Volume II Part 16 (1/2)

60 To Eduard von Liszt

Dearest Eduard,

The enclosed letter from Chordirector kumenecker [The Director of the Altlerchenfelder Kirchenrant hiive a performance of the ”Coronation Mass”] I received only on ood as to pay the writer of it a visit inwith his request Also tell hiot either the chorus or the orchestral parts of the ”Coronation Mass” The only existing copies are those belonging to the Court orchestra of Vienna; hence these parts would have either to be obtained or to be copied if a perforiven elsewhere, and this I should not care either to advise or disadvise

The Mass fulfilled its object in Pest on the Coronation Day If it should be given on any future occasion, I would recommend the conductor to take the te, and to beat the tihout alla Breve And the ”Gloria,”

more especially towards the nus Dei” up to the Prestissimo, must be worked up brilliantly and majestically Whether and when the ”Coronation Mass” is to appear in print I do not know Dunkl (Roszavoglyi) in Pest had intended to publish it, but the honorarium of 100 ducats seems to make him hesitate, and I will not accept any smaller sum Two movements from it (the ”Offertorium” and ”Benedictus”) I have transcribed for the piano, and these e to the publisher And the pianoforte arrangements for one or two performers are to appear simultaneously with the score--It is of no importance to me to have the work published ier and have an opportunity, ask him whether he would risk 100 ducats upon it As he has already published a nuht suit him as well If not, it is all the same to me Only I cannot make any alteration about the honorarium I have now fixed upon [The ”Coronation Mass,” like the ”Gran Mass,” was published by Schuberth, Leipzig]

Yours,

F Liszt

Rome, November 6th, 1867

61 To E Repos

Dear Sir,

Pray excuseso late to your kind and cordial letter Various er than I expected, and I have only been back three days at my house at ”Santa Francesca Romana,” where I shall spend the winter Your publications will be excellent coratitude the Gradual and Vesperal [Gradual--a portion of the Mass Vesperal--book of evening prayer] (in--12) that you are kind enough to offeryou to let me have them shortly

What can I on reeable to you?

So will be found, I hope, for I sincerely desire to satisfy you

It seems to me that it would not be of any use for you to undertake to publish now one or two large works of my composition In order to be somewhat accredited, they must first of all be performed and heard, not en passant, but seriously and several times For this I have no support in France, and should even expose myself to unpleasant dispositions and interpretations if I in the least endeavored to bring ary, and Holland that, in spite of frequent and lively opposition, ht In those countries they continue perfor my music by inclination, curiosity, and interest, withoutanybody to do so You have probably heard of the favorable reception that the ”Legend of St Elizabeth” ust For two years past this work has been perforue, Munich, and I have recently been asked for it fro, Aix-la-Chapelle, etc, but as the score has to be sent to be engraved I have not been able to lend it further I shall giveyou a copy towards Easter-It is also in Germany (probably at Munich) that iven: now, as it is important to me that the first complete performance (for the one in Rome on the occasion of the centenary of St Peter was only a tentative and partial one) should be as satisfactory as possible, I must be present at it Consequently it will not take place till the winter of '69--if I a my intention not to leave Rome for a year

Pardon me these details, dear sir As the cordiality of your letter assuresbusiness relations with one another, it is better to put you at once in possession of the facts of my musical situation It prescribes to me duties attached to many restrictions which my ecclesiastical capacity increases still more ”Providemus enim bona non solum coram Deo sed etiam coram hominibus”--

To return to your publications Palestrina, Lassus, the masters of the 16th and 17th centuries, are your models par excellence

You have plenty of work for years to come to edit their admirable works, and to put yourself on a par with the collection published (cheap) at Ratisbon under the title of ”Musica divina” Moreover there is nothing to prevent you fro many a composition more or less modern Dispose of in with the ”Credo” (fro [cantus planus] of which you speak Later on a tolerably siht perhaps find a place Then, two excerpts from the Oratorio ”Christ,”--”the Beatitudes” and the ”Pater noster”--which have already appeared at Leipzig, ht reappear in Paris, especially if there were any favorable opportunity of getting them heard As to the Oratorio entire, it will be better still to wait awhile longer

”Expectans expectavi”and let raphical notice which you have in view also wait In order to make it exact and coive some data to the writer ould undertake the task of representing s have been printed about st the raphie universelle des Musiciens” (second edition), of which you tell me, takes the foremost place

Nevertheless, however e the conscientious and kind intentions towards myself of the illustrious and learnedthe importance of my works which he connects with ”one of the transformations of Art,” I shall not have the false huments Of all the theorists whom I know, Mr Fetis is the one who has best ascertained and defined the progress of harmony and rhythm in music; on such chief points as these I flatter myself that I am in perfect accord with hi in different ways fro to his theory Art ought to progress, develop, be enriched, and clothed in new forainst the pricks,--and, for all that, would insist that the ”transfor existing custoreatest ease Would to Heaven that it ht be so! Between this and theether with the expressions of uished and devoted sentiments

F Liszt

Rome, November 8th, 1867--Santa Francesca Roratulations for the cross of St Sylvestre