Letters of Franz Liszt Volume I Part 5

"Durch alle Tone tonet Im bunten Erdentraum Ein leiser Ton gezogen Fur den, der heimlich lauschet."

("Through all the sounds of nature, In earth's fair dream of joy, An under-current soundeth For him whose ears can hear."]

I mean, therefore, to work at it and penetrate it through and through, so as to make the utmost possible effect with it.

As to the "Kinderscenen," I owe to them one of the greatest pleasures of my life. You know, or you don't know, that I have a little girl of three years old, whom everybody agrees in considering angelic (did you ever hear such a commonplace?). Her name is Blandine-Rachel, and her surname Moucheron. [Pet name; literally, "little fly."] It goes without saying that she has a complexion of roses and milk, and that her fair golden hair reaches to her feet just like a savage. She is, however, the most silent child, the most sweetly grave, the most philosophically gay in the world. I have every reason to hope also that she will not be a musician, from which may Heaven preserve her!

Well, my dear Monsieur Schumann, two or three times a week (on fine and good days!) I play your "Kinderscenen" to her in the evening; this enchants her, and me still more, as you may imagine, so that often I go over the first repeat twenty times without going any further. Really I think you would be satisfied with this success if you could be a witness of it!

I think I have already expressed to you, in one of my former letters, the desire I felt to see you write some ensemble pieces, Trios, Quintets, or Septets. Will you pardon me for pressing this point again? It seems to me that you would be more capable of doing it than any one else nowadays. And I am convinced that success, even commercial success, would not be wanting.

If between now and next winter you could complete some ensemble work, it would be a real pleasure to me to make it known in Paris, where that sort of composition, when well played, has more chance of success than you perhaps think. I would even gladly undertake to find a publisher for it, if you liked, which would moreover in no wise prevent you from disposing of it for Germany.

In the interim I mean to play in public your "Carnaval," and some of the "Davidsbundlertanze" and of the "Kinderscenen." The "Kreisleriana," and the "Fantaisie" which is dedicated to me, are more difficult of digestion for the public. I shall reserve them till later.

Up to the present time I only know the following works of yours:--

Impromptus on a theme by Clara Wieck.

Pianoforte Sonata, dedicated to Clara.

Concerto without orchestra.

"Etudes Symphoniques"

"Davidsbundlertanze"

"Kreisleriana."

"Carnaval."

"Kinderscenen" and my "Fantaisie."

If you would have the kindness to complete your works to me it would be a great pleasure to me; I should like to have them bound all together in three or four volumes. Haslinger, on his side, will send you my Etudes and my other publications as they come out.

What you tell me of your private life has interested and touched me deeply. If I could, I know not how, be in the least pleasant or useful to you in these circ.u.mstances, dispose of me as you will. Whatever happens, count on my absolute discretion and sincere devotion. If I am not asking too much, tell me if it is Clara of whom you speak. But if this question should seem to you misplaced, do not answer it.

Have you met at Leipzig Mr. Frank, [Dr. Hermann Frank edited Brockhaus' Allgemeine Zeitung for a year.] at the present moment editor of the Leipzig Allgemeine Zeitung? From the little I know of him (for he has been much more intimate with Chopin and Hiller than with me) I think he is capable of understanding you. He has left a charming impression behind him in Rome. If you see him, give him my affectionate regards.

My plans remain the same. I still intend to be in Vienna at the beginning of December, and in Paris at the end of February. I shall be capable of coming to look you up in Leipzig if you will let me make the journey from Paris with you. Try! Adieu, my dear Monsieur Schumann; write soon (address care of Ricordi, Florence: I shall be in the neighborhood of Lucca till the middle of September), and depend always on my sincere esteem and lively affection.

Yours in all friends.h.i.+p,

F. Liszt

20. To Breitkopf and Hartel

[Milan, June, 1839]

Gentleman,

About three weeks ago I gave to Mr. Ricordi (who was on his way to Rome) the proofs of the two Symphonies you addressed to me. I hope they have reached you by now. Forgive me for having kept them so long, and also for having corrected them with so much care. But, firstly, they did not reach me till about the 20th of February, and then I did not know how to send them to you direct, for the diligences in this happy country are so insecure. I am therefore of necessity (though very unwillingly) behindhand.

Allow me to ask you for a second proof (for it is of great consequence to me that the edition should be as correct as possible), and this time I will beg you to send me three proofs of each Symphony, so that I may forward one to Paris and the other to London. Probably there will not be any more corrections to make in this second proof, and in that case I will let you know in two words (without returning your proof), telling you at the same time the date of publication.

My intention being to visit Vienna, Munich, and perhaps Leipzig at the beginning of next year (before going to England in the month of April), I shall take advantage of this opportunity to let the Symphonies be heard at my concerts, so as to give them a certain publicity.

I have looked through the Lieder you have been good enough to send me. I shall certainly do the "Adelaide," however difficult it may seem to me to transcribe simply and elegantly. As regards the others, I am afraid I cannot find the necessary time.

Moreover, that good Haslinger overwhelms me with Schubert. I have just sent him twenty-four more new songs ("Schwanengesang" and "Winterreise"), and for the moment I am rather tired with this work.

Would you be so kind as to send me, at the same time with the proofs of the Beethoven Symphonies, Mr. Mendelssohn's "Preludes and Fugues"? It is an extremely remarkable work, and it has been impossible to get it in Italy. I shall be greatly obliged if you will send it me.

When you see Mr. Schumann please remember me very kindly to him.

I have received the "Fantaisie" which he has done me the honor to dedicate to me, and the "Kinderscenen." Don't you think you ought to publish a book of Studies by him? I should be extremely curious to make acquaintance with them. All his works interest me in a high degree. It would be difficult for me to say as much of many of the compositions of my respected colleagues, with some exceptions.

I beg to remain, Gentlemen,

Yours most sincerely,

F. Liszt

Address the Symphonies to Mr. Ricordi, Florence. From the 15th of June till the 1st of September I shall be in the neighborhood of Lucca. Ricordi's address is the safest.

21. To the Beethoven Committee at Bonn

[Printed in L. Ramann's Biography of Liszt, vol. 1]

Gentlemen,

As the subscription for Beethoven's monument is only getting on slowly, and as the carrying out of this undertaking seems to be rather far distant, I venture to make a proposal to you, the acceptance of which would make me very happy. [In Bonn, Beethoven's birthplace, a committee had been formed to erect a Beethoven monument. Yet, in spite of the a.s.sent which met the proposal, the contributions flowed in so meagrely--Paris, for example, contributed only 424 francs 90 centimes--that Liszt, on reading this in a paper, immediately formed the n.o.ble resolution mentioned in the above letter. "Such a n.i.g.g.ardly almsgiving, got together with such trouble and sending round the hat, must not be allowed to help towards building our Beethoven's monument!" he wrote to Berlioz. Thus the German nation has in great measure to thank Franz Liszt for the monument erected to its greatest composer at Bonn.]

I offer myself to make up, from my own means, the sum still wanting for the erection of the monument, and ask no other privilege than that of naming the artist who shall execute the work. That artist is Bartolini of Florence, who is universally considered the first sculptor in Italy.

I have spoken to him about the matter provisionally, and he a.s.sures me that a monument in marble (which would cost about fifty to sixty thousand francs) could be finished in two years, and he is ready to begin the work at once. I have the honor to be, etc.,

Franz Liszt

Pisa, October 3rd, 1839

22. To Count Leo Festetics in Pest

[Printed in F. von Schober's "Letters about Liszt's Sojourn in Hungary."]

Dear Count,

Shall you like to have me again at Pest this year? I know not. In any case you are threatened with my presence from the 18th to the 22nd of next December. I shall come to you a little older, a little more matured, and, permit me to say, more finished an artist, than I was when you saw me last year, for since that time I have worked enormously in Italy. I hope you have kept me in remembrance, and that I may always count on your friends.h.i.+p, which is dear to me.

What joy, what an immense happiness it will be to be once more in my own country, to feel myself surrounded by such n.o.ble and vigorous sympathies, which, thank G.o.d, I have done nothing to forfeit in my distant and wandering life. What feelings, what emotions will then fill my breast! All this, dear Count, I will not attempt to express to you, for in truth I should not know how. Let it suffice you to know that the love of my country, of my chivalrous and grand country, has ever lived most deeply in my heart; and that, if unhappily it does not seem likely that I can ever show to my country what a love and devotion I feel for it, the sentiments will remain none the less unchanged in my heart.