I am grieved not to have met you yesterday, so as to have thanked you at once for the indescribable pleasure your poem gave me. The little interpreter Lulu [Daniela, the eldest daughter of H. v. Bulow, now married to Prof. Dr. Thode] recited it twice admirably without the smallest error or stumbling. I most sincerely wish that all your works may find such interpreters as Lulu, so fully able to grasp your sentiments that your audience has nothing to do but to weep—as was our feeling yesterday with Cosima, when we both wept like children!
With all my heart, your
F. Liszt
Wednesday, October 23rd, 1867 [Munich]
60. To Eduard von Liszt
Dearest Eduard,
The enclosed letter from Chordirector Kumenecker [The Director of the Altlerchenfelder Kirchenmusik-Verein, in Vienna, had requested Liszt to grant him permission to give a performance of the "Coronation Mass.">[ I received only on my return to Rome (November 6th). Be so good as to pay the writer of it a visit in my name, and ask him kindly to excuse my not complying with his request. Also tell him that I have not got either the chorus or the orchestral parts of the "Coronation Mass." The only existing copies are those belonging to the Court orchestra of Vienna; hence these parts would have either to be obtained or to be copied if a performance of the work is to be given elsewhere, and this I should not care either to advise or disadvise.
The Mass fulfilled its object in Pest on the Coronation Day. If it should be given on any future occasion, I would recommend the conductor to take the tempi solemnly always, but never dragging, and to beat the time throughout alla Breve. And the "Gloria," more especially towards the middle and before the commencement of the "Agnus Dei" up to the Prestissimo, must be worked up brilliantly and majestically. Whether and when the "Coronation Mass" is to appear in print I do not know. Dunkl (Roszavoglyi) in Pest had intended to publish it, but the honorarium of 100 ducats seems to make him hesitate, and I will not accept any smaller sum. Two movements from it (the "Offertorium" and "Benedictus") I have transcribed for the piano, and these may be bought separately, which will be an advantage to the publisher. And the pianoforte arrangements for one or two performers are to appear simultaneously with the score.—It is of no importance to me to have the work published immediately. If you should meet Carl Haslinger and have an opportunity, ask him whether he would risk 100 ducats upon it. As he has already published a number of Masses, this one might suit him as well. If not, it is all the same to me. Only I cannot make any alteration about the honorarium I have now fixed upon. [The "Coronation Mass," like the "Gran Mass," was published by Schuberth, Leipzig.]
Yours,
F. Liszt