482 



LISZT, FRANZ. 



LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1886, 



his full triumph. The rivalry between him 

 and Thai berg increased. Parties were formed, 

 and Thalbergites and Lisztites took the field to 

 wage a war in the musical journals. Liszt was 

 irritated by the assertions of the Thalberg 

 party, and permitted himself to write and pub- 

 lish a review of Thalberg's " Grand Fantasie " 

 and " Caprices." This produced a feeling 

 against him which lasted a long time. He re- 

 sumed his professional tours and devoted him- 

 self to composition until 1839, when, after a 

 long visit to Italy, he determined on a separa- 

 tion from the Countess d'Agoult and the send- 

 ing of his three children to Paris with their 

 mother, while be departed on a European con- 

 cert tour. He traveled almost incessantly from 

 one art center to another, and was received 

 everywhere with unbounded enthusiasm. This 

 was continued until 1848. In tbe first year of 

 his travels occurred the great inundation of the 

 Danube, causing unheard-of suffering at Pesth, 

 and he gave several concerts whose proceeds 

 were entirely devoted to alleviating the dis- 

 tress. Oedenburg and Pesth created him an 

 honorary citizen in gratitude for the princely 

 sum so philanthropically given, and the " sword 

 of honor," according to Magyar custom, was 

 presented to him with impressive ceremonies. 

 In 1840 he played in Hamburg and afterward 

 in London, winning the admiration of Dutch 

 and English alike. At the latter city an agent, 

 in whom he had placed implicit confidence, 

 robbed him of 50,000, the proceeds of three 

 hundred concerts. This misfortune he bore 

 bravely. In the following year he offered to 

 give a concert whose proceeds should be de- 

 voted to the completion of Cologne Cathedral. 

 He was then staying at the island of Nonne- 

 worth, near Bonn, and the Liedertafel, a mu- 

 sical society, went thither to escort him to 

 Cologne. A steamboat was chartered, and, 

 amid brilliant fireworks and the music of a 

 dozen bands, he entered the city, greeted with 

 enthusiasm by its citizens. His welcome was 

 warm at St. Petersburg, but at Berlin he 

 achieved his greatest triumph. A Beethoven 

 festival was organized at Bonn in 1845 to cele- 

 brate the erection of a colossal bronze statue. 

 The enterprise fell flat. Liszt took it in hand, 

 and the celebration was one of the most mag- 

 nificent of its kind. The artist's performance of 

 Beethoven's concerto in E flat was the crown- 

 ing performance of the festival. In 1848 he 

 took up his abode in Weimar, where he was 

 court capellmeister, and closed his career as a 

 virtuoso, resigning his place on account of 

 jealousy and opposition. He then betook him- 

 self to Paris, where he dined with Louis Na- 

 poleon and played before the Empress. The 

 conversation turned upon the age of the Em- 

 peror, who said he was half a century old. " Sire, 

 you are the whole century," replied Liszt. The 

 Emperor offset this compliment with the cross 

 of a commander of the Legion of Honor, which 

 Louis Philippe would not give. Soon after 

 this journey to Paris, Liszt went to Rome. 



Suddenly the announcement was made that he 

 had taken religious orders, and it was true; 

 Liszt came back from Rome in 1868 an abbe. 

 However, he had no idea of playing the part 

 of a penitent ascetic. He gave concerts pub- 

 licly in Pesth in priestly garb, and decked with 

 orders he took part in all the festivities. In 

 1880 a canonry was conferred on him, and 

 Prince-Cardinal Hohenlohe received his oaths 

 of office and invested him with the canonical 

 insignia. Liszt had just completed a visit to 

 London, where he went to produce his last 

 oratorio, " St. Elizabeth," which was greeted 

 with enthusiasm. He was one of the remark- 

 able men of the century. As a performer he 

 was the greatest in the annals of his art, with 

 perhaps the exception of Paganini. As a com- 

 poser he attained a rank commensurate with 

 his genius. His influence on his art has been 

 wide-spread. As a literary man he showed 

 singular aptitude, and his articles and mono- 

 graphs on Robert Franz, Chopin, and the mu- 

 sic of the gypsies, were rare productions. He 

 was the author of thirty-one compositions for 

 the orchestra, seven for the piano and orches- 

 tra, two for piano and violin, nine for the or- 

 gan, thirteen masses, psalms, and other sacred 

 music, two oratorios, fifteen cantatas and cho- 

 rals, sixty-three psalms, and one hundred and 

 seventy-nine works for the piano-forte proper. 



LITERATURE, AMERICAN, Of 1886. Fidion, 

 Considering the perennial influx of English 

 publications that are reprinted in this coun- 

 try, American authors make a very creditable 

 showing for the year. Especially is this true 

 with regard to fiction, a department in which 

 the English are so prolific that, in the present 

 lack of international copyright, they largely 

 overstock not only their own but the Ameri- 

 can markets. If this literature were all of a 

 high class, the objection would not be so 

 patent; but the temptation to publish irre- 

 spective of merit, when nothing need be paid 

 to the author, is so great that publishers yield 

 to it, feeling assured that they can dispose of 

 enough copies to afford at least a moderate 

 profit on the mechanical investment. The 

 only hope of relief appears to be that the 

 business will be overdone, and publishers will 

 take active measures to secure reasonable pro- 

 tection for authors and publishers in 

 countries. 



While it can hardly be said that the ye 

 witnessed the production of any really great 

 American novel, the average of excellence is 

 high. Indeed, a dozen or more of those here 

 enumerated would, if they had appeared twen- 

 ty years ago, have won world-wide recogni- 

 tion. The general quality of literary work is 

 obviously improving, and that in spite of very 

 disheartening conditions. 



Several authors have of late refuted the oft- 

 reiterated assertion that there is no local color 

 for literary purposes in New York city. Hco- 

 ry C. Bunner's "Midge" is one of these, Ed- 

 gar Fawcett's "House at High Bridge" is 



