Truly appreciated, his book seems to me to belong too much
to the domain of moral and artistic pathology for it to help in
placing questions of Art in their right light.
I beg you, dear friend, not to repeat this to anybody, for I
could not go against Raff in any but the most extreme case, for
which I hope he will not give me any occasion. Against the many
charges to which he has exposed himself I even intend to shield
him as far as possible, but I am very much grieved that he has
mingled so much that is raw and untenable in his book with much
that is good, true and right.
Farewell, dear friend, and give most friendly greetings to your
wife from
Yours most sincerely,
F. Liszt
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.
