August 18, 2025 • 23 mins
Dive into the captivating world of Gustav Kobbe, a German-American music critic who lived during the vibrant era of Liszt and Wagner. With a distinct flair for storytelling, Kobbe offers a romantic and entertaining exploration of the loves and lives of seven iconic composers, all while firmly aligning himself with the Wagnerian perspective. His unique writing style, filled with rich imagery and unusual sentence constructions, transports listeners to the 19th century, making each chapter a delightful auditory experience. Wagner receives an especially thorough account, reflecting Kobbes personal claims of familiarity with both Liszt and Wagner, as well as Cosima Wagner. This blend of anecdote and insight creates an original narrative that stands apart from more traditional biographies. (Peter Thomlinson)
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter six of the Loves of Great Composers by Gustav Kobe.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
Peter Tomlinson. Chapter six Franz Liszt and his Caroline in
the famous Wagner List correspondence List writes from Weimar under
(00:26):
date of April eighth, eighteen fifty three Daily, the Princess
greets me with the lines nicked goudt k nochgeld, no
gottilichch pracht. The lines are from Gotta dammerung, the whole
passage being nor goods, nor gold, nor godlike splendor, nor house,
(00:48):
nor home, nor lordly state, nor hollow contracts of a
treacherous race, its cruel cant, its custom and decree, blessed,
enjoy and sorrow, let love alone be. The lady who,
according to List Daily, greeted him with these significant lines,
was the Princess Caroline Saint Vietstein. Since eighteen forty eight,
(01:14):
she and her young daughter Maddie had been living with
List at the Altenburg in Weimar. She remained there until
eighteen sixty twelve years when she went to Rome, whither
in due time Liszt followed her to make the Eternal
City one of his homes for the rest of his life.
(01:34):
His last letter to her is dated July sixth, eighteen
eighty six, the year and month of his death, so
that for a period of nearly forty years he enjoyed
the personal and intellectual companionship of this remarkable woman. Their
relations form one of the great love romances of the
last century. List Letters to the Princess were written in
(01:56):
French and still untranslated, are in four volumes. They were
published by the Princess's daughter, Princess Marie Hohenlohe, as a
tribute to List the musician and the man they team
with his musical activities, information regarding the numerous celebrities with
whom he was intimate, the musicians he aided his own
(02:17):
great works. But their rarest charm to me lies in
the fact that from them the careful reader can glean
the whole story of the romance of Liszt and Caroline,
from its very beginnings to his death. We know the
fascinating male figure in this romance, the extraordinary combination of
(02:37):
unapproached virtuoso, great composer and man of the world. But
who was the equally fascinating woman. Caroline von Eweoska was
born near Kiev, Russian Poland. In February eighteen nineteen. When
she still was young, her parents separated and she divided
(03:00):
her time between them. Her mother possessed marked social graces,
traveled much, was a favorite at many courts, and as
a pupil of Rossini's in singing, was admired by Spontini
and Meyerbeer, and was sought after in the most select salons,
including that of Metternicht, the Austrian Chancellor. From her Caroline
(03:27):
inherited her charm of manner. Intellectually, however, she was wholly
her father's child, and he was her favorite parent. He
was a wealthy, landed proprietor, and in the administration of
his estates he frequently consulted her. Moreover, he had an active,
(03:49):
studious mind, and he found in her an interested companion
in his pursuits. Often they sat up until late into
the night, discussing various questions, and both of them smoking
strong cigars. In eighteen thirty six, her hand was asked
in marriage by Prince Nicholaus von Saint Witttenstein. She thrice refused,
(04:15):
but finally accepted him at her father's instigation. The prince
was a handsome but otherwise commonplace man, and not at
all the husband for this charming, mentally alert, and finely
strung woman. The one happiness that came to her through
this marriage was her daughter, Marii. Liszt came to Kiev
(04:37):
on a concert tour in February eighteen forty seven. He
announced a charity concert for which he received a contribution
of one hundred roubles from Princess Caroline. He had already
heard other but she had been described to him as
a miserly and peculiar person. The gifts surprised him the more.
(04:57):
For this he called on her to thank her. Found
her a brilliant conversationalist, was charmed with her in every way,
and concluded that what the gossips considered peculiarities were merely
the evidences of an original and positive mentality upon the
woman who was in revolt against the restraints of an
(05:18):
unhappy married life. Liszt, from whose eyes shone the divine spark,
who was as much au fait in the salon as
at the piano, and who already had been worshiped by
a long succession of women made a deep impression. Thus
they were drawn to each other at this very first meeting.
When a little later Liszt took her into his confidence
(05:40):
regarding his ambition to devote more time to composition, and
communicated to her his idea of composing a symphony on
Dante's Divine Comedy with scenic illustrations. She offered to pay
the twenty thousand failures which these would cost. This subsequently
(06:01):
changed his mind regarding the need of scenery to his Dante,
But the princess's generous offer increased his admiration for her.
It was a tribute to himself as well as to
his art, and an expression of her confidence in his genius
as a composer, shared at that time by few which
could not fail to touch him deeply. It at once
(06:24):
created a bond of artistic and personal sympathy between them.
She was carried away by his playing, and the programme
of his first concert, which she attended, was treasured by her,
and after her death forty years later, was found among
her possessions by her daughter. If it was not love
at first sight between these two, it must have been
(06:45):
nearly that Liszt came to Kiev in February eighteen forty seven.
The same month, Caroline invited him to visit her at
one of her country seats. Voronince brief correspondents already had
passed between them. To his fifth note, he adds as
a PostScript, I am in the best of humor, and
(07:07):
find now that the world contains war on Ince that
the world is good, very good. The Great pin has
continued his tour to Constantinople. When he writes to the
princess from there, he already is at her feet. Later
in the same year he is hers heart and soul.
(07:28):
Early the following year, he quotes for her these lines
from Paradise Lost for contemplation. He and valor formed for softness,
she and sweet attractive grace. He for God only, she
for God in him. She presents him with the batons
set with jewels. He writes to her about the first
(07:49):
concert at which he will use it. He transcribes Schubert's
lovely song My Sweet Repose, My Peace art Thou, and
tells her that he can play it only for her.
At the same time, their letters to each other are
filled with references to public affairs and literary, artistic and
musical matters. They are the letters of two people of
(08:12):
broad and cultivated taste, who are drawn to each other
by every bond of intellect and sentiment. Is it a
wonder that but little more than a year after they met,
the princess decided to burn her bridges behind her and
leave her husband. Through his friend, Prince Felix Lekonski, List
arrange that they should meet at Karazonovitz, one of the
(08:35):
Lekonski country seats in Austrian Silesia. May the Angel of
the Lord lead you, my radiant morning star, he exclaims.
At the same time, he has an eye to the
practical side of the affair and describes the place as
just the one for their meeting point, because Liknowski will
be too busy to remain there, and there will not
(08:57):
be a soul about save the servants. It was shortly
before the Revolution of eighteen forty eight. To gain permission
to cross the border, the princess pretended to be bound
for Karlsbad for the waters. List Valet meher and her daughter.
As soon as they were out of Russia, took them
to Ratibor, where they were received by Lushnovsky, who conducted
(09:20):
them to List. After a few days at this place
of meeting, they went to Gratz, where they spent a
fortnight in another of the Leshnowski villas. Among the miscellaneous
correspondents of List is a letter from Gratz to his
friend Franz von Schober, counselor of legation at Weimar, where
(09:42):
List was settled as court conductor. In it, he describes
the princess as, without doubt the uncommonly and thoroughly brilliant
example of soul and mind and intelligence, with a prodigious
amount of espirit as well. You will readily understand ads
that henceforth I can dream very little of personal ambition
(10:04):
and of a future wrapped up in myself in political relations.
Serfdom may have an end, but the dominion of one
soul over another in the spirit region, should that not
remain indestructible, Oh, List, prophetic soul. Thereafter, his life was
shaped by this extraordinary woman for weal, and it must
(10:24):
be confessed for reasons which will appear later, partly for woe.
The Grand Duchess of Weimar took the princess under her protection,
and she settled at Vaimar in the Altenburg, where Lisz
lived in the hotels um Herbrinzen. Many tender misses passed
between them. Bonjour mon bon ang writes list en vous
(10:48):
aimi a vou ador du matin a soi a des
soirs e matin oh vu atandan vou benefit cher douche
lumier den ami essui trist com tou jours and tout
le vasqueue attends pas vot revoir cou geneur regarde pass vasiere.
(11:13):
One of the billays relates to an incident that has
become historic. Wagner had been obliged because of his participation
in the revolution, to flee from Dresden. He sought refuge
with List in Weimar, but learning that the Saxon authorities
were seeking to apprehend him, decided to continue his flight
to Switzerland. He was without means, and at the moment
(11:36):
List two was out of funds. In this extremity, List
dispatched a few lines to the princess, can you send
me by bearer sixty sailors. Wagner is obliged to flee,
and I am unable at present to come to his aid.
Bon en hours. Now the money was forthcoming, and Wagner
(11:57):
owed his safety to the princess. This is but one
instant in which, at Liszt's instigation, she was the good
fairy of poor musicians. About a year after the princess
settled in the Altemburg, List too took up his residence there.
From that time until they left it, it was the
mecca of musical Europe. Thither came von Bulah and Rubinstein,
(12:19):
then young men Jerkim and Vienowski Brahms on his way
to Schumann, who, as a result of this visit from
Brahms wrote the famous article hailing him as the coming
Messiah of music. BerliOS and many many others. The Alsenburg
was the headquarters of the Wagner propaganda. From there came
(12:40):
material and artistic comfort to Wagner during the darkest hours
of his exile and poverty. Vendolyn Weizheimer, a German orchestral leader,
a friend of Liszt and Wagner and of many other
notable musicians of his day, has given in his reminiscences,
which should have been translated long ago, a delightful glimpse
(13:04):
of life at the Altenburg. He describes a dinner at
which von Bronsart, the composer and Count Loreensn, the musical writer,
were the other guests at table. The princess did the
honors most graciously, and her divinity Franz Liszt was in
(13:25):
buoyant spirits. After the champagne, the company rose and went
upstairs to the smoking room and music salmon, which formed
one apartment for with Lists. Smoking and music making were
on such occasions inseparable. One touch in Weissheimer's description recalls
(13:46):
the Princess's early acquired habit of smoking. He List always
had excellent havanas of unusual length ready, and they were
passed around with the coffee. The princess had also come upstairs.
When Liszt sat down at one of the two pianos,
she drew an arm chair close to it and seated
herself expectantly, also with one of the long havanas in
(14:10):
her mouth and pulling delectably at it. We others, too,
drew up near List, who had the manuscript of his
Foul Symphony open before him. Of course, he played the
whole orchestra. Of course, the way in which he did
it was indescribable, And of course we were all in
the high state of exultation after the glorious Gretchen division
(14:35):
of the symphony. The Princess sprang up from the armchair,
caught hold of List, and kissed him so fervently that
we all were deeply moved. In the interim her long
havana had gone out. The years which List passed with
the Princess at the Altenburg, and when he was most
directly under her influence, were the most glorious in his career.
(15:00):
Besides the Foul Symphony he composed during this period the
twelve Symphonic Poems, thus originating a new and highly important
musical form, which may be said to bear in their
liberation from pedantry, the same relation to the set symphony
that the music drama does to opera. The Rhapsodi's hung Grasses,
(15:23):
his Piano sonata and concertos, the Grainer Messy, and the
beginnings of his Cristus and Legend of the Holy Elizabeth.
The Princess ordered the household arrangements in such a way
that the composer should not be disturbed in his work.
No one was admitted to him without her vise. She
attended to the voluminous correspondence which with a man of
(15:47):
so much natural courtesy as Liszt would have occupied an
enormous amount of his time. He was the acknowledged head
of the Wagner movement at that time, Regarded as nothing
short of revolutionary, he was looked upon as the friend
of all progressive propaganda in his art. To play for List,
to have his opinion on performance or composition was the
(16:10):
ambition of every musical celebrity or would be one. His
cooperation in innumerable concerts and music festivals was sought for
his was a name to conjure with. Between him and
these assaults on his almost proverbial kindness stood the Princess
and the List of his great musical productions during this period,
(16:33):
to say nothing of his literary work, like the Rhapsody
on Chopin is the tale of what the world owes
her for her devotion. The relations between List and the
Princess were frankly acknowledged and by the world as frankly accepted,
as if they were two exceptional beings in whom one
could pardon things which, in the case of ordinary mortals
(16:54):
would mean social ostracism. The nearest approach to this situation
was that of George Eliot and Leuth, But with List
and the Princess. The world, possibly after the fashion of
the continent, was far more lenient, and their lives, in
their outward aspects, were far more brilliant. No exalted mind
(17:15):
in literature, music, art or science passed through Vima or
came near it without being drawn to the Altenburg as
by a magnet. There seems to have been within its
walls an almost uninterrupted intellectual revel or, to use a
trite expression which here is most apt, a steady feast
(17:36):
of reason and flow of soul. The sojourn of List
and the Princess in the Altenburg was a golden period
for Weimar, a revival of the time when Gerte lived
there and reflected his glory upon it. And yet convention
is the result of the concentrated essence of the experience
(17:58):
of ages, and no one seems able to break through
it without the effort, leaving a scar. It cast its
shadow even over the life at the Altenburg. There remained
one great longing to the princess, the non fulfillment of
which was a void in her soul. She learned to
(18:19):
bear the name of the man she adored during the
twelve years of their Weimar sojourn. She battled for it,
but in vain. Then she transferred the battlefield to Rome.
Her husband, a Protestant, had found no difficulty in securing
a divorce from her. She was an ardent Roman Catholic,
and the church stood in her way, her own relatives,
(18:42):
who had been scandalized at of flight, being active in
invoking its opposition. She went to Rome in the spring
of eighteen sixty to press her suit at the very
center of churchly authority. Liszt remained in Vaimar, awaiting word
from her. It took her more than a year to
secure the papal's sanction. Then, when everything seemed auspiciously settled
(19:06):
and her marriage with List a certainty, her enthusiasm led
her to take a step which at the very last
moment proved fatal to her long cherished hope. Had she
returned at once to Weimar, her union with List undoubtedly
would have taken place. But no, in her joy, she
must go too far in Rome, There where the marriage
(19:26):
had been interdicted, There were she had successfully overcome opposition
to it. There it should take place, her triumph should
be complete. Lists was sent for his last two letters
to her before their meeting in Rome are dated from
Marseilles in October eighteen sixty one. The marriage was to
(19:48):
take place October the twenty second, his fiftieth birthday, He
writes her from the Hotel de Omperese himself plas sieurdegs
qu two lay the emperors du Monde and again mon
long exil val Finia. Yet it was only just beginning.
(20:09):
He arrived in Rome on October the twentieth. All arrangements
for the ceremony in the San Carlo al Corso had
been made. Then, by a strange fatality, it chanced that
several of the princess's relations who were most bitter against her,
entered upon the scene. Of all times, they happened to
be in Rome at this critical moment, and, getting wind
(20:31):
of the impending marriage, they entered a violent protest. When
on the evening of the twenty first Lisz was visiting
the princess, a papal messenger called and announced that his
Holiness had decided to forbid the ceremony until he could
look into the matter more fully, and requested from her
a re submission of the documents bearing on the case
(20:52):
to the princess. Then, on the threshold of realizing her
most cherished hopes. This was the last stroke her overall
nature saw in it a judgment of heaven. She refused
to resubmit the papers, and even when a few years
later Prince Wittgenstein died and she was free, she regarded
marriage with List as opposed by the divine will. A
(21:15):
strain of mysticism, nurtured by busy ecclesiastics, developed itself in her.
She became possessed of the idea that she was a
chosen instrument in the Church's hands to further its interests,
and with feverish, desperate energy, she devoted herself to literary
work as its champion. She had her own press, which
(21:35):
set up each day's work and showed it to her
in proof the next. She did not leave Rome except
on one occasion, and then fall less than a day
during the remaining twenty six years of her life. It
has been hinted more than once that the princess's course
was not as completely governed by religious mysticism as might
be supposed. That her sensitive nature had divined in Lists
(21:58):
an unexpressed opposition to the marriage, as if possibly he
did not wish to be tied down to her, yet
felt bound in honor because of the sacrifices she had
made for him to appear to share her hope. La
Maria Marie Lipsius, the editor of the lists letters and
whose interesting notes form the connecting links in the correspondence,
(22:21):
does not take this view. It is noticeable, however, although
Liszt and the princess saw each other frequently whenever he
was in Rome, and he became an abbe, probably through
her influence, that while in some of his letters to
her in later years there are notes of regret, those
written after the crisis in Rome breathe an intellectual rather
(22:42):
than a personal affinity. Be this as it may, it
was a tragedy in his life as well as in
her own. Practically the rest of his life was divided
each year between Budapest at the conservatory there, Weimar but
no longer at the Eltenburg, and Rome, but not not
at the Princess's residence Piazza di Spagna. Thus he had
(23:05):
three homes, none of which was home the golden period
of his life. As well as the Altenburg itself, where
others now were installed, were dim shadows of the past.
Liszt was the grand old man of the piano, and
is a great figure among composers. But whoever knows the
story of the last years of his life sees him
a wandering and pathetic figure. He died at Bayrouth in
(23:27):
July eighteen eighty six. Caroline survived him less than a year.
The literary work of her twenty six years in Rome
probably will be forgotten. It will be the linking of
her name with List and its association with the golden
period of Weimar, that will cause her to be remembered.
End of Chapter six
Chapter six of the Loves of Great Composers by Gustav Kobe.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
Peter Tomlinson. Chapter six Franz Liszt and his Caroline in
the famous Wagner List correspondence List writes from Weimar under
(00:26):
date of April eighth, eighteen fifty three Daily, the Princess
greets me with the lines nicked goudt k nochgeld, no
gottilichch pracht. The lines are from Gotta dammerung, the whole
passage being nor goods, nor gold, nor godlike splendor, nor house,
(00:48):
nor home, nor lordly state, nor hollow contracts of a
treacherous race, its cruel cant, its custom and decree, blessed,
enjoy and sorrow, let love alone be. The lady who,
according to List Daily, greeted him with these significant lines,
was the Princess Caroline Saint Vietstein. Since eighteen forty eight,
(01:14):
she and her young daughter Maddie had been living with
List at the Altenburg in Weimar. She remained there until
eighteen sixty twelve years when she went to Rome, whither
in due time Liszt followed her to make the Eternal
City one of his homes for the rest of his life.
(01:34):
His last letter to her is dated July sixth, eighteen
eighty six, the year and month of his death, so
that for a period of nearly forty years he enjoyed
the personal and intellectual companionship of this remarkable woman. Their
relations form one of the great love romances of the
last century. List Letters to the Princess were written in
(01:56):
French and still untranslated, are in four volumes. They were
published by the Princess's daughter, Princess Marie Hohenlohe, as a
tribute to List the musician and the man they team
with his musical activities, information regarding the numerous celebrities with
whom he was intimate, the musicians he aided his own
(02:17):
great works. But their rarest charm to me lies in
the fact that from them the careful reader can glean
the whole story of the romance of Liszt and Caroline,
from its very beginnings to his death. We know the
fascinating male figure in this romance, the extraordinary combination of
(02:37):
unapproached virtuoso, great composer and man of the world. But
who was the equally fascinating woman. Caroline von Eweoska was
born near Kiev, Russian Poland. In February eighteen nineteen. When
she still was young, her parents separated and she divided
(03:00):
her time between them. Her mother possessed marked social graces,
traveled much, was a favorite at many courts, and as
a pupil of Rossini's in singing, was admired by Spontini
and Meyerbeer, and was sought after in the most select salons,
including that of Metternicht, the Austrian Chancellor. From her Caroline
(03:27):
inherited her charm of manner. Intellectually, however, she was wholly
her father's child, and he was her favorite parent. He
was a wealthy, landed proprietor, and in the administration of
his estates he frequently consulted her. Moreover, he had an active,
(03:49):
studious mind, and he found in her an interested companion
in his pursuits. Often they sat up until late into
the night, discussing various questions, and both of them smoking
strong cigars. In eighteen thirty six, her hand was asked
in marriage by Prince Nicholaus von Saint Witttenstein. She thrice refused,
(04:15):
but finally accepted him at her father's instigation. The prince
was a handsome but otherwise commonplace man, and not at
all the husband for this charming, mentally alert, and finely
strung woman. The one happiness that came to her through
this marriage was her daughter, Marii. Liszt came to Kiev
(04:37):
on a concert tour in February eighteen forty seven. He
announced a charity concert for which he received a contribution
of one hundred roubles from Princess Caroline. He had already
heard other but she had been described to him as
a miserly and peculiar person. The gifts surprised him the more.
(04:57):
For this he called on her to thank her. Found
her a brilliant conversationalist, was charmed with her in every way,
and concluded that what the gossips considered peculiarities were merely
the evidences of an original and positive mentality upon the
woman who was in revolt against the restraints of an
(05:18):
unhappy married life. Liszt, from whose eyes shone the divine spark,
who was as much au fait in the salon as
at the piano, and who already had been worshiped by
a long succession of women made a deep impression. Thus
they were drawn to each other at this very first meeting.
When a little later Liszt took her into his confidence
(05:40):
regarding his ambition to devote more time to composition, and
communicated to her his idea of composing a symphony on
Dante's Divine Comedy with scenic illustrations. She offered to pay
the twenty thousand failures which these would cost. This subsequently
(06:01):
changed his mind regarding the need of scenery to his Dante,
But the princess's generous offer increased his admiration for her.
It was a tribute to himself as well as to
his art, and an expression of her confidence in his genius
as a composer, shared at that time by few which
could not fail to touch him deeply. It at once
(06:24):
created a bond of artistic and personal sympathy between them.
She was carried away by his playing, and the programme
of his first concert, which she attended, was treasured by her,
and after her death forty years later, was found among
her possessions by her daughter. If it was not love
at first sight between these two, it must have been
(06:45):
nearly that Liszt came to Kiev in February eighteen forty seven.
The same month, Caroline invited him to visit her at
one of her country seats. Voronince brief correspondents already had
passed between them. To his fifth note, he adds as
a PostScript, I am in the best of humor, and
(07:07):
find now that the world contains war on Ince that
the world is good, very good. The Great pin has
continued his tour to Constantinople. When he writes to the
princess from there, he already is at her feet. Later
in the same year he is hers heart and soul.
(07:28):
Early the following year, he quotes for her these lines
from Paradise Lost for contemplation. He and valor formed for softness,
she and sweet attractive grace. He for God only, she
for God in him. She presents him with the batons
set with jewels. He writes to her about the first
(07:49):
concert at which he will use it. He transcribes Schubert's
lovely song My Sweet Repose, My Peace art Thou, and
tells her that he can play it only for her.
At the same time, their letters to each other are
filled with references to public affairs and literary, artistic and
musical matters. They are the letters of two people of
(08:12):
broad and cultivated taste, who are drawn to each other
by every bond of intellect and sentiment. Is it a
wonder that but little more than a year after they met,
the princess decided to burn her bridges behind her and
leave her husband. Through his friend, Prince Felix Lekonski, List
arrange that they should meet at Karazonovitz, one of the
(08:35):
Lekonski country seats in Austrian Silesia. May the Angel of
the Lord lead you, my radiant morning star, he exclaims.
At the same time, he has an eye to the
practical side of the affair and describes the place as
just the one for their meeting point, because Liknowski will
be too busy to remain there, and there will not
(08:57):
be a soul about save the servants. It was shortly
before the Revolution of eighteen forty eight. To gain permission
to cross the border, the princess pretended to be bound
for Karlsbad for the waters. List Valet meher and her daughter.
As soon as they were out of Russia, took them
to Ratibor, where they were received by Lushnovsky, who conducted
(09:20):
them to List. After a few days at this place
of meeting, they went to Gratz, where they spent a
fortnight in another of the Leshnowski villas. Among the miscellaneous
correspondents of List is a letter from Gratz to his
friend Franz von Schober, counselor of legation at Weimar, where
(09:42):
List was settled as court conductor. In it, he describes
the princess as, without doubt the uncommonly and thoroughly brilliant
example of soul and mind and intelligence, with a prodigious
amount of espirit as well. You will readily understand ads
that henceforth I can dream very little of personal ambition
(10:04):
and of a future wrapped up in myself in political relations.
Serfdom may have an end, but the dominion of one
soul over another in the spirit region, should that not
remain indestructible, Oh, List, prophetic soul. Thereafter, his life was
shaped by this extraordinary woman for weal, and it must
(10:24):
be confessed for reasons which will appear later, partly for woe.
The Grand Duchess of Weimar took the princess under her protection,
and she settled at Vaimar in the Altenburg, where Lisz
lived in the hotels um Herbrinzen. Many tender misses passed
between them. Bonjour mon bon ang writes list en vous
(10:48):
aimi a vou ador du matin a soi a des
soirs e matin oh vu atandan vou benefit cher douche
lumier den ami essui trist com tou jours and tout
le vasqueue attends pas vot revoir cou geneur regarde pass vasiere.
(11:13):
One of the billays relates to an incident that has
become historic. Wagner had been obliged because of his participation
in the revolution, to flee from Dresden. He sought refuge
with List in Weimar, but learning that the Saxon authorities
were seeking to apprehend him, decided to continue his flight
to Switzerland. He was without means, and at the moment
(11:36):
List two was out of funds. In this extremity, List
dispatched a few lines to the princess, can you send
me by bearer sixty sailors. Wagner is obliged to flee,
and I am unable at present to come to his aid.
Bon en hours. Now the money was forthcoming, and Wagner
(11:57):
owed his safety to the princess. This is but one
instant in which, at Liszt's instigation, she was the good
fairy of poor musicians. About a year after the princess
settled in the Altemburg, List too took up his residence there.
From that time until they left it, it was the
mecca of musical Europe. Thither came von Bulah and Rubinstein,
(12:19):
then young men Jerkim and Vienowski Brahms on his way
to Schumann, who, as a result of this visit from
Brahms wrote the famous article hailing him as the coming
Messiah of music. BerliOS and many many others. The Alsenburg
was the headquarters of the Wagner propaganda. From there came
(12:40):
material and artistic comfort to Wagner during the darkest hours
of his exile and poverty. Vendolyn Weizheimer, a German orchestral leader,
a friend of Liszt and Wagner and of many other
notable musicians of his day, has given in his reminiscences,
which should have been translated long ago, a delightful glimpse
(13:04):
of life at the Altenburg. He describes a dinner at
which von Bronsart, the composer and Count Loreensn, the musical writer,
were the other guests at table. The princess did the
honors most graciously, and her divinity Franz Liszt was in
(13:25):
buoyant spirits. After the champagne, the company rose and went
upstairs to the smoking room and music salmon, which formed
one apartment for with Lists. Smoking and music making were
on such occasions inseparable. One touch in Weissheimer's description recalls
(13:46):
the Princess's early acquired habit of smoking. He List always
had excellent havanas of unusual length ready, and they were
passed around with the coffee. The princess had also come upstairs.
When Liszt sat down at one of the two pianos,
she drew an arm chair close to it and seated
herself expectantly, also with one of the long havanas in
(14:10):
her mouth and pulling delectably at it. We others, too,
drew up near List, who had the manuscript of his
Foul Symphony open before him. Of course, he played the
whole orchestra. Of course, the way in which he did
it was indescribable, And of course we were all in
the high state of exultation after the glorious Gretchen division
(14:35):
of the symphony. The Princess sprang up from the armchair,
caught hold of List, and kissed him so fervently that
we all were deeply moved. In the interim her long
havana had gone out. The years which List passed with
the Princess at the Altenburg, and when he was most
directly under her influence, were the most glorious in his career.
(15:00):
Besides the Foul Symphony he composed during this period the
twelve Symphonic Poems, thus originating a new and highly important
musical form, which may be said to bear in their
liberation from pedantry, the same relation to the set symphony
that the music drama does to opera. The Rhapsodi's hung Grasses,
(15:23):
his Piano sonata and concertos, the Grainer Messy, and the
beginnings of his Cristus and Legend of the Holy Elizabeth.
The Princess ordered the household arrangements in such a way
that the composer should not be disturbed in his work.
No one was admitted to him without her vise. She
attended to the voluminous correspondence which with a man of
(15:47):
so much natural courtesy as Liszt would have occupied an
enormous amount of his time. He was the acknowledged head
of the Wagner movement at that time, Regarded as nothing
short of revolutionary, he was looked upon as the friend
of all progressive propaganda in his art. To play for List,
to have his opinion on performance or composition was the
(16:10):
ambition of every musical celebrity or would be one. His
cooperation in innumerable concerts and music festivals was sought for
his was a name to conjure with. Between him and
these assaults on his almost proverbial kindness stood the Princess
and the List of his great musical productions during this period,
(16:33):
to say nothing of his literary work, like the Rhapsody
on Chopin is the tale of what the world owes
her for her devotion. The relations between List and the
Princess were frankly acknowledged and by the world as frankly accepted,
as if they were two exceptional beings in whom one
could pardon things which, in the case of ordinary mortals
(16:54):
would mean social ostracism. The nearest approach to this situation
was that of George Eliot and Leuth, But with List
and the Princess. The world, possibly after the fashion of
the continent, was far more lenient, and their lives, in
their outward aspects, were far more brilliant. No exalted mind
(17:15):
in literature, music, art or science passed through Vima or
came near it without being drawn to the Altenburg as
by a magnet. There seems to have been within its
walls an almost uninterrupted intellectual revel or, to use a
trite expression which here is most apt, a steady feast
(17:36):
of reason and flow of soul. The sojourn of List
and the Princess in the Altenburg was a golden period
for Weimar, a revival of the time when Gerte lived
there and reflected his glory upon it. And yet convention
is the result of the concentrated essence of the experience
(17:58):
of ages, and no one seems able to break through
it without the effort, leaving a scar. It cast its
shadow even over the life at the Altenburg. There remained
one great longing to the princess, the non fulfillment of
which was a void in her soul. She learned to
(18:19):
bear the name of the man she adored during the
twelve years of their Weimar sojourn. She battled for it,
but in vain. Then she transferred the battlefield to Rome.
Her husband, a Protestant, had found no difficulty in securing
a divorce from her. She was an ardent Roman Catholic,
and the church stood in her way, her own relatives,
(18:42):
who had been scandalized at of flight, being active in
invoking its opposition. She went to Rome in the spring
of eighteen sixty to press her suit at the very
center of churchly authority. Liszt remained in Vaimar, awaiting word
from her. It took her more than a year to
secure the papal's sanction. Then, when everything seemed auspiciously settled
(19:06):
and her marriage with List a certainty, her enthusiasm led
her to take a step which at the very last
moment proved fatal to her long cherished hope. Had she
returned at once to Weimar, her union with List undoubtedly
would have taken place. But no, in her joy, she
must go too far in Rome, There where the marriage
(19:26):
had been interdicted, There were she had successfully overcome opposition
to it. There it should take place, her triumph should
be complete. Lists was sent for his last two letters
to her before their meeting in Rome are dated from
Marseilles in October eighteen sixty one. The marriage was to
(19:48):
take place October the twenty second, his fiftieth birthday, He
writes her from the Hotel de Omperese himself plas sieurdegs
qu two lay the emperors du Monde and again mon
long exil val Finia. Yet it was only just beginning.
(20:09):
He arrived in Rome on October the twentieth. All arrangements
for the ceremony in the San Carlo al Corso had
been made. Then, by a strange fatality, it chanced that
several of the princess's relations who were most bitter against her,
entered upon the scene. Of all times, they happened to
be in Rome at this critical moment, and, getting wind
(20:31):
of the impending marriage, they entered a violent protest. When
on the evening of the twenty first Lisz was visiting
the princess, a papal messenger called and announced that his
Holiness had decided to forbid the ceremony until he could
look into the matter more fully, and requested from her
a re submission of the documents bearing on the case
(20:52):
to the princess. Then, on the threshold of realizing her
most cherished hopes. This was the last stroke her overall
nature saw in it a judgment of heaven. She refused
to resubmit the papers, and even when a few years
later Prince Wittgenstein died and she was free, she regarded
marriage with List as opposed by the divine will. A
(21:15):
strain of mysticism, nurtured by busy ecclesiastics, developed itself in her.
She became possessed of the idea that she was a
chosen instrument in the Church's hands to further its interests,
and with feverish, desperate energy, she devoted herself to literary
work as its champion. She had her own press, which
(21:35):
set up each day's work and showed it to her
in proof the next. She did not leave Rome except
on one occasion, and then fall less than a day
during the remaining twenty six years of her life. It
has been hinted more than once that the princess's course
was not as completely governed by religious mysticism as might
be supposed. That her sensitive nature had divined in Lists
(21:58):
an unexpressed opposition to the marriage, as if possibly he
did not wish to be tied down to her, yet
felt bound in honor because of the sacrifices she had
made for him to appear to share her hope. La
Maria Marie Lipsius, the editor of the lists letters and
whose interesting notes form the connecting links in the correspondence,
(22:21):
does not take this view. It is noticeable, however, although
Liszt and the princess saw each other frequently whenever he
was in Rome, and he became an abbe, probably through
her influence, that while in some of his letters to
her in later years there are notes of regret, those
written after the crisis in Rome breathe an intellectual rather
(22:42):
than a personal affinity. Be this as it may, it
was a tragedy in his life as well as in
her own. Practically the rest of his life was divided
each year between Budapest at the conservatory there, Weimar but
no longer at the Eltenburg, and Rome, but not not
at the Princess's residence Piazza di Spagna. Thus he had
(23:05):
three homes, none of which was home the golden period
of his life. As well as the Altenburg itself, where
others now were installed, were dim shadows of the past.
Liszt was the grand old man of the piano, and
is a great figure among composers. But whoever knows the
story of the last years of his life sees him
a wandering and pathetic figure. He died at Bayrouth in
(23:27):
July eighteen eighty six. Caroline survived him less than a year.
The literary work of her twenty six years in Rome
probably will be forgotten. It will be the linking of
her name with List and its association with the golden
period of Weimar, that will cause her to be remembered.
End of Chapter six
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