Appendix A - Previously Little-Known Liszt Letters Relating to England, 1837-1886

Summary

All letters appear below with the addressee's name and the date and place of the letter, if provided by Liszt, at the beginning of the translation. Occasionally Liszt also included date and/or place at the ends of letters. Dates and/or places in square brackets are merely suggestions.

The letters that appear below, dated 1840 or 1841, do not appear in Michael Short's edition of Liszt letters in the Library of Congress.

Letter 1: To the Queen's most Excellent Majesty [Queen Victoria]

[1837 or 1838]

Madam,

In laying before the Lovers and Patrons of Instrumental Music the accompanying production entitled ‘Soirées de Rossini’ for the Student and Amateur of the Piano Forte I cannot but feel an equal pride and thankfulness in acknowledging the being privileged by your Majesty's gracious and especial permission to Dedicate to your Majesty the humble product of my professional pen.

Allow me, Madam with the deepest sentiments of gratitude, to subscribe myself with the profoundest respect, Madam,

Your Majesty's most dutiful,

most humble and most devoted Servant,

F. Liszt.

Letter 2: To Julius Benedict5

Paris, 27 April 1840.

Sorry for the delay my dear Benedict but I have had a multitude of problems these past few days that I will at best only be able to tell you about – I will definitely leave next Monday, the 4th of May. Érard has been kind enough to offer me an apartment and I have accepted, so our reunion will be at 18 Great Marlborough Street. I am already very much looking forward to it. As regards the terms, we will say 30 guineas if that is acceptable to you. Mrs. Anderson6 and Mr. Parry7 who have also asked me to play at their concert are paying me this amount and I do not want to accept public engagements for any less.

I do not know how to thank you for going to so much trouble for me prior to my arrival – I am not very familiar with London – There may not even be an opportunity to give a concert – what do you think? I will follow your advice on the matter. In the meantime, I see that it makes good sense to set aside a day for a potential concert – thank you for thinking about it.