Autograph letter signed ("F. Liszt").
8vo. 3¾ pages on bifolium. In French.
€ 7,500.00
According to an early collector's note, the present letter was written to his friend Ernst Weyden, a scholar and member of the Faculty at the University of Cologne. Liszt discusses his planned marriage to Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, Richard Wagner, and a planned collaboration with Weyden: "Je suis très sensible à vos bons souhaits pour mon quarantième anniversaire, lesquels se résument pour moi tous dans un seul : c'est que la femme qui s'est absolument dévouée à moi qu'elle est devenue à la fois et la racine et la fleur de ma vie, me soit conservé. Grâces au Ciel j'ai tout lieu d'espérer que ce voeu suprême de mon coeur sera exaucé, - et d'après les nouvelles que j'ai trouvé ici il est très probable que dans peu de mois mon mariage aura lieu [...]" ("I am very sensitive to your good wishes for my 40th birthday, which can be summarized for me in one thing: that the woman who has been absolutely devoted to me and who has become both the root and the flower of my life, be kept for me. Thanks be to Heaven that I have every reason to hope that this supreme wish of my heart will be granted - and from the news I have found here it is very likely that in a few months my marriage will take place [...]" (transl.).
Liszt is grateful to Weyden for having reported on his brochure on Lohengrin and Tannhäuser in the Kölnische Zeitung. "It is to be presumed that my brochure will contribute to spreading the understanding of Wagner's works, which, in order to be greatly admired, only need to be understood from a higher point of view than one is accustomed to judge ordinary operas. You have thus done art a service, as well as me, by contributing your share to the propagation of these two eminent works of which Germany will be able one day to be proud [...]". Liszt treasures his memories of their architectural trip and hopes that they will one day resume their peregrinations: "In the meantime, please do not forget our collaboration project in honour of the Duomo; I hope that you will be able to send me the stanzas I have requested before the end of the year [...].
On blue paper. Slightly wrinkled, otherwise in good condition.
