Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 1

F >> Francis Hueffer (translator) >> Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 1

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I recently had a letter from a friend in Paris who witnessed
several rehearsals of the "Tannhauser" overture under Seghers's
direction. He has completely satisfied me that the performance is
carefully prepared, and that the understanding of the public will
be aided as much as possible by a programme taken from your
article upon my opera. In spite of this, I am very doubtful
whether in the most favourable case I shall derive any benefit
from it.

My request to you to accept my poem of "Wiland," you apparently
have not quite understood. It is a sincere wish and request. Your
present and imminent occupations might delay the fulfillment of
my wish, which, however, would become impossible only if my
sketch did not inspire you with the desire to complete it. In
that case please be frank with me. If you intend, however late,
to finish "Wiland," I will undertake its proper versification.

For the present, dearest friend, I must take leave of you; I do
so with cordial wishes for your well-being. Commend me to the
Princess in the best way you can, so that she also may keep me in
friendly remembrance.

Farewell, and be greeted from the full heart of Your grateful
friend,

RICHARD WAGNER

ZURICH, November 25th, 1850

51.

DEAREST FRIEND,

Quite against my custom, I have just spent about ten days in bed
fighting with a violent fever. As it is a very long time since I
heard from you, I begin to be somewhat anxious as to the fate of
my "Lohengrin" article, which, before leaving Weymar, I gave to
Raff, asking him to send it to you as soon as he had read it. In
case you have received it, write me a few lines to reassure me
with regard to it, and at the same time tell me frankly, and
without compliments of any kind, whether the analysis has pleased
or displeased you, whether you think it worth publishing, and
what I had better do with it.

My whole correspondence has fallen into the most lamentable
arrears through the sad condition I have lived in for more than a
fortnight. I owe an answer especially to Herr Ritter, who has
made me a most courteous offer, the value of which I quite
appreciate. Be good enough, dear friend, to thank him in my name
(before I can do so myself) for his friendly conduct, for which I
shall prove myself grateful, as far as lies in my power, on all
occasions.

How far have you got with "Siegfried"? Have you continued your
volume about the opera, and when will it appear?

Send me soon one of those long letters which you write so
beautifully. It will serve excellently well to relieve of his
grief and sorrow.

Your affectionate and devoted friend,

F. LISZT

EILSEN, November 26th, 1850

Address Eilsen (Buckeburg) till December 30th. In the first week
of the new year I shall be back in Weymar.

52.

MY DEAR LISZT,

At last I am able to send you the translation of your article. As
you probably cannot understand why it has been delayed so long,
and may perhaps even suspect that I was indifferent to your more
than kind intention, I must tell you first of all how it has
happened.

I was so moved by your work that I at once felt one thing
distinctly, viz., that in something so encouraging and deeply
touching I could not myself collaborate. I felt as shy and
bashful as possible when I thought of writing with my own hand
the praise which you dictated to me in your extremely brilliant
article. I hesitated and wavered, and did not know how to begin.
Then my young friend Ritter came to my aid, and asked me to let
him do the translation. I consented, and reserved to myself the
right of revising it afterwards, so as to set forth less my
praise than the animation of your original style. R. and B.
translated it between them, and I looked through it together with
them. R. then went to work again, and the result of these careful
endeavours I now lay before you, asking you to explain to
yourself from these indications why the whole thing has been
delayed so long. Of the actual version I can assure you with a
good conscience that, according to my firm conviction, it is not
unworthy of your original, which it renders adequately in the
sense that one does not suspect a laborious translation, but
might let it pass without hesitation for the German original of a
not unaccomplished German author. I can advise you, therefore,
without scruple to give your signature to this version, and leave
it to you whether you will announce it to be a translation. In
all you have said about the work and its author, the version
contains nothing but an absolutely faithful translation of the
original, every conceivable care having been taken to render its
very brilliant, novel, and thoroughly artistic language as
adequately as its individual flavour and fullness would allow. In
places, however, where you indicate the subject matter and the
material aspect of situations and scenes, the translator has made
bold to use a little more liberty. He considered that in these
respects the German original of the poem was nearer to him than
to the author of the French description. The situations are
therefore treated a little more exhaustively, and the German text
has been immediately drawn upon, as was indeed your own wish.
Perhaps the scenes have now and then been given a little too
fully; but as in print the verses will appear in smaller type, I
hope that this also will upon the whole add to the comprehension
of the dramatic situations. Therefore I live in good hope that
you will not be dissatisfied with the work; and if you still
intend to give me an almost excessive proof of your love of my
artistic being and to supply my friends with an important means
of realizing what they love in my art, I shall feel highly
honoured and pleased by the publication of this version, which I
think had best take the form of an independent pamphlet,
especially because in that way the important musical supplement
suggested by you would be possible.

If I were to tell you what I felt while reading this article
repeatedly and most carefully, I should scarcely be able to find
words. Let this suffice: I feel more than fully rewarded for my
efforts, my sacrifices, and my artistic struggles by recognizing
the impression I have made upon you of all others. To be so fully
understood was my only longing, and to have been understood is
the most blissful satisfaction of that longing.

Truly, dear friend, you have turned the little Weimar into a very
focus of my fame. When I read the numerous, comprehensive, and
often very brilliant articles about "Lohengrin" which now come
from Weimar, and compare them with the jealous enmity with which,
for example, the Dresden critics used constantly to attack me,
working with sad consistency for the systematic confusion of the
public, I look upon Weimar as a blessed asylum where at last I
can breathe freely and ease my troubled heart. Thank Lobe very
cordially in my name; his judgment has surprised and delighted
me. Also tell Biedenfeld and the author of the article in the
"Frankfort Conversationsblatt" that I still hope to thank them by
endeavouring with all my power to justify by new works their
great opinion of me. Greet them kindly, also Raff, and Genast,
and Zigesar, without forgetting the brave artists to whom I owe
so much gratitude.

I am deep in my work on "Opera and Drama;" it is, as I told you,
of the greatest importance to me, and I hope it will not be
without importance to others. But it will be a great, stout
volume. Ah, would it were spring, and that I might be once more a
full-blooded, poetizing musician! I am not very well off; care,
care, nothing but care, is the funereal chant which I have to
sing to every young day.

You also have been in a very pitiable plight. Your serious
indisposition and the depressed mood it left behind were strange
things to you, and have affected me very much. For my comfort I
assume that your illness is quite gone; but was I not right, dear
friend, when I warned you and expressed to you my anxiety for
your health, because I knew what unheard-of exertions you had
made for my sake? Please set my fear at rest soon and comfort me
thereby.

Finally, I ask you to transmit my sincerest and most cordial
respects to your faithful, highly esteemed friend. May you two
extraordinary people be happy! Farewell, and accept my heartfelt
thanks for your friendship, which is now the richest source of my
joy.

Your

R. W.

ZURICH, December 24th, 1850

53.

DEAR FRIEND,

I have just received a letter from Brussels, sent by desire of
the management of the Royal Theatre there. In consequence of the
brilliant success--so they write--which my opera "Lohengrin" has
recently obtained, and seeing that the subject of the opera
belongs to Belgian history, they contemplate translating the work
into good French, if that should be possible, and producing it
forthwith at the Royal Theatre. They therefore want at once a
copy of the score and of the libretto.

Dear friend, I place the whole matter at your feet. If you wish
that it should come to something, and if you think that it may
come to something, then acquire the further merit of taking this
thing in hand, which, in your position as protector and generally
speaking, you are infinitely more capable of doing than I. You
are sure to know Brussels. If you will undertake this, I should
ask you before all to see about a score. Luttichau claims his
copy as his property, and Zigesar was obliged to have another
copy made. Seeing that Luttichau, as I hear positively from
Dresden, does not intend to give the opera at least just yet, one
might hope that he would give back the score for a time, if you
were to ask him. Of course _I_ cannot apply to him.

To send my own original score so far away, I should not like at
all; it is all the little property I have. To have a copy made
here would exceed my limited means, and would also take too long,
as they are pressing at Brussels. A libretto I shall send them
direct from here.

See what you can and will do, dear friend. If it should succeed,
and some good come of it, I should like to owe it entirely to
you, as you have altogether assumed the paternal responsibility
for this opera with the care attaching to it. I shall ask them at
Brussels to apply to you, as you have full power to act in the
matter. Farewell for today; a thousand blessings in return for
your love

from your sincerely grateful

RICHARD WAGNER

ZURICH, December 27th, 1850

I have to reply to "M. Charles Hanssens jeune, chef d'orchestre
et directeur du Theatre Royal a Bruxelles."

54.

DEAR FRIEND,

I have just received your letter addressed Weymar, and hasten to
place my humble services gladly at your disposal as regards the
score of "Lohengrin" and the correspondence with Herr von
Luttichau. Probably his Excellency will not be very willing to
lend the work a second time; but I hope for a favourable result
all the same.

In your place (forgive my friendly impertinence) I should
certainly accept the Brussels offer, but with the one condition--
conditio sine qua non--that they let you revise the translation
and attend the general rehearsals. The performance and the
success will have quite a different chance if you go to Brussels,
and I am afraid that in your absence your "Lohengrin" might be a
little compromised. The actual state of the Brussels theatre I do
not know; some years ago it was somewhat in a muddle and very
little adapted to serious work. Some time will in any case be
required for the translation and rehearsals, but I advise you to
make the condition of your presence at once and firmly. The
traveling expenses are so small that the management can easily
bear them; and if you agree, I shall answer the gentlemen in that
sense as soon as they write to me.

Herr von Zigesar wrote to me urgently some days ago not to delay
my return to Weymar any longer. Unfortunately I shall be detained
here for about another fortnight by the serious illness of
Princess M. About January 20th "Tannhauser" and "Lohengrin" will
again be given, and towards the end of the season Tichatschek
will probably be there and take the part.

By repeated desire, I have determined to publish my article on
the Herder festival, together with the analysis of "Lohengrin,"
in a separate form. If you want to add some further remarks on
it, let it be soon, so that I may be able to make use of them.

I enclose a few lines to Ritter. Kindly excuse me to him, and
allow me to restore to you the possession and absolute disposal
of your property after my return to Weymar. Great as is the
temptation to weld at your "Wiland," I must abide by my
resolution never to write a German opera.

I feel no vocation for it, and I lack the necessary patience to
bother myself with German theatrical affairs. Altogether I think
it more appropriate and easier to risk my first dramatic work on
the Italian stage (which probably may happen in the spring of
next year--1852--in Paris or London), and to stick there if I
should succeed.

Germany is your property, and you her glory. Complete your
"Siegfried" soon. Of power and genius you have plenty; only do
not lose patience. Perhaps we shall soon see you again in
Germany; then you will reap what you have so nobly sown.

Your sincerely devoted

F. LISZT

EILSEN, January 3rd, 1851

Have you made much progress with your book on the opera? I am
very curious to see this work.

55.

DEAREST FRIEND,

Have you all forgotten me? I have felt so lonely of late that I
am often afraid. Should you be angry with me about anything?
perhaps about the absurd misunderstanding with B.? He wrote to me
that he had heard that I was annoyed at his great article on
"Lohengrin." I was quite confounded, and thought that some
misapprehension of an expression in one of my letters might have
led you and B. after you to a completely erroneous opinion about
me. Therefore I requested him to ask you in my name to let him
explain to you the passage in my letter, because I was anxious,
not only for his sake, but for yours, to dispel so ugly an error.
Has any unpleasantness resulted from it?

From Brussels I have heard nothing. Could you give me some news,
or are you angry that I have troubled you with this affair?
Anyhow I have no illusions as to Brussels.

My very stout book is ready. Its title is "Oper und Drama." I
have not yet a publisher; and as I must take care to get a little
money for it, I am a little anxious about the matter.

Next month I shall devote to the edition of my three romantic
opera-poems. A longish introduction will explain the origin of
these poems and their position towards music.

At the beginning of spring I hope to commence the composition of
"Siegfried," and to continue the work without interruption.

As to the rest, my pleasure in life is not great. All is quiet
and lonely around me, and I frequently feel as if I were dead and
forgotten.

But how are you? Have you quite recovered? I frequently dream of
Weimar and of you--wild, confused things.

Let us say nothing more about "Wiland"; I am heartily sorry
that--you are right.

Have you still courage? Are you in good spirits? Do you really
still care to live amongst the majestic people of the Philistines
who rule the world nowadays? Ah! as long as we possess fancy we
can pull along somehow.

My poor dear little parrot is also dead! He was my spiritus
familiaris, the good brownie of my house.

Farewell, and forgive me.

Always and wholly thine,

RICHARD WAGNER.

ENGE, ZURICH, February 18th, 1851.

56.

DEAR WAGNER,

By the date of these lines you will sufficiently see in what
grief and sorrow I have been living for months. I was, it is
true, in Weymar for three weeks, but immediately after the
birthday of the Grand Duchess (February 16th) I returned here,
where unfortunately I found the Princess still very ailing and in
bed. On the 7th I have to be back in Weymar to conduct Raff's
opera; the work is too important for Raff's career for me to
neglect it. But the thought of that journey, while my whole soul,
my whole faith, and all my love must remain here at the sick-bed,
is terrible to me. Let us talk of you.

I could never think of forgetting you, and, if possible, still
less of being angry with you. Forgive me that I did not sooner
thank you cordially for B. and R.'s German version of my
"Lohengrin" article. Your letter especially has pleased and
flattered me highly. That you are satisfied with my conception of
that splendid masterpiece of heart and soul "Lohengrin" is my
exceeding rich reward. Immediately after my return to Weymar I
shall have it printed (perhaps the "Illustrirte Zeitung" will
publish it in one number), and shall send you the proof, which I
must ask you to correct and return straight to Weber as quickly
as possible.

R. can carefully read the article in one day, and send it to
Leipzig by return of post.

As to the French original, I shall probably publish it as a
separate pamphlet, together with my article on the Herder
festival, and without the alterations and omissions made by Janin
in the "Journal des Debats" of October 22nd. The title will be
"Fetes de Herder et Goethe a Weymar, 25 et 28 Aout, 1850."

From Brussels not a line! Without repudiating altogether the
musical soil of Belgium, barren though hitherto it has been, with
the exception of some individual talents, I can only advise you
again to protest absolutely against a performance of your works
under any direction but your own. The first condition you should
impose on the management of the theatre is that they call you to
Brussels. In that sense I shall answer in case they apply to me.

About B. I could tell you many things in a half-and-half way, but
you had better think them out for yourself. Let me speak French,
and don't repeat it.

B. is a nobleman who has spent long years in becoming a literary
good-for-nothing. If he had possessed or acquired the necessary
talent, he would in that direction have made himself a position
as a nobleman. As it is, he is an amphibious creature, living in
bogs on one side and getting dry in his water on the other. He
has shown me the letter you wrote to him, but with this kind of
people little is gained by explanation. They are not wanting in
the good where the better would be required, and it is generally
more advisable to be cautious with them than to complain, or
correct their opinions. I think you might have been satisfied
with thanking him simply for his article about "Lohengrin,"
however awkward and badly argued certain passages may have been.
Apropos of this, have you read the articles on "Lohengrin" in the
"Frankfort Conversationsblatt"? They are certainly better meant
and better written; and as you have thanked B., you might, I
think, appropriately write a few lines to the author, who is a
very decent man and one of your sincere and enthusiastic
proselytes. Enclose the lines to him in the first letter you
address to me at Weymar, and I will forward them to him at once.

"Wiland" is still imprisoned at Weymar, together with my
manuscripts and scores. As soon as my valet returns I shall send
you "Wiland" at once, but I am not going to call in a common,
prosaic locksmith to set him at liberty.

I am looking forward to your book. Perhaps I may try on this
occasion to comprehend your ideas a little better, which in your
book "Kunst und Revolution" I could not manage very well, and in
that case I shall cook a French sauce to it.

Brockhaus published a few days ago my pamphlet on the Goethe
foundation ("De la Fondation Goethe a Weymar"). I shall send it
you on the first opportunity. Of my articles on Chopin in the
"France Musicale," which I am likely to spin out through fifteen
numbers, you have probably not heard at Zurich. B. read the
original at Weymar. Farewell, be happier than I, and write soon
to

Your truly devoted friend,

F. LISZT.

EILSEN, March 1st, 1851.

57.

BEST OF FRIENDS,

Cordial thanks for your letter, which was a sure sign of your
continued interest in me. Your domestic troubles have alarmed me
very much; be assured of my genuine sympathy with any grief that
may befall you. I hope this letter will find you in an easier
state of mind with regard to the health of your very dear friend.
If only my wish could contribute to this! But necessity compels
me to gain some certainty as to my own position through your
means. Listen, and do not be angry.

The communication of your plans in my favour last summer roused
in me a hope as to which I must now know whether I am to look for
its fulfillment or to abandon it altogether. You told me that in
case of the desired success of my "Lohengrin" you intended to
make use of the presumably friendly disposition of the Grand
Duchess, with a view to inducing her to allow me the necessary
means of subsistence during the composition of my "Siegfried."
Just at that time I had given up all thoughts of setting the
opera to music, and had sent the poem of "Siegfried" to the
printer in order to place it before the public in the form of an
intention never carried out. Your communication changed my mind,
as I acknowledged to you at the time in the most joyous and
grateful manner. I cancelled the order for printing the poem, and
prepared myself for the composition instead. For the commencement
of the work I fixed upon the coming spring, partly in order,
first, to get rid of my always depressed winter humour, and
partly to give you time for carrying out your kind intention
without hurry. For the winter I chose a literary work, for which
I had plenty of material, and which I took in hand at once,
hoping that I might make something by it. This work, a book of
four hundred to five hundred pages, small octavo, entitled "Oper
und Drama," has been ready these six weeks; but as yet none of
the publishers to whom I wrote about it has replied, and my
expectations at least of gain from this work are therefore very
small. During the whole of six months, after spending the
honorarium for the production of "Lohengrin" at Weimar, I have
lived entirely by the assistance of Frau R. in D., because
latterly I have not been able to earn anything beyond a small fee
for conducting two of Beethoven's symphonies at the miserable
concerts here. I know that my Dresden friend has for the present
exhausted herself, because the family is not wealthy, but has
only just a sufficient income, which, moreover, owing to some
awkward complications with Russia, is at present placed in
jeopardy. I am therefore compelled to try and make money at any
price, and should have to abandon a task like the composition of
"Siegfried," which in a pecuniary sense is useless. If I were to
have any inclination for a task undertaken for the sake of money,
it would have to be so-called "aesthetic literature," and in
order to get money for such literature I should have to spend all
my time in writing for magazines at so much "per sheet." The
thought is very humiliating.

If I am to undertake an important artistic task, my immediate
future--say for the current year, at least--must be secured;
otherwise I shall lack the necessary cheerfulness and
collectedness. If I am to have peace of mind for devoting myself
to artistic labour without interruption, I must, as I said
before, be without anxiety for my immediate subsistence.
Necessity, as the proverb says, breaks iron, and therefore I put
this question to you once more simply, so as to be sure as to my
position. I am aware that everything has turned out unfavourably
for your plan of helping me. The Grand Duchess was ill, and could
attend only the third performance of "Lohengrin;" soon afterwards
you left Weimar, and therefore had no opportunity of preparing
the Grand Duchess for your plan in a proper and dignified manner.
All this I know, and therefore no blame attaches to you in the
remotest degree. Only I must know now where I am. For that reason
I pray you with all my heart to tell me plainly and definitely
whether, as things are, I still may hope for something or not, so
that I may make all my arrangements accordingly; uncertainty is
the worst of tortures. One request I further make without
hesitation. If you are compelled by the state of affairs to tell
me that your plan cannot now be realized, and that therefore I
must not hope for any further assistance in favour of the
composition of my "Siegfried," then kindly see at least whether
you cannot get me at once SOME money, were it only as much as my
immediate difficulty requires, in order to gain me some time for
settling to my altered plan. It is very sad that I have to
trouble you with this ugly request.

But enough of this.

May Heaven grant that you will soon be relieved from your
domestic troubles. I wish the Princess a quick and perfect
recovery with all my heart.

Farewell, dear friend. Good luck and the best success to Herr
Raff!

Farewell, and be happy.

Your sincerely devoted

RICHARD WAGNER.

ENGE BEI ZURICH, March 9th, 1851.

58.

DEAR FRIEND,

I passed the whole of March in such trouble and distress, that I
could not write to you. Since April 4th I have been back here.
"Lohengrin" was to be given on the 8th, but Beck's hoarseness
compelled us to postpone the performance till next Saturday. In
any case the opera will be given twice more during this season.

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