Give my tender respects to Madame Liszt; you two form henceforth my father's entire family; and believe in the lively and unalterable friendship of
Your truly devoted,
F. Liszt
74. To Count Casimir Esterhazy
[Autograph (without address) in the possession of Herr Albert
Cohn, bookseller in Berlin.—The addressee was presumably Count
Esterhazy, whose guest Liszt was in Presburg in 1840.]
Let me thank you very sincerely for your kind remembrance, dear friend, and let me also tell you how much I regret that my journey to Hohlstein cannot come to pass during your short stay there. But as by chance you already find yourself in Germany, will you not push on some fine day as far as Weymar?—I should have very great pleasure in seeing you there and in receiving you—not in the manorial manner in which you received me at Presburg, but very cordially and modestly as a conductor, kept by I know not what strange chance of fate at a respectful distance from storms and shipwrecks!—
For three weeks past a very sad circumstance has obliged me to keep at Eilsen, where I had already passed some months of last winter. The reigning Prince is, as you have perhaps forgotten, the present proprietor of one of your estates,—the Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. If by chance you are owing him a debt of politeness, the opportunity of putting yourself straight would be capital for me. Nevertheless I dare not count too much on the attractions of the grandeur and charms of Buckeburg! and I must doubtless resign myself to saying a longer farewell to you.
Let me know by Lowy of Vienna where I shall address to you some pieces in print which you can look over at any leisure hour, and which I shall be delighted to offer you. I will add to them later the complete collection of my "Hungarian Rhapsodies," which will now form a volume of nearly two hundred pages, of which I shall prepare a second edition next winter. Hearty and affectionate remembrances from
Yours ever,
F. Liszt