Letters of Franz Liszt Volume I Part 29

August 12th, 1854

In the "Favorita" article a great error has been allowed to remain. "No lover, no knight behaves thus"--and not "A lover behaves thus," etc. Send me at once the proofs of the "Weisse Dame", and in September bring the "Fliegende Hollander", which must not wait any longer.

I am now working at my Faust Symphony. The three-keyboard instrument arrived yesterday from Paris. It might be well to take the opportunity of my Catalogue appearing at Hartel's to see about a special article on it in your paper.

119. To Anton Rubinstein

[August, 1854]

My dear Van II.,

Whatever scruple I may have in making the shadow of an attempt on the liberty of your determinations and movements,--a scruple of which I gave you a pertinent proof by not insisting any further on your choosing Weymar instead of Bieberich as your villegiatura during this last month,--yet duty (and a theatrical duty!) obliges me to s.n.a.t.c.h you from your Rhine-side leisure, to set yourself to work afresh at your business on the banks of the Ilm,--

"Non piu andrai, farfalone," etc. [Aria from Mozart's "Figaro"]

We have to hunt the Siberian bear; ["The Hunters of Siberia", an opera of Rubinstein's.] and whether it is the season or not, I don't trouble myself about that. Mr. de Beaulieu has just answered me in the affirmative about the proposition I made to him to give your "Hunters of Siberia" at the beginning of November (the 9th, a date already made famous by the "Homage to Art" a Prologue which will be again given this season), and asks me particularly to push on as fast as possible the copying of all the parts. Now one must kill the bear before selling his skin-- that is to say, translate the libretto, fit it to the music, and arrange the score for the performance at Weymar.

According to what we arranged verbally, I spoke about it to Cornelius, who accepts the work of translator with pleasure, and will fulfill it promptly, and, I am persuaded, to your satisfaction. The only thing wanting is for you to come at once, and spend a fortnight at Weymar to finish everything. I give you then rendez-vous at the Altenburg, where your former quarters await you. No one will bother you there, and you can give yourself up to cultivating murrendos [La Mara thinks there was a joke in connection with this; I cannot help thinking it is a corruption of morendo, and that perhaps Rubinstein joked about cultivating a particular touch or nuance.--Translator's note] to your heart's content whenever the fancy takes you. Try therefore not to be too long over your farewells to the Tannhausers of the banks of the Rhine (and if by chance Madame S. is there, pack yourself off secretly so as not to provoke a scene of too much frenzy), so as to get to Weymar by 1st to 3rd September, for your score must be given to be copied by the 15th to the 20th. I will keep your three books till you come, and will give them you back at the Altenburg, and I take great pleasure in advance in your success on our stage.

A revoir then, my dear Rubinstein, in a week's time.

Yours ever in friends.h.i.+p,

F. Liszt

Write me simply a word to fix the date of your arrival, so that I may let Cornelius know, as he is gone for a week to his mother, a few hours away from here.

In the matter of news I will tell you that my instrument with three keyboards is installed in the second etage of the Altenburg, and that I have finished the first part of my Faust Symphony (a third of the whole)--the two other parts will be ready in November, I hope.

I shall also have a little friendly quarrel to pick with you, which I reserve for our after-tea conversations.

A bientot!

120. To Alexander Ritter in Dresden.

[Ritter at this time joined the Weimar Hofcapelle (Court orchestra); was afterwards music director at Stettin, and lives now in Munich; is celebrated as the composer of the operas "Der Faule Hans" and "Wem die Krone."]

Hearty good wishes on your marriage, dear friend. I reproach myself for disturbing you in your honeymoon. Well, a little music to it won't hurt anybody. So come as soon as it is agreeable to you. The matter is not so very pressing; I only beg you to send a few lines in reply to Herr Jacobi, the secretary of the Court theater, who wrote to you previously, and to tell him the date of your arrival in Weymar. As your marriage takes place on the 12th of this month, you are quite justified in asking for a few days'

respite. If it suits you to stay a fortnight longer in Dresden, then fix the 1st of October for your coming to Weymar. With regard to your quarters, I am quite ready to help you in word and deed.

In case Pohl is in Dresden you can tell him that his wife is also engaged from the 15th of September (on which date the theater here reopens). I wrote yesterday to Brendel, in order to get Pohl's exact present address. I expect the answer tomorrow, and Herr Jacobi will immediately write to Frau Pohl.

Meanwhile remember me most kindly to your wife, and dispose entirely--without ceremony--of

Yours most sincerely,

F. Liszt

Weymar, September 6th, 1854

121. To Bernhard Cossmann, Schloss Chanceaux bei Loches in Touraine

Weymar, September 8th, 1854

Dear Friend,

Whilst you are promenading at your leisure beneath the fine oaks, beeches, birches, horse-chestnuts, etc., of Chanceaux, I have the sotte chance [Silly opportunity] of gaping chanceus.e.m.e.nt [doubtfully] to the crows of Weymar, where we have certainly no Chanceaux, but pretty well of gens sots [stupid people] im Loch [In this hole. All plays upon words, and given therefore in the original.] (near Loches!!). This almost attains to the height of punning of our friend Berlioz, does not it?--I should not be able to keep on such heights, and therefore I hasten to descend to more temperate regions (des regions plus temperees),-"le Clavecin bien tempere of J. S. Bach," for example, or to some "Beau lieu"

with or without marque au nez (Marconnay). [A play on words. The name of the Intendant of the Weimar Court theater was Beaulieu- Marconnay.] (I implore you to keep this execrable improvisation to yourself, for, in my position as Maitre de Chapelle, I should run the risk of being fined by the "Hofamt" [office in the royal household] for allowing myself such an application of Berlioz's treatise on instrumentation--but I really don't know what tarantula of a pun is biting me at this moment!)

Mr. de Beaulieu has just done two graceful acts for me, for which I am very grateful. Madame Pohl is engaged as harpist to the Weymar Kapelle, and A. Ritter of Dresden--the brother of Hans de Bulow's friend--as violinist in place of little Abel, who is leaving us to go and probably a.s.sa.s.sinate some Cain at a second or third desk in an orchestra, somewhere!

A. Ritter is going to marry Mdlle. Wagner on the 12th of this month (the sister of Johanna), who has played in comedy at the Breslau theater, and who, by her husband's orders, will not continue playing when she has her home to keep. Let us hope so at least! These two new engagements are a great pleasure to me, and I shall willingly console myself for the loss of the innocent Abel.

And as Mr. de Beaulieu is just in such a good temper, I advise you to profit by the circ.u.mstance to write him a letter, artistically turned, to beg for a prolongation of your holiday, which he will grant you with a good grace, I am sure.

The theater will reopen the 15th September. The 16th "Ernani"

will be given. In the course of October we shall have the "Huguenots", with a new singer from Prague, Mdlle. Stoger, of whom one hears wonders.

For the 9th October (fiftieth anniversary of the entry of H.I.H.

the Grand d.u.c.h.ess Marie Paulowna into Weymar) a rather curious performance will be arranged:--

1st. The Homage to Art by Schiller.

2nd. One of my Poemes Symphoniques.

3rd. "The Hunters of Siberia", Opera in one Act--Music by Rubinstein.

4th. The Finale of "Lorelei" by Mendelssohn.

For the winter season they are thinking of giving the two "Iphigenies", "in Aulis" and "in Tauris", by Gluck, and Schumann's "Genoveva".

Rubinstein and Wasielewski (of Bonn) have been here some days.

Raff has published his volume "The Wagner Question." I would neither answer nor vindicate it!--My monster instrument with three keyboards has also arrived a fortnight ago, and seems to me to be a great success--and on your return I shall pretty nearly have finished my Faust Symphony, at which I am working like a being possessed.

This is all my news from here, to which I add the expression of the old and sincere friends.h.i.+p of your very affectionate

F. Liszt

P.S.--I, on my side, will also write to Mr. de Beaulieu about you, but it is the thing for you to write him a few lines. The matter in itself will not present any difficulty.