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27. Death.

After a brief stay at Colpach Castle in Luxembourg as a guest of Mihály Munkácsy (Liszt gave his last public recital in Luxembourg on 19 July, which may have been the last time he ever touched a keyboard), he caught the night train and reached Bayreuth on 20 July. He arrived suffering from a high fever and a racking cough, and had to take to his room at 1 Siegfriedestrasse. Cosima’s festival duties prevented her from offering her father hospitality at Wahnfried (his usual abode during Wagner’s lifetime), a decision for which posterity has criticized her. She visited Liszt every morning on her way to the Festspielhaus, however, and they chatted and had coffee together. For much of the day he was left in the company of his students, who had followed him to Bayreuth in the hope of continuing their lessons with him.

Lina Schmalhausen’s unpublished diary gives an authentic and harrowing account of Liszt’s last ten days. After being examined by the Wagners’ local physician, Dr Karl Landgraf, he attended a performance of Parsifal on Friday 23 July. He insisted on leaving his bed on Sunday 25 July in order to attend the Bayreuth première of Tristan. He sat slumped at the back of the box, a handkerchief clasped to his mouth to stifle his coughing; he came forward only during the intermissions to show himself and acknowledge the applause directed towards him. During the night of Tuesday 27 July, Liszt began to hallucinate and was drenched in sweat. For the first time Cosima seems to have realized the seriousness of her father’s condition and sought a second opinion from Dr Fleischer, a physician from Erlangen University, who diagnosed pneumonia. She barred the students from the room and enforced Fleischer’s ban on alcohol; both decisions may have been mistakes since Liszt was now deprived of the company he most enjoyed, and the wine and cognac upon which he had long relied for daily sustenance. Liszt’s condition worsened so Cosima made up a bed for herself in the adjacent room. In the early hours of Saturday 31 July, Liszt leapt up in bed clutching his chest and crying out ‘Luft! Luft!’ Miska, his manservant, attempted to restrain him but Liszt had great reserves of energy and flung him aside. Then he collapsed, his breathing became laboured and he entered a coma from which he never emerged. The next morning Fleischer was summoned back to the house; he now thought that it may have been a mistake to ban alcohol and a cocktail of heavy wine and champagne was forced down Liszt’s throat. Cosima thought that he came to for a few moments and vainly tried to catch his words. Then she left to supervise the arrangements for a supper party to be held at Wahnfried that evening. It was the last time she saw her father alive. Liszt died at 11.30 pm on Saturday 31 July, according to the death certificate in the Bayreuth archives. From all the anecdotal evidence, death appears to have been caused by heart infarction. There is no evidence that Liszt whispered the word ‘Tristan’ at the end, an idea put about by the Bayreuth circle after his death.

The funeral took place on Tuesday 3 August. Since Liszt’s will (1860) could not be located, his last wishes were not carried out: he was not buried in the habit of the Franciscan order and his desire to be buried simply, ‘without pomp and if possible at night’, was likewise ignored. Nor did he receive absolution from a Catholic priest; the officiating cleric was a Protestant and Liszt was buried in the Bayreuth Stadtfriedhof, a Protestant cemetery, with crowds of curiosity seekers, visitors to the Wagner festival, lining the funeral route.

After the interment a dispute arose over Liszt’s last resting place. Princess Carolyne (Liszt’s executrix) was agitated at the prospect of Liszt’s body remaining in ‘pagan Bayreuth’ and took extraordinary measures to have it moved. The Franciscans wanted it returned to Budapest; Grand Duke Carl Alexander requested that it be brought back to Weimar; there were even arguments put forward in favour of Rome and of Liszt’s natal village, Raiding. But Cosima’s will prevailed, and her father still lies under Wagner’s shadow. The debate has roused passion across the years, but it is worth recalling Liszt’s own words on the matter. ‘I will not have any other place for my body than the cemetery … in use in the place where I die’. (Briefe, C1893–1905, vi, 228–9).

Liszt, Franz

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