[Fly-leaves for Music.] The most important step for us
is the very first, at the house door; and if we do not weigh this
step with due reflection we shall run a great risk of winning
only imaginary future subscribers for the Art Work of the Future,
and of seeing our best wishes for its feasibility shipwrecked.
Whether also the title Kunstwerk der Zukunft [Art Work of the
Future.] should be employed, or what other definition should
be the axis of our united efforts in the opening number, I will
put on one side for the present. The full discussion of this and
other things I will keep for your next visit to Weymar. Raff's
opera is announced for this day fortnight (Sunday, April 17th).
If it is agreeable to you to come here sooner, you will be most
welcome at any moment. This time and every time that you come to
Weymar, I beg you to stay with me, both for your own convenience
and mine.
Förster's exact address I will send you very soon, although I
conclude that letters addressed Herr Hofrath Ernst Forster would
be safely delivered by the post office. Stahr is the best person
to give you information about Herr von Hauenschild (Max Waldau -
not Count, as far as I know), and Hettner is a Professor in Jena.
Further, it is my opinion that you had better not send your
communications to these gentlemen until we have settled some of
the chief points in this matter.
I shall undertake a security of four hundred thalers on this
proposed agreement between us, in return for a receipt from the
management which you will give me. I cannot at present hold out
the prospect of further support; yet it is possible that I may
succeed in getting three to five hundred thalers annually, under
certain conditions, for which there is no personal ground
whatever (and which I hinted to you in our last conversation in
Leipzig), for the pages of The Present and Future.
Remember me kindly to your wife, and be assured of the entire
willingness of
Yours truly,
F. Liszt
Weymar, April 3rd, 1853
100. To Dr. Franz Brendel
Dear Friend,
Good advice is seldom cheap, and I must honestly confess that in
my present very fluctuating circumstances I am not rich enough to
help you efficaciously by lending you a helping hand, however
much I might wish to do so. Stahr's refusal is very much to be
regretted, for, in order to attain your end and to influence the
world of literature, you positively require more literary men of
great note to join you. Next to the money question the formation
of the nucleus of management is the most important matter in this
undertaking. However zealous and self-sacrificing you and
Schlonbach [Arnold Schlonbach, journalist, died long ago.] may be
in devoting your talents and powers to the paper, yet I doubt
whether you will be able to keep it going unless you get some
further capable men of talent as co-operators. This brings us,
however, again to the money question, which I unfortunately am
not in a position to solve. To be obliged to give it up after six
months would be a far worse fate than not to begin it at all.
Therefore, before everything, the moral guarantee must be
forthcoming for its continuance, and for the constantly
increasing spread of the paper, and these depend principally on
the guarantee which the first five or six co-operators warrant.
You remark quite truly that, if Wagner would take an interest in
the matter, it would be of the greatest help. Perhaps he might be
persuaded to do so, and I will willingly start the subject to
him.
The title, size (as well as the limits of the paper, and cover),
and fortnightly issue give me thorough satisfaction, and
according to my opinion nothing more need be altered in these
three particulars. A weekly issue has its advantages -
nevertheless I have always thought that two papers per month are
on the whole better than four. But whether it is possible and
advisable to make the first start as early as July I much
question. "Tout vient a point a qui sait attendre," says the
French proverb. It certainly is important to seize the right
moment, and that must be decided by you. Let me only beg you not
to give too much weight to passing and local influences, and only
to come forward when you can hold your ground with quiet,
deliberate courage. Retreat belongs to the enemy. For us it is
"Gradatim vincimus."
The matter of the security remains as promised. If you should not
be ready by July, October would be just as favorable, if not more
so - only, in Heaven's name, no backward step when once started! -
Some articles of provision and ammunition seem to me to be
absolutely necessary before you begin. Two months are a short
time to get them ready, and I scarcely think it will be possible
for you to be ready for action by July. Have you written yet to
Wagner? You must not expect much from Hettner without Stahr. But,
through Hinrichs or Franz, Hauenschild might perhaps be won over.
I advise you to stick fast to Schwind. One of his last pictures,
"Beethoven's Fancy," bought by the King of Greece, points to him
above all others as the representative of painting in your paper.
May I beg you also to send a few lines to Kurnberger to tell him
that I have given you his manuscript?
