Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt Volume I Part 31

Good Lord, I know the thing.

However, I was peculiarly pleased that you from the first looked upon this Berlin experiment just as I did, and that we quite understood each other. I can quite imagine how the Philistine must have shaken his head. It was equally clear that you were unable to accept the proposal for the Konigsstadt Theatre with the Leipzig troupe, and I am only annoyed at their impudence in offering you such a thing. It implies indeed a gross insult, for which one must pardon our dull-headed theatrical mob. "Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Dearest friend, have you not yet had enough of Weimar? I must own that I frequently grieve to see how you waste your strength there. Was there any truth in the recent rumour of your leaving Weimar? Have they given in?

But all this is idle talk. My brain is a wilderness, and I thirst for a long, long sleep, to awake only when my arms are around you. Write to me very precisely, also whether you are inclined, after a little stay at Zurich, to go with me to the solitude of the Grisons; St. Moritz might, after all, do you good, dearest friend; we shall there be five thousand feet high, and enjoy the most nerve-strengthening air, together with the mineral water, which is said to be of beneficial effect on the digestive organs.

Think this over, consult your health and your circ.u.mstances, and let me know very soon what I may hope for.

Farewell, best and dearest of friends. Have my eternal thanks for your divine friends.h.i.+p, and be a.s.sured of my steadfast and warmest love.

Your

RICHARD W.

ZURICH, May 30th, 1853

112.

DEAREST FRIEND,

I have just received the enclosed letter, programme, and newspaper from Prague. If you will write a few lines to Apt, you will please him very much. Also be kind enough to send a copy of your "Nibelungen" to Louis Kohler in Konigsberg (care of Pfitzer and Heimann, music-publishers). He deserves this attention from you, and I promised it him during his stay here, when he cordially joined your banner. From Leipzig, after the performance of "Tannhauser," he wrote me a letter which I could sign myself, and you are sure to find in Kohler a very zealous, able, and honest champion of your cause in the press.

A little book by him on the melody of speech will shortly appear.

As a composer for the pianoforte he has done some excellent things. Several years ago an opera of his composition was produced at Brunswick. Kohler is about thirty-two years old, and married.

Marx was here recently. We have become friends, and shall probably approach each other still more closely. His oratorio "Moses" was given fairly well under my direction.

A little court concert was given the day before yesterday in honour of their Majesties the King and Queen of Saxony. Further details I shall tell you when I see you. Unfortunately I must doubt that the steps taken so far will lead to the desired result, but there is yet another hope before my departure, for which I must wait. The Hereditary Grand Duke will soon go to Dresden, and has promised me his intercession in this matter.

In ten or twelve days I shall give you an exact plan of my journey. It is very possible and almost probable that Joachim and Robert Franz will accompany me to Zurich. It is quite understood that I go with you wherever you like, but I shall not be able to stay with you longer than ten days altogether. Whether it will be at the beginning or the middle of July I cannot say for certain, because this journey depends on another much longer one.

Damm has told us wonderful things of your three performances. The poetic indications which I read in the programme, especially those of the introduction to "Lohengrin" and the overture of the "Flying Dutchman," interested me very much. Before long I may send you a little article about the "Flying Dutchman"; and if you approve of it, it shall be published.

I have been much depressed these last few days by many and various things. These are the days of thunderstorms. With all my heart and soul I shall rejoice on seeing you again. Let us be faithful to one another, though the world go to ruin.

F. L.

June 8th, 1853

113.

I have nothing to write to you, dearest, except that I await you longingly. You might come before the middle of July, seeing that you will not be able to give me more than ten days in all. This of course determines me not to expect that you should go to the watering-place in the Grisons with me for a few days only. It would have been different if you could have stayed with me there for some length of time. I suppose you will not be here this month, and I may, without fear of missing you, go next week to Interlaken in the Oberland to visit part of the R. family. At the beginning of July I shall be back again, and expect you daily.

That Franz and Joachim intend to come too is famous. Franz had already half promised me. I shall be delighted to make their acquaintance. Prague and Konigsberg (Kohler) will be attended to.

I read today in the "Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik" the article by T. in Posen, in which there is a stupid thing, viz., an exaggeration, where he says that I consider "Schoneck one of my most gifted disciples." Schoneck as a musician is quite insignificant, and as a man without particular culture; he is simply a theatrical conductor--at least as far as I know him. I was struck, however, by his uncommon and specific talent as a conductor, as well as by his nervous, restless, and very active temperament, combined with a strong turn for enthusiasm. He once saw me study Beethoven's music with an orchestra, and conduct it, and devoured what could be acquired with genuine astonishment, making it his own with so much cleverness that later on at Freiburg he produced the music to "Egmont," which he had heard me do, with very great success, as competent witnesses have a.s.sured me. It was the same afterwards with the "Flying Dutchman," which he grasped completely as a conductor. But beyond his specific gift as a conductor, I do not think that I have influenced him particularly, and should certainly not like him to be considered my representative, although I may count upon his devotion. If the Berlin plan at Kroll's is, after all, realized--and there is again strong opposition to it now-I must think of having my intentions more specially represented, and have young Ritter in view for that purpose. As to this also we must have a talk.

However, the success of "Tannhauser" at Posen, under Schoneck's direction, is again a striking incident. Within six days they gave it four times, with the largest receipts. Only think what trouble I had at the time with this opera at Dresden.

But enough. That you, like me, do not seem to be in good spirits, grieves me very much, but I become more and more convinced that people like us must always be uncomfortable, except in the moments, hours, and days of productive excitement; but then we enjoy and luxuriate during that time more than any other man. So it is! Soon we shall talk! I am almost afraid of this joy! You will write, will you not?

Adieu, dearest friend.

Your

R. W.

ZURICH, June 14th, 1853

114.

BEST OF FRIENDS,

Today week--Thursday, June 28th--I start from here. At Carlsruhe I shall have to stop till July 1st, in order to look at the localities, and to make some preparations for the impending Musical Festival there. On July 2nd I shall therefore hope to be with you at Zurich. My time will be very short, but it will be an unspeakable pleasure to live with you for a few days.

I enclose a few disappointing lines concerning your affair, which have been sent to me by an unknown hand. I hope to be able to tell you better news when I see you. I shall go straight from the mail office to you at Zeltweg, to ask you about the hotel where I shall stop. Probably Joachim and Franz will come with me. If it is not too much trouble, notify my arrival at Winterthur to Kirchner and Eschmann, whose personal acquaintance I should like to make.

I have just received from Hartel your portrait, which seems to me more like than the previous one. If there is a decent sculptor at Zurich, you must oblige me by giving him a few sittings, for him to model a large medallion in relief of you. I cannot bear lithographed portraits; to me they have always a somewhat bourgeois appearance, while sculpture represents a man in a very different way.

In ten days, dearest friend, we shall wholly possess each other.

If you like to write to me, address Poste restante, Carlsruhe, where I shall be till July 1st.

Your

F. LISZT

June 23rd, 1853

[ENCLOSURE.]

If I venture to trouble you with a few lines, my motive, I hope, will gain me your kind forgiveness. In today's number of the "Freimuthige Sachsen-Zeitung" the old Steckbrief (order of arrest) (v. 49) against Capellmeister Richard Wagner has been copied, with the remark "that it is said that he intends to return to Germany, and therefore the police are requested to keep a watchful eye on him, and, in case he is found in Germany, to arrest him and deliver him here."

Although I know Capellmeister R. Wagner from of old, I do not know how to communicate this news to him, because it is said that most of the letters sent to refugees in Switzerland are either opened or never delivered; and I am not acquainted with any other safe way.

A consultation which I had with some of Richard Wagner's friends led us to determine, as the only means, upon asking Court- Capellmeister Dr. Liszt, one of the most faithful and best-known friends of the great composer, "to acquaint Capellmeister R.

Wagner with the above by some sure ways and means."

Asking you once more to pardon me for the trouble I give you, I remain, with the greatest esteem and veneration,

115.