Yesterday Tannhäuser. Excellent performance. Marvellous mise-en-scene. Much applause. Good luck.
Dearest Richard,
From Berlin I brought home so dreadful a cold that I had to go to bed for a few days, and to delay my journey till this evening. I have to supplement my Berlin telegram by the following notes:
Johanna was beautiful to see and touching to hear as Elizabeth. In the duet with Tannhäuser she had some splendid moments of representation, and her great scene in the finale she sang and realised in an incomparable manner. Formes's intonation was firm, pure, and correct, and there was no sign of fatigue in the narration, where his sonorous, powerful voice told admirably. Altogether Formes is not only adequate but highly satisfactory, in spite of his small stature, which, especially by the side of Johanna, somewhat interferes with the illusion. Herr Radwaner as Wolfram, although not equal to our Milde, deserves much praise for the neatness, elegance, and agreeable style of singing with which he executed his part; and Madame Tuczek proved herself to be an excellent musician and a well-trained actress, who may be confidently intrusted with the most difficult part.
Dorn and the band took every pains to carry out your intentions, and the orchestral performance was throughout successful, with the exception of two wrong tempi, in the first chorus where you have forgotten to mark the tempo as piu moderato, that is almost twice as slow as before, and in the G major passage (before the ensemble in B major), which, in my opinion, was also taken too fast, the rhythmical climax of the second part of the finale being considerably impaired thereby. The chorus had studied its part well, but it is much too weak for Berlin, and in proportion to the vastness of the opera house, scarcely more efficient than ours, which always gives me great dissatisfaction. The stringed instruments, also, are not sufficiently numerous, and should, like the chorus, be increased by a good third. For a large place like this eight to ten double basses, and fifteen to twenty first violins, etc., would certainly not be too many at important performances.
On the other hand, the scenery and mounting of Tannhäuser left nothing to be desired, and I can assure you that never and nowhere have I seen anything so splendid and admirable. Gropius and Herr von Hulsen have really done something extraordinary and most tasteful. You have heard, no doubt, that his Majesty the King had ordered the decorations of the second act to be faithfully reproduced after the designs for the restoration of the Wartburg, and that he had sent Gropius to Eisenach for the purpose. The aspect of the hall with all the historic banners, and the costumes taken from old pictures, as well as the court ceremonial during the reception of the guests by the Landgrave, gave me incredible pleasure, as did also the arrangement of the huntsmen with their horns on the hill, the gradual filling up of the valley by the gathering of the hunt (four horses and a falcon bringing up the rear) in the finale of the first act; and, finally, the fifteen trumpets in the march of the second act which blew their flourish from the gallery of the hall in a bold and defiant manner.
I only hope, dearest Richard, that you will hear and see all this before very long, and when I pay you a visit in the course of the summer, we shall have some more talk about it. Your last letter was very sad and bitter. Your illness must have put you out still more, and, unfortunately, your friends can do little to relieve you. If the consciousness of the most sincere and cordial comprehension of, and sympathy with, your sufferings can be of any comfort to you, you may rely upon me in fullest measure, for I do not believe that there are many people in this universe who have inspired another being with such real and continual sympathy as you have me. As soon as you are well again go to work and finish your Valkyrie. The first two acts I returned to you. You must sing them to me at Zurich. I have to ask you yet another favour today. Schlesinger, of Berlin, is bringing out a new edition of the scores of Gluck's overtures, which is dedicated to me, and he wishes to print your close of the overture of Iphigenia in Aulis in addition to that by Mozart. For that purpose he wants your special permission, and has asked me to get it from you. If you have no objection to this close—which has already been published in Brendel's paper—appearing in this edition, be kind enough to give me your consent in a few lines, and address your letter, "Hotel Zur Kaiserin von Oestreich," Vienna, for which I start to-night. I shall conduct the two concerts for the Mozart centenary celebration on the 27th and 28th instant, and shall be back in Weymar on February 4th.
Franz Liszt
Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #4234, Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 2, No. 208