachbarin, feminine.] of the Erbprinz, and accept once more my
most cordial expressions for yourself?
F. Liszt
Weymar, May 5th, 1849
58. To Belloni(?)
[The letter written apparently to Belloni (who has already been
mentioned) was, like the present one, published by Wilhelm
Tappert, in a German translation and in an incomplete form, in
the Neue Musik-Zeitung (Cologne, Tonger) of October 1st, 1881.
The editor unfortunately could not obtain possession of it
complete and in the original. According to Tappert, a Belgian
musical paper pronounced it spurious, for reasons unknown to the
former.]
Weimar, May 14th, 1849
Dear B.,
Richard Wagner, a Dresden conductor, has been here since
yesterday. That is a man of wonderful genius, such a brain-
splitting genius indeed as beseems this country, - a new and
brilliant appearance in Art. Late events in Dresden have forced
him to a decision in the carrying out of which I am firmly
resolved to help him with all my might.
