On the 9th April Schumann's "Genoveva" will be given here - and I
think I may venture to promise before-hand that the performance
will be a far better one than that at Leipzig. Fraulein Riese
will tell you about the "Transfiguration of the Lord." [Oratorio
by Kuhmstedt] Of this kind there should certainly be no more
[oratorios The word is missing in the original, as the corner of
the letter is cut off] composed.
Yours in friendship,
F. Liszt
136. To Anton Rubinstein
My dear Rubinstein,
Gurkhaus has just sent me a copy of your "Persian Songs," on the
title-page of which there is a mistake which I beg you to get
corrected without delay. The Grand Duchess Sophie is no longer
"Hereditary Grand Duchess," but "Grand Duchess" pure and simple,
and I think it would not do to send her the dedicatory copy with
this extra word. Please write therefore to Gurkhaus to see to it.
In the number of the Blatter fur Musik which has come to me I
have read with great pleasure and satisfaction Zellner's article
on your first concert in Vienna. It is not only very well written
but thoroughly well conceived, and of the right tone and manner
to maintain for criticism its right and its raison d'etre. I
second it very sincerely for the just eulogy it gives to your
works; and, if you have the opportunity, make my compliments to
Zellner, to whom I wrote a few lines the other day. This article
coincides rather singularly with that which appeared in the Neue
Zeitschrift (No. II.) on Robert Schumann, in which I probed
rather deeply into the question of criticism. If you believe me,
my dear Rubinstein, you will not long delay making yourself of
the party; for, for the few artists who have sense, intelligence,
and a serious and honest will, it is really their duty to take up
the pen in defense of our Art and our conviction - it matters
little, moreover, on which side of the opinions represented by
the Press you think it well to place yourself. Musical literature
is a field far too little cultivated by productive artists, and
if they continue to neglect it they will have to bear the
consequences and to pay their damages.
With regard to Weymar news, I beg to inform you that this evening
Kulhmstedt's oratorio "The Transfiguration of the Lord" will be
given at the theater, under the very undirecting direction of the
composer. I cannot, unfortunately, return him the compliment he
paid you at Wilhelmsthal - "Young man, you have satisfied me";
for, after having heard it at three rehearsals, I found no
satisfaction in it either for my ears or my mind: it is the old
frippery of counterpoint - the old unsalted, unpeppered sausage,
[Figure: Musical example]
etc., rubbish, to the ruin of eye and ear! I will try to leave it
out in my Mass, although this style is very usual in composing
Church music. In five or six weeks I hope to have finished this
work, at which I am working heart and soul (the Kyrie and Gloria
are written). Perhaps I shall still find you at Vienna (or in the
outskirts, which are charming), when I come to Gran in the month
of July.
If not, we shall see each other again at Weymar, for you owe me a
compensation for your last fugue, which is no more to my taste
than Kuhmstedt's counterpoint. When are you going to send me the
complete works of Anton Rubinstein that you promised me, and
which I beg you not to forget? Your idea of a retrospective
Carnival seems to me excellent, and you know how to write
charming and distinguished pieces of that kind.
Farewell, dear friend; I must leave you to go and have a
rehearsal of Schumann's "Genoveva," which is to be given next
Monday. It is a work in which there is something worthy of
consideration, and which bears a strong impress of the composer's
style. Among the Operas which have been produced during the last
fifty years it is certainly the one I prefer (Wagner excepted -
that is understood), notwithstanding its want of dramatic
vitality - a want not made up for by some beautiful pieces of
music, whatever interest musicians of our kind may nevertheless
take in hearing them.
A thousand cordial greetings, and yours ever,
F. Liszt
Weymar, April 3rd, 1855
When you write to me, please add your address. I beg you will
also return my best compliments to Lewy. [Pianist in St.
Petersburg; a friend of Rubinstein's.]
A thousand affectionate messages to Van II. from the Princess.
137. To Freiherr Beaulieu-Marconnay, Intendant of the Court
theater at Weimar
[Autograph in the possession of Herr Hermann Scholtz, Kammer-
Virtuosos in Dresden. The addressee died in Dresden.]
Dear Baron,
It is not precisely a distraction, still less a forgetfulness,
with which I might be reproached as regards the programme of this
evening's concert. The indications which Her Royal Highness the
Grand Duchess condescends to give me are too precious to me for
me not to be most anxious to fulfill at least all my duties. If,
then, one of Beethoven's Symphonies does not figure in today's
programme, it is because I thought I could better satisfy thus
the intentions of H.R.H., and that I permitted myself to guess
that which she has not taken the occasion to explain this time.
The predilection of His Majesty the King of Saxony for
Beethoven's Symphonies assuredly does honor to his taste for the
Beautiful in music, and no one could more truly agree to that
than I. I will only observe, on the one side, that Beethoven's
Symphonies are extremely well known, and, on the other, that
these admirable works are performed at Dresden by an orchestra
having at its disposal far more considerable means than we have
here, and that consequently our performance would run the risk of
appearing rather provincial to His Majesty.
