If I write but seldom to my friends there is, besides other reasons, one principal cause for it, in that I have but seldom anything agreeable or lively to tell them. Since your departure very little has happened here that would interest you. One half of our colleagues of the Neu-Weymar-Verein [New Weymar Union] is absent—Hoffmann in Holland, Preller in the Oldenburg woods, Pruckner and Schreiber at Goslar, etc., etc.—so that our innocent reunions (which finally take place in the room of the shooting-house) are put off for several weeks. Cornelius is working at a Mass for men's voices—on the 15th of August we shall hear it in the Catholic Church. I, on my side, am working also at a Psalm (chorus, solos, and orchestra), which will be ready by your return, in spite of all interruptions which I have to put up with by constant visits. An exceptionally agreeable surprise to me was Hans von Bulow, who spent a couple of days here, and brought with him some new compositions, amongst which I was particularly pleased with a very interesting, finely conceived, and carefully worked-out "Reverie fantastique." Until the 15th of August (when his holidays end) he remains in Copenhagen, where he will certainly meet with a friendly reception. Perhaps next summer you would be inclined to go there. You would find it a very pleasant neighborhood, and many pleasant people there, who have also been agreeably remembered by me. If I had time, I would gladly go there again for a couple of weeks, to find a little solitude in the Zoological Gardens and to forget somewhat other bestialities. [Probably a play on the words Thiergarten (beast-garden) and Bestialitaten] This satisfaction is not so easily attainable for me elsewhere.
I envy you immensely about Patikarius [Hungarian gipsy orchestras] and Ketskemety. [Hungarian gipsy orchestras] This class of music is for me a sort of opium, of which I am sometimes sorely in need. If you should by chance see Kertbeny, who has now obtained a logis honoraire, please tell him that my book on the Gipsies and Gipsy Music is already almost entirely translated by Cornelius, and that I will send it to him by the autumn. But beg him at the same time not to write tome, as it is impossible for me to start a detailed correspondence with K.
I sent the pianoforte arrangement (with the voices) yesterday to Herr von Augusz, with the request that he would present them, when he had an opportunity, to His Eminence Cardinal Scitowsky. The Mass [Liszt's Graner Messe.] will not take up an excessively long time, either in performance or studying. But it is indispensable that I should conduct the general rehearsal as well as the performance myself; for the work cannot be ranked amongst those in which ordinary singing, playing, and arrangement will suffice, although it offers but small difficulties. It is a matter of some not usual trifles in the way of accent, devotion, inspiration, etc.
When are you coming back, dear Singer? Only bring home with you an orderly packet of manuscripts, that is to say to Weymar, where I hope that you will feel yourself more and more at home.
The members of our Club who are still here send you the most friendly greetings by me, to which I add a cordial "auf baldiges Wiedersehen" ["May we soon meet again!">[.
Yours ever,
F. Liszt
August 1st, 1855
P.S.—Joachim is going to make a walking tour in Tyrol. I hope he will come and see us on his return. Berlioz proposes to give some concerts in Vienna and Prague next December. I shall probably postpone my journey to Wagner (at Zurich) until November. I shall remain here for the next few months, in order to write several things in readiness for the winter.
142. To Bernhard Cossmann In Baden-Baden