276. To the Most Honorable Committee of the Wagner-Verein, Berlin

Addressed to Professor Otto Lessmann.

Gentlemen,

A distinction such as that which was conferred upon me yesterday by the Berlin "Wagner-Verein" and by the audience has seldom been received by the highest masters in the musical art, among whom I can only count as an apprentice.

["Les Preludes" and "Festklange," the former under Lessmann's, the latter under Mannstadt's direction, had been performed in the winter garden of the Central Hotel before a numerous audience a.s.sembled by invitation. Between the two symphonies, Marianne Brandt sang "Jeanne d'Arc au bucher," and Heinrich Ernst some of Liszt's songs. A banquet concluded the festival.]

Accept my warmest thanks for the "Liszt Festival Concert" of Sunday, 24th April; it remains as a joyous incentive to lifelong continuous work with

Yours respectfully,

F. Liszt

Berlin, Monday, April 25th, 188l

277. To Kornel von Abranyi

Weimar, May 13th, 1881

My Dear Friend,

Rather more than half of my concert-engagements for this year have now been fulfilled. The two performances of "Christus" in Berlin and Freiburg were admirable; the Liszt-Concerts in Freiburg and Baden-Baden likewise; in the first of these the three-part hymn "L'enfant au reveil" was also given, charmingly sung by deliciously clear voices. By way of a rehearsal of this piece the ladies gave a morning serenade in honor of me at the house of my friendly hosts the Rieslers, whose villa will remain most pleasantly in my remembrance. Felix Mottl conducted the Liszt concert in Baden-Baden with "Mazeppa," the "Mephisto- Waltz," the "Hunnenschlacht," and three pieces from the Oratorio "Christus" in a most praiseworthy manner. Bulow's Liszt-evening in Berlin glorious as at Pest and Vienna..--.

I shall stay here till Sunday, 22nd May. On the 24th I shall be at Antwerp. On the 26th is the performance of the "Gran Ma.s.s"

there.

I am very glad that the Committee of the Musical Festival has chosen just this particular work, which has. .h.i.therto been more talked about and abused by the critics than heard. Of course I had left the programme entirely to the discretion of the Committee, for I really have no wish to recommend any work of my own for performance anywhere. My mission is to work on unpretendingly and without troubling myself about advancement.

Yours faithfully,

F. Liszt

My best regards to your wife and sons. I will send you programmes from Antwerp and Brussels. I shall be back here again on the 4th June. From the 9th to the 12th June Tonkunstler-Versammlung in Magdeburg.

278. To Kornel von Abranyi,

Much Esteemed, Dear Friend,

The second copy (with the additional few hundred bars) of the score of my second Mephisto-Waltz is admirably done. Thank Gyula Erkel very particularly in my name for it. I request his acceptance of the enclosed forty florins, as a slight remuneration for the time he has spent on it. I depend upon your firm friendship, which has stood the test of so many years, to find a delicate mode of presenting them to him. The score of the second Mephisto-Waltz will be published next autumn by Furstner (Berlin), and then performances can take place at Budapest and elsewhere.

I am writing to our esteemed Director of the Royal Hungarian Academy of National Music, Franz Erkel, to have Chickering's grand pianoforte, as an excellent and kind gift from America, placed in the music-hall in the Radial-Stra.s.se. This piano, as well as the whole of my possessions in Budapest, will belong to the Royal Hungarian Academy of Music at my death, which is not far off. Correctness remains the motto of

Yours most faithfully,

F. Liszt

Weimar, May 22nd, 1881.

Tomorrow evening I shall be at Antwerp. The Committee there have decided for the Gran Ma.s.s to be performed on the 26th May without any pressure on my part. Therefore Eljen Hungaria--in all countries. You may address to Weimar in the beginning of June.

279. To Frau Charlotte Blume-Arends

[A pupil of Liszt's now in Berlin.]

Weimar, August 29th, 1881

Dear Madam,

A good deal of irregularity has crept into my housekeeping during my long indisposition. Your kind letter only reached me yesterday. Thank you heartily for it; I accept the office of G.o.dfather. So your son is to be named Franz, and to walk the waters of life firmly and serenely, trusting securely in G.o.d, like my patron Saint Francois de Paule, whose motto is: "Caritas." I have long been wishing to thank you by letter for the charming present which decorates my study in the new wing of the Musical Academy at Pest. That elegant work of art is greatly admired by my numerous visitors. It would be charming, were the amiable donor to return and inspect it. The remembrance of you is still vivid in Pest.

Best compliments to your husband from

Yours gratefully and truly,

F. Liszt

I hope to be quite recovered in ten days, and shall then go to Rome.

280. To Otto Lessmann

Weimar, September 8th, 1881

Dear Friend,

I have still to undergo a supplementary treatment of baths and sweatings. [In consequence of a fall, Liszt had been seriously ill all summer.] This I shall do at Weimar. From the 21st to the 30th September I shall be at Bayreuth, and from October till New Year in Rome.

I am sending off the duet version of my Symphonic Poem "From cradle to grave" to Bock to day. .--. I shall send him the score from Bayreuth, because just now I am not able to work more than a few hours a day continuously.

There is so much admirable music written that one is ashamed to write any more. With me it only happens in cases of urgency and from inner necessity.

Thanking you heartily,

Yours ever,

F. Liszt