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Exceptional unsigned handwritten letter in French by Franz Liszt, eight pages on two sets of adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, 1836. Handwritten letter to French novelist George Sand from Franz Liszt, writing that he is in Geneva with Madame d'Angoult, his mistress, and he hopes that he can persuade George Sand to join them there. He refers to her legal suit to win separation from her husband [successfully granted that year], and expresses the hope that his letter will recall to her "a friend, a brother, whose affection and devotion you have won forever." He has enjoyed her letters to Madame d'Angoult, and despite promises made in these letters, "I am still reluctant to believe in the reality of your incredible appearance at Geneva…These last few days your name has been mentioned throughout Geneva. It seems that your foolish Sosthène [Sosthène de la Rochfoucauld] is in correspondence with Mme. Clermont-Torrère and that he has warned her of your forthcoming arrival which immediately caused a great rumor and alert throughout the country—unfortunately it's like Shakespeare's play, Much Ado About Nothing."
Liszt feels that if she does come to Geneva she will find him prodigiously dull. "For six months I have done nothing but write, scratch and scribble notes of all sorts and kinds. I'm convinced that if one were to work it out there would be several million, Thus, I repeat, I have become disgracefully stupid and as the proverb goes, 'stupid as a musician.' Perhaps I shall be more to your taste like this, for I recall that you entertained a deep dislike of my philosophic and ontological utterances, and that was very wise of you."
Liszt turns to the critic, Sainte Beuve, and the "episode of 8000 verses of humanist poetry." He states that he cannot join in admiration of this "new incarnation of God…While admiring certain details, certain days from certain epochs, and above all certain odd lines, which are really fine, it is impossible for me to accept it as a great work, the like of Jocelyn [one of Lamartine's early poems]." He would like to discuss the work at length with her, and for the time being can only declare that he would rather have written thirty pages of Lelia than this entire story "in which poverty of thought and feeling so often show through the nebulous clouds of conventional sentimentality. Truly Sainte Beuve has achieved a tour de force in comparing Jocelyn to Robinson Crusoe, and that without Lamartine having the least notion of it. He should be complimented for such a Jesuit's touch."
He has heard that Didier of Geneva, a poet, was to have spent some time with her, and he inquires what this rumor signifies, promising that the information shall go no further than she wishes. He notes that it has been a long time since she has contributed to the Review, but imagines that her trial has taken up most of her time. "I hope that at last you are completely free from your husband [Casimir Dudevant), a comic character par excellence." He mentions the newspapers' coverage of the trial and the articles describing her return to conjugal rights. "…I am endlessly curious and that for the first time in my life to hear you recount the long and short of all this business, which I don't doubt has gone entirely to your advantage…" He concludes his letter by once more hoping that she will come to Geneva, and comments: "If you were man enough to tell me in advance the hour of your arrival…I would go and meet you." If financial pressures keep her from them, then he is only too willing to squeeze some money from his little finger to help her. In fine condition.
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