Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt Volume II Part 16

I long for news of you, of which you are too chary.

As soon as I get better and am accustomed to sitting up I shall write more. For today a thousand greetings to the Altenburg.

Your

R. W.

ZURICH, December 12th, 1855.

205.

Chronos has made another step across all our heads. How can I write to you, dear poet, without telling you of the kind wishes which I and the Child entertain for you, and the desire we both of us have of seeing you again in the course of 1856? I can a.s.sure you that if fate were to send me a messenger with the a.s.surance of this, I should consider it the best New Year's gift, although there are many things which I demand of it.

But one must hope--hope is a virtue. Is not this a beautiful identification?

It gives us great pain to know that you are suffering. I would accept double and treble the rheumatism which I have caught in this climate, where we have eight months of bad weather, and not four of fine, if I could secure you perfect liberty thereby.

Liszt is sad because his travelling plans are disarranged, although he hopes to see you more at his ease another time. He must be at Vienna at the beginning of January in order to conduct a Mozart festival given for the centenary of the Master's birthday; and as Berlioz is coming here at the beginning of February, he will have to leave Vienna immediately afterwards.

The papers have no doubt informed you of his stay at Berlin, where he will soon return to attend the first performance of "Tannhauser," two rehearsals of which he almost entirely conducted. Stupid people will not be silenced thereby. To poets living in the tropical regions, where pa.s.sion expands her gigantic blossoms and her sidereal marvels, stupid people appear like little gadflies which sometimes annoy them and draw blood by their stings, but cannot disturb the enchantment of this luxuriant nature. Liszt also has been honoured by a swarm of these insects, which buzz with all the more noise and self- sufficiency because they can make so little honey. He is quite composed, and goes quietly on his way, only uttering occasionally such BONMOTS as "They have cast me down, but I remain standing none the less," or "What does it matter if other people do things badly so long as I do them well?" etc., etc.; and so life goes on.

Write to me, dear poet, and do not always wait for a REASON; and if you will give pleasure to my daughter send her for the New Year the autograph for which she has asked you.

Embrace your wife for me, and convey to her my kindest wishes.

She ought to be sure of them, as indeed ought you. Have you resumed the "Valkyrie?" The duet between Siegmund and Siegliende has made me shed copious tears. It is as beautiful as love, as the Infinite, as earth and the heavens.

Your devoted,

CAROLYNE W.

December 23rdd, 1855.

206.

Today I ought to be with you and prepare your Christmas tree, where the rays and gifts of your genius should s.h.i.+ne. And now we are apart, you troubled with erysipelas, and I with all manner of red roses grown in similar gardens. But this abominable FLORA shall not delay the joy of our meeting too long.

You probably know that I have to go to Vienna, in January, to conduct the Centenary Mozart Festival, which takes place on January 27th, and will require at least a few weeks' preparation.

At the beginning of February I shall be back here. Berlioz is coming on the 8th of February, and Johanna Wagner on the 20th.

Berlioz's "Faust" and "Cellini" will be given before the 16th, and your niece is announced in three roles. As soon as this is over I shall write to tell you when I can come to Zurich, but I am afraid I shall have to wait for the summer.

At Berlin, where I stayed three weeks, I attended a few pianoforte rehearsals of "Tannhauser," by invitation of Messrs.

von Hulsen and Dorn, and if the first performance is not delayed after January 6th to 8th (for when it is announced), I shall be able to send you a report of it as an eye and ear witness.

Johanna will sing and act Elizabeth beautifully, and Formes is studying his part most conscientiously. Dorn has already had a number of pianoforte and string rehearsals, and makes it a point of honour to produce the work as correctly and brilliantly as possible.

No doubt "Tannhauser" will become a "draw" at Berlin, which is the chief thing, even for the composer, and I hope that the CRITICAL treatment which I received at the hands of the critics will redound to the credit of "Tannhauser," and that the infallible impression of your work on the public will not be impaired by carping notices. I shall write to you about this at great length.

The day after tomorrow, Boxing-day, we shall have "Tannhauser"

here, which retains its position as a "draw," a distinction which it shares at Weymar, with "Lohengrin" and "The Flying Dutchman."

Next spring "Lohengrin" is to be mounted again here. Up to the present we still want an Ortrud, and, unfortunately, cannot get a good one from elsewhere. The Leipzig one would, for example, be quite useless, and the voice of Frau Knopp is still much impaired by her late illness.

I am looking forward to "Lohengrin," that wonderful work, which, to me, is the highest and most perfect thing in art--until your "Nibelungen" is finished.

At Berlin, at Count Redern's, I heard a few pieces from "Lohengrin" splendidly executed by several regimental bands, and was reminded of our pompous entry into the "Drei Konige" of Basle: Our new Weymar Union has adopted the entry of the trumpets

[Musical notation]

as its "Hoch," and I wish we could sing it to you in chorus soon.

Of my concert affairs, etc., I have nothing to tell you. When I come to you I shall bring some of my scores with me. The rest will not interest us much. With similar compositions, the only question is, what is IN them? The publication I shall delay a few months (although six numbers are already engraved), for the reason that some of my EXCELLENT friends (an expression which Kaulbach is fond of using for people who do not like him) had the EXCELLENT intention of producing these things at once by way of a WARNING EXAMPLE. That amiable intention I want to forestall by a few performances under my own direction during the winter.

Try to get better again soon, and remember kindly

Your faithful

F. LISZT.

December 24th, 1855.

Best remembrances to Ritter.

207.

DEAR FRANZ,

I am again, or rather still, unwell and incapable of anything. I was just going to write something in the alb.u.m, so that the Child might have it for the new year. But it will not do; my head is too confused and heavy. I write to you only to tell you so; a real letter I could not accomplish. Apart from this I have nothing to tell you; I mean that I have no materials.

I should like to ask you, however, to return the two acts of the "Valkyrie" to me at once before you start. I have at last found a good copyist to whom I have promised work, and I am anxious to have the copy finished soon,--perhaps for the same reason which induces insects to place their eggs in safety before they die.

If I ever finish the last act I will send you the whole, although you are so great a man of the world. Till then be of good cheer, and remember that if you are abused you have willed it so. I also rejoice in the FIASCO of my "Faust" overture, because in it I see a purifying and wholesome punishment for having published the work in despite of my better judgment; the same religious feeling I had in London when I was bespattered with mud on all sides.

This was the most wholesome mud that had ever been thrown at me.

I wish you joy for the Vienna mud.

Adieu, and do your work well. Of your Christianity I do not think much; the Saviour of the world should not desire to be the conqueror of the world. There is a hopeless contradiction in this in which you are deeply involved.

My compliments and thanks to the Princess, and tell the Child that I was unable to manage it today. WHEN shall I? Heaven knows!

It is largely your own fault.

Adieu. I cannot say more, and have, moreover, talked nonsense enough. Farewell, and enjoy yourself.