December 9th, 1852
93. To Bernhard Cossmann
[Weimar, December, 1852.]
[The date and ending of the letter are wanting, but from its
contents it may be ascribed to this date.]
Thanks, dear friend, for your kind few lines, which have given me
sincere pleasure. Joachim is not yet back from Berlin, and Beck
[The chief tenor (hero-tenor) at the Court Opera] has again got
his old attack of the throat, and I fear rather seriously, from
which these six years of cures, it appears, have not succeeded in
curing him radically. In consequence of this dearth of tenors,
the performances of Wagner's and Berlioz's operas are going to be
put off till February, when I hope that Tichatschek will be able
to come from Dresden and sing "Tannhauser," "Lohengrin," and the
"Flying Dutchman."
As for Cellini [Berlioz's opera]; we shall unfortunately have to
wait until Dr. Lieber, the new tenor engaged for next season, at
present at the Cologne theater, has learnt the part. I hear
Lieber's voice highly spoken of, and it seems that he possesses
also a dose of intelligence sufficient to understand how he ought
to behave here. -
In the matter of news I have one small item to give you - namely,
that on your return your salary will be raised fifty crowns, to
make the round sum of four hundred. - Laub [Ferdinand Laub, a
noteworthy violinist, was engaged for the 1st of January, 1853,
as Joachim's successor as Concertmeister at Weimar.] will arrive
very shortly, and accepts the propositions which have been made
to him.
