The manner in which Rietz's composition
to the Schiller dithyramb is to be interwoven with the poem I
cannot venture fully to explain. I confess also that the
dramatico-musical vivifying of the antique is for me a sublime,
attractive problem, as yet undecided, in the solution of which
even Mendelssohn himself has not succeeded in such a degree as to
leave nothing further to be sought for. Some years ago "Sappho"
(in three acts - text by Augier, music by Gounod) was given at the
Paris Opera. This work contains much that is beautiful, and
Berlioz has spoken of it very favorably in the Journal des
Debats. Unfortunately it did not appear in print, and up to the
present time no other theater has performed it, although it made
a sensation in Paris and ensured a first-rate position to the
composer. If it would interest you, dear sir, to get to know the
score, I will willingly write to Gounod and beg him to give me
the work to send to you.
I have repeatedly heard the most gratifying tidings of the
sympathy and care which you bestow in Detmold upon the works of
Wagner and Berlioz. Regardless of the many difficulties,
opposition, and misunderstandings which meet these great
creations, I cherish with you the conviction that "nothing truly
good and beautiful is lost in the stream of Time," and that the
pains taken by those who intend to preserve the higher and the
divine in Art do not remain fruitless. In the course of this
autumn (at the end of November at latest) I am going to see
Wagner, and I promise to send you from Zurich a little autograph
from his hand. I would gladly satisfy your wish sooner, but that
the letters which Wagner writes to me are a perfectly inalienable
benefit to me, and you will not take it amiss if I am more than
avaricious with them.
Accept, my dear sir, the assurance of my highest esteem, with
which I remain
Yours most truly,
F. Liszt
Weymar, September 8th, 1855
Enclosed are Berlioz' letter and the manuscript of "Sappho."
144. To Moritz Hauptmann
[The celebrated theorist and cantor of the Thomashirche in
Leipzig (1792-1868)]
Very dear Sir,
By the same post I send you, with best and warmest thanks for
your friendly letter, the volume of Handel's works which contains
the anthems. The second of them, "Zadok the Priest and Nathan the
Prophet anointed Solomon King," is a glorious ray of Handel's
genius, and one might truly quote, of the first verse of this
anthem, the well-known saying, "C'est grand comme le monde." ["It
is as great as the world."] -
The cantata "L'Allegro, il Pensieroso," etc., enchants me less,
yet it has interested me much as an important contribution to
imitative music; and, if you will kindly allow me, I want to keep
the volume here a few days longer and to send it back with the
two others.
I agree entirely, on my side, with your excellent criticism of
Raimondi's triple oratorio ["Joseph," an oratorio by the Roman
composer, consisting of three parts, which was given with great
success in the Teatro Argentina in Rome in 1852]. There is little
to seek on that road, and still less to find. The silver pfennig
(in the Dresden Art-Cabinet), on which ten Pater Noster are
engraved, has decidedly the advantage of harmlessness to the
public over such outrages to Art, and the Titus Livius, composed
by Sechter, will probably have to moulder away very
unhistorically as waste-paper. Later on Sechter can write a
Requiem for it, together with Improperias over the corruption of
the taste of the times, which have found his work so little to
their taste.
With the pleasant expectation of greeting you soon in Leipzig,
and of repeating to you my best thanks, I remain, my dear sir,
with the highest esteem,
Yours truly,
F. Liszt
Weymar, September 28th, 1855
145. To Eduard Liszt
I have just received your last letter, dearest Eduard, and will
not wait till Vienna to give you my warm thanks for your faithful
friendship, which you always prove to me so lovingly on all
possible occasions. The Mozart Festival seems to me now to have
taken the desired turn - that which I suggested from the
beginning - and to shape itself into a festival of "concord,
harmony, and artistic enthusiasm of the combined Art-fellowships
of Vienna." [Liszt was invited by the magistrate of the city of
Vienna to conduct two concerts on the 27th and 28th of January,
1856, for the celebration of the centenary of Mozart's
birth.]
It is to be hoped that I shall not stick fast in my task, and
shall not let this opportunity go by without attaining the
suitable standpoint in Vienna.
Meanwhile I rejoice at the satisfactory prospects which present
themselves for the Mozart Festival, and greet you heartily.
F. L.
Berlin, December 3rd, 1855
You will have the most favorable news from Berlin.
146. To Frau Meyerbeer in Berlin
[The wife of the composer of the Huguenots (1791-1864), with whom
Liszt stood all his life in such friendly relations that it is
very extraordinary that there are no Liszt letters extant among
Meyerbeer's possessions.]
Madame,
Your gracious lines only reached me at the moment of my leaving
Berlin, so that it was no longer possible for me to avail myself
of the kind permission you were good enough to give me.
Nevertheless, as it is to be presumed that neither the brilliant
departure of which I was the hero a dozen years ago, nor the less
flattering dismissal with which the infallible criticism of your
capital has gratified me this time, will prevent me from
returning from time to time, and without too long an interval, to
Berlin (according to the requirements of my instructions and of
my artistic experiments), I venture to claim from your kindness
the continuation of your gracious reception, and thus venture to
hope that the opportunity will soon arise for me to have the
honor of renewing viva voce, Madame, the expression of my
respectful homage.
