Madame,
I wish I were able to tell you how much I have been touched by
the letter you have done me the honor to address to me. Thank you
for having thought of me as one of the most sincere and zealous
admirers of the fine genius of your brother, so worthy of a noble
glory for the very reason that it was above vulgar successes. And
again thank you for the grace which prompts you to wish to
inscribe my name on one of his orchestral works, which are
certain to be valued and to obtain a sympathetic preference from
people of taste.
I accept with a real gratitude the dedication with which you
honor me, and it will be at once my pleasure and duty to do my
best towards the propagation of Glinka's works, for which I have
always professed the most open and admiring sympathy. Of this I
beg you, Madame, to receive anew my assurance, and to accept the
most respectful homage of
Yours very truly,
F. Liszt
Weymar, October 7th, 1857
I am writing by the same post to Mr. Engelhardt in Berlin to
thank him for his letter, and to tell him that I feel quite
flattered at seeing my name attached to a score of Glinka's.
188. To Carl Haslinger
[autograph without address in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet
in Valentigney - The above was presumably the addressee.]
Dear Friend,
The writing of notes [music] draws me more and more away from the
writing of letters, and my friends have already much to pardon me
in this respect. With the best will in the world to fulfill my
obligations, it is nevertheless impossible for me, owing to the
countless claims that are made on me, to find time to do so. So
do not scold me, dear friend, for having left your last letter
unanswered. I had given myself a great deal to do with some
manuscripts; the final proofs of the Faust and Dante Symphonies,
in particular, which will now soon be engraved, had occupied me
much longer than I expected. The two works are now as well
finished as I am in a position to make them, and will, I hope,
hold their POSITION.
I congratulate you most warmly on the performance of your opera.
You may safely expect various disagreeables in connection
therewith, which are inseparable from musical work. The great
thing is to remain cheerful, and to do something worth doing. The
cuckoo take the rest! -
Let me have a talk with you about the Zellner matter in Vienna,
if, as seems likely, I have to go there at the end of May for the
performance of my Mass. Meanwhile thank you very much for the
pains you have taken over the proof-sheets of this long-
protracted work, and I should be glad if the whole were ready to
come out by the time I reach Vienna.
Tausig, who is to come out in Berlin at the beginning of January,
will probably come with me. There is again a real "bravo,"
[Literally, iron-eater.] as Hummel said of me when he heard me in
Paris in the twenties.
Will you be so kind as to give the enclosed letters to
Winterberger and Rubinstein? How is our friend Winterberger
getting on in the not very suitable atmosphere of Vienna? Let me
know something about him soon. Yours ever,
F. Liszt
Weymar, December 5th, 1857.
189. To Hofcapellmeister Stein In Sondershausen.
[Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet at Valentigney. -
The addressee, a first-rate conductor (born 1818), lived from
1853 in Sondershausen; died 1864.]
Let me give you once more my hearty thanks, dear friend, for the
delightful day you gave me at Sondershausen, which continues so
brightly and pleasantly in my recollection. The rare consummation
with which your orchestra solved one of the most difficult tasks,
and brought "what one hears on the mountains" [Liszt's Mountain
Symphony] to the impressive understanding of the ears in the
valley (if not indeed under the water and worse still),
strengthens me in my higher endeavors, - and you, dear friend,
will have to bear some of the responsibility if I go on writing
more such "confused," "formless," and, for the every-day critic,
quite "fathomless" things.
Singer [A letter from this first-rate violinist is on the same
sheet with Liszt's.] needs no further recommendation from me, as
he is already known to you as an eminent virtuoso. Especially at
Court concerts his own refined and brilliant qualities are placed
in their most favorable light.
If it is possible for you to take an opportunity of bringing out
my dear and extraordinary budding genius Carl Tausig ["The last
of the virtuosi;" as Weitzmann called him; born at Warsaw 1841;
died at Leipzig 1871.] at the Court, I promise you that he will
do honor to your recommendation.
In all esteem and devotion, yours ever,
F. Liszt
Weymar, December 6th, 1857
190. To Alexander Ritter in Stettin.
Dear friend,
Your tidings sound as incredible as they are pleasant. And I must
admit, what has long been proved to me, that you are a valiant
and excellent friend, and prove your friendship splendidly by the
success of your venturesome undertaking. Specially do I give you
my best thanks for the pregnant and poetic form which you gave to
the Tasso programme. Later on, as you have broken the ice in so
happy a fashion, we can push on with
[Here, Liszt illustrates with a musical score excerpt of the
beginning of the Symphonic Poem "Festklange."
and other such corrupt things in Stettin! -
I was not able to attend to your letter about the matter of the
parts of the Flying Dutchman until after my return to Weymar.
Herr von Dingelstedt spoke to me about the idea in regard to the
fee for Wagner (from the Stettin Directors), and the reply to you
from the Secretary Jacobi will be to that effect.
