Yours most truly,
F. Liszt
309. To Otto Lessmann
Dear Friend,
At the Musical Festival which I had the honor of conducting some twenty-five years ago at Aix-la-Chapelle, Hiller, the friend of my young days in Paris, took up quite a critical attitude against the conductor and his compositions.
I took no particular notice of his behavior, but I heard that it displeased many people, who made no secret of it to him. I was also told that at one of the rehearsals Hiller did not exactly leave of his own accord. As I was engaged at the conductor's desk I did not observe the occasion of his leaving, and contented myself with reading, some days later, his witty report of the Aix-la-Chapelle Musical Festival in the Cologne paper. My excellent friend, Freiherr Hans von Bronsart, replied to Hiller's article with no less wit and with a different opinion. Unhappily the musical chronicle is overflowing with unresolved discords.
To you, dear friend, I am ever harmoniously,
F. Liszt
Weimar, October 14th, 1882
310. To Otto Lessmann