Dear Sir,
I thank you much for your friendly letter, and commission Herr
Gleichauf (in whom you will recognize an admirable viola
virtuoso) to persuade you not to retract your promised visit to
me at Weymar. It would be very pleasant to me to be able to keep
you here a longer time, yet I doubt whether you would be
satisfied with such a modest post as our administrative
circumstances warrant. When we have an opportunity we will talk
further of this; meanwhile it will be a pleasure to me to see and
hear you again. Laub's acquaintance will also interest you; he
has just been playing some pieces with a really extraordinary
virtuosity and bravura, so that we have all become quite warm
about it.
Come, then, as soon as you have a couple of spare days, and be
assured beforehand of the most friendly reception.
With my very best regards,
Yours truly,
F. Liszt
Saturday, January 15th, 1853
96. To Frau Dr. Lidy Steche in Leipzig
[The addressee sang for two winters in the Gewandhaus concerts
(as Frl. Angermann). After her marriage she started a Vocal
Union, in the forties, with which, in December 1853, she gave so
excellent a pianoforte performance of "Lohengrin" at her own
house, and afterwards at the Minerva "lodge," that Hoplit, in his
account of stage performances (Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik), spoke
of the Steche undertaking as a "model performance." This was
before the performance of "Lohengrin" at the Leipzig theater in
January 1854.]
My dear Madame,
I have the pleasure of answering your inquiries in regard to the
performances of the Wagner operas with the following dates: -
For next Wednesday, February 16th, the birthday of H.R.H. the
Grand Duchess, the first performance of the "Flying Dutchman" is
fixed. (N. B. - For that evening all the places are already taken,
and, as a great many strangers are coming, it will be difficult
to find suitable rooms in Weymar.) The following Sunday, February
20th, the "Flying Dutchman" will be repeated; and on the 27th
(Sunday) "Tannhauser" is promised, and on March 5th (Saturday)
"Lohengrin." Between these two performances of February 27th and
March 5th the third performance of the "Flying Dutchman" will
probably take place, of which I can give you more positive
information at the end of this week. The Wagner week proper
begins therefore with February 27th and closes with March 5th,
and if it were possible to you to devote a whole week to these
three glorious works of art I should advise you to get here by
the 27th, - or, better still for you (as you are already quite
familiar with "Tannhauser"), to come in time for the third
performance of the "Flying Dutchman," the date of which is still
somewhat uncertain, but which will probably be fixed for the 2nd
or 3rd March. Immediately after the first performance we shall
get quite clear about it, and I will not fail to let you know
officially the result of the theater Conference here (in which I
am not concerned).
Accept, my dear Madame, the assurance of the high esteem of
Yours most truly,
