Whether I shall be
answerable for the scandal, or whether my opponents will entangle
themselves in the scandal, will appear later. Meanwhile they can
hiss and scribble as much as they please. In the course of the
summer my "Faust" and "Dante" Symphonies will be published by
Hartel, together with a couple of new Symphonic Poems. The "Faust
Symphony" is dedicated to Berlioz, and the "Dante" to Wagner. I
am sending them to you, dear friend, with the two pianoforte
arrangements, with the risk that nothing will please you in them,
which however will not prevent us from being good friends. You
may rest assured that I shall always be grateful to you for the
friendliness you have shown me in past years, and that I would
never attempt to compromise you with my future. For the latter I
alone can and must care.
Please then make my best excuses to Herr * * *, whose kind letter
has, alas! cost me much useless searching, and continue your
personal well-wishing to your ever faithful friend (though fallen
in musical esteem and under your ban),
F. Liszt
Weymar, February 1st, 1858
196. To Professor L. A. Zellner in Vienna
You may believe me, dear friend, when I tell you that all the
disagreeables and vexations which the preparations for the
performance of my Mass [The Gran Festival Mass.] draw upon you
are the most acutely felt by myself. Do you really think it is
desirable to go against trifles of this sort and openly to fight
them? I should not like to decide this "a distance"; but I
promise you that I will not leave you in the lurch if in the end
the indispensable invitation to me follows. The concert at Prague
is to take place on the 12th of March, and I invite you to it.
Then after that I can travel with you on the 14th to Vienna or
return to Weymar. But I hope the former. I have nothing whatever
to say against the invitation of the Pest singers, because the
four persons have remained in my friendly remembrance. Yet I must
remark that the performance of the solos in my Mass offers no
special difficulties, and that consequently it could be quite
suitably and satisfactorily given by Vienna singers, which seems
both simpler and pleasanter. Herr Dr. Gunz, Herr Panzer, and
Fraulein Huber are quite satisfactory to me as soloists, as also
Fraulein Friedlowsky, of whom I have heard the highest praise as
Elizabeth. The tenor and alto are the chief people concerned, as
they have the principal subject in the Kyrie and Benedictus. If
we have two rehearsals with pianoforte, which I shall have great
pleasure in holding with the ladies and gentlemen myself, we
shall thoroughly get to the bottom of it; and if the singers have
steadfastness enough to make an effect with their part the thing
will go of itself.
With regard to the chorus and orchestra I reserve it to myself to
express my thanks to Hellmesberger and the chorus-directors in
writing, as soon as I have definite tidings. But to you, dear
friend, I can only repeat that he who will understand me loves me
also - and that I remain,
Yours in all friendship,
F. Liszt
Weymar, February 8th, 1858
197. To Peter Cornelius in Mainz
[Weimar,] February 19th, 1858
It is very bad, dearest Cornelius, that you have so long forsaken
us! Much as I must approve of your decision to finish writing
your Opera ["Der Barbier von Baghdad"] completely, yet I am
dreadfully sorry to be without you for so many months. I did hope
that you would be with us on the 18th of February for certain;
now you announce yourself for the middle of March, at which time
I shall probably not be here. On the 12th of March I conduct a
concert at Prague, at which the "Ideale" and the "Dante Symphony"
will be given. Thence I proceed to Vienna, and later to
Loewenberg (in Silesia) to my noble and most amiable patron
Prince Hohenzollern-Hechingen, who, in spite of political
changes, has not only retained his Hechingen orchestra, but has
also increased it by fresh members.
I wish I could give you better tidings of my work, best friend,
than I am able to do. The last few months have passed without my
being able to do any steady work at my writing. I have merely
sketched and patched.
By May will appear a new edition of the Kuenstler-Chor (with some
important simplifications and improvements), and shortly after
that the volume of my "Gesammelte Lieder" ["Collected Songs."]
(about thirty), one or two of which will not be displeasing to
you. I shall not be able to set to the working out of my
Elizabeth till my return from Vienna.
The three songs [by Cornelius] (dedicated to Princess Marie)
[Princess Wittgenstein, now Princess Hohenlohe in Vienna.] are
charming and excellent. There is in them such a refined and true
proportion in union with such fervent and ardent mood that other
people besides the author must love them.
In order to make no break in my wonted fault-finding, I observe
that in the fifth bar of the first song the A-flat is more
agreeable than G.
[Figure: Music example showing the passage in question.] The
carrying out of the motive in the second song:
[Figure: Here Liszt writes 2 bars of music to illustrate.]
(page 2, last line, and page 3) you have done most happily - also
the moonlight conclusion of it,
