<h2>VII</h2>
<h3>LISZT, THE GIANT AMONG VIRTUOSOS</h3></div>
<p>It is possible, but not likely, that some pianist willing,
for the moment at least, to sacrifice outward
success to inward satisfaction, will, after he has
played the Schumann selections on his program, essay
one of Brahms’s shorter pianoforte compositions.
These are even more introspective than Schumann’s
works and combine a wealth of learning with great
depth of musical feeling. It is almost necessary, however,
that one should know them thoroughly in order
to appreciate them, and audiences have been so slow
to welcome them that they appear but infrequently on
recital programs. Those of my readers, however, who
are pianists yet still unacquainted with these rare and
beautiful compositions, will soon find themselves under
the spell of their intimate personal expression if they
will get them and start to learn them. The Brahms
Variations on a theme by H�ndel make a stupendous
work, and the rare occasions on which it is played by
any one capable of mastering it should be regarded as
“events.”</p>
<p>Grieg, with his clear, fascinating Norwegian
clang-tints, which also play through his fascinating
“Concerta” in A minor; Dvorak, the Bohemian;
Tschaikowsky, whose first “Concerto” in B flat minor
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_143' name='page_143'></SPAN>143</span>
is among the finest modern works of its kind; or some
of the neo-Russians, are composers who may figure
on the program of a modern pianoforte recital. But it
is more likely that the virtuoso will here elect to bring
his recital to a close with some work by the grandest
figure in the history of pianoforte playing and one of
the greatest in the history of composition—Franz
Liszt.</p>
<h4>Kissed by Beethoven.</h4>
<p>Liszt was born at Raiding, near Odenburg in Hungary,
in October, 1811, and he died in Bayreuth in
July, 1886. From early boyhood, when he was a
pianoforte prodigy, almost until his death, he occupied
a unique position in the musical world. He was the
Paganini of the pianoforte, the greatest pianist that
ever lived, and he was a great composer; and although,
as a virtuoso, he retired from public performances long
before he died, his fame as a player and his still greater
fame as a composer have not diminished and his influence
still is potent.</p>
<p>His father was an amateur, and began giving him
instruction when he was six years old. The boy’s talent
was so pronounced that even without professional instruction
he was able, when he was nine years old, to
appear in public and play a difficult concerto by Ries.
So great was his success that his father arranged for
other concerts at Pressburg. After the second of these,
several Hungarian noblemen agreed to provide an annual
stipend of 600 florins for six years for Franz’s
further musical education. The family then removed
to Vienna, where, for about a year and a half, the boy
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_144' name='page_144'></SPAN>144</span>
took pianoforte lessons from Czerny and theory with
Salieri. Beethoven heard of him, and asked to see
him, and at their meeting, after Franz had played, without
notes and without the other instruments, Beethoven’s
pianoforte trio, Op. 97 (the large one in B
flat major), the great master embraced and kissed him.
In 1823 he was taken to Paris with a view to being
placed in the Conservatoire. But although he passed
his examination without difficulty, Cherubini, at that
time the director of the institution and prejudiced
against infant phenomena, revived a rule excluding foreigners
and admission was denied him.</p>
<p>His success as a pianist, however, was enormous and
there was the greatest demand in salons and musical
circles for “le petit Litz.” (As some writer, whose
name I cannot recall, has said, “the nearest Paris came
to appreciating Liszt was to call him ‘Litz.’”) He was
the friend of Chopin, of other musicians, and of painters
and literary men, and the doors of the most exclusive
drawing-rooms of the French capital were open
to him. Paganini played in Paris in 1831, and his
wonderful feats of technique inspired Liszt to efforts
to develop the technique of the pianoforte with as much
daring as Paganini had shown in developing the
capacity of the violin. This was the beginning of those
wonderful feats of virtuosity as well as of the remarkable
technical demands made in his compositions, both
of which combined have done so much to make the
pianoforte what it is, and to bring out its full potentiality
as regards execution and expression.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_145' name='page_145'></SPAN>145</span></div>
<h4>Episode with Countess D’Agoult.</h4>
<p>For a time Liszt left Paris with the Countess
d’Agoult, who wrote under the nom-de-plume of
Daniel Stern, and who was the mother of his three
children, of whom Cosima became the wife, first of
Von B�low and then of Wagner. His four years with
the Countess he passed in Geneva. Twice, however, he
came forth from this retirement to cross the sword of
virtuosity with and vanquish his only serious rival in
pianoforte playing, Sigismund Thalberg, a brilliant
player and a man, like Liszt himself, of fascinating personality,
but lacking the Hungarian’s intellectual capacity.
In 1829, he and Countess d’Agoult having separated,
he began his triumphal progress through Europe,
and for the following ten years the world rang with his
fame. He then settled down as Court Conductor at
Weimar, which became the headquarters of the new
romantic movement in Germany. Hardly a person
of distinction in music or any of the other arts passed
through the town without a visit to the Altenburg, to
pay his respects to Liszt. At Weimar, “Lohengrin” had
its first performance; here Berlioz’s works found a hearing;
here everything new in music that also was meritorious
was made welcome. Liszt’s activity at Weimar
continued until 1859, when he left there on account of
the hostility displayed to the production of Cornelius’s
opera, “The Barber of Bagdad,” and its resultant failure.
He remained away from Weimar for eleven
years, living for the most part in Rome, until 1870,
when he was invited to conduct the Beethoven festival
and re-established cordial relations with the Court.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_146' name='page_146'></SPAN>146</span>
Thereafter he divided his year between Rome, Buda-Pest,
where he had been made President of the new
Hungarian Academy of Music, and Weimar.</p>
<p>“Liszt, the artist and the man,” says Baker, in his
“Biographical Dictionary of Musicians,” “is one of
the grand figures in the history of music. Generous,
kindly and liberal-minded, whole-souled in his devotion
to art, superbly equipped as an interpreter of classic
and romantic works alike, a composer of original conceptions
and daring execution, a conductor of marvellous
insight, worshipped as teacher and friend by a
host of disciples, reverenced and admired by his fellow-musicians,
honored by institutions of learning and
by potentates as no artist before or since, his influence,
spread by those whom he personally taught and swayed,
will probably increase rather than diminish as time goes
on.”</p>
<p>It has been said that Liszt passed through six lives
in the course of his existence—only three less than a
cat. As “petit Litz” he was the precocious child adored
of Paris; as a youth, he plunged into the early romanticism
which united the devotees of various branches
of art in the French capital: next came the episode
with the Countess d’Agoult; then his triumphal tours
through Europe; settling at Weimar, he became the
centre of the modern musical movement in Europe;
finally, he revolved in a cycle through Rome, Buda-Pest
and Weimar, followed from place to place by a band
of devotees.</p>
<p>Liszt’s compositions for the pianoforte may be classified
as follows: “Fantasies Dramatiques”; “Ann�es de
P�lerinage”; “Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses”;
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_147' name='page_147'></SPAN>147</span>
the Sonata, Concertos, �tudes, and miscellaneous
works; “Rhapsodies Hongroises”; arrangements and
transcriptions from Berlioz, Beethoven, Weber, Paganini,
Schubert and others.</p>
<h4>The Don Juan Fantasie.</h4>
<p>Among the “Fantasies Dramatiques,” which are
variations on themes from operas, not mere potpourris
or transcriptions, but genuine fantasies, and usually
based on one or two themes only, the best known is
the “Don Juan Fantasie.” It is founded upon the duet,
“La ci darem la mano.” Liszt utilizes a passage from
the overture as an introduction, then gives the entire
duet, varying it, however, not in set form, but with the
effect of a brilliant fantasia, and then winds up the
whole with a presto on the “Champagne Song.” It
is true it no longer is Mozart—but Mozart might be
glad if it were. It is even possible that the time will
come when “Don Giovanni” will have vanished from
the operatic stage, yet be remembered by this brilliant
fantasia of Liszt’s. It is one of the great <i>tours de
force</i> of pianoforte music, and it is good music as well.
Another of the better known “Fantasies Dramatiques”
is the one Liszt made from “Norma,” in which occurs
a long sustained trill and a melody for the right hand,
while the left plays another melody and the accompaniment
to the whole. In other words, there is in this
passage a trill sustained throughout, two melodies and
the accompaniment, all going on at the same time, yet
written with such perfect knowledge of pianoforte technique
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_148' name='page_148'></SPAN>148</span>
that any virtuoso worthy of the name as used in
a modern sense, can compass it.</p>
<p>A work called the “Hexameron” is included in catalogues
of Liszt’s compositions, although he only contributed
part of it. It is the march from Bellini’s
“Puritani” with six variations, written by six pianists
and originally played by them on six pianofortes, five
of them full grands, while Chopin, whose variation
was not of the bravura, kind, sat at a two-stringed semi-grand.
Liszt contributed the introduction, the connecting
links and the finale of the “Hexameron.”</p>
<p>The “Ann�es de P�lerinage” were published in three
divisions, extending in point of time from 1835 to
1883. They are a series of musical impressions, as the
titles indicate—“Au lac de Wallenstadt, Pastoral,” “Au
bord d’une source, Sposalizio” (after Raphael’s picture
in the Brera), “Il Penseroso” (after Michael Angelo).
Many of these are adroit and elegant in the treatment
of the pianoforte, and at the same time beautiful as
music. The “Harmonies” are partly transcriptions of
his own vocal pieces, partly musical illustrations to
poems. Among them is the familiar “Cantique
d’Amour,” and the “Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude,”
of which he himself was very fond. William
Mason says that at the Altenburg a copy of it always
was lying on the pianoforte, “which Liszt had used
so many times when playing for his guests that it became
associated with memories of Berlioz, Rubinstein,
Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, Joachim.” When Mr. Mason
left Weimar he took this copy with him as a
souvenir, still has it, and treasures it all the more
for the marks of usage which it bears. The “Consolations,”
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_149' name='page_149'></SPAN>149</span>
which, as Edward Dannreuther says, may be
taken as corollaries to the “Harmonies,” are tenderly
expressive pianoforte pieces.</p>
<h4>Giant Strides in Virtuosity.</h4>
<p>The �tudes bear the dates 1827, 1839 and 1852, and
as they are in the main progressive editions of the
same pieces, they represent the history of pianoforte
technique as it developed under Liszt’s own fingers.
In their earliest shape when issued in 1827, they were
but little different from the classical �tudes of Czerny
and Cramer. In their latest shape they form the extreme
of virtuosity. Indeed, these three editions are
three giant strides in the development of pianoforte
technique. Von B�low’s coupling of the �tude called
“Feux Follets” with the A flat study (No. 10) of
Chopin already has been quoted under that composer.
He considered it even more difficult. Schumann called
the collection “Sturm und Graus Etuden” (Studies of
Storm and Dread), and expressed the opinion that there
were only ten or twelve pianists living who could play
them. In the �tude called “Waldesrauschen” will be
found some ingenious double counterpoint. The theme
is divided into two portions, a descending and ascending
one, which later on appear together, with first one
and then the other uppermost. Other titles among the
�tudes are “Paysage,” “Mazeppa” (a tremendous test
of endurance), “Vision,” “Chasse-neige,” “Harmonies
de Soir” and “Gnomentanz.” Through Liszt’s transcriptions
of some of the Paganini pieces in the form of
�tudes, which include the famous “Bell Rondo” from
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_150' name='page_150'></SPAN>150</span>
one of the Paganini concertos, this piece, for example,
now is far better known as a pianoforte composition
than in its original form for violin.</p>
<h4>Sonata, Concertos and Rhapsodies.</h4>
<p>The “Sonata in B Minor” dedicated to Schumann is
one of the few sonatas in which there is psychological
unity throughout. This is due to the fact that it is
one movement; although by employing various themes
both in rapid and in slow time, Liszt has given it a certain
aspect of division into movements. It might well
serve as a model to younger composers who think they
have to write sonatas. Dannreuther, it is true, says
of it that it is “a curious compound of true genius and
empty rhetoric,” but admits that it contains enough of
genuine impulse and originality in the themes of the
opening section, and of suave calm in the melody of
the section that stands for the slow movement, to secure
the hearer’s attention. Mr. Hanchett’s characterization
of it as one of the most masterly compositions
ever put into this form—a gigantic, wholly admirable
and original work—is more just.</p>
<p>The two pianoforte concertos (in E flat and A
major) are superb works. Not only are they written
with all the skill which Liszt knew so well how to
apply when composing for the instrument, but with this
technical perfection they also unite thought and feeling.
Like the sonata, they show throughout their development
the psychological unity which is so essentially
modern. What the pianoforte owes to Chopin
and Liszt can be summed up by saying that they were
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_151' name='page_151'></SPAN>151</span>
poets and thinkers who took the trouble to thoroughly
understand the instrument. Because their music sounds
so well on it, at least one of them, Liszt, frequently is
stigmatized as a trickster of virtuosity and a charlatan,
as if there were some wonderful mark of genius in
writing something for one instrument that sounds better
on another or may not sound as well as it ought
to on any. If Liszt’s pianoforte music is grateful to
the player and equally grateful to the listener, it is
not only because he knew how to write for the pianoforte,
but because, with deep thoughts and poetic feelings,
he also understood how to express them clearly
and pianistically.</p>
<p>The “Rhapsodies Hongroises” are of such dazzling
brilliancy and show off a pianist’s technique to such
good purpose and so brilliantly, that their real musical
worth has been under-estimated. They are full of
splendid fire, vitality and passion, and their rhythmic
throb is simply irresistible. Like the �tudes, their
history is curious. At first they were merely short
transcriptions of Hungarian tunes. These were elaborated
and republished and canceled, and then rewritten
and published again. In all there are fifteen pieces in
the set, ending with the “Rakoczy March.” As “Ungarische
Melodien” they began to appear in 1838; as
“Melodies Hongroises” in 1846; as “Rhapsodies Hongroises”
in 1854. Consider that they are over fifty
years old, yet remain the greatest pieces for the display
of brilliant technique and the most grateful works for
which a pianist can ask, and that at the same time
they are full of admirable musical content! Because
they happen to be brilliant and effective they are called
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_152' name='page_152'></SPAN>152</span>
trashy, whereas they owe their brilliancy and effectiveness
to Liszt’s own transcendent virtuosity, to his
knowledge of the pianoforte. In order to be great
must music be “classic,” heavy and dull, and badly written
for the instrument on which it is to be played?</p>
<h4>How Liszt Played.</h4>
<p>In those charming reminiscences from which I already
have had occasion to quote several times, William
Mason’s “Memories of a Musical Life,” Mr. Mason
says that time and again at Weimar he heard Liszt
play, and that there is absolutely no doubt in his mind
that Liszt was the greatest pianist of the nineteenth
century, what the Germans call an <i>Erscheinung</i>, an
epoch-making genius. Tausig said of him: “Liszt
dwells alone upon a solitary mountain-top and none of
us can approach him.” Rubinstein said to Mr. William
Steinway, in the year 1873 (I quote from Mason):
“Put all the rest of us together and we would not make
one Liszt.” While Mr. Mason willingly acknowledges
that there have been other great pianists, some of them
now living, he adds: “But I must dissent from those
writers who affirm that any of these can be placed upon
a level with Liszt. Those who make this assertion are
too young to have heard Liszt other than in his declining
years, and it is unjust to compare the playing
of one who has long since passed his prime with that
of one who is still in it.”</p>
<p>Edward Dannreuther, who heard Liszt play from
1863 onward, says that there was about his playing an
air of improvisation and the expression of a grand and
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_153' name='page_153'></SPAN>153</span>
fine personality, perfect self-possession, grace, dignity
and never-failing fire; that his tone was large and penetrating,
but not hard, every effect being produced naturally
and easily. Dannreuther adds that he has heard
performances, it may be of the same pieces, by younger
men, such as Rubinstein and Tausig, but that they left
an impression as of Liszt at second-hand or of Liszt
past his prime. “None of his contemporaries or pupils
were so spontaneous, individual and convincing in their
playing; and none except Tausig so infallible with their
fingers and wrists.”</p>
<p>Liszt himself paid this superb tribute to the pianoforte
as an instrument: “To me my pianoforte is what
to the seaman is his boat, to the Arab his horse; nay,
more, it has been till now my eye, my speech, my life.
Its strings have vibrated under my passions and its
yielding keys have obeyed my every caprice. It may
be that the secret tie which binds me to it so closely
is a delusion, but I hold the pianoforte very high. In
my view, it takes the first place in the hierarchy of
instruments. It is the oftenest used and the widest
spread. In the circumference of its seven octaves it
embraces the whole range of an orchestra, and a man’s
ten fingers are enough to render the harmonies which
in an orchestra are brought out only by the combination
of hundreds of musicians. The pianoforte has on
the one side the capacity of assimilation, the capacity
of taking unto itself the life of all instruments; on
the other hand it has its own life, its own growth, its
own individual development. My highest ambition is
to leave to the piano players to come after me, some
useful instructions, the footprints of advanced attainment,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_154' name='page_154'></SPAN>154</span>
something which may some day provide a worthy
witness of the labor and study of my youth.”</p>
<p>Bear in mind that Liszt played for Beethoven, that
he was a contemporary of Chopin and Schumann, that
he was one of the first to throw himself heart and soul
into the Wagner movement, and that death came to
him while he was attending the festival performances
at Bayreuth; bear in mind, I repeat, that he played for
Beethoven and died at “Parsifal”; strive to appreciate
the extremes of musical history and development implied
by this; then remember that he remains a potent
force in music—and you may be able to form some idea
of his greatness.</p>
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