Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 2

F >> Francis Hueffer (translator) >> Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 2

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These lines you receive through Klindworth. Enclosed is the
letter to the maison Erard, which is represented in London by M.
Bruzot. If Erard himself should be there, pay him a visit at
once, but I doubt whether he is sufficiently recovered to occupy
himself with pianoforte and harp matters. A few months ago my
children wrote to me from Paris that Erard was very ill, and,
after fruitless trials of baths and medicines, had been taken to
a private hospital.

I have not neglected your passport affair, and have induced the
Grand Duke and another important person to recommend you
specially in Paris. I hope these transactions will not be without
result.

The changes you have made in the "Faust" overture are excellent,
and the work has decidedly gained by them. I have sent the score
to the Hartels. If you are satisfied with an honorarium of twenty
louis d'or, write to me simply, "Yes," and the full score and
parts will soon be published. To a larger honorarium the Hartels
would not agree, but they will make the edition better and
handsomer than would any one else, and I should therefore advise
you to answer me in the affirmative.

I shall have to work hard for several months to come. The
Cardinal Primate of Hungary has set me the task of composing a
grand mass for the inauguration of the cathedral of Gran. The
ceremony will take place in August at the latest. The Emperor
will be present, and I have undertaken to conduct the mass, etc.,
for which purpose I have to be in Gran (three hours' distance
from Pesth) a month before.

This task gives me much pleasure, and I hope to produce an
edifying work.

Farewell, dearest Richard, and write soon to

Your

FRANZ.

March 12th, 1855.

The letter to Bruzot is meant for the FIRM of Erard; if he should
be absent, give it to the representative of that firm.

Your letter to B. has been forwarded.

179.

Good gracious! here comes your and M.'s dear, dear letter! In my
terrible mood, it has quite upset me. You will have heard of my
letter containing my disgraceful decision regarding "Tannhauser"
in Berlin. In this matter I feel in turns trivial, sublime, and
contemptible. The latter mood you have just revived in me, and I
am inclined to repent that I have been trivial. But it is almost
too late now. By giving up "Tannhauser," and at last even
"Lohengrin," to the theatres without reserve, I made such
humiliating concessions to the reality of our miserable artistic
circumstances that I can scarcely sink much lower. ONCE AGAIN I
say, How proud and free was I when I reserved these works to YOU
for Weimar; now I am a slave and absolutely powerless. One
inconsistency involves another, and I can dull my unpleasant
feeling only by being still more proud and contemptuous, in the
sense that I look upon "Tannhauser" and "Lohengrin" as altogether
done with and no longer belonging to me, and that I keep my NEW
CREATIONS all the more sacred for myself and my true friends.
This is my only comfort. What I am creating at present shall
never see the light except in perfectly congenial surroundings;
on this I will in future concentrate all my strength, my pride,
and my RESIGNATION. If I die before having produced these works,
I shall leave them to you; and if you die without having been
able to produce them in a dignified manner, you must burn them:
let that be SETTLED.

Klindworth has probably not yet had time to write to you about my
first appearance, but he is going to do so.

After the first rehearsal the directors of the "Philharmonic"
were so delighted and full of hope that they insisted upon my
performing some of my compositions at the very next concert. I
had to yield, and chose the pieces from "Lohengrin." As for that
purpose they granted me two rehearsals, I also fixed upon the
"Ninth Symphony", at which I am pleased, for I should not have
given it with one rehearsal. The orchestra, which has taken a
great liking to me, is very efficient, and possesses great skill
and fairly quick intelligence, but it is quite spoilt as regards
expression; there is no PIANO, no NUANCE. It was astonished and
delighted at my way of doing things. With two further rehearsals
I hope to put it tolerably in order. But then this hope and my
intercourse with the orchestra are all that attracts me here;
beyond this all, all is indifferent and disgusting to me. The
public, however, have distinguished me very much, both in
receiving me and even more at the close. Curious to me was the
confession of some Mendelssohnians that they had never heard and
understood the overture to the "Hebrides" as well as under my
direction.

Enough of this.

Many thanks for your introduction to Bruzot; I long for a piano
and for my work. To the Grand Duke also I am much indebted.

Let the Hartels have my "Faust" overture by all means. If they
could turn the twenty louis d'or into twenty pounds, I should be
glad. In any case they ought to send the money here as soon as
possible. I do not like to dun the "Philharmonic" for my fee, and
therefore want money. The proofs of the score they must also send
to me for correction.

The publication of this overture is, no doubt, a weakness on my
part, of which you will soon make me thoroughly ashamed by your
"FAUST" symphony. When shall I hear something of that? I am
afraid my chances of seeing you here have declined, since you
write about this "Hungarian" commission. I can imagine how the
invitation has pleased you; and I too am pleased and most curious
to see your work. But when shall I see something of all this, you
reticent person? Do you not feel how I must long for such
cordials amongst the trivial surroundings in which I always live?
I must confess, however, that I always prefer becoming acquainted
with your creations through yourself. In that manner everything
is disclosed to me at once that otherwise I have to disclose to
myself painfully. This happened to me in the case of your
"KUNSTLER", while all that you gave me yourself at the piano at
once penetrated me by dint of unconditional and perfect artistic
enjoyment.

When shall we see each other, you most amiable and noblest of
men?

Most stupidly I was unable at "Paris" to remember the address of
your children, nor could I think of "Belloni's" address. By
taxing my memory I went half mad. Now, stupid fool that I am, it
occurs to me that I need only have gone to "Erard's." In this
manner I deprived myself of the pleasure of seeing them once
more, which grieves me very much. Please let me have the address
for my return journey.

A thousand thanks to dear M. for her beautiful and kind lines.
You all appear to me like a family of saints. Ah, we are all holy
martyrs; perhaps I shall one day be a real one, but in that case
all will be over for me with art--that beautiful delusion, the
last and the most sublime, to hide from us the misery of the
world.

Farewell, dear, glorious friend.

Remember me cordially at home, and continue to love me.

22, PORTLAND TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK, LONDON.

180

22, PORTLAND TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK, LONDON.

DEAREST FRANZ,

I am in the absurd position of having to demand of you a friendly
service of a peculiar kind. I CANNOT delay the Berlin
"Tannhauser" affair any longer; my pecuniary position is so
unfortunate that I cannot afford to forego the hope of Berlin
receipts. Hulsen has applied to me once more, through Alwine
Frommann, and, as he says, for the last time. He promises all
manner of things; the opera is to be given in the autumn, and the
preparations are to begin as early as the spring. I must adopt
the "trivial" view of this matter, the same view which
unfortunately I am com pelled to take of the entire fate of my
operas. In spite of D. conducting, "Tannhauser" will probably
have the same kind of effect in Berlin which it has had every
where else; to connect higher hopes with it seems vain. Let the
matter therefore take the only course which apparently is open to
it, but I regret very much that you have wasted so much trouble
and submitted to so many stupid things in endeavouring to
accomplish the condition made by me. We are, as we now see,
powerless.

The fate which we must expect is, after all, the COMMON LOT. Our
best efforts always appear before the world in a truncated and
distorted form. I am going to write to Alwine Frommann that she
is to accept Hulsen's offer without further conditions and to
tell him that this has been your advice. The truth is that in
this manner you will avoid a struggle which, in my opinion, would
be fruitless.

Klindworth, for whom I am grateful to you, will probably write to
you about my doings in London; I can only say that I do not
exactly see what I am here for. The only interesting thing to me
is the orchestra, which has taken a great liking to me, and
believes in me with enthusiasm. By that means I shall at least be
able to have a few good performances, to which the people are
quite unaccustomed. All other things, especially public, press,
etc., are very indifferent to me. The directors insisted upon my
performing some pieces from "Lohengrin" and the Ninth Symphony as
early as the second concert, and granted me TWO rehearsals for
the purpose.

I am still without a piano. I long to resume my work. WHERE and
WHEN shall I see you again?

Taken all in all, I am VERY, very depressed. I am disgusted with
the world.

Adieu. Remember me to all at Altenburg; and if you can, continue
to love me. 181

DEAREST RICHARD,

It would have been difficult to make Hartel consent to the change
of louis d'or into pounds, and after considering the matter I
simply wrote to him that you had left the "Faust" overture to me,
and that in your name I accepted the honorarium of twenty louis
d'or, asking him at the same time to send you that little sum to
London.

We will not let our hair turn grey over the "Tannhauser" affair
at Berlin. I anticipated this all along, although, for my part, I
could not and did not wish to bring it about. I do not grudge
your Berlin friends the satisfaction which this issue of the
affair will give them, and hope that many other occasions will
turn up on which I shall not be superfluous or inconvenient to
you.

The day before yesterday I sent the score of the "Rhinegold"
(beautifully bound) to W. Fischer at Dresden.

Has B. finished the pianoforte arrangement? In that case I would
ask him to let me have it later on, and at my next visit you will
sing and represent the whole to me.

I am hard at work at my Mass, of which the Kyrie and Gloria are
already finished.

Apart from this, I have to conduct many rehearsals.

Schumann's "Genoveva" will be performed on April 9th, and will
give me another opportunity of studying and conducting an opera,
which I have not done for the last four months.

Next Sunday (April lst) the oratorio "Die Verklarung des Herrn",
by Kuhnsted, professor at Eisenach and organist of Wartburg in
spe, will be given at the theatre; and on April 2Oth Raff is
going to give a concert, at which half a dozen of his larger
compositions
--amongst others, an orchestral suite, the hundred and twenty-
first Psalm, a violin concerto, etc.--will make up the entire
programme.

This is the musical news of Weymar, which probably will be of
less interest to you than to me. Of my life, my hope, my
endurance, I have nothing to say that is cheerful....

Whether the great political event, the death of the Emperor, will
have a softening influence on my personal fate, remains
questionable. In a few weeks I shall have direct news. Whatever
it may turn out to be, I cannot waver or hesitate. To you,
dearest Richard, remains cordially and invariably attached

Your F.

I am constantly being asked for introductions to you. Generally I
refuse them, but in a few cases I have to yield.

Tell Klindworth he is to write to me about your Philharmonic
concerts. His cousin, a very amiable lady, will shortly bring you
news of Weymar, where she has been staying several months.

182. DEAR, GREAT MAN,

For a long time I have been wishing to write to you, but had not
the courage to do so. Alas! how can I speak to you from my heart?
Today a sheet of paper with a red border comes under my hand; so
many symbols are comprised in that colour! It is devoted to love,
it is the purple of kings, and the image of human blood. It is
therefore suited to both of us: to you as the emblem of your
sovereign genius, to me as that of an ardent attachment, the
flames of which are my hap piness and my glory; to both of us as
the sign of the wounds which destiny has inflicted on us without
touching our souls. Need I tell you how much I should like to see
you again, and how sincerely I desire that your sojourn in London
will be agreeable to you in one way or another? I can do nothing,
nothing, except the best thing of all: to love, to bless, to
admire.

Your affection is very dear to us; continue in it; it is the sun
of our starless sky.

May God be with you. Our hearts are always yours.

CAROLYNE.

March 27th, 1855.

183.

DEAR FRANZ,

You have punished me in your amiable manner. I reproached myself
very much about this Berlin affair; in any case I was too rash,
and settled the matter too quickly after my fashion. I ought to
have asked you, as you were my plenipotentiary, to cede the opera
finally to Hulsen; that would have been better, and you would, no
doubt, have undertaken this last transaction to please me. But
the whole matter had long ago become so disgusting to me that I
lost all energy in connection with it, and felt inclined to
finish it as abruptly as possible, so as to hear no more of it.
Do not believe that I was brought to this resolution through my
"Berlin friends," but exclusively through my pecuniary position,
which is accurately known to you, and which has tied my hands as
to this point. I was COMPELLED to think of raising money. I have
therefore asked for an advance of a hundred louis d'or on account
of royalties, and as to the rest have ceded the opera without any
conditions. To tell you the truth, everything else in connection
with my operas has become a matter of perfect indifference to me.
Looking at it carefully, it seems to me that my wish that you
should be called to Berlin for the performance of "Tannhauser"
has by no means been frustrated thereby. The decision of this
matter was never really within the power of the inten dant of the
theatre. The King alone can suspend the usual order, and HIS
decision is quite independent of what the intendant can do on his
own authority. It appears to me therefore that our condition was
made to an authority which could not have granted it. My giving
or not giving the opera to the management was a thing apart; and
as regards the invitation to you, this remains a matter which we
ought to work with the King direct. Unfortunately it seems that
you have little hope of this. What could be done to get some
thing out of the King after all? Should I have the impudence to
write to him and to try in my own way what seems impossible in
any other? The thought of accomplishing my wish after all is the
only thing which suddenly places this Berlin affair once more in
an interesting light. What do you think of it?

For your news and for the beautiful lines of the dear Princess I
am cordially grateful.

Unfortunately I have nothing reasonable to tell you in return. My
whole existence here is a perfect anomaly. I am in a strange
element and in a thoroughly false position. If at Zurich I
conduct symphonies now and then, it is done for the sake of
amusement and to please a few friends; to make a vocation of it,
in the sense that I am to be judged as an artist by a wholly
unsympathetic public and press on these grounds, is simply an
absurdity. I sincerely regret that I am here, and shall never in
my life come again. Pecuniary success is out of the question; and
even if they were to offer me a larger fee for next year, I
should probably feel bound to decline it: the misery I have to
undergo is too great. This is not MY BUSINESS, and if at my
present age, and in the unsettled condition of my health, I
cannot at least abide by my business, I would rather not abide at
all; I have quite enough to bear without that.

Perfect performances, which in the long run could alone console
me, I cannot achieve. The rehearsals are too few, and everything
is done in too businesslike a manner. Although the pieces from
"Lohengrin" were favourably received, I am sorry that I have
given them. My annoyance at being compelled to produce such
trifling specimens of my work and to have my whole being judged
thereby is too great. I also hate like poison to have to take a
single step in order to gain the favour of that wretched pack of
journalists. They continue abusing me to their heart's delight,
and the only thing that surprises me is that the public have not
so far allowed themselves to be misled. In short, I would have
nothing to do with these contemptible matters even if I happened
to please the people.

Let me finish my "Nibelungen;" that is all I desire. If my noble
contemporaries will not help me to that, they may go to the
devil, with all their honour and glory. Through London I have got
into awful arrears with my work; only yesterday was I able to
finish the instrumentation of the first act of the "Valkyie."
Body and soul are weighed down as by a load of lead. My chief
wish for this year--to begin "Young Siegfried" at once after my
return at Seelisberg--I shall have to give up, for it is very
unlikely that I shall get beyond the second act of the "Valkyrie"
here. Such as I am, I want a soft, clinging element around me, in
order to feel gladly inclined for work. This eternal need of
self-condensation for the purpose of self-defence supplies me
with obstinacy and contempt, but not with the love of expansion
and production.

Klindworth has probably written to you; at least he was startled
when I recently conveyed your reminder to him. He was ill, and is
not doing well here, but how am I to help him? Blackguardism,
obstinacy, and religiously nursed stupidity are here protected
with iron walls; only a blackguard and a Jew can succeed here.

Upon the whole, you were right in retiring to Weimar; as much
solitude as possible, that alone can save us.

The Hartels sent me the bill of exchange yesterday; many thanks.
Cannot B. do the pianoforte arrangement?

He had only just begun the "Rhinegold," when I took the score
away from him to send it to you. As soon as the copy at Dresden
has been finished, he is to have it for the completion of the
pianoforte arrangement; and after that, if you wish it, it is to
be sent to you. Shall we see each other this year, perhaps on
your return from Hungary? That would be something like it!
Perhaps at that time I should have recovered my voice, which here
has disappeared entirely.

Farewell, dearest friend. Patience--that is all that remains to
us. Remember me to all at Altenburg. Much luck to your mass!

Farewell, dear, dear Franz.

184.

Klindworth has just played your great sonata to me.

We passed the day alone together; he dined with me, and after
dinner I made him play. Dearest Franz, you were with me; the
sonata is beautiful beyond anything, grand and sweet, deep and
noble, sublime as you are yourself. It moved me most deeply, and
the London misery was forgotten all at once. More I cannot say,
not just after having heard it, but of what I say I am as full as
man can be. Once more, you were with me! Ah, could you soon be
with me wholly and bodily, then we might support life
beautifully.

Klindworth astonished me by his playing; no lesser man could have
ventured to play your work to me for the first time. He is worthy
of you. Surely, surely, it was beautiful.

Good-night. Many thanks for this pleasure vouchsafed to me at
last.

Your

R. W.

LONDON, April 5th, 8:30 evening.

185.

DEAREST RICHARD,

I had nothing to tell you that was pleasant or important, and
therefore did not write to you for a long time. During these last
weeks I have spun myself into my mass, and yesterday at last I got
it done. I do not know how it will sound, but may say that I have
PRAYED it rather than COMPOSED it. On my return from Hungary in
September, I shall bring you the mass and my symphonic bubbles and
troubles, half of which will by that time be in print. If my scores
should bore you, that will not prevent me from deriving sweetest
enjoyment from your creations, and you must not refuse me the
favour of singing the whole "Rhinegold" and "Valkyrie" to me. In
the meanwhile all other musical things appear to me "stupid stuff."

How do you feel in London?

Troublesome though it may be, one must try to bear the inevitable
and immutable; to take pleasure in it would be a lie.

The English edition of Philistinism is not a whit pleasanter than
the German, and the chasm between the public and ourselves is
equally wide everywhere.

How, in our wretched conditions, could enthusiasm, love, and art
have their true effect?

"Patience and resignation" is our device, and to it we sing

*musical notation*

Pardon me for being your hollow echo, and let us endure what
cannot be cured.

I am very grateful to you for being so kind to Klindworth. In a
few days his cousin will come to London and bring you news of me,
as she has spent the whole winter at Weymar. Your letter about
the sonata has highly delighted me, and you must excuse me for
not having thanked you at once. You are often so near to me that
I almost forget writing to you, and I am seldom at the right
temperature for correspondence. Well, in September I shall be
with you; and (D.V.) we will have some bright, comforting days
together.

Your

F. L.

WEYMAR, May 2nd, 1855.

186.

DEAR POET, DEAR FRIEND,

Our hearts are with you, and suffer with you; that you know, and
cannot be ignorant of.

Let us hear from you soon, and forgive me if, in the midst of the
preoccupations of your heart and of your grief, I ask you for a
trifle; but it will cost you so little to grant it me, and you
will give such great, such very great, pleasure by it. It is the
fate of poets and women sometimes to give what they have not
themselves--I mean happiness. Take a piece of paper and write on
it the following verses, which, as you know, appear to me written
with the purest blood of my veins:-

"Nicht Gut, nicht Gold, noch gottliche Pracht; nicht Haus, nicht
Hof, nicht herrischer Prunk, nicht truber Vertrage trugender
Bund, noch heuchelnder Sitte hartes Gesetz: selig in Lust und
Leid lasst--die Liebe nur sein!--" Sign this with your name, your
great name, enclose it in an envelope, address it to me, and put
it in the post. Forgive me for asking you this small thing--small
in its material aspect, but great as the world in its
significance.

I press your two hands with mine, dear, dear, great man.

CAROLYNE.

May 7th, 1855.

187.

Cordial thanks, dearest Franz, for your kind note, which I had
been expecting a long time. The hope which you open to me of
seeing you in September is my only light in the night of this sad
year. I live here like one of the lost souls in hell. I never
thought that I could sink again so low. The misery I feel in
having to live in these disgusting surroundings is beyond
description, and I now realise that it was a sin, a crime, to
accept this invitation to London, which in the luckiest case must
have led me far away from my real path. I need not expatiate to
you upon my actual situation. It is the consistent outgrowth of
the greatest inconsistency I ever committed. I am compelled to
conduct an English concert programme right down to the end; that
says everything. I have got into the middle of a slough of
conventionalities and customs, in which I stick up to the ears,
without being able to lead into it the least drop of pure water
for my recreation. "Sir, we are not accustomed to this"--that is
the eternal echo I hear. Neither can the orchestra recompense me.
It consists almost exclusively of Englishmen, that is clever
machines which cannot be got into the right swing; handicraft and
business kill everything. Then there is the public, which, I am
assured, is very favourably inclined towards me, but can never be
got out of itself, which accepts the most emotional and the most
tedious things without ever showing that it has received a real
impression. And, in addition to this, the ridiculous Mendelssohn
worship!

And even if all this were better than it is, what business have I
with such concerts? I am not fit for them. It is quite a
different thing if I conduct one of Beethoven's symphonies before
a few friends, but to be a regular concert conductor, before whom
they place the scores of concert pieces, etc., so that he may
beat the time to them--that, I feel, is the deepest disgrace.
This thoroughly inappropriate character of my position led me to
the resolution of sending in my resignation after the fourth
concert. But of course I was talked out of it, and especially my
regard for my wife, who would have heard of this sudden
resignation and of all that would have been written about it with
great grief, determined me to hold out till the last concert. The
infernal torture this is to me I cannot express. All my pleasure
in my work is disappearing more and more. I had made up my mind
to finish the score of the "Valkyrie" during the four months
here, but that is out of the question. I shall not even finish
the second act, in so terribly dispiriting a manner does this
false position act upon me. In July I wanted to begin "Young
Siegfried" at Seelisberg, on the lake of Lucerne, but now I think
of delaying that beginning till next spring. This dislike of work
is the worst feature of all. I feel as if with it eternal night
were closing around me, for what have I still to do in this world
if I cannot do my work?

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