Volume I Part 8 (1/2)

32

DEAREST LISZT,

I herewith send you the prorin” Pardon me if they come too late I heard only recently hat amiable and speedy readiness you have complied with ain, I shall have s to tell you Of my immediate past I only say that ; there were too many impediments, which I found it i else I should have liked to get out of the world altogether Of thisto perforust 28th, Iother matters for a later communication

First of all, I have in the enclosed treated of scenery and decorations My drawings ht; I count theenius Where ood intention, which will be clear to you from the literary explanation attached to it The trees especially presented me with insuperable difficulties, and if every painter has to perspire over perspective as I have done, his art is by noAs to the rest, I have in my notes always referred to the full score, in which I have indicated--much more fully and clearly than in the libretto--the scenic action in conjunction with the o exactly by the score, or at least an arrangement of it

As to the orchestra, I have also put down soreat wish to address to you:

Give the opera as it is; cut nothing!

One single cut I will indicate to you e, viz, the second part of Lohengrin's tale in the final scene of the third act After the words of Lohengrin--”Sein Ritter ich bin Lohengrin ge”--[nannt fifty-six bars must be omitted] ”Wo ihr mit Gott mich landen”

[”saht” therefore,--”nannt” instead of ”saht”]

I have frequently sung it to myself, and have come to the conclusion that this second part of the tale e is therefore to be omitted in the libretto as well

As to the rest, I ently, Let me for once do as I like I have been intent upon establishi+ng so unfailing, so plastic, a connection between the music and the poem and action, that I feel quite certain as to the result Rely uponin love with my oork If you should feel compelled to make cuts on account of excessive difficulty, I should ask you to consider whether it would not be better to leave the performance alone on account of insufficiency of means I assume, however, that all possible means will be readily placed at your disposal, and also that you will succeed in conquering every difficulty if you are fully determined to do so If you make up your mind that it must be, then I aive up the whole thing As to this, I think, we agree

Concerning the chief thing, the cast of vocalists, I rely upon you with perfect confidence You will not undertake is Our friend Gotze, to whom I am in any case much indebted for his Tannhauser, will find rin, because he lacks in external appearance and voice that resplendent quality which, where nature has vouchsafed it, must make the part easy Let him supply that resplendence as far as possible by ht to make one's eyes smart A newly revised libretto intended for the printer I send at the same time with this It will arrive by the ordinarywish to express: Sell it, or if you can get nothing for it, give it to a publisher ill undertake to bring it out beautifully, at least as well as the libretto of ”Tannhauser”; the Weiets as many copies fro a certain commission This is exactly e did with ”Tannhauser” As I should like you to dispose of the pianoforte score,in Dresden, to a music-publisher, the best ould be to offer the libretto to the saement That libretto, if sold at a moderate price, is, however, by no means a bad business Of ”Tannhauser” we sold over two thousand copies One thing more: tell me, dear Liszt, how could we make it possible that I could attend the first perfornito?

This is a desperate question, especially as at this er, as it recently was, a matter of indifference to me whether I am to dwell in a royal Saxon prison or not Listen: I hold the Grand duchess in high regard; would not this lady, to whoestion be inclined for the stroke of genius of duping the police of united Ger me a safe conduct under an assuain to Zurich? I pronito in the most stoical o straight back, guaranteeing all the time the strictest secrecy froh the Duke of Coburg? Of hiht ive a poor devil like me real joy, and perhaps a new stiement

If it is possible, or even if it is impossible, I ask further, Would you like to pay me a short visit in Zurich soon? You are devilish quick at such things If I could see you again now, I should go half h joy, therefore whollytirin” to you froh for today I shall soon write again Whether I have got any enia” I cannot tell yet; there has latterly been much confusion around me I am about to crush someasse, Hirzel's Haus, Zurich”

Farewell, old, dear, only friend! I know you love me Believe that I respond from my fullest heart

Ever thine,

RICHARD WAGNER

THUN, July 2nd, 1850

33

DEAR LISZT,

Would you be kind enough to answer the following siement of the Weimar theatre intend to pay enia,” as Belloni told me after his return to Weimar?

Further, have these five hundred francs been sent anywhere for me, and to whom and where should I in that case have to apply? or if they have not been sent, may I still count on them? Lastly, if the latter should be the case, will you ask Herr von Zigesar to send three hundred francs of the sum to Belloni in Paris, in settle due July 15th, and remit the balance of two hundred francs to me at Zurich as soon as possible?