F. Liszt
Eisenach, September 26th, 1872
119. To Eduard von Liszt
Horpacs, November 6th, 1872
Dearest Eduard,
My stay here has been somewhat prolonged, and I shall not reach
Pest till next Sunday.
Szechenyi's [Count Szechenyi was Austrian ambassador in Berlin up to 1892.] residence here is most decidedly pleasant and convenient, without noise. In the chapel attached to the house, the house-chaplain (a cultured and estimable priest) daily reads Mass. At table an old house-physician, Dr. M., contributes a good deal to the entertainment. Among other amusing things he said one day: "As to the cholera, no one knows anything definite about it yet except myself, for I have fathomed its nature. And its nature consists solely and wholly…of nothing but cholera!"
The day before yesterday we drove with Szechenyi and Mihalovich to Raiding, [Liszt's birthplace.] in less than two hours. A Herr Wittgenstein (probably an Israelite), who lives in Vienna, now rents this Esterhazy estate, and sublets it again. I found no perceptible changes in the house where I was born since my last visit there 24 years ago. The peasants recognised me at once, came to pay me their respects at the inn, and rang the church bell as we drove away.
.—. I wrote to Kahnt from here that he was to send you immediately the 9 "Kirchen-Chorgesange" and my Mass for men's voices ("Editio nova").
The three Patronatsscheine [tickets of membership] for the Nibelung performance in Bayreuth (Bayern. N.B.—The King has commanded that henceforth Baiern [Bavaria] shall be spelt with a y), and your letter to Herr Feustel, please attend to without delay.