Nevertheless, after I had tried to compass
the score of Tasso plainly into one pianoforte, I soon gave up
this project for the others, on account of the unadvisable
mutilation and defacement by the working into and through one
another of the four-hand parts, and submitted to doing without
tone and color and orchestral light and shade, but at any rate
fixing an abstract rendering of the musical contents, which would
be clear to the ear, by the two-piano arrangement (which I could
arrange tolerably freely).
It is a very agreeable satisfaction to me that you, dear friend,
have found some interest in the scores. For, however others may
judge of the things, they are for me the necessary developments
of my inner experiences, which have brought me to the conviction
that invention and feeling are not so entirely evil in Art.
Certainly you very rightly observe that the forms (which are too
often changed by quite respectable people into formulas) "First
Subject, Middle Subject, After Subject, etc., may very much grow
into a habit, because they must be so thoroughly natural,
primitive, and very easily intelligible." Without making the
slightest objection to this opinion, I only beg for permission to
be allowed to decide upon the forms by the contents, and even
should this permission be withheld from me from the side of the
most commendable criticism, I shall none the less go on in my own
modest way quite cheerfully. After all, in the end it comes
principally to this - WHAT the ideas are, and HOW they are carried
out and worked up - and that leads us always back to the FEELING
and INVENTION, if we would not scramble and struggle in the rut
of a mere trade.
When is your Method of teaching coming out? I rejoice beforehand
at all the incitement and forcible matter contained in it. You
will shortly receive a circular with a letter from E. Hallberger
(Stuttgart), who asks me to undertake the choice of pieces to
appear in his edition of the "Pianoforte." Do send something soon
to it; it is to be hoped that the establishing and spreading of
this collection will prove quite satisfactory.
Fare you well in your work, dear friend, and think affectionately
of
Yours ever sincerely,
F. Liszt
Weymar, July 9th, 1856.
P.S. - In your next letter send me your exact address.
155. To Hoffmann von Fallersleben
[The well-known poet (1798-1874), who was living at that time in
Weimar; was an intimate friend of Liszt, and in 1854 founded,
with him, the Neu-Weimar-Verein, which, under the presidency of
Liszt, was joined by all the most distinguished musicians,
authors, and painters of Weimar.]
Dear Friend,
In your [The second person singular is employed in this letter]
pleasant villeggiatura, where you will find no lack of the
Beautiful and Good, let yourself also be welcomed by a friend of
the New-Weymar
School, who is truly yours. It is true I have nothing new to tell
you. You already know that the Grand Duke received your poem on
the morning of his birthday, and said the kindest things about it
to me later on. Most of our colleagues of the Neu-Weimar-Verein
are away and scattered in various countries; - Singer in Pesth;
Soupper [Eugen v. Soupper, concert singer, a countryman of
Liszt's, was in Weimar in 1855-56.] in Paris, where he is trying
the solitude of a crowd (according to Chateaubriand's expression,
"the crowd, that vast desert - not dessert - of men"); Stor [Music
director in Weimar; died 1889.] at the bathing-place Heringsdorf,
probably drawn there by a secret affinity between his herring
form and the name of the place; Winterberger in Holland, to
inspect the Haarlem and other organs, which he will certainly do
in a masterly way; and Preller goes today to Kiel. On the
Altenburg no change worth mentioning has taken place: visits of
strangers to me fail not summer or winter, and, still less, works
which have become my life's task. I might almost sing, like
Hoffmann von Fallersleben,
"Hier sitz ich fest, ein Fels im Meer, Woran die Wellen toben; 's
geht drunter, dran and druber her - Ich bleibe fortan oben" -
["Here firm I sit, a rock sea-girt, On which the waves are
dashing, But I remain above, unhurt, Nor heed the waters'
lashing."]
if only there were more waves and less marsh! -
My travelling plans are still somewhat vacillating, because I
cannot yet decide whether I shall go to Hungary or not. In any
case I shall go and see R. Wagner, in the middle of September at
latest, at Zurich, where Stahr at present is with his wife (Fanny
Lewald). Stahr will shortly publish a new volume of Paris Letters
(about the Exhibition), and is translating Suetonius for the
Classical Library coming out at Stuttgart. He told me that there
is a passage in Suetonius which one can quite apply to the
baptism of the Prince Imperial in Paris! After this precedent,
why might not everything in the Horoe belg, and the Weymar Year-
Book be proved as referring to something?
Remember me most warmly to your dear Amphitrion, whom I
unfortunately did not manage to see again before her departure,
and, if the Mildes are in the same house as you, give them my
best greetings, woven into a toast.
Fare thee well, dearest friend, and do not remain too long away.
Thine in heartfelt friendship,
F. Liszt Weymar, July 14th, 1856
156. To Wilhelm wieprecht, General Music Director of the Military
Corps of the State of Prussia
[Autograph in the possession of Herr Otto Lessmann at
Charlottenburg. The addressee (1802-72) was one of the inventors
of the bass-tuba, and improved many of the wind instruments.]
Dear Friend, I learn from several Berliners, who have passed
through here, that you have had the great kindness to instrument
my march "Vom Fels zum Meer" ["From the Rock to the Ocean."]
splendidly, and have had it performed several times.
