Volume II Part 19 (1/2)

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 s about her e 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 ain 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 the rapidity if you could play theerness of a child to studying theain!

(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 old” I expect back fro, and shall send it to you)

I aative in order to avoid the return of atory at once

Adieu A thousand thanks for your friendshi+p

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, witharrival 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 e 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 the that is To repeat it, the tortures of this kind of intercourse are positively theto myself I force reatest care When I was on the point of taking flight, at the end of May, Tichatschek suddenly called on ood man, with his splendid, childlike heart, and his areeable to ood 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 aboht me very low

In the month of May alone I had three relapses, and even now not an hour passes withoutin fear of a new attack In consequence, I a, and it is obvious that I h recovery For that purpose a painfully strict regieneral htest 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 waret 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 su, where I live quite alone From the balcony I have the e, and froarden

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 na I had to concede in return for the favour of possessing this garden salon; every Sundayfroyman comes from Geneva and performs divine service for the Protestants of this place, in the sa, occupy for the rest of the tily ion I fancy I shall htfully dear, and without your subsidy I could not have undertaken this expedition I have had to make an inroad into theof 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 infaive ratified by a few very friendly lines from your relative, of whose existence I was not aware; they so to take money from you Remember me to hih not of the first order, stands in in fried” at last, but first of all I s you have sentto have, at last, some of your neorks; but now this wealth almost embarrassesproperly For that purpose it would, of course, be necessary for me to hear your poems, or for you to play the 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 n of your execution in its larger outlines, that I at once longed for so pieces, and ”Faust” and ”Dante” There you see what I a 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 the and useless than to atte performance on the piano, while an excellent and expressive execution in the right teht 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 forht 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 coe 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 abnorht 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 becah 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 coh the inexhaustiblein 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 inco time to find out what to make of them

Ahin a letter; but e s 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 saoal 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 ranted to me you will have to put up with ratulatedive him the news I send you, and to assure hireat boon to me In case he cannot accohly acquainted with him at your house in the autumn, if only the Saxon Minister of Justice will listen to reason Even his intention of visiting me has made me very happy

A thousand cordial thanks for the letter of the dear Princess, who soon will have to take the title of private secretary My best greetings to ALL