By Franz Liszt; letters collected by La Mara and translated by
Constance Bache
CONTENTS
BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
DEDICATION
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION, BY CONSTANCE BACHE
TABLE OF LETTER CONTENTS
THE LETTERS OF FRANZ LISZT, VOL. 1
INFO ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION
BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
The Austrian composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a pianistic
miracle. He could play anything on site and composed over 400
works centered around "his" instrument. Among his key works are
his Hungarian Rhapsodies, his Transcendental Etudes, his Concert
Etudes, his Etudes based on variations of Paganinini's Violin
Caprices and his Sonata, one of the most important of the
nineteenth century. He also wrote thousands of letters, of which
260 are translated into English in this first of a 2-volume set
of letters.
Those who knew him were also struck by his extremely
sophisticated personality. He was surely one of the most
civilized people of the nineteeth century, internalizing within
himself a complex conception of human civility, and attempting to
project it in his music and his communications with people. His
life was centered around people; he knew them, worked with them,
remembered them, thought about them, and wrote about them using
an almost poetic language, while pushing them to reflect the high
ideals he believed in. His personality was the embodiment of a
refined, idealized form of human civility. He was the consummate
musical artist, always looking for ways to communicate a new
civilized idea through music, and to work with other musicians in
organizing concerts and gatherings to perform the music publicly.
He also did as much as he could to promote and compliment those
whose music he believed in.
He was also a superlative musical critic, knowing, with few
mistakes, what music of his day was "artistic" and what was not.
But, although he was clearly a musical genius, he insisted on
projecting a tonal, romantic "beauty" in his music, confining his
music to a narrow range of moral values and ideals. He would have
rejected 20th-century music that entertained cynical notions of
any kind, or notions that obviated the concept of beauty in any
way. There is no Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Cage, Adams
and certainly no Schoenberg in Liszt's music. His music has an
ideological "ceiling," and that ceiling is "beauty." It never
goes beyond that. And perhaps it was never as "beautiful" as the
music of Mozart, Bach or Beethoven, nor quite as rational (Are
all the emotions in Liszt's music truly "controlled?"). But it
certainly was original and instructive, and it certainly will
linger.
DEDICATION
To the Memory of
MY BROTHER WALTER,
AND TO OUR
DEAR AND HONORED FRIEND
A.J. HIPKINS, ESQ.,
I DEDICATE THIS TRANSLATION.
- C.B.
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION, BY CONSTANCE BACHE
In writing a few words of Preface I wish to express, first and
foremost, my appreciation of the extreme care and
conscientiousness with which La Mara has prepared these volumes.
In a spirit of no less reverence I have endeavored, in the
English translation, to adhere as closely as possible to all the
minute characteristics that add expression to Liszt's letters:
punctuation has, of necessity, undergone alteration, but italics,
inverted commas, dashes and other marks have been strictly
observed. It may be objected that unnecessary particularity has
been shown in the translation of various titles, names of
Societies or newspapers, quotations, etc.; but there are many
people who, while understanding French, do not read German, and
vice versa, and therefore it has seemed better to translate
everything. Where anything has been omitted in the printed
letters I have adhered to the sign . - . employed by La Mara to
indicate the hiatus. It has seemed best to preserve the spelling
of all proper names as written by Liszt, and not to Anglicise
any, as it is impossible to do all; and therefore, even at the
risk of a seeming affectation, the original form of the name has
been preserved. In the same spirit I have adhered to the correct
form of the name of our adopted composer Handel, and trust I may
be pardoned for so doing on the strength of a little joke of
Liszt's own "The English," he said, "always talk about Gluck and
Handel!"
La Mara says in her Preface that this collection can by no means
be considered a complete one, as there must exist other letters -
to Liszt's mother, to Berlioz, Tausig, etc. - which it is hoped
may yet be some day forthcoming. In like manner might there not
also be letters to his daughter Madame Ollivier (not to mention
his still-living daughter Madame Wagner)? [Another volume of
Liszt's letters, of a still more intimate character, addressed to
a lady friend, will be published later on.]
The English edition is increased by four letters one to Peter
Cornelius, No. 256A in Vol. I., which is interesting in its
reference to the "Barbier"; and, in Vol. II., a kind letter of
introduction which the Master gave me for Madame Tardieu, in
Brussels; one letter to Walter Bache, and one to the London
Philharmonic Society (Nos. 370A and 370B); one of these, it is
true, is partially quoted in a footnote by La Mara, but at this
distance of time there is no reason why these letters should not
be inserted entire, and they will prove of rather particular
interest, both to my brother's friends, and also as having
reference to that never-to-be-forgotten episode - Liszt's last
visit to England.
This visit, which took place in 1886, a few months before the
Master's death, was for the purpose of his being present at the
performance of his Oratorio of St. Elizabeth (see Letter 370 and
subsequent letters).
More than forty years had elapsed since Liszt's previous visit to
our shores; times had changed, and the almost unknown, and wholly
unappreciated, had become the acknowledged King in a realm where
many were Princes.
