It has been hinted more than once that the Princess’s course was not as completely governed by religious mysticism as might be supposed—­that her sensitive nature had divined in Liszt an unexpressed opposition to the marriage, as if, possibly, he did not wish to be tied down to her, yet felt bound in honor, because of the sacrifices she had made for him, to appear to share her hope.  La Mara (Marie Lipsius), the editor of the Liszt letters and whose interesting notes form the connecting links in the correspondence, does not take this view.  It is noticeable, however, although Liszt and the Princess saw each other frequently whenever he was in Rome, and he became an abbe probably through her influence, that while in some of his letters to her in later years there are notes of regret, those written after the crisis in Rome breathe an intellectual rather than a personal affinity.

Be this as it may, it was a tragedy in his life as well as in her own.  Practically the rest of his life was divided, each year, between Budapest, at the Conservatory there; Weimar, but no longer at the Altenburg; and Rome, but not at the Princess’s residence, Piazza di Spagna.  Thus he had three homes—­none of which was home.  The “golden period” of his life, as well as the Altenburg itself, where others now were installed, were dim shadows of the past.  Liszt was the “grand old man” of the piano, and is a great figure among composers; but whoever knows the story of the last years of his life, sees him a wandering and pathetic figure.  He died at Bayreuth in July, 1886; Carolyne survived him less than a year.  The literary work of her twenty-six years in Rome probably will be forgotten; it will be the linking of her name with Liszt, and its association with the “golden period” of Weimar, that will cause her to be remembered.

Wagner and Cosima

No woman not a professional musician has ever played so important a part in musical history as “Frau Cosima,” the widow of Richard Wagner.  In fact, has any woman, professional musician or not?  Bear in mind who “Frau Cosima” is.  She is the daughter of Franz Liszt, the greatest pianist and one of the great composers of the last century, and was the wife and, in the most exalted meaning of the term, the helpmeet of the greatest of all composers!  The two men with whom Cosima has thus stood in such intimate relation are exceptional even among great musicians.  Composers are usually strongly emotional, inspired in all that pertains to their art, but with a specialist’s lack of interest in everything else.  Not so, however, Liszt or Wagner, for not since the time of Beethoven had there been two musicians who, in the exercise of their art, approached it from so clear an intellectual standpoint.  Beethoven through the greatness of his mind was able to enlarge the symphonic form, which had been left by Haydn and Mozart.  It became more responsive, more plastic, in his hands.