Meanwhile I thank you again warmly for your
friendship, and remain yours from my heart.
F. Liszt
What you tell me of your idea for Daniel [Liszt's son] is very
agreeable and soothing. I must beg the Princess to correspond
with you in reference to the matter. My decision to send D. to
Vienna, in order to finish his law there, and to entrust him to
your protection, is pretty much unchanged.
Weymar, March 26th, 1857
In the next number of Brendel's paper appears a long letter from
R. Wagner on my individuality as a composer, which will be of
interest to you.
181. To Georg Schariezer, Vice-President of the Church Musical
Society at the St. Martin's Coronation Church in Pressburg
[From a copy of Herr Stadthauptmann Johann Batka in Pressburg. -
The Church Musical Society, which has been in existence since
1833, and which undertakes the performance of classical
instrumental Masses during the service every Sunday and saint's
day, performed Beethoven's Grand Mass as early as 1835, and many
times since, and has given Liszt's Gran Mass every year since
1872.]
Dear Sir,
The friendly intention of the highly renowned Pressburg
Kirchenmusikverein [Church Musical Society] to give a performance
of my "Missa Solemnis" is an uncommon pleasure to me, and I send
Your Honor my special thanks for the kind letter with which you
have honored me in the name of the Kirchenmusikverein. Much as I
should like to meet your wishes without any ceremony, and to send
you the score and parts at once, yet I am constrained to beg for
a long delay, for the reason that the score, together with the
pianoforte arrangement, is obliged to remain for some months
longer in the Royal State Printing House in Vienna, and I cannot
get the parts copied out afresh until the publication of the work
next September. The copies which were used at Gran and Prague
have been lost, and several essential alterations which I have
finally made in the score necessitate the making of an entirely
new copy.
I hope, however, that you, dear sir, as well as the K.-M.-V, will
continue your kind intention towards me, whereby I may have the
prospect of my Mass being performed by you later on. If I am not
quite mistaken, the Church element, as well as the musical style
of this work, will be better understood and more spiritually felt
after frequent performances than can be the case at first in the
face of the prevailing prejudice against my later compositions,
and the systematic opposition of routine and custom which I have
to meet with on so many sides. Thus much I may in all
conscientiousness affirm, that I composed the work, from the
first bar to the last, with the deepest ardor as a Catholic and
the utmost care as a musician, and hence I can leave it with
perfect comfort to time to form a corresponding verdict upon it.
As soon as the score comes out I shall have the pleasure of
sending Your Honor a copy; and should your present design perhaps
come to pass in the spring, I shall be delighted to be present at
the performance, and to conduct the final rehearsals myself.
Accept, dear sir, my best thanks, together with the expression of
my high esteem.
Yours most truly,
Franz Liszt
Weymar, April 25th, 1857
182. To Eduard Liszt
Dearest Eduard,
I have been thinking over the matter of supporting the voices by
some wind instruments and brass in my Mass for men's voices,
without being able to make up my mind to write out this
accompaniment. I ought properly to hear the Vienna chorus in
order to hit the right proportion, which is very various,
according to the size of the church, and also the class of
instruments, and the less or greater ability of the musicians. It
would be very agreeable to me if Herbeck, who appears to take an
interest in my work, would take the decision upon himself
according to what he thinks best, and would either keep in the
printed organ accompaniment, or write a small additional score as
support to the voices. In the latter case I think that horns,
clarinets, oboes, and bassoons cannot be dispensed with, and that
probably trombones would also make a good effect in the Kyrie and
Credo.
Remember me most kindly to Herbeck, and tell him my idea as well
as my request. In the studying of the Mass he will best ascertain
which passages most require a supplement-accompaniment.
Owing to my long-continued illness, which obliges me for the most
part to keep my bed, I have not yet been able to hear his
Quartet, which he was so good as to send me; but I shall shortly
give it over to our excellent Quartet Society (Singer, Cossmann,
Stor, Walbruhl) for a performance.
By today's post I send you an alteration in the Agnus Dei of my
Gran Mass, which I beg you to hand to the compositor. The voice
parts remain as before, but in the pauses I make the first
subject come in again in the basses, which makes the movement
more completely one whole. The compositor must work by this proof
for the whole Agnus Dei, and only revert to the general score
where the "Dona nobis pacem" (Allegro moderato) comes in.
Wagner's letter has been published in a separate form, and you
will receive several copies of it, as I believe you take interest
in it, and will make a good use of it.
The Princess has been a prisoner to her bed for more than three
weeks, and is suffering from acute rheumatism.
