Shortly after the creation, the critic Eduard Hanslick, who believed in 'absolute music', lambasted Les préludes. In an 1857 article, following a performance in Vienna, he denounced the idea of a 'symphonic poem' as a contradiction in terms. He also denied that music was in any way a 'language' that could express anything, and mocked Liszt's assertion that it could translate concrete ideas or assertions. The aggrieved Liszt wrote to his cousin Eduard "The doctrinaire Hanslick could not be favourable to me; his article is perfidious".Walker (1989), p. 363 Other critics, such as Felix Draeseke, were more supportive.Gibbs (2010), pp. 485-7.
