Edward Taylor an Louis Spohr in Kassel

Germany
D^r. Louis Spohr
Hesse Cassel


6 Queen Street Place
Upper Thames Street
London

March 26. 1852

My dear and honoured Friend

I learn from our newspaper that your have consented to pay England another visit, and that you are to conduct your ”Faust“ at Covent Garden Theatre, which has for several years been converted into a second Italian Opera House.¹ To say that I shall excedingly rejoice once more to see you here, is but to repeat what I am since you well know. But there is one alloy to my pleasure, for I can no longer have the pride and gratification to welcome you as my guest. I am now alone – quite alone. I only occupy a lodging in the neighbourhood of London, my Son² & his Wife³ and family live about 20 miles from London, and my daughters⁴, as you know are at Dresden. I am compelled to yield to stern necessity, and to forego the pleasure I have so often enjoyed. Still I shall hope occasionally to enjoy your society, and to renew the reminiciences of past intercourse.
Living, as I now do, far away from the gay & fashionable part of the Metropolis, I scarcely ever hear any music
You know, perhaps, that another Phiharmonic Society has been formed, with a larger orchestra and on a⁵ more extended scale than the old one. Their finest performance has taken place this week in Exeter hall; Berlioz was the conductor, and the principal feature of the evening was a kind of version of Romeo & Juliet by instrumental & sometimes vocal music. Our critics seem to be divided in opinion as to its merits. Although all argue that it possesses great novelty of style, structure and combination, These qualities, however, are not, of necessity, proofs of excellence, since it is easy to write original passages & make new combinations which nobody would wish to hear twice. I venture to think that this was sometimes the case ever with Beethoven in his later works, and I think it very likely that the same remark may apply to Berlioz.
What strange events & evolutions have happend since last we met. Despotism seems now to have established itself on the Continent, and the prediction of our Poet Thomson in reference to Britain to be fulfilled.

The Nations not so blest as thee,
Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall:
While thou shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.⁶

Even we are once more subject to a Tory gouvernment. Not that I fear any attack upon our liberties, or our valuable institutions. The time is past for any such attempt. It would raise such a storm throughout the nation that ministers would be driven from their seats like chaff before the wind. Hoever I console myself with the conviction that the progress of freedom, like that of truth, will ultimately be successful. The world cannot forget what it has learned, and though fetters & shackles may be placed upon actions, thought will still be free, and in due time ripen into action, directed by experience. France certainly presents a most humiliating spectacle, thus quietly & without a struggle to surrender very vestige of freedom, and to exchange its⁷ boasted republicanism for the most object slavery. However. I believe it is all the French people are fit for.
Pray remember me most kindly to Madame Spohr, and to all my kind & excellent friends at Cassel – and believe me

My dear & honoured Friend
Yours most sincerely
Edw. Taylor.