Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 2

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

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

About my journey to Zurich I can tell you nothing until I know
when the consecration of the Gran cathedral is to take place.
Some papers state that this solemnity will come off in the course
of September. In that case I shall come to you before, at the
beginning of August. As soon as I have official news I shall
write to you. In the meantime I must stay here. On April 8th, the
birthday of the Grand Duchess, I have to conduct "I due Foscari"
by Verdi, and at the end of April the performances of your niece
Johanna.

Unfortunately I missed Carl Ritter when he called; I had gone to
Gotha for that day to hear the Duke's opera "Tony." Carl Formes
sang the title part. I hope I shall see Carl at Zurich. Remember
me kindly to him. Through his sister Emilie you have probably had
news of our last "Lohengrin" performance, which went off very
well. Caspari sang "Lohengrin" much better than it had been heard
here before. The Princess of Prussia had asked for the
performance, and for want of a local Ortrud (Frau Knopp, who used
to sing the part here, has given up her engagement and gone to
Konigsberg) we had to write for Madame Marx, of Darmstadt, in all
haste. An overcrowded house and a most attentive public were
foregone conclusions. Berlioz was present.

Do you correspond with Counsellor Miiller? He is sincerely
devoted to you, and well intentioned.
Dingelstedt, who was here lately, intends to give "Lohengrin"
next winter, and NOT BEFORE. Of the very DECIDED success of the
performance at Prague you have probably heard. Fraulein Stoger,
daughter of the manager there, sang Ortrud, and wrote me a letter
full of enthusiasm about the enthusiasm of the public and the
musicians. She was engaged at Weymar until last season.

Farewell, and be patient, dearest friend, and write soon to

Your

F. L.

March 25th, 1856.

213.

DEAREST FRANZ,

Your letter has grieved me very much. Do you really think it
necessary to explain to me by an exact description of your
situation why you cannot comply with my request for new pecuniary
assistance? If you only knew how ashamed and humiliated I feel!

It is true that I applied elsewhere first, and then came back to
you, because the feeling of having to accept benefits from less
intimate friends frequently becomes absolutely unbearable to me.

This induced me to apply for assistance to you, who never allow
me to feel the deepest obligations in a painful sense. I thought,
of course, more of your protection and intercession than of a
sacrifice of your personal income, because I know sufficiently
well how limited your resources are. That I spoke in so
determined a manner was owing to the eccentric nature of my whole
situation, which makes everything concerning my most intimate
feeling take a violent form.

About this also I feel the absolute necessity of personal
communication with you. Everything here is so delicate, so finely
threaded, that it cannot be explained by letter. I want so much
patience to preserve courage and love of work in my precarious
position, that in my daily efforts to keep up that courage in
spite of my miserable circumstances, I can only gain a few
moments in which I am happy in my work, and forget all around me.
The reason is that delusive possibilities of escape continually
haunt my troubled imagination. But about this we must have some
definite conversation.

Your offer of help in the circumstances in which you make it to
me has placed me in a painful position, and so much is certain,
that I cannot accept the sum which you promise to me for May in
order to make my life more pleasant. I must put my income on a
different basis, that is understood, and you will understand me
if I say so. If, on the other hand, you contrive to dispose of
that sum in my favour under conditions less troublesome to
yourself, I accept it for the purpose of meeting the expenses of
the copying of my scores and pianoforte arrangements, which is
very expensive here. I have already spent some money on it, and
the hole this has made in my income I must fill up somehow. I
certainly cannot go on paying for the copying with my own money.
I therefore undertake, for the sum already named, to have all the
scores and pianoforte arrangements of my "Nibelung" dramas
copied, and to place the copies at your disposal as your
property, assuming at the same time that you will kindly lend
them to me, as soon and as often as I want them. Are you
satisfied with this?

The copy of the "Rhinegold" is quite ready, and I expect it back
from London, together with Klindworth's arrangement. This
therefore, would be at your disposal at once. Of the pianoforte
arrangement of the "Valkyrie," the first two acts will be
finished very soon; the third act I recently sent to Klindworth.
Hoping that you will accept my proposal, I shall now have the
copy of the full score of the "Valkyrie" taken in hand, and this
also you can have as soon as it is finished, because Klindworth
works from my sketches of the parts. If at this moment you have
leisure, and wish to look at it, I will with pleasure let you
have the original score of the finished work for some time, and
shall occupy the copyist with the pianoforte arrangement of the
"Rhinegold" which I expect very soon. I am very anxious to know
how the last act will please you, for, besides you, there is
really no one to whom I could show it with any satisfaction. I
have succeeded, and it is probably the best thing I have written.
It contains a terrible storm of the elements and the hearts,
which is gradually calmed down to the miraculous sleep of
Brynhild. What a pity you will be far from me for so long! Could
you not pay me a short flying visit soon?

And am I at last to see some of your new compositions? Their
arrival and entry into my home shall be blessed. I have desired
to see them ever so long.

Had you nothing more to tell me about Berlioz? I was expecting to
hear a great deal of him. And cannot you send me any of his
scores? I am, as you may imagine, making a pause in my work now.
I am waiting to see what my health will do; my doctor wants to
send me to some watering place, but to this I will not, and
cannot agree. If I knew how to manage it I should go with Semper
to Rome in the autumn. We frequently talk about it, always in the
silent hope that you might be one of the party. Here you have my
latest whim. A thousand greetings to the Princess and her
daughter. She has written me a very cheerful and friendly letter,
for which I am deeply obliged to her. I ask you fervently,
dearest friend, not again to keep me waiting for a letter so
long. Write to me soon and at some length, as we are not going to
meet just yet.

Farewell, and continue to love me.

Your

R. W.

214.

MY DEAR FRANZ,

Before taking any steps with regard to my amnesty, I must, once
more, take counsel with you, and as this is impossible by word of
mouth, as I should have wished, it must be done by letter as
briefly as possible.

From Prague the Director of Police there, Baron von Peimann, sent
me the advice that I should become a Swiss citizen. In that case
the Austrian minister would give his vise to my passport for all
the Imperial states, and I might then reside there without being
disturbed, for if Saxony should claim me, the reply would be that
no Saxon subject of the name of R. W. was known. This would give
me some air at least in one direction, and although not much
would be gained by it, I might make use of it if there were an
intention of performing "Tannhauser" at Vienna, which opera I
should let them have there only on condition of my conducting it
personally. It is of course more important to me to be allowed to
return to Germany proper, not in order to reside there
permanently, for I can thrive only in the retirement which I can
best secure in a little quiet place in Switzerland, but in order
to be present now and then at an important performance,
especially of "Lohengrin," and to gain the necessary excitement,
without which I must perish at last. I am FIRMLY RESOLVED not to
allow "Lohengrin" to be given at either Berlin or Munich WITHOUT
ME. A performance of my "Nibelungen" can of course not be thought
of, unless I have the permission to travel through Germany so as
to gain a knowledge of the acting and singing materials at the
theatres. Finally I feel the absolute necessity of living, at
least part of every year, near YOU, and you may be assured that I
should make a more frequent and more constant use of the
possibility of visiting you than you do. To gain all this has now
become a matter of the greatest importance to me, and I cannot go
on living without at last and quickly taking a decisive step in
that direction. I am therefore determined to apply to the King of
Saxony for my amnesty in a letter in which I shall candidly own
my rashness, and at the same time explicitly state that my
promise, never and in no manner to meddle with politics, comes
from my very heart. The drawback to this is that, if the other
side were ill-inclined, my letter might easily be published in
such a manner that I should be compelled to protest publicly
against a false and humiliating explanation of my step, and this
would lead to a permanent breach, which would make reconciliation
impossible. Taking all this into account, I must think it the
best thing if my request were laid before the King by word of
mouth, through a third person. To satisfy me completely, and give
me a chance of success, this could only be done by you, dear
Franz. Therefore I ask you plainly, Will you undertake to demand
an audience of the King of Saxony on the strength of a letter
from the Grand Duke of Weimar? What you should say to the King at
such an audience I need not indicate, but we surely agree that in
asking for my amnesty stress should be laid upon my ARTISTIC
NATURE. On account of that nature and of my individual character
as an artist, my startling political excess can alone be
explained and excused, and the reasons for my amnesty should be
considered in the same light. With regard to that excess and to
its consequences, which have continued for several years, I am
ready to admit that I appear to myself as one who was in error
and led away by passion, although I am not conscious that I have
committed a real crime, which would come under a judicial
sentence, and I should therefore find it difficult to plead
guilty to such a crime. Concerning my conduct in the future, I
should be prepared to make any binding promise that could be
desired of me. I should only have to announce the modified and
clearer view which makes me look upon the affairs of this world
in a light in which I did not see them previously, and which
induces me to confine myself to my art, without any reference to
political speculation. You might also point out that my
reappearance in Germany could in no circumstances give rise to a
demonstration which, although it might be meant for the artist
only, could be explained and applied in a political sense by
evil-disposed persons. Fortunately I have, as AN ARTIST, reached
such a stage that I need consider only my works of art and their
success, but no longer the applause of the multitude. I would
therefore promise, with the greatest determination and quite in
accordance with my own wishes, to avoid every public
demonstration of sympathy which might be offered to me, even as
an artist, such as complimentary dinners and the like. These I
should most positively decline, and indeed make them, as far as
would be in my power, impossible by the mode of my sojourn in
various places. I should not even insist upon conducting the
performance of any of my operas in person. All I should care for
would be to secure a correct rendering on the part of the artists
and the conductor by my presence at the rehearsals. If, for the
purpose of avoiding any possible demonstration, it should be
thought necessary, I should be prepared to leave the town after
the completion of the rehearsals and before the performance,
which would show clearly enough what is alone of importance to
me. In addition to this, I will undertake to avoid in my
writings, even of a purely artistic nature, such combative
expressions open to misapprehension as may have escaped me
formerly in my irritability. Considering all these declarations,
the future need be dealt with no longer, only the past. And over
that it would be well, in the case of an artist, to throw the
veil of forgetfulness, not to make it a cause for revenge. All
this you might in conversation explain in a much more
comprehensive and conciliatory manner than I could do by letter,
especially in a petition for amnesty.

I therefore ask you most fervently, perform this great service of
friendship for me. Sacrifice to me the two days which a visit to
Dresden would cost you, and explain the matter with that emphasis
which alone can avail. From no other measure can I expect a
definite and positive result. You alone can speak for me in the
manner which is required. If, for special reasons, you should
refuse my demand, it would only remain to me to write to the King
myself, and in that case we should have to consider by whom my
letter could be forwarded to the King, perhaps through the Weimar
ambassador. In case the King should refuse my request I might
fall back upon the intercession of one of the Prussian ministers,
which has been offered to me for that purpose. But I rely little
on that, while I expect everything from you and your personal
pleading. Be good enough then to let me know soon what I had
better do.

Farewell, and accept the cordial greetings of your

RICHARD W.

ZURICH, April 13th, 1858.

Perhaps you might on the same occasion hand a copy of my
"Nibelungen" poem to the King.

215.

DEAREST RICHARD,

I have not neglected the steps for your return to Germany.
Unfortunately my late efforts and endeavours have not as yet led
to a favourable result, which proves by no means that such may
not be the case in the future. Your hint about the roundabout
way, viz., Prague, I believe to be an illusion which you ought
not to cherish, because it might lead to the most dangerous
consequences.

The only thing that I can advise, and which I most urgently
request you to do, is to send at once your petition to His
Majesty the King of Saxony.

The stage into which this affair has got makes such a step
absolutely necessary, and you may be sure that I should not urge
you to it if I were not firmly convinced that your return to
Germany cannot be brought about in any other way. As you have
already told me that you would write to the King, I feel sure
that you will do so without delay. Send me a copy of your letter
to the King. You should, in the first instance, ask for an
amnesty to the extent only THAT YOU MIGHT BE PERMITTED TO HEAR
YOUR WORKS AT WEYMAR, because this would be necessary for your
intellectual development, and because you felt sure that the
Grand Duke of Weymar would receive you in a kindly spirit. It
breaks my heart to have to prescribe such tedious methods, but
believe me, in that direction lies your only way to Germany. When
you have once been here for a few weeks the rest will be easily
arranged, and I shall give you the necessary information in due
course.

In the meantime we must have patience and again patience.

Take heart of grace in the hope which I have by no means
abandoned, that we shall see you here.

Your faithful

F. LISZT.

Johanna has been here this last week, and has sung Orpheus and
Romeo with the MOST ENORMOUS applause.

I shall have to tell you many things about her when we meet.

By this post you receive the three first numbers of my Symphonic
Poems, which have just been published.

216.

DEAREST FRANZ,

Your last letter found me again on a sick bed. Today I am
scarcely recovered, and fear another relapse; that is how I am.

Today I received the second instalment of your Symphonic Poems,
and I feel all of a sudden so rich that I can scarcely believe
it. Unfortunately it is only with great difficulty that I can
gain a clear conception of them. This would be done with
lightning rapidity if you could play them to me. I am looking
forward with the eagerness of a child to studying them. If I
could only be well again!

(Do you want the third act of the "Valkyrie?" My copyist works so
slowly that there will be plenty of time for you to let me know
your wishes. The copy of the full score of the "Rhinegold" I
expect back from Klindworth before long, and shall send it to
you.)

I am going to take a purgative in order to avoid the return of my
illness. I wish I could, instead, start for Purgatory at once.

Adieu. A thousand thanks for your friendship.

R. W.

217.

MORNEX, near GENEVA, July 12th, 1856.

MY DEAR FRANZ,

I have flown, as you see, to this place in order to seek final
recovery. I could not help laughing when the excellent Princess,
with much sorrow and sympathy, announced the impending arrival of
the M. family at Zurich. From evils of that kind I am safe. No
outsider can know approximately what troubles and tortures people
of our stamp suffer when we sacrifice ourselves in the
intercourse with heterogeneous strangers. These tortures are all
the greater because no one else can understand them, and because
the most unsympathetic people believe that we are in reality like
themselves; for they understand only just that part of us which
we really have in common with them, and do not perceive how
little, how almost nothing that is. To repeat it, the tortures of
this kind of intercourse are positively the most painful of all
to me, and I am only intent upon keeping to myself. I force
myself to solitude, and to achieve this is my greatest care. When
I was on the point of taking flight, at the end of May,
Tichatschek suddenly called on me. This good man, with his
splendid, childlike heart, and his amiable little head, was very
agreeable to me, and his enthusiastic attachment to me did me
good. I was specially pleased with his voice, and tried to
persuade myself that I still had confidence in it.

I wanted to take him to Brunnen, but bad weather delayed our
purpose; still we risked it after all, when the carriage drive
brought me another attack of erysipelas in the face--the TWELFTH
this winter. I had foreseen all this, and therefore during
Tichatschek's stay of twelve days, was in a state of continual,
painful anxiety. This abominable illness has brought me very low.
In the month of May alone I had three relapses, and even now not
an hour passes without my living in fear of a new attack. In
consequence, I am unfit for anything, and it is obvious that I
must think of my thorough recovery. For that purpose a painfully
strict regime with regard to diet and general mode of life is
required; the slightest disorder of my stomach immediately
affects my complaint. What I want is absolute rest, avoidance of
all excitement and annoyance, etc.; also Carlsbad water, certain
warm baths later on cold ones, and the like. In order to get away
from home as far as possible, and to avoid all temptation to
social intercourse, I have retired here, where I have found a
very convenient refuge. I live at two hours' distance from
Geneva, on the other side of Mont Saleve, halfway from the top,
in splendid air. At a Pension I discovered a little summer-house,
apart from the chief building, where I live quite alone. From the
balcony I have the most divine view of the whole Mont Blanc
range, and from the door I step into a pretty little garden.
Absolute seclusion was my first condition. I am served
separately, and see no one but the waiter. A dear little dog, the
successor of Peps, Fips by name, is my only company. ONE thing I
had to concede in return for the favour of possessing this garden
salon; every Sunday morning from nine till twelve I have to turn
out. At that hour a clergyman comes from Geneva and performs
divine service for the Protestants of this place, in the same
locality which I, a godless being, occupy for the rest of the
time. But I willingly makethis sacrifice, were it only for the
sake of religion. I fancy I shall meet with my reward. But the
thing is frightfully dear, and without your subsidy I could not
have undertaken this expedition. I have had to make an inroad
into the money which I had destined for the copying of the
scores; I could not help it. The money from Vienna arrived
exactly on my birthday; accept my cordial thanks for this
sacrifice. I know it is infamous that you have to give me money;
why do you do it? On the same occasion I was gratified by a few
very friendly lines from your relative, of whose existence I was
not aware; they somewhat sweetened the bitterness of having to
take money from you. Remember me to him, and thank him cordially
in my name.

A piano, although not of the first order, stands in my salon. I
hope I shall soon have the courage to begin my "Siegfried" at
last, but first of all I must take your scores thoroughly in
hand. How many things you have sent me! I had been longing to
have, at last, some of your new works; but now this wealth almost
embarrasses me, and I shall require time to take in everything
properly. For that purpose it would, of course, be necessary for
me to hear your poems, or for you to play them to me. It is very
well to read something of that kind, but the real salt, that
which decides and solves all doubts, can only be enjoyed by
actual hearing. In that terrible month of May I was able only to
look at your scores with a tired eye, and as through dark clouds;
but even then I received the electric shock, which none but great
things produce on us, and so much I know that you are a wonderful
man, by whose side I can place no other phenomenon in the domains
of art and of life. So much was I struck by your conception, and
by the design of your execution in its larger outlines, that I at
once longed for something new--the three remaining pieces, and
"Faust" and "Dante." There you see what I am. Without having made
myself acquainted with the finer details of the artistic
execution proper I wanted to go on, probably because I had to
despair of recognizing these without hearing them. For nothing is
more misleading and useless than to attempt this by a laborious,
halting and blundering performance on the piano, while an
excellent and expressive execution in the right tempo at once
produces the right picture in its varied colours. That is why you
are so fortunate in being able to do this with supreme
excellence. If I look upon your artistic career, different as it
is from any other, I clearly perceive the instinct which led you
into the path now trodden by you. You are by nature the genuine,
happy artist who not only produces, but also represents. Whatever
formerly, as a pianist, you might play, it was always the
personal communication of your beautiful individuality which
revealed entirely new and unknown things to us, and he only was
able and competent to judge you to whom you had played in a happy
mood. This new and indescribably individual element was still
dependent on your personality, and without your actual presence
it did, properly speaking, not exist. On hearing you one felt
sad, because these marvels were to be irretrievably lost with
your person, for it is absurd to think that you could perpetuate
your art through your pupils, as some one at Berlin boasted
lately. But nature, by some infallible means, always takes care
of the permanent existence of that which she produces so seldom
and only under abnormal conditions; and she showed you the right
way. You were led to perpetuate the miracle of your personal
communication in a manner which made it independent of your
individual existence. That which you played on the piano would
not have been sufficient for this purpose, for it became only
through means of your personal interpretation what it appeared to
us to be; for which reason, let me repeat it, it was frequently
indifferent what and whose works you played. You, therefore,
without any effort, hit upon the idea of replacing your personal
art by the orchestra, that is, by compositions which, through the
inexhaustible means of expression existing in the orchestra, were
able to reflect your individuality without the aid of your
individual presence. Your orchestral works represent to me, so to
speak, your personal art in a monumental form; and in that
respect they are so new, so incomparable to anything else, that
criticism will take a long time to find out what to make of them.
Ah me! all this seems very awkward and open to misunderstanding
in a letter; but when we meet I think I shall be able to tell you
many new things which you have made clear to me. I hope I shall
have the necessary leisure and sufficient lucidity of expression.
For that purpose I want good health; for, failing this, I always
lapse into that fatal irritability which frustrates everything,
and always leaves the best things unsaid. For the same reason,
and because our meeting is to me, as it were, the goal for which
I strive as the one desirable end, my only care now is the
perfect recovery of my health. Let us hope that my efforts and
many sacrifices will lead me to it. I shall take care to send you
accounts at frequent intervals. My amnesty is of importance to me
for this reason ONLY, that in the case of success my way to you
would always lie open; if it is granted to me you will have to
put up with me for some time next winter.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20