I am accompanied by the roses without thorns of my pleasant recollections of you, and my hearty and respectful devotion remains unaltered.
F. Liszt
Weimar, Easter Sunday, April 17th, 1881
Have the kindness to repeat to Bosendorfer the assurance of my very cordial friendship.
276. To the Most Honorable Committee of the Wagner-Verein, Berlin
Addressed to Professor Otto Lessmann.
Gentlemen,
A distinction such as that which was conferred upon me yesterday by the Berlin "Wagner-Verein" and by the audience has seldom been received by the highest masters in the musical art, among whom I can only count as an apprentice.
["Les Preludes" and "Festklange," the former under Lessmann's, the latter under Mannstadt's direction, had been performed in the winter garden of the Central Hotel before a numerous audience assembled by invitation. Between the two symphonies, Marianne Brandt sang "Jeanne d'Arc au bucher," and Heinrich Ernst some of Liszt's songs. A banquet concluded the festival.]
Accept my warmest thanks for the "Liszt Festival Concert" of Sunday, 24th April; it remains as a joyous incentive to lifelong continuous work with