Lot n° 94
Estimation :
1500 - 2000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 4 940EUR
LISZT (Franz). Autograph letter signed [TO HECTOR BERLIOZ]. - Lot 94
LISZT (Franz). Autograph letter signed [TO HECTOR BERLIOZ]. Weimar, 18 October 1854. 7 pp. 1/2 in-8. A BEAUTIFUL LETTER EVOKING SEVERAL WORKS BY HECTOR BERLIOZ: HIS OPERA LA DAMNATION DE FAUST, first performed in 1846, published in 1854, HIS OPERA BENVENUTO CELLINI, dedicated to the Grand Duchess of Saxony Weimar, first performed in its first version in 1838, in its second version, AND HIS ORATORIO L'ENFANCE DU CHRIST, "sacred trilogy" completed to compose in July 1854, first performed in Paris in December 1854. The composer Peter Cornelius, then secretary to Franz Liszt, translated the libretto into German in 1854. "MY DEAR FRIEND, YOUR SCORE [OF THE OPERA BENVENUTO CELLINI] WITH TRANSLATION WAS SENT THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY MORNING... The delay in sending it is in no way Cornelius' fault or mine... I only learned in the last few days that this score was Weymar's. Now Cornelius has been on holiday for several weeks about fifteen leagues from here in the Thuringian forest... Fortunately, Cornelius' letters have always arrived regularly at my house, and in reply to the last one I sent him... he came back here, locked himself up for several days without seeing anyone, and finished the translation in question, which he sent you with your manuscript the day before yesterday... Cornelius is sincerely grateful to you for your personal goodwill towards him, and devoted with admiration - therefore always eager to write, to translate, and when necessary, even to copy for you. You may therefore fully rely on him and his perfect accuracy on all occasions. He hopes that the new translations he has done for your work will satisfy you... We are very happy to hear him this winter. The German newspapers having several times announced your arrival in these lands, I did not know where to write to you and was waiting for news. I OWE YOU MOUNTAINS OF THANKS FOR THE DEDICATION AND SENDING OF YOUR FAUST. When you come back here I will show you what form and manner I have given to these mountains. So now let's talk about your travel arrangements. I have only heard vague information about the plans for Dresden. Pohl, who has been living in Weymar for three weeks, where his wife has been sent as harpist to our chapel [the writer and music critic Richard Pohl and his wife Joanna], tells me that M. DE LUTTICHAU [Wolf Adolf August von Lüttichau, DIRECTOR OF THE DRESDEN OPERA] IS STILL HOPING FOR YOU THIS FALL, BUT THAT PROBABLY IT WILL ONLY BE AFTER YOUR ARRIVAL IN DRESDEN THAT SERIOUS WORK WILL BE BEGIN ON THE REPEAT AND STAGING OF CELLINI... HAS THE KING OF HANOVER FINALLY SENT YOU HIS CROSS OF THE GUELPHS? The German newspapers have positively announced it. JOACHIM has spent several months in Berlin [the violinist Joseph Joachim], and has been in Pesth [now Budapest, Hungary] for a few weeks. The purpose of this last trip is not at all artistic, for he was obliged to undertake it in order to escape the law of recruitment and provide a replacement. It is very possible that he has not seen your last letter - and in any case he will answer you without delay. BISHOP DE GOTHA RECENTLY TOLD ME THAT HE WAS COUNTING ON YOUR VISIT THIS WINTER AND THAT HE WAS VERY KEEN FOR YOU TO DIRECT SEVERAL OF YOUR WORKS AT HIS THEATRE. Have you seen Oppelt (commissioned by the Duke to stage his opera "Santa Chiara" in Paris) [Ernest II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha had composed the music for this BOOKS & AUTOGRAPHS THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021 117opera on a libretto by Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer, which, in its translation by the writer Gustave Oppelt, was first performed in France at the Paris Opera in September 1855] - you can use his intermediary to fix the time of your concerts in Gotha - and if it is convenient for you to employ me in anything relating to Gotha, I am completely at your command. FOR WEYMAR, IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT YOU WILL STOP THERE FOR A FEW DAYS AND LET US HEAR YOUR COMPLETE FAUST - AND YOUR TRILOGY [THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST]]. I will arrange your concert as well as possible and prepare your rehearsals. It seems advisable to me that you come to Gotha and Weymar before Dresden in order to cultivate the latter land more advantageously and make it bear fruit. Unless, therefore, you have decided motives for another route, I shall wait for you this time at the beginning of your journey in Germany, come to meet you in Gotha if you stop there first as I presume, and we shall return together to Weymar, where you can be sure of being received in a most amiable manner by our Court. The Grand Duke has particularly asked me to invite you to come here as soon as you can.... "The friendship between Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt was born in Paris in 1830. Until 1835 they frequented each other assiduously, sharing the same literary passions, the same enthusiasms
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