Letter 3 (August 20, 1867)
Inventory number: NMI 064/IC31
| Commentary |
Transcription / Translation » |
| by Lodewijk Muns |
|
| This letter is probably the answer to an attempt by Von Schwartz to have Liszt sign a statement in support of the congress of the Ligue internationale et permanente de la paix, which was held in Geneva in September of that year. The immediate cause was the threat of war between Prussia and France, resulting from a dispute involving Luxemburg[1]. The Austro-Prussian War of 1866, in which the other German states and Italy were also involved, was fresh in memory. Among the many prominent participants were the Russian writers Alexander Herzen and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin.[2] Liszt's reference to "the prophecies" is a somewhat free paraphrase of Iesaiah 2:4 and 11:6. Diplomat and writer Joseph de Maiste (1753-1821), figurehead of the Counter-Enlightenment, was one of the most distinct and influential exponents of religious conservative irrationalism, advocate of absolute power of state and church, and of papal infallibility (which was defined dogmatically during the pontificate of Pius IX in 1870). In Les Soirées de St.-Pétersbourg (1821) De Maistre attempts to provide an answer to the religious problem of evil. In the seventh dialogue he discusses war, creating a rhetorical climax in the sevenfold proclamation of the divinity of war, departing from the thesis: "War is thus divine in itself, since it is a law of the world".[3] Though these "gloomy doctrines" (Isaiah Berlin)[4] were at odds with the franciscan element in his religious belief, they evidently had a strong hold on Liszt. He repeatedly refers to the author in his correspondence with Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein and with Agnes Street-Klindworth. In a letter to the Princess of 1882 he writes: "I retun to you your pages about the gradual abolishment of war - that terrible, perpetual, supreme act of lèse-humanité! Why did you put these beautiful pages and true thoughts into footnotes? They deserve to be printed in regular type. Joseph de Maistre surpisingly judged war to be a divine institution!"[5] The Altenburg was Liszt's house during most of the years he was Kapellmeister in Weimar (1848-1861). When he visited the city in 1867, his relation was personal rather than professional; of his former quarters a few rooms were still reserved for him.[6] Liszt arrived in Munich on 20 September, where in the Arcostrasse the Bülows kept up the appearances of marriage (cf. letter 1).[7] His accomodation in Rome in this period is the monastery of Santa Francesca Romana, situated on the Forum Romanum.[8] Fortunato bears the family name Salvagni, and is Liszt's manservant from 1862 till 1870.[9] Writer Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819-1892) took lead of the Meiningen court theatre in 1867. English pianist Walter Bache (1842-1888) had come into contact with Liszt through Jessie Laussot, and was during three years his pupil in Rome.[10] About the Wartburgfest, Reményi and Jessie Laussot, see letter 2; about Sgambati, letter 1. |
|
| [1] |
CLI p. 40 |
| [2] |
RID 574-579 |
| [3] |
"La guerre est donc divine en elle-même, puisque c'est une loi du monde" (MAI vol. 2 p. 25); BER vol. 2 p. 110 |
| [4] |
BER vol. 2 p. 112 |
| [5] |
"Je vous restitue vos pages sur l'abolition progressive de la guerre - ce terrible, perpétuel, suprême attentat de lèse-humanité! Pourquoi avez-vous mis ces belles pages et justes pensées comme notes? Elles méritent d'être imprimées en caractères usuels. Joseph de Maistre jugeait étonnamment que la guerre était d'institution divine!" FLB Bd. 7 nr. 355, p. 359. |
| [6] |
WALF p. 152 |
| [7] |
WALF p. 124 |
| [8] |
WALF p. 159 |
| [9] |
FLA p. 441 (index) |
| [10] |
WALF p. 38-39 |
