SubmittedFriday, 03 May 2019
this material misery
And in spite of all this material misery and the sorrow of being misunderstood, people speak of the glory he enjoyed. What did his compeers think of him–at least, those who called themselves such? He knew that Mendelssohn, whom he loved and esteemed, and who styled himself his «good friend,» despised him and did not recognise his genius.[25] The large-hearted Schumann, who was, with the exception of Liszt,[26] the only person who intuitively felt his greatness, admitted that he used sometimes to wonder if he ought to be looked upon as «a genius or a musical adventurer.»[27]
[Footnote 25: In a note in the Mémoires, Berlioz publishes a letter of Mendelssohn’s which protests his «good friendship,» and he writes these bitter words: «I have just seen in a volume of Mendelssohn’s Letters what his friendship for me consisted of. He says to his mother, in what is plainly a description of myself, ‘—- is a perfect caricature, without a spark of talent … there are times when I should like to swallow him up'» (Mémoires, II, 48). Berlioz did not add that Mendelssohn also said: «They pretend that Berlioz seeks lofty ideals in art. I don’t think so at all. What he wants is to get himself married.» The injustice of these insulting words will disgust all those who remember that when Berlioz married Henrietta Smithson she brought as dowry nothing but debts; and that he had only three hundred francs himself, which a friend had lent him.]
[Footnote 26: Liszt repudiated him later.]
[Footnote 27: Written in an article on the Ouverture de Waverley (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik).]
this was: This Material Misery
go to next chapter: Symphonies With Scorn
