DEAREST RICHARD,
R.'s telegram of October 21st was received with joyful acclamation, and your letter, which arrived on the same evening, was the most welcome birthday present on account of the calm, conciliatory mood which I felt in it. May you soon resume your work joyfully! I hope you are getting on with "Tristan", of which as yet I do not know a single note. In accordance with your last letter, I have asked the Hartels to lend me the score for a few days when the engraver does not want it any longer.
Your hints as to the performances of "Lohengrin", "The Flying Dutchman", and "Rienzi" in Cassel, Gotha, and other cities will not be neglected, and I need not assure you again that I shall do all in my power. First of all you will receive a letter concerning "Rienzi" from my chief and friend Dingelstedt. The opera is to be given here in January. Be kind enough to reply to Dingelstedt's letter with some POLITENESS, and do not be annoyed at my making this remark. I wish very much to incline Dingelstedt a little more favourably towards the performance of your works and to co-operate with him in perfect sympathy. That co-operation is of importance to me not only as regards "Tristan", which will meet with no difficulty, and, as I hope and longingly wish, will open your return to Germany, but chiefly with a view to the performance of the "Nibelungen," which is our ultimate goal. The honorarium of 25 louis d'or which our theatrical exchequer can offer you is very small, but I advise you to accept it, and take it upon myself to get you a small douceur from the Grand Duke's privy purse later on.
I should like to have Tichatschek for the first two performances of "Rienzi", although that would increase the expense considerably. But I have a great liking for him, and wish to get him some distinction from the Grand Duke on that occasion.
Last Sunday we gave "Komala" by Sobolewski. I do not know whether you have seen a small pamphlet "Opera, not Drama," which he published last year as an introduction to his opera. The following beautiful comparison occurs in it: "The words are the hard, transparent pieces of incense, the melody is the beautiful scent which emerges from the thick clouds of smoke, when the incense has been lit." In many other things I cannot agree with him, especially not as regards the marks of punctuation, by means of which he tries to distinguish himself from you, when at the end of the pamphlet he exclaims: "Wagner says, OPERA NOT,—DRAMA; I say OPERA, NOT DRAMA." His "Komala" is better than his comma, and his practice much better than his theory. There is much in it that would please you, and has undoubtedly been originated by "Lohengrin." Sobolewski wrote "Komala" at first in three acts, and had it done in that form at Bremen. Afterwards, in honour of operatic theory, and probably persuaded by the critics who thirst for contrasts and operatic tunes, he added two acts more, in which he introduced vocal pieces de salon, reminding one of the Queen in the "Huguenots", and the inevitable drinking chorus. By his desire I preserved the five acts at the first performance, but at the second I omitted the two additional ones without any consideration, or rather, for very good considerations, and shall even take the liberty of altering his finale, which has been fashioned after your finale of the second act of "Tannhauser" ("nach Rom"), and after the last act of "Iphigenia in Aulis." In that manner the work will appear in its only true form, and may keep its place as a fine musical cloud-and-mist picture in perfect accord with Ossian's poem. For your private benefit I send you a few motives from "Komala", which I copied for you.
About the middle of November we shall perform here a comic opera, "The Barber of Baghdad," founded on a tale from the "Arabian Nights," words and music by Cornelius. The music is full of wit and humour, and moves with remarkable self-possession in the aristrocratic region of art. I expect a very good result. "Rienzi" will be taken in hand immediately afterwards.
Excuse me for having delayed writing to you so long. I am up to the ears in all manner of business and correspondence, and have not had a free hour since my return. Please do not retaliate, and let me have good news of you soon.
Your
F. LISZT.
November 5th, 1858.
Kindly give the enclosed few lines to Ritter. The additions to the "Dante" symphony and to the Gran Mass will be ready before Christmas, and I shall send you both together.
275.
VENICE, November 21st, 1858.
MY DEAR FRANZ,
Many thanks for your kind letter; I had nothing particular to tell you, or would have replied to you sooner. In addition to this I was ill during the whole first half of November, which was more than I had bargained for, especially as it interrupted my work in the most unpleasant manner. Now I am well again and all will be right. I am looking forward to the Mass and "Dante" which you promise to send to me. Mind you keep your word. I have asked the Hartels to send you proof sheets of the first act of "Tristan." Perhaps you have received them by this time. The Hartels treat me with much forbearance. At first when I thought that the score would be finished this autumn, I prodded them on terribly. Since then I have left them miserably in the lurch. Before the end of December I cannot think of sending them the second act. I cannot help this, because I must wait for the most favourable mood to go on with the work. The "Nibelungen" question has also been mooted again by us. I shall have these things engraved now, and shall leave the discussion of the honorarium till after the performance. In this matter a very droll intermezzo has been played, or rather it has not been played out yet, because its conclusion will probably take place in a few days. I shall relate this adventure to you when it is finished.
My affairs are in a somewhat miserable condition. "Rienzi" is not getting on in spite of the continued success of the Dresden revival. The first disappointment came from Munich where I had expected to get an honorarium of fifty louis d'or. They wrote to me that the reading committee objected to the subject on RELIGIOUS grounds. I pity that dear religion! It is partly your fault that it is put to such uses now; why do you write beautiful Masses for the parsons? From Hanover also I expected an immediate remittance, and could not understand the delay, when I heard that Niemann, after having heard Tichatschek in "Rienzi", did not feel competent to sustain the part with equal voice-power. Therefore it was given up. Breslau alone is sufficiently bold, and will venture upon it. I wish I could find some one who would do justice to the real character of the part, in which case he need not be afraid of singing it even before Tichatschek. I have hinted so much to Niemann. I am thus, once more, reduced to my old capital, "Tannhauser" and "Lohengrin", and they are no longer sufficient for my present difficult position.
D. wrote to me five and a half lines, inquiring as to my terms. You probably know my reply. I wish the inhuman creature had sent me the money at once. Good Lord, what Jacks-in-office you all are! None of you can put himself in the place of a poor devil like me who looks upon every source of income as a lucky draw in a lottery. Please, tread gently upon his toe.
K. R. left me today, probably for a few weeks, in order to congratulate his mother on her birthday at Dresden. If he finds it possible he will pay you a visit at Weimar.
W. remains with me in his place; he arrived from Vienna with a Russian family a month ago, in order to spend the winter here. Fortunately, he keeps quiet and does not molest me, for being by myself is the boon which I enjoy, and watch over with painful care. In the Square I am literally run after by foreign princes; one of them, D., who boasts of knowing you personally, I was unable to avoid. He lives where I have my dinner and, occasionally, waylays me. He is an odd and apparently good- natured person. Today he dropped down upon me with much enthusiasm between the soup and the cutlets, in order to tell me that he had heard one of your symphonic poems beautifully played on the piano, and by whom? By a Venetian music-teacher, who has been made an enthusiast for German music by you and me. This amused me very much. D. also has been gained for your cause. What more can you desire? And all this happened in the Square of St. Mark at dinner, the weather being infamously cold.
Be of good cheer then, and may God bless you. Continue to love me. Write to me soon, and greet Altenburg a thousand times for
Your
R. W.
276.
VENICE, November 26th, 1858.
I enclose you a beautiful autograph.
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 "worshippers" 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.