Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt Volume II Part 33

I cannot tell you how comic it appears to me that I have to transact Weimar business with F. D. I have a good mind to tell HIM that he had better leave my opera alone. Weimar has lost all its charm for me since I have to meet so formal a person before I can get at you and the Grand Duke. You are a very tedious set of people.

You told me two years ago that you were in possession of a score of "Rienzi" which I had left there on my flight. If that is so, I should be glad if you would not attach much importance to its possession. My original score is always at your disposal in case, as I scarcely believe, you should care much about this opus. I have only a very few copies left. At the time I had no more than twenty-five copies made, more than half of which I have squandered away. If it MUST be, get a copy from Fischer in Dresden, and submit it reverentially in my name to the great Dingelstedt. Have you had your score altered by Fischer? In the third act there is a long cut and a change necessitated by it which I made for Hamburg.

Good Lord! it is miserable that one has to take all this trouble for a little money. I am once more confined to my room, and cannot even get up from my chair; a neglected abscess in my leg causes me terrible pain; sometimes in the middle of my music I call out loudly, which has a very fine effect.

Have the Hartels sent you the first act of "Tristan?" You will have copies of the poem before long.

Farewell for today. I have to indulge in a few shrieks, which in a letter would not sound well.

A thousand greetings--oh!

From your

R. W. (oh!!)

Have I really to wait for the wretched twenty-five louis d'or-- oh!!--till after the PERFORMANCE? Lord only knows when that will take place--oh!!

277.

VENICE, December 5th, 1858.

I made haste, dearest friend, to write to D. in accordance with your summons sent to me through our Princess.

I wrote to him that doubts had arisen in me whether I still desired the performance of "Rienzi" at Weimar, and I ask you to agree with me and give up the plan. If anything could have induced me to push my "Rienzi" at this time of day it would, as you will understand, have been the desire of deriving a good income from it, such as would have been welcome in my poor and uncertain condition. In itself I look upon this revival as an anachronism which, moreover, would be quite premature. After the recent great success of the opera at Dresden I was in hopes that the rapid sale of this opus would supply me with sufficient means for my present wants. That hope, however, has been deceived in the most important points, especially with regard to Munich and Hanover, as I recently informed you. By offering this opera broadcast I had to humiliate my pride very much, and I have now become very sensitive as to this matter. At Weimar, too, the opera is, properly considered, an intruder, and is evidently being looked upon as such. You enlightened me upon this point last winter, when you explained to me the reason for its delay.

But I do not desire that you should force this juvenile production upon any one in Weimar. The reasons for keeping on good terms on such an occasion with this person or that person do not exist for me, and my sincere wish is, that they should not exist for you either. In this matter we two should agree. Whether or not I perform my "Nibelungen" at some future time is at bottom a matter of indifference to me. I shall complete it in any case, for my enthusiasm and strength for such works I do not derive from any hopes, for the realisation of which I should require certain people. All that the world and my "admirers" and "wors.h.i.+ppers" of whom I have to hear so much can do for me, is to look upon my whole situation in a serious and sympathetic light, and to do all in their power to ease my heavy cares and to preserve to me the pleasure and leisure which I require for my work. Beyond this I want nothing. But to attain it, very different efforts are necessary from those which have hitherto come to my knowledge.

Enough of this. I can do without the Weimar honorarium and douceur for "Rienzi," which, in any case, would come too late to be of service to me. By next Easter, till which time I should have to wait, I shall be able to help myself in other ways; in the meantime it will be a hard struggle, but I shall manage somehow.

Even the Weimar receipts would, unfortunately, not have enabled me to repay your 1,000 francs.

To sum up: you will, undoubtedly, save yourself much trouble and unpleasantness by giving up "Rienzi." If you have Tichatschek in the spring let him sing Lohengrin; that will give you much more pleasure.

Imagine that for a week and a half I have not been able to move from my chair. This illness was just what was required to finish me up. I had just resumed my work a little, after a gastric and nervous indisposition, when I was obliged to give in again.

However, I am getting better, and hope to be able to walk and work again next week.

Farewell, and be pressed to my heart a thousand times.

Your

R. W.

278.

DEAREST RICHARD,

Hartel has sent me a divine Christmas present. All the children in the world cannot be so delighted with their trees and the golden apples and splendid gifts suspended thereon as I, in my own person, am with your unique "Tristan." Away with all the cares and tribulations of every-day existence! Here one can weep and glow again. What blissful charm, what undivined wealth of beauty in this fiery love-potion! What must you have felt while you created and formed this wondrous work? What can I tell you about it beyond saying that I feel with you in my heart of hearts!

However, in my capacity of practical friend, I must speak to you of commonplace things. Your negative answer to D., much as it grieved me in many respects, came at the RIGHT MOMENT. I proposed, as you know, "Rienzi" for performance eighteen months ago, and your small opinion of my small influence on our affairs is, unfortunately, too correct. Without troubling you with the details of local matters, I only tell you that I quite approve of your conduct, reserving to myself, however, the right of asking for your "Rienzi" if a favourable moment for the performance of this opera, long desired by me, should arrive. In the first instance, the "Prophet" and Auber's "Bal Masque" are to be given, and I, for my part, have declared that I shall not enter the orchestra for some time to come. By next spring I hope your personal affairs will have taken a more favourable turn, to which I may, perhaps, be able to contribute something. When "Tristan"

is completed, and you have sent the dedication copy to the Grand d.u.c.h.ess of Baden, you must write to me at length as to what remains to be done.

With K. R., who delighted me with a visit of several days, I discussed a good many things which he will shortly communicate to you. I flatter myself that he has taken a good impression away with him, and that some old friendly a.s.sociations will be even more firmly established in years to come. His musical gift appears very considerable to me, and I have advised him to concentrate himself on an operatic subject, which he had better arrange for himself. You should encourage him in this; by your advice and influence he will no doubt achieve something excellent, and a musico-dramatic work will help him to proper recognition in the quickest and best way.

I wanted to send you the "Dante" symphony for the new year, but the corrections have taken me longer than I expected, and the publication will not take place before January. I shall send you a respectable parcel, for the Gran Ma.s.s will also be included in it. I wish I could bring you these things personally, stay with you, accompany you in "Tristan." Let us hope that the new year will put an end to our separation, and chain us to each other in the body, as we are already in spirit and heart.

Your

F. L.

December 26th, 1858.

You may expect a dedication from the composer of the opera D. v.

S.; accept it in a friendly spirit, although you will find yourself in the strange company of Meyerbeer. The composer is well inclined towards you, of which I recently had a very convincing proof. Do not mention this until the dedication actually reaches you. Later on you will probably have to write a few lines in reply.

279.

Cordial thanks for your New Year's greeting, dearest Richard. I expect to see the explanation of the last words of your telegram in your next letter, for I have no knowledge of the event which you describe as "wonderfully miserable." In certain quarters, however, the MISERABLE appears no longer WONDERFUL to me. I hope the new year will bring some things to a better issue, and have many good things in store for you. Enclosed I send you this week's repertoire of the Weymar theatre, in which you will see the announcement of "Lohengrin" for next Sunday. For the first time I shall not conduct this work to which I am attached with my whole soul. "Tannhauser" also I have left to my colleague, and when I come to explain to you the circ.u.mstances which determine me to this negative att.i.tude, I feel sure that you will see in it no neglect of my artistic conviction, much less of my duty as a friend to you.

If your operas have elsewhere been given for the purpose of getting money, the responsibility lies with those concerned; but here, where these works have been guarded and watched with so much love, I cannot make myself an accomplice of the brutal mercantile spirit in which they are now regarded, especially not after we two have been treated with such total want of consideration in this "Rienzi" affair, which has been allowed to drag on for more than eighteen months.

As I said in my last letter, I fully approve of your resolution not to sell "Rienzi" to the management here. If you should be applied to by letter I ADVISE YOU TO MAKE NO CONCESSION. If the time for relenting should come I shall send you word; you know how deeply your interests concern me.

In the first instance, the "Prophet," "Bal Masque," "Don Pasquale," and "Antigone", have to be studied and performed, which will leave no time or goodwill for "Rienzi." As regards goodwill, C. R. can relate to you the circ.u.mstances of the first performance of Cornelius's opera, when my pa.s.sive att.i.tude during this season will be explained to you. Really I often require the patience beseeming a confrater of the Franciscan order to bear so many intolerable things.

Your

F. L.

January 1st, 1859.

280.

VENICE, January 2nd, 1859.

MY DEAR FRANZ,

The time has come when I must once more speak with calmness and in a decisive manner of the subject which has been so rich a source of my life's troubles, and which last New Year's Eve caused the storm I let loose upon you, no doubt to your sorrow.

Such storms must not occur again, that I feel deeply. Even this last attack was caused only by a moment of the most violent excitement. I must, in fact, undergo an absolute change in order to gain a position more worthy of myself. It is for this reason that I apply to you, for the last time, and perhaps it would be better if I did not trouble you in the matter, even for this last time. But if I omitted to do so at the moment when I am about to take a decisive step, I might perhaps have to reproach myself with having neglected my nearest, most helpful, and most influential friend in an unaccountable manner.

Let me come to the point.