Let me hear soon from you, dear friend, and keep ever in friendly
remembrance
Yours sincerely and with many thanks,
F. Liszt
Carlsbad, August 1st, 1853
Address to me always at Weymar.
104. To Richard Pohl in Dresden
[Printed in Pohl's pamphlet "The Carlsruhe Musical Festival in
October, 1853" (by Hoplit). Leipzig, Hinze, 1853. - The addressee,
a writer on music (born 1826), one of the oldest and most
faithful adherents of Liszt and Wagner, lived in Weimar after
1854, his wife Jeanne (nee Eyth) having a post there as a harp
virtuosa: after Liszt's departure he was, as he still is,
occupied as editor in Baden-Baden.]
In various accounts that I have read of the Festival at
Carlsruhe, there is one point on which people seem pretty much
agreed - namely, the insufficiency of my conducting. Without here
examining what degree of foregone judgment there may be in this
opinion, without even seeking to know how much it has been
influenced by the simple fact of the choice of myself as
conductor, apart from the towns of Carlsruhe, Darmstadt, and
Mannheim, it certainly would not be for me to raise pretensions
quite contrary to the assertion which it is sought to establish
if this assertion were based on facts or on justice. But this is
precisely what I cannot help contesting in a very positive
manner.
As a fact one cannot deny that the ensemble of the Carlsruhe
programme was very remarkably performed, that the proportion and
sonority of the instruments, combined with a view to the locale
chosen, were satisfactory and even excellent. This is rather
naively acknowledged in the remark that it is really surprising
that things should have gone so well "in spite of" the
insufficiency of my conducting. I am far from wishing to deck
myself in the peacock's feathers of the Carlsruhe, Mannheim, and
Darmstadt orchestras, and am assuredly more disposed than any one
to render full justice to the talents - some of them very
distinguished - of the members of these three orchestras; but, to
come to the point, whatever may be said to the contrary, it is
acknowledged, even by the testimony of my adversaries, that the
execution was at times astonishing, and altogether better than
there had been reason to expect, considering that I was
conductor.
This fact placed beyond discussion, it remains to be seen whether
I am so completely a stranger there as they try to make out, and
what reasons there can be for thus crying down a conductor when
the execution was satisfactory, especially if, as is just, one
bears in mind the novelty of the works on the programme for
almost the entire audience. For, as every one knew at Carlsruhe,
the Ninth Symphony, as well as the works of Wagner, Berlioz,
Schumann, etc., were not well known by any one but myself, seeing
that they had never been given before in these parts (with the
exception of the Berlioz piece, which a portion only of the
Carlsruhe orchestra had played under the direction of the
composer). -
Now as regards the question of right - to know whether in good
conscience and with knowledge of the matter one can justly accuse
me of being an insufficient conductor, inexperienced, uncertain,
etc.: without endeavoring to exculpate myself (for which I do not
think there is any need amongst those who understand me), may I
be permitted to make an observation bearing on the basis of the
question?
