Hans von Bulow will bring you these lines. You must enjoy
yourself in the artist who, above all other active or dying out
virtuosi; is the dearest to me, and who has, so to speak, grown
out of my musical heart. - When Hummel heard me in Paris more than
twenty-five years ago, he said, "Der Bursch ist ein
Eisenfresser." [The fellow is a bravo."] To this title, which was
very flattering to me, Hans von Bulow can with perfect justice
lay claim, and I confess that such an extraordinarily gifted,
thorough-bred musical organism as his has never come before me.
Receive him as an approved and energetic friend, and do all you
can to make his stay in Konigsberg a pleasant one.
Yours in friendship,
F. Liszt
Weymar, March 16th, 1855
The engraving of my Symphonic Poems is in progress, and in the
course of this summer five or six of them will be ready. There is
a good bit of work in it.
At the present time I am exclusively engaged in the composition
of a "Missa Solemnis." You know that I received, from the
Cardinal Primate of Hungary, the commission to write the work for
the consecration of the cathedral at Gran, and to conduct it
there (probably on the 15th of August).
134. To Dr. Franz Brendel
Sunday, March 18th, 1855
A few words in haste, dear friend, for I am over head and ears in
work.