Yours faithfully,
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 16th, 1880
The last corrected proofsheets of Tschaikowsky's Polonaise dedicated to you leave by today's post addressed to Jurgenson.
257. To the Kammervirtuoso Professor Hermann Scholtz in Dresden
[Pianist and composer (born 1845, pupil of Bulow and
Rheinberger), is especially famous as an admirable player of
Chopin.]
Much-esteemed Sir and Friend,
I have sincere pleasure in praising and recommending your Chopin- Edition. To Klindworth belongs the merit of having preceded you by his intelligent and practical work. Your publisher, Peters, might be advised in the next thousand copies he issues of the Chopin-Edition signed Hermann Scholtz:—
A. Not to fill up the first volume with Waltzes. Why make this paltry concession to the trifling requirements of the drawing- room? Chopin's Waltzes are certainly charming, elegant and full of invention…still his Polonaises and Mazurkas have a far higher importance.
Chopin is the bewitching musical genius in which the heroically chivalrous Polish nationality finds expression. This chief characteristic ought to be distinctly emphasised in classifying his works. So, first volume: Polonaises, Mazurkas and the Fantasia upon Polish motives.