But all his efforts to make the French
musical public appreciate Liszt were a failure.]
"People have not hesitated to scoff at what they call my weakness for
Liszt's works. But even if the feelings of affection and gratitude that
he inspired in me did come like a prism and interpose themselves between
my eyes and his face, I do not see anything greatly to be regretted in
it.[134] I had not yet felt the charm of his personal fascination, I had
neither heard nor seen him, and I did not owe him anything at all, when
my interest was gripped in reading his first symphonic poems; and when
later they pointed the way which was to lead to _La Danse macabre_, _Le
Rouet d'Omphale_, and other works of the same nature, I am sure that my
judgment was not biassed by any prejudice in his favour, and that I
alone was responsible for what I did."[135]
[Footnote 134: The admiration was mutual. M. Saint-Saens even said that
without Liszt he could not have written _Samson et Dalila_. "Not only
did Liszt have _Samson et Dalila_ performed at Weimar, but without him
that work would never have come into being. My suggestions on the
subject had met with such hostility that I had given up the idea of
writing it; and all that existed were some illegible notes.
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