335. To Felix Mottl, Hofcapellmeister at Carlsruhe
[The addressee, born in 1856, has been since 1880 at Carlsruhe, where he was recently appointed to the post of Court opera conductor, and since 1886 one of the conductors of the Bayreuth Festivals. He is one of the most important conductors of the present day, and has also come forward as a composer.]
My Very Dear Friend,
You have done a noble artistic deed in reinstating Cornelius's charming Opera "The Barber of Bagdad." I hardly know of any other comic opera of so much refined humor and spirit. This champagne has the real sparkle and great worth.
The one-act arrangement seems to me the most propitious. As in Carlsruhe so elsewhere it will make its way. Write about this to Hans Richter. "The Barber of Bagdad" might perhaps, in one act, become a stock-opera in Vienna, and then return once more to Weimar, where, at the first performance long ago, they behaved so ill about it.
Friendly thanks, and yours ever,
F. Liszt
Budapest, February 8th, 1884
336. To Frau Hofrathin Henriette von Liszt
My Very Dear Cousin,