I accept with a real grat.i.tude the dedication with which you honor me, and it will be at once my pleasure and duty to do my best towards the propagation of Glinka's works, for which I have always professed the most open and admiring sympathy. Of this I beg you, Madame, to receive anew my a.s.surance, and to accept the most respectful homage of

Yours very truly,

F. Liszt

Weymar, October 7th, 1857

I am writing by the same post to Mr. Engelhardt in Berlin to thank him for his letter, and to tell him that I feel quite flattered at seeing my name attached to a score of Glinka's.

188. To Carl Haslinger

[autograph without address in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet in Valentigney--The above was presumably the addressee.]

Dear Friend,

The writing of notes [music] draws me more and more away from the writing of letters, and my friends have already much to pardon me in this respect. With the best will in the world to fulfill my obligations, it is nevertheless impossible for me, owing to the countless claims that are made on me, to find time to do so. So do not scold me, dear friend, for having left your last letter unanswered. I had given myself a great deal to do with some ma.n.u.scripts; the final proofs of the Faust and Dante Symphonies, in particular, which will now soon be engraved, had occupied me much longer than I expected. The two works are now as well finished as I am in a position to make them, and will, I hope, hold their POSITION.

I congratulate you most warmly on the performance of your opera.

You may safely expect various disagreeables in connection therewith, which are inseparable from musical work. The great thing is to remain cheerful, and to do something worth doing. The cuckoo take the rest!--

Let me have a talk with you about the Zellner matter in Vienna, if, as seems likely, I have to go there at the end of May for the performance of my Ma.s.s. Meanwhile thank you very much for the pains you have taken over the proof-sheets of this long- protracted work, and I should be glad if the whole were ready to come out by the time I reach Vienna.

Tausig, who is to come out in Berlin at the beginning of January, will probably come with me. There is again a real "bravo,"

[Literally, iron-eater.] as Hummel said of me when he heard me in Paris in the twenties.

Will you be so kind as to give the enclosed letters to Winterberger and Rubinstein? How is our friend Winterberger getting on in the not very suitable atmosphere of Vienna? Let me know something about him soon. Yours ever,

F. Liszt

Weymar, December 5th, 1857.

189. To Hofcapellmeister Stein In Sondershausen.

[Autograph in the possession of M. Alfred Bovet at Valentigney.-- The addressee, a first-rate conductor (born 1818), lived from 1853 in Sondershausen; died 1864.]

Let me give you once more my hearty thanks, dear friend, for the delightful day you gave me at Sondershausen, which continues so brightly and pleasantly in my recollection. The rare consummation with which your orchestra solved one of the most difficult tasks, and brought "what one hears on the mountains" [Liszt's Mountain Symphony] to the impressive understanding of the ears in the valley (if not indeed under the water and worse still), strengthens me in my higher endeavors,--and you, dear friend, will have to bear some of the responsibility if I go on writing more such "confused," "formless," and, for the every-day critic, quite "fathomless" things.

Singer [A letter from this first-rate violinist is on the same sheet with Liszt's.] needs no further recommendation from me, as he is already known to you as an eminent virtuoso. Especially at Court concerts his own refined and brilliant qualities are placed in their most favorable light.

If it is possible for you to take an opportunity of bringing out my dear and extraordinary budding genius Carl Tausig ["The last of the virtuosi;" as Weitzmann called him; born at Warsaw 1841; died at Leipzig 1871.] at the Court, I promise you that he will do honor to your recommendation.

In all esteem and devotion, yours ever,

F. Liszt

Weymar, December 6th, 1857

190. To Alexander Ritter in Stettin.

Dear friend,

Your tidings sound as incredible as they are pleasant. And I must admit, what has long been proved to me, that you are a valiant and excellent friend, and prove your friendship splendidly by the success of your venturesome undertaking. Specially do I give you my best thanks for the pregnant and poetic form which you gave to the Ta.s.so programme. Later on, as you have broken the ice in so happy a fashion, we can push on with

[Here, Liszt ill.u.s.trates with a musical score excerpt of the beginning of the Symphonic Poem "Festklange."

and other such corrupt things in Stettin!--

I was not able to attend to your letter about the matter of the parts of the Flying Dutchman until after my return to Weymar.

Herr von Dingelstedt spoke to me about the idea in regard to the fee for Wagner (from the Stettin Directors), and the reply to you from the Secretary Jacobi will be to that effect. If, as I presume, you can so arrange that this idea is carried out, and that Wagner receives his fee, the parts shall be sent you from here.

I visited your dear sisters many times in Dresden, and had some delightful chats with them.

In Carl's Sonatas [Carl Ritter], which I have read with much interest, there is a decidedly musical germ; only I hope that by degrees more juicy fruit may spring from it.

Cornelius is bringing his completed opera back to Weymar at the end of this month. [Doubtless "Der Barbier von Baghdad."] La.s.sen, who is getting on splendidly with his ("Frauenlob "), has composed several exquisite songs between whiles. "Landgraf Ludwig's Brautfahrt" ["Landgrave Ludwig's Bridal Journey," an unpublished opera of La.s.sen's.] will again be given next Sunday, and from New Year (1858) La.s.sen will act as Grand Ducal Music Conductor of Weymar. Gotze is retiring from work, and your friend Stor undertakes his post as First Music Conductor. Damrosch, your successor, has composed a quite remarkable Violin Concerto with a Polonaise Finale, with which you will be pleased.

Recall me most kindly to your wife's remembrance, as one who remains ever

Yours in all affection and devotion,

F. Liszt

Weymar, December 7th, 1857

191. To Capellmeister Max Seifriz At Lowenberg

[Autograph in the possession of Herr Alexander Meyer Cohn in Berlin. The addressee (1827-85) was, after 1854, conductor to Prince Hohenzollern-Hechingen at Lowenberg in Silesia, until the latter's death in 1869, when he became Court Conductor in Stuttgart.]

Dear Herr Capellmeister,

With my very best thanks for your friendly letter I send you, according to your wish, the score of the "Prometheus" choruses.

For the present I am not requiring it, and send it you with great pleasure, so that you may be able to read it through at your ease. I fear, alas! that the difficulty of some of the intonation in the first choruses may make the studying of it a rather detailed matter to you. Such irksomeness unfortunately attaches to all my works, not excepting the Ave Maria, which I might nevertheless venture to recommend to you next, if you have any intention of performing a vocal work of my composition. It was published by Breitkopf & Hartel (score and parts), and has been pretty favorably received at various performances of it.

I wrote yesterday to His Royal Highness, and expressed my special thanks for the kind attention in inviting Herr von Bulow during my stay at L. I rejoice immensely at the thought of these days, in which musical matter will by no means be wanting to us.

Meanwhile remember me most kindly to your orchestra, which preserves so well its high renown, and accept, my dear sir, the a.s.surance of high esteem with which I remain

Yours in all friendship,

F. Liszt