Liszt on the Aristocracy and Politics

Franz Liszt during his early touring years as a pianist was constantly surrounded by members of the aristocracy. His romantic relationships with the Countess Marie d’Agoult (who was mother to his children) and his later love for the Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (sister to the Czar of Russia), whom he wanted to marry but was prevented by her family and the Church, and finally his residence in Rome where he was close to Church princes meant that in effect Liszt was living as if he were an aristocrat. We do not know if his claim below regarding his aristocratic birth ties is true or not, but he certainly appears to have felt like an aristocrat. What else could one assume in reading this comment about his household servants, One should ignore comments by members of the household. It is better to suffer than to demean oneself.1

If I cared a lot about an aristocratic origin, I could easily claim it. The authentic documents exist and are in the hands of the Fiscal of Ofen. I’ll look into it (out of curiosity) one of these days….2

I have just been told that the Jena Court of Appeals has completely absolved me and I will neither have to pay a fine nor submit to prison for my supposed insults against the magistrates of the Grand Duchy.3

1 Letter to Olga von Meyendorff, Rome, Oct. 9, 1873. 2 Letter to the Countess, Marie d’Agoult, 1840. 3 Letter to Marie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Feb. 15, 1851.

1 …..

The following excerpt refers to the Countess Olga Janina, an amorous pupil who threatened to kill Liszt and then herself. A specter appeared here ready to commit a double murder – spare me the pain of a more detailed account. The specter vanished; my guardian angel protected me; and I am taking up again my usual way of life.4

It would be very bad taste, to say the least, to repudiate my superlative attachment to Napoleon III. As for Henry V, I have not seen him since 1826 or 1827 when I had the honor of performing my little tricks as a little pianist at the house of the Duchess de Berry and of Mme de La Bouillerie.5

Napoleon III is dead! A great soul, an all-embracing intelligence, experienced in the wisdom of life, a gentle and noble character – with a disastrous fate! He was a bound and gagged Caesar, but still closely related to the Divine Caesar who was the ideal embodiment of earthly power…. He has set noble examples and accomplished or undertaken great deeds: amnesties which were more complete under him than under other governments; the protection of the Church in Rome and in other countries; the rejuvenation of Paris and other great cities in France; the Crimean war and the Italian war; the great Paris Exhibition and the rise of local exhibitions; the earnest attention paid to the lot and the interests of the country people and of the working classes; the generosity and encouragement to scholars and artists – all these things are historical facts and are things in which the Emperor took the initiative and which he carried out in spite of all the difficulties that stood in his way…. It can be affirmed without adulation that throughout life the Emperor unswervingly practiced those great virtues which are in reality one and the same thing and are known by the names of benevolence, goodness, generosity, nobility of mind, love of splendor and munificence.6

4 Letter to Olga von Meyendorff, Budapest, Dec. 1, 1871. 5 Ibid., Budapest, March 8, 1872. 6 Letter to Eduard Liszt, Horpacs, Nov. 6, 1872. In February of the following year Olga von Meyendorff sent Liszt a photograph of Napoleon III on his deathbed, for which he was most grateful.

2 I had asked to be admitted to an audience of the Holy Father. He was so gracious as to receive me alone Monday evening and to converse with me for more than a quarter of an hour. The persuasive charm of his words touched me deeply.7

I cannot flatter myself that I am skillful at Court, nor that I am able to judge from a distance little things which can only be properly seen close to.8

There is nothing more appropriate than to mingle with that high society to which you belong. Its faults and failings are not basically different from those of other levels of society. They come from human nature, which is everywhere much the same and imperfect. A little girl from a bourgeois family could have been just as astonished as was the daughter of Louis XVI at the fact that her maid had, like her, five fingers on her hand.9

In the Concert of Europe the normal pitch is lacking and the physicians who presume to cure the “sick man,” Turkey, don’t much agree on which treatment to apply. Some prescribe a series of amputations; the others strangulation without more ado.10

Certain conversational phrases used even in very high circles strike me as the equivalent of repeated sneezes, which one should rather apologize for than indulge in…. As in the case of great thoughts, true nobility springs from the heart.11

In all Slavic countries, Russia has obvious and continuing advantages. It is up to her to know how to benefit from these, shamelessly or not. Her natural role in the Eastern question is that of prima donna assoluta, aside from certain husky tones and lack of responsiveness on the part of the

7 Ibid., Rome, Oct. 18, 1873. 8 Letter to Olga von Meyendorff, Rome, Dec. 2, 1874. 9 Letter to Olga von Meyeydorff, Rome, Oct. 17, 1875. 10 Ibid., Szekszard, Oct. 26, 1876. 11 Letter to Olga von Meyendorff., Rome, Oct. 17, 1875.

3 orchestra in which Bismarck and d’Israeli are now playing first violin and trombone.12

No doubt there is a threat of war; how could it be otherwise with the system of standing armies and the perfecting of engines of destruction?.... In this old question of the East there is a huge difficulty and a great obstacle. The difficulty is how to be as thick as thieves when it comes to sharing the spoils. The obstacle is that the Christian powers are not so Christian that the Turks can take them at their word and trust them, under penalty of being crushed by them.13

The most enviable prerogative of sovereigns is that of exercising the right of grace, not only toward the guilty but also to honor good people endowed with superior talent.14

Without knowing anything about politics I believe that the decline of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy would not be much of a contribution to the equilibrium of Europe.15

To go slow is the essence of the wisdom of rulers.16

While all politics in 19th century Europe were inseparable from the various monarchies, there are a few instances in the correspondence of Liszt in which he speaks of politics more generally. The complete fiasco of my political ramblings makes me feel quite sheepish. I promise you that I shall not again expose myself to a repetition.17

12 Ibid., Budapest, Nov. 3, 1876. 13 Ibid., Budapest, Dec. 2, 1876. 14 Letter to Olga von Meyendorff, Budapest, Dec. 16, 1877. 15 Ibid., Rome, Dec. 7, 1878. 16 Ibid., Rome, Oct. 12, 1880. 17 Ibid., Budapest, March 20, 1872.

4 The following was in response to a publisher by George Sand, the significant other of Chopin. Several phrases and passages in it please me, although I don’t have much success in distinguishing between the pure and the impure in politics in this world, and even go so far as to believe that we shall not know just what to think on the controversial point before Judgment Day – unless one accepts prompt success as the decisive criterion of “purity,” which, I must admit, I find most repugnant.18

I feel qualified neither for theology nor politics, nor for business in general – and remain a very humble musician….19

The Roman acts of kindness to Princess Wittgenstein are rather like those of St. Petersburg, with this difference, that in Rome it can no longer be a matter of governmental brutality, such as confiscation and loss of civil rights under false pretexts! Governments which still have recourse to these abominable measures should be scorned and spurned by European civilization.20

My ignorance keeps me from the heights of ecclesiastical and worldly politics. I would not even know how to venture an opinion thereon.21

Without in the least taking part in politics, yet I take that interest in them which it behooves every not uneducated man to do….22

We separate as a special category the period during which Liszt was employed by the aristocracy to oversee the artistic activities in Weimar. As the reader will see below, Liszt was a first excited by this opportunity to guide artistic affairs, but then quickly soured on the realities of life in a bureaucracy.

18 Ibid., Vienna, April 3, 1873. 19 Letter to Olga von Meyendorff, Budapest, Feb. 21, 1874. 20 Letter to Olga von Meyendorff, Weimar, Aug. 1, 1877. 21 Letter to Marie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Budapest, Feb. 2, 1881. 22 Letter to Kornel von Abranyi, Weimar, July 1, 1884.

5 Weimar under the Grand Duke August was a new Athens; let us think today of constructing a new Weimar. Let us renew [those ancient] traditions. Let us allow talent to function freely in its sphere…and arrive little by little at the triple result that should constitute the whole politics, the whole government, the Alpha and Omega of all Weimar: a Court as charming, brilliant and attractive as possible; a theater and a literature that neither rots in the attic nor drowns in the cellar; and finally a university. Court, theater and university, that is the grand trilogy for a state like Weimar that can never have anything important in the way of commerce, an army or navy. There it is, my principal theme that I will sound every note of in the distant hope that some good may come of it….23

The Grand Duke has recently signed a decree that will cause a certain upheaval in the Institute’s orchestra, when it is published. Chelard is politely unattached and invited to make his request soon for a pension. You very humble servant becomes Kapellmeister (Oh! Oh!) and has the whole crowd under his command.24

The following three excerpts are from letters written by Liszt to Richard Wagner. The rumor reported by several papers that I am about to leave Weimar and settle in Paris is quite unfounded. I stay here and can do nothing but stay here. You will easily guess what has brought me to this maturely considered resolution. In the first instance I have faithfully to fulfill a serious duty. Together with this feeling of the most profound and constant love which occupies the faith of my whole soul, my external life must either rise or sink. May God protect my loyal intention.25

Whether the great political event, the death of the Emperor, will have a softening influence on my personal fate, remains questionable…. Whatever it may turn out to be, I cannot waver or hesitate.26

Our theatrical affairs are in a critical condition. The Intendant, Herr von Beaulieu, is going to leave and the artistic director, Marr, is also said to have sent in his resignation. I do not trouble myself about these matters and

23 Letter to Marie d’Agoult, 1844. 24 Letter to Marie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Weimar, April, 1851. 25 Letter to Richard Wagner, December, 1852. 26 Ibid., March, 1855.

6 look forward with perfect peace of mind to the solution of these somewhat unimportant questions.27

Marr…has given in his resignation as artistic Director [of the Court Theater], and one cannot get clear about the entire theater management for some weeks to come. I keep myself very passive in the matter and don’t fish in troubled waters. This much is certain – that if Weimar wants to do anything regular it cannot do witout my ideas in influence.28

[To Grand Duke Carl Alexander] The excessively stringent and restraining limits by which I have been hemmed in, have not allowed me to continue in a manner worthy of myself or of Your Highness the functions I have fulfilled in a slip-shod way up to the present…. I am quite aware how much the artist, or even art itself, may seem a useless luxury, and that in many ways I am no longer wanted a Weimar – that I find nothing but disdain on all sides and that everyone would like to make me shiver in a banal and bourgeois existence.29

My position at Weimar is no longer tenable….30

His above statement is personified in a court event in which, due to political problems, Liszt was not invited to participate The day before yesterday (for the first time since the death of Her Highness) there was a great Reception and Court Concert. Out of the motives of “discretion” and “delicacy” – those are the terms that were used – Lassen was put in charge of the orchestra. Faineant was relegated to wearing his green uniform among the spectators and to chatting with everyone. Their Highnesses were splendidly and royally bored – and the music suited their mood perfectly. I said to Mulinen upon leaving, “Well, now you’re even with Music” which annoyed him to the point of rage.31

27 Ibid., July 10, 1855. 28 Letter to Franz Brendel, Weimar, June, 1855. 29 Letter to the Grand Duke Carl Alexander, Weimar, Feb. 14, 1859. 30 Ibid, Aug. 22, 1859. 31 Letter to Marie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Weimar, Jan. 14, 1860.

7 Notwithstanding the residue of sadness markedly accumulated within me by twelve years of agitation, of fights, of passion in Weimar, I feel less ill at ease there than elsewhere, thanks to the long-standing kindness of Their Highnesses, whom I shall ever try to serve gratefully and faithfully.32

32 Letter to Olga von Meyendorff, Budapest, Feb. 7, 1871.