Letter 2 (June 21, 1867)
Inventory number: NMI 064/IC30
| Commentary |
Transcription / Translation » |
| The Hungarian Coronation Mass (Ungarische Krönungsmesse) is Liszt's share in the Ausgleich or Compromise which reshaped the Habsburg empire into a kaiserliche und königliche dual monarchy. Op 8 June 1867 Emperor Franz Joseph was crowned in Buda as King of Hungary. For this occasion Liszt had been invited by the Hungarian Primate to compose the mass; the court however wanted to reserve all responsibility for the performance for the Vienna Court Chapel, and the composer was not invited to participate or even to assist. He could witness the event from the choir balcony, next to the organ.[1] Honvéds are military in the Honvédség (the Hungarian Home Defense Force). Violinist Ede Reményi (1828-1898) had signed up as honvéd during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, but fought more as a musical inspirator than as a soldier. Afterwards he lived for some time in the United States. In 1853 he befriended the then unknown Brahms, whom he introduced to Liszt in Weimar. From 1854 till 1859 was he was in the service of Queen Victoria. After Franz-Joseph had granted him amnesty in 1860, he was given a position at the Vienna court. In later years he travelled much of the globe; he died on stage in San Francisco while playing an encore.[2] The Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein, founded in 1861 by music writer Franz Brendel and others, organized the Tonkünstlerversammlungen or musicians' conventions. The society propagated the Neudeutsche Schule which had Liszt and Wagner as main exponents, and Berlioz as French ally.[3] The restoration of the Wartburg near Eisenach was a prestige object of Liszt's former employer, Grand Duke Carl Alexander von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (son-in-law of Dutch King William II). Starting in 1838, before his reign, he invested in the restoration and reconstruction of the castle, which had a symbolic status in German history, partly due to Martin Luther's stay there. In 1854-55 Moritz von Schwind painted his famous frescos, which include scenes from the legend of another former inhabitant, Saint Elisabeth of Hungary (1207-1231). They were a major source of inspiration for Liszt's oratorio Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth.[4] The story of the Hungarian princess and benefactress of the poor appealed to religious and national sentiments of the composer. The hall in which the performance took place is known nowadays as Festsaal; the Sängerhalle is too small for that.[5] The celebrations of 1867 had been organized to commemorate the castle's eighth centenary. Jessie Laussot, born Taylor (1829-1905), pianist and conductor, friend of Wagner, Liszt and Hans Von Bülow, has founded a choral society in Florence in the 1860's.[6] |
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| [1] |
WALF p. 150 |
| [2] |
E. Heron-Allen: Reményi, Ede, in Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/23179 (accessed May 12, 2009); DUN p. 12, 20, 45; WALW p. 229. About a get-together with Reményi and Von Schwartz in Karlsruhe in 1864, see FLA p. 234-5. |
| [3] |
For the programme of the concerts in Meiningen, 22-26 August, zie http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~admv/1867.htm. |
| [4] |
M. Saffle, in ARN p. 339-340. |
| [5] |
See the panoramas on http://www.pixelpano.de/wartburgflash/wartburg06.htm. |
| [6] |
LAM p. 230-238 |
