Only Bad News To Give You Of The Princess W. For Many Weeks
She Has Been Confined To Bed With Acute Rheumatism, And It Is
Hardly Likely That She Will Be Restored To Health Before My
Departure For Aix-La-Chapelle Towards The Middle Of May.
Allow
me, my dear lady, to beg you to give Kaulbach my warmest and most
hearty thanks for the
Wonderful sketch of Orpheus with which he
has honored and delighted me; and once more begging you to pardon
me for the dreadful scrawl of my manuscript, I remain yours with
all respect and devoted friendship,
F. Liszt
Weymar, May 1st, 1857
184. To Fedor von Milde, Kammersanger
[A singer in the service of a prince] in Weimar [An excellent
Wagner singer. The first Telramund in Lohengrin.]
Dear Friend,
I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of letting you know of the
really extraordinary success, not made up, but thoroughly
effectual and brilliant, of your wife. [Rosa, nee Agthe, trained
by Franz Gotze.] Cologne, Dusseldorf, Bonn, Elberfeld, and the
entire neighborhood agree with Aix-la-Chapelle that your wife
made the festivity of the Musical Festival; and although success
cannot as a rule be considered as a criterion of artistic worth,
yet if it be attested so truly and de bon aloi as in this case,
and follow that artistic worth, it has something refreshing and
strengthening in which we, in trio, can fully rejoice.
A speedy meeting to us, and friendly greetings and thanks from
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
Aix-La-Chappelle, Wednesday, June 3rd, 1857
185. To Johann von Herbeck
Weymar, June 12th, 1857
Dear Sir and Friend,
On my return from the Aix-la-Chapelle Musical Festival - which may
be considered successful on the whole, from the very fact that
opponents do not conceal their dissatisfaction - I find here your
kind letter, for which I send you my warmest thanks. My excellent
cousin and friend, Dr. Eduard Liszt, had already informed me of
your kind willingness to undertake the instrumentation of my
Vocal Mass: I am entirely in accord with the various sketches you
so kindly lay before me in your letter, and only beg you, dear
sir, to complete this work according to your own best judgment,
without any small considerations. I certainly should not wish the
organ to be absent from it, but it is a perfectly correct idea to
give those passages in the Kyrie, Suscipe deprecationem,
Crucifixus, and others besides,
[A score appears here]
to the wind exclusively. When I expressed to my cousin my wish to
place the instrumentation of the Mass in your hands, it was
because I was convinced beforehand of the excellence of your
work. The examples which you have given me in your letter show me
that I was not wrong, and I shall rejoice most sincerely when the
moment arrives for us to go through the whole score together.
Eduard intends to visit me here towards the end of August, and if
it is possible for you to come to Weymar at the same time with
him, and to stay a few days in my house, it will be very
agreeable to me.
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