I start to-night with the Princess and her daughter for the Tyrolese mountains.  Address your next letter, “Hotel de Baviere”, Munich, whence it will be forwarded to me.  I cannot say, for the present, where we shall make a longer stay.  About September 20th we shall once more pass through Munich, and shall be back here on October 1st at the latest.

When you can spare a quiet hour, let me know why you did not care to stay a few days longer at Zurich, where I intended to visit you on the 20th inst. at the latest.  Several business matters (mostly in connection with the Grand Duke), and the University celebration at Jena, on August 15th (where I had undertaken to conduct some of my compositions), made it impossible for me to leave here sooner.

However that may be, I remain invariably your faithful and loving

F. Liszt.

Weymar, August 26th, 1858.

268.

Venice, September 12th, 1858.

Dear Franz,

I have just received your letter, dated 26th ult., which had lain at Geneva all that time.  I see from it that you are very near me, and I hope I need only tell you that I am here in order to be able to expect your visit.  Descend the Tyrolese mountains on this side, and you are with me.  I should like much to reply by word of mouth to all you tell me, including your most curious ideas as to my designs on Italy.

Let me see you soon.  A thousand greetings from

Your

R. W.

Canal Grande, Palazzo GIUSTINIANI,

CAMPIELLO SQUILLINI, No. 3228, Venice.

269.

Venice, September 27th, 1858.

Palazzo GIUSTINIANI,

CAMPIELLO SQUILLINI, 3228.

Dearest Franz,

Your letter of 23rd ult. was forwarded to me from Geneva very late, and I saw from it that you were near me,—­“in the Tyrolese mountains,” you said,—­and this raised the hope in me that I should see you and speak to you soon.  I must doubt, however, whether my letter to that effect, addressed to you “Hotel de Baviere”, Munich, reached you in time, because I have neither seen nor heard anything of you.  I feel that my desire of personal communication with you will not be realised, and I therefore write to you as to certain points, in connection with which I owe you an explanation.

Altogether this cannot amount to much; you had to attend to University celebrations, etc., which, pardon me for saying so, appeared extremely trivial to me.  I did not press you any more, but I must confess that when at last I received the news of your intended arrival on the 20th, it did not impress me very much.

Of my desire of selecting Venice for my place of abode, I gave you a full account in my last letter from Geneva, in which I also informed you of the satisfactory news I had had from the Austrian minister at Berne.  I am in quest of repose and absolute retirement, such as only a larger town can offer to me.  My attitude towards my surroundings must be an absolutely negative one; in that manner alone can I gain leisure and the proper mood for my work.