Walker, A., Liszt and the Keyboard

8/16/2019 Walker, A., Liszt and the Keyboard

1/5

Liszt and the KeyboardAuthor(s): Alan WalkerSource: The Musical Times, Vol. 118, No. 1615 (Sep., 1977), pp. 717+719-721Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/959476 .

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2/5

Liszt nd the

Keyboard

Alan Walker

The

genesis

of Liszt's

Etudes

d'execution

trans-

cendante

'Transcendental

tudies')

is

complex.

Liszt

was

only

13 when n

1824

he

composed

he

first ersion f

these

pieces;1

wo

years

ater

hey

were

published

imultaneously

y

Boisselot

of

Marseilles

nd

Dufant

&

Dubois

of

Paris.

They

were nnounceds

48

Exercisesn

ll

the

major

nd

minor

keys',

but

only

12

studies

ppeared.

Not

surprisingly,

hey

show the

influence

f

Liszt's

master

arl

Czerny,

n

particular

f

his

School

of

Velocity.hey

rean

outstanding

chievementor

one

so

young.

Their

tonal

connections

eveal n

adventurous

utlook.

Liszt

unfolds he

circleof

5thsn descendingpiral,ndeverylternatetudyis linked o its

predecessor

y

being

n

the

relative

minor.

he

resulting

cheme-C

major,

A

minor,

F

major,

D

minor

tc-means

that he

collection

of

12

breaks

off

fter

Bb

minor.

Clearly

t

was

Liszt's

ntention

o

complete

he

equence,

ut

he

never

id.

In

1838

he

prepared

revised

ersion,

2

Grandes

etudes,

ith

dedicationo

Czerny.

4 were

nnoun-

ced

this ime

nd

again

only

2

appeared; hey

were

published

y

Haslinger

fVienna

n

1839.A review

copy

found ts

way

nto the

hands of

Schumann,

who

astutely

bserved heir

onnection

ith

the

juvenile ieces,

verlaid s

they

re with

monstrous

technical omplexities,nd described hem as

'studies

n

storm

nd dread

or,

t the

most,

en

r

twelve

layers

n the

world'.2

The

years

1839-47

re

still

described

y

Liszt's

biographers

s his

period

f

transcendentalxecu-

tion',

whenhe

embarked n

a virtuoso

areer n-

matched

n

the

history

f

performance.

is

recitals

have

never

been

properly

hronicled. e

visited,

among

other

countries,

pain, Portugal,

taly,

Germany,

ngland, urkey

nd

Russia. Since he

often

ave

three

r four

oncerts

week,3

e

must

have

ppeared

n

public

well

ver

thousand

imes

during

his

rief

eriod.

t

was

partly

s a

result f

the

exigencies

f

playing

his Grandes

tudes n

public,underwidely arying ircumstances,hat

Liszt revised

them

yet

again (after

his

official

retirement

rom he

oncert

latform

n

1847,

ged

35), moothing

ut

heir

more

ntractable

ifficulties.

He

published

his hird ersion n

1852 as

Etudes

d'execution

transcendante,

gain

with a

dedication

to

Czerny.

At the

same

timehe

added

program-

matic' itles o ll

but

wo f he

ndividual

umbers.

The

original

onal connections ere

meanwhile

preserved.4hey

nfold s

follows:

Isee Liszt's etter

o Alfred

orffel,

7 Jan

1855;

ee

also

Robert

Bory:

La vie de Franz

Liszt

par

l'image (1936),

52:

2Gesammelte

Schriften, ii,

166-8

3Correspondance

de Liszt et de

Madame

d'Agoult (1933), i,

405

4Lyapunov,

Liszt

admirer,

omposed

a

set of

Transcenden-

tal

Studies' which

complete

Liszt's

key-scheme,

tarting

n

F#

major

the

next

ey

n

Liszt's

descendingpiral);

he

dedicated

his

pieces

to Liszt's

memory.

1

Prelude,

C

major

2

Molto

Vivace,

A minor

3

Paysage,

F

major

4

Mazeppa,

D minor

5

Feux-follets,

B[

major

6

Vision,

G minor

7

Eroica,

E[ major

8

Wilde

Jagd,

C minor

9

Ricordanza,

Ah major

10

Allegro agitato,

F

minor

11

Harmonies du

soir,

Db

major

12

Chasse-neige,

B[

minor

The New LisztEdition5

NLE)

does a

grave

is-

service o Liszt

scholarship

y

suppressing

he

earlier

ersions,

rguing

hat

hey

o not

represent

Liszt'sfinal

houghts.

or

Liszt,

however,

com-

position

as

rarely

finished'.

ll his

ife,

e went

n

reshaping, eworking,dding, ubtracting;

ome-

times

composition

xists

n four

r

five

ifferent

versions

imultaneously.

o

say

that

t

progresses

towards 'final'

form s to misunderstandiszt's

art, s Busoniperceived.s one of the hiefrchi-

tectsof

the old

Breitkopf

ollectedEdition of

1907-36,

e

nsisted

hat ll

the

versions e

printed,

to facilitate

omparison.

t

gives

ne a

fascinating

glimpse

nto Liszt's

composing

process.

Entire

works

re

'metamorphosed'

cross

a

span

of

25

years, ccumulating

nd

shedding

etail

long

the

way.

The

famous

F

minor

study,

or

example,

originally

1826)

started

s

shown

n

ex.la;

in

the

1838

version,x.lb,

t

s transformed

nto work f

prodigious

ifficulty,

nd

n

1852Liszt eformulated

the exturef

bar

3

(and

the ther arsmodelled n

it)

and

notated

t

as

in

ex.lc.

Nowadays

we

tend o

Ex.1

. I Moderato

=96

p

egale

p

24

4

Z

;Z

iiJJ9:

IAWrrrri

LL

b

Presto

olto

gitato

Allegro

gitato

olto = 104

icgton.

ten.

SBudapest,

970-,

Zoltin

Girdonyi

nd

Istvin

Szelenyi.

Only

the

first ive

olumes ave

o

far

ppeared;

for

ome reason the

NLE

translates

Etudes

d'execution

transcendante as'

studies

in

ncreasing

egree

f

difficulty',

hich f

course

hey

renot.

717


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3/5

equate

the

printed

core

with

the

composition

itself.

Consequently,

he notion

of

music which

exists

n

everal

orms

imultaneously

s

esthetically

disturbing. ccording

o this

view,

the

F

minor

study

has

no

Urtext,

nlesswe

argue

that

it

is

three

works,

ot ne.

Busoni welt n

this

roblem,

when

discussing

he rtof

arrangement

n

general:

'Notation s itselfhetranscriptionf an abstract

idea.

The moment

he

pen

akes

ossession

f

t

the

thought

oses

its

original

form .

.

From

this first

transcription

o

the econd

s a

comparatively

hort

and

unimportant

tep.

Yet,

in

general,

people

only

make

fuss bout

the econd'.6

Liszt himself

was

responsible

or

the

virtual

disappearance

f

the wo arlier ersions

uring

is

lifetime.

e

bought

he

ngraved lates

romHas-

linger

efore

852 nd

put

him

under ontract ot

to

ell

ny

more

opies.7

his leared he

way

or

he

third,

authorized'

ersion,

ublished

y

Breitkopf

in 1852.

Characteristically,

iszt

made no

money

out

of

them.

He

gave

the

rights

o

Breitkopf

n

exchangeor piano hey ad ent im short ime

previously,

nd

which e nowwished

o

pass

on to

a

friend.)8

isztdenied

he arlier ersions ot

be-

cause

he believed

work f

art

shouldbe 'fixed'.

With he

1838

versions e was

merelyenying

heir

excessive

irtuosity;

y

1852therewere

spects

f

his

Glanzperiod

'splendour eriod')

that he was

anxious

to

disown.

As

for

the

uvenile

versions,

there

were

pirated

ditions

n

circulation.

n

1836,

Hofmeister

ad

ssued

ne,

with

n

engraving

n the

cover

f n

infant

n

a

cradle

earing

he

nscription

travail

de la

jeunesse

(Liszt

was then

25).

His well-

known version

o

prodigies

n

later

ife

'artists

who

are to

be ')

did therest.

oday,

however,

he

early versionshave become an indispensable

research

ocument;

ike

ketches,

hey

ake

us

into

themaster's

orkshop.

t

s the unctionf cholar-

ship

o

see

Lisztnot s

he

saw

himself

ut s

he

was.

During

the

1830s Liszt evolved n

interesting

series

f

symbols-a

kind f

performer's

horthand

-and

someof

them ound

heir

way

nto he

1838

texts.

hey

ellus

a

great

eal

about

the

way

Liszt

himself

layed.

straight

ine

ver

group

fnotes

meant

holding

ack,

an

oblong

box a

hurrying

forward.

t was

really

n

attempt

o

capture

he

finer uances

f

tempo

ubato.

A

typical xample

occurs

n

the

1838 ext f

Ricordanza

ex.2).

These

Ex.

2

Andantino

iJ

2

acapriccio

dolce

bbb

|

6

symbols

were

uppressed

n

the

1852

texts;

Liszt

probably

felt

that

it was better

o

leave

such

subtleties

o

individual aste.

It is

regrettable,

nonetheless,

hat

the

NLE

has

omitted

hem,

or

they

ffer

aluable

nsights

nto

Liszt's own

per-

formances.

nother

erforming

ymbol

nique

to

Liszt is the 'multi-accent'ign,an invertedV

6The

Essence

of

Music

(1957),

87f

7letter

o

Alfred

Dorffel,

17

Jan

1855

81etter

o

Hartel,

30

Oct 1852

embracing

everal otes

r

chords t once.

Liszt's

edalling

s

often

mpressionistic

n

nature,

boldlymixing

onalities

nd textures

n

a

manner

requiring

ourage

o

implement

oday.

The editors

of

the NLE

state:

'More modern nstruments

demand

n

places

more

requent

hange

f

pedal',

and

then

proceed

o

change

t.

Liszt's

pedal

ndi-

cation nPrelude,orexampleex.3), sterminated

Ex 3

Presto

=

160)

(t

ks

,

V

.....

six

notes

arly

n

the

NLE,

which

urely

ontra-

dicts

Liszt's

intention.

is

occasionally ayward

rhythmic

otation

a

charming

eature

f

much f

his

writing:

ee

ex.4,

Mazeppa)

has

also here

been

Ex.

Allegro

112-16

semprefof,irssimo

on

epito

44

2

4

4

2

m..

4

4

f

9

q.a

imprisoned

y

the NLE

within

he walls

of an

unfriendly/4

time-signature,edantically

orrect

but

surely

not what

Liszt

really

meant.

Also of

absorbing

nterest

s Liszt's

fingering;

o

pianist

can

afford

o

neglect

t.

Whileoften

northodox,

it

occasionally resents

startlingly

imple

olution

to

an

otherwise

ntractable

roblem.

onsider

x.4:

technical

olutions

f

thiskind

bound

n Liszt's

music.

aint-Saens,efending

he

virtuosity

f

these

studies,

wrote:

In

art,

a

difficulty

vercome

s a

thing

f

beauty'.9

Towards

he end of

his

life,

Liszt

brought

o-

gether

he

fruits

f

his

wisdom

n 12 volumes

f

technicaltudies. lthoughompletedn1879, hey

were ot

published

ntil

886,

he

year

f

hisdeath.

They

re

still

ittle

nown

o

professional

ianists,

to

say

nothing

f teachers.

ut

they epresent

treasury

f

keyboard

esource

ound

n

no

other

composer.

hey

are

far

more

thoughtful,

or

ex-

ample,

han

he 53 studies

f

Brahms,

endurance

exercises'

f

the

old-fashioned

ind.

Whether

e

consider

the audacious

'one-finger

cale'

with

interlocking

ands,

r

the

powerful

tudy

n

blind

octaves'

(often

called

Liszt

octaves,

fter

their

inventor),

hese

xercises ear

the

tamp

f

Liszt's

innovatorypproach

ex.5).

Liszt's wn

hands

were

long

nd

narrow,

nd

his

fingers

ere

notable

or

their ow-lying ass of connectiveissue,which

Edward

Dannreuther

raphically

escribed

n

his

9'Liszt the

Pianist',

MT,

xii

(1921),

623

719

sI

-

4

r

T




4/5

own

dition

1899)

of theTranscendentaltudies

s

'the

pposite

fwebbed eet'.He was able tostretch

m

0~

English

National

Opera

at

he

ondon oliseum

Toussaint

David

Blake

WorldPremiere

September

28 at

7.00

October

4,

7,

12,

14

at

7.30

Booking

now

open-Seats

from

0p

Bargainprices

t

all

perfs

exceptSept28

Reservations 1-836 161

720

Ex.

5

a

A

2

-

-2

2

i

2

2

2 2,

2

r

I

_

,

1

.j;i'fp,jT7TL~~

-

a 10th

uite

comfortably.

is fourth

ingers

ere

unusually

ong,

and that sometimes

ncouraged

him

o

employ ingerings

ifficultornormal ands

(as

in Au

lac de

Wallenstadt;

x.6).

It wouldbe a

Ex. 6 1 2 3 4 5 4 3

2 3

4 4 3

y;bI

J7

ua

Jjn P

p

mistake, owever,o assume hatLiszt'skeyboard

writing

s

idiosyncratic.

e had

an

unerring

ense

of

the

topography'

f

the

piano.

There s

not

a

passage

in

Liszt,

however

ifficult,

hat

is

truly

unpianistic.

ven

Schumann

nd

Chopin

ccasion-

ally lapsed

here: both sometimes

rote

passages

against,

ather

han

for,

the

piano,

passages

n

which

he imitationsf

he

ingers

re

gnored

hile

purely

musical onsiderations

revail.

hat s

why

Liszt's

passage-work

s often

impler

o

play

than

Chopin's, lthough

t

may

sound

more difficult.

Busoni

wrote:

An

eye-witness

elates ow

Liszt-

pondering

ver

cadenza-sat down

t the

piano

and triedthree

or four

dozen variations f

it,

playingachoneright hroughntil e had made

his

choice .

.

.

The secret of Liszt's ornamentation

is its

symmetry'.

There s a

good example

n the

opening

adenza

of Totentanz

ex.7);

once the

initial

attern'x')

has

been

grasped,

he rest

must

follow.

It

is often aid that iszt rowned

pon

he

se of

'mechanical

ids' to

develop

he hands.This was

true

nly

n

ater ife.

A

wealth

f

testimony,

ased

on his

Weimar

masterclasses

f

the 1870s nd

80s,

suggests

hat he

was bored

by

technique,

ever

taughtt,

nd was

singularlynimpressed

henever

his

young

matadors

f

the

keyboard'

isplayed

it.11 n his

youth

Liszt's

attitudewas

different.

WilhelmonLenz,who took essons rom im n

1828

Liszt

was

then

17),

recalled

hat

mong

he

three

ianos

n

Liszt'sParis

tudio

was

one

with

specially

trengthenedeyboard

n which

t

was

impossible

o

play

without

reat

ffort.12

n

1832,

Liszt recommended

o Valerie

Boissier,

nother

pupil,

hat he

practise

er

ctaves

on

the

brace',

mahogany

andrail hich

ouldbe attached o each

end

of

the

keyboard,

nd which

nsured mooth

lateral

movements

f the

rms.He also

suggested,

to

the same

pupil,

that

repetitive

xercisesbe

mastered

while

reading,

n

orderto avoid bore-

dom.13

s

ate s

the

840s, uring

iszt's

uropean

1Oibid,p.155

11A.

Fay:

Music

Study

in

Germany 1893)

12Die

grossen

Pianofortevirtuosen

nsererZeit

(1872)

13Boissier:

Liszt

Pedagogue

(1928;

see

Eng.

trans.

by

Elyse

Mach,

as The

Liszt

Studies, 1973,

pp.

xx, xix)

- --

M




5/5

Ex.

tours,

e

was still

using

silent

eyboard

n

long

journeys.

The

modern

iano

recital

was invented

y

Liszt.

He

was

the

first

o

play

entire

rogrammes

rom

memory.

e

was the irst

o

play

he

whole

eyboard

repertory,

rom

ach to

Chopin.

He

was the

irst

o

place

the

piano

at

right

ngles

o

the

platform,

ts

open

id

reflecting

he

ound

cross

he

uditorium.

He

was

the

first o

tour ll the

major

ountries f

Europe,

rom

pain

o

Russia.The term

recital'

as

his:

he

used

t

for he

irstime

n

London,

n 9

June

1840,

or

concert

n

the

Hanover

quare

Rooms-

it

was Liszt's

way

of

proclaiming

henew

direction

his concerts ad recentlyaken.No longer id he

share

his

programmes

ith

supporting

rtists'.

year

arlier,

e

had

adapted

Louis

XIV's

famous

aphorism

nd

nnounced:

Le

concert-c'est

moi

'

14

In Berlin

and

St

Petersburg,

e

played

before

audiences f

3000

people

r

more.

His Berlin

ecitals

of

1841-2

reworth

pecial crutiny:

n

ten

weeks

e

gave

21

concerts,

nd

played

0

works,

0

of them

from

memory.

The

pianos

which

reeted

iszt s he

arrived t

the

maller,

utlying

owns f

Europegive

us

pause

for

thought.

iszt

played

n

Broadwoods,

leyels

and

Erards,

hen he ast

word

n

piano

manufacture.

Butthese nstrumentsad a

restricted

ompass,

nd

a delicate onebest uited o the alon;theiright

materialsmade

them

nadequate

or

Liszt's

bigger

works. ome of

the

older

modelswhich

onfronted

him,

n

fact,

ere ittle etter

han

oxes

f

wood

nd

wire,

nd

they

ometimes

ollapsed

beneath he

strain. Clara

Schumann

describedLiszt

as 'a

smasher

f

pianos',

ut

t

s a

false

mage;

ven

Clara

snapped

string

r

two

n

public.

Liszt's olution

was to

have two

pianos tanding

n the

platform

simultaneously,

nd

he

wouldmove rom

ne to the

other everal

imes

n

the ourse f

a recital.

nly

when the

great

firms f

Steinway

nd Bechstein

produced

heir

owerfully

einforced

nstruments

n

14letter o Princess

Belgiojoso,

4

June 1839

the1860s15

id the

Romantic

epertory

fthe

1840s

come

into

ts

own.

Necessity

as

the

mother

f

invention.iszt's

avourite

nstrument

n

ater

ears

was a Bechstein

oncert

rand,

which e

kept

n

his

music

oom t

Weimar

n

the

Hofgartnerei.

Liszt

has often een

riticized

or he ow

quality

ofhis

programme

uilding.

What re we

to make

f

the

following,

recital e

gave

n

Kiev

in

1847?

Hexameron Variations

Liszt

Concerto

Weber

The

Trout

Schubert/Liszt

Study

Chopin

Invitation

to

the Waltz

Weber

Improvisation

on

themes

given by

the

public

It

is eccentric

y

modern

tandards,

ut to accuse

Liszt f

poor

aste hows

lackof

historical

magin-

ation.

Liszthad no traditiono

guide

him.

ndeed,

he felt

t

quite

proper

o let

others

lan

his

pro-

grammes

forhim.

'I

seldom . .

planned

them

my-

self,

ut

gave

them

ow nto his ne's

hands,

nd

nowthat

ne,

to

choosewhat

hey

iked. hatwas

a

mistake,

s I later

discovered nd

deeply

re-

gretted.'16

enie

blige:

Liszt's motto till exacts

posthumousenalty.)

t

was

easy

for later

ener-

ation of

pianists

o avoid his

mistakes

hile

riti-

cizing

him

for

having

made them.

By

1860,

ong

after iszthad

retiredrom he

oncert

latform,

legend in his lifetime,cores of long-haired,

champagne-sodden

irtuosos

often

with

a mere

half-dozen

ieces

n

their

rief-cases)

ere

roving

around

Europe,

vainly trying

o

emulate his

triumphs.

ven

the

greatest

ianists

f the

econd

half

of the

19th

entury-men

f the

calibre

of

Tausig

nd

Billow,

oth

pupils

f

Lisztwho t

their

best

may

have

qualled

him-did

not ome lose

to

matching

is

public

mpact.

he

reasonwas

simply

that isztwas there

irst.

istory

oes not nshrine

the

names

f

thosewho

follow he

pioneers.

15Bechstein was founded

in

Berlin in

1856, Steinway

in

New

York in

1853.

16letter o

J. W.

Wasielewski,

9 Jan

1857

Toussaint

David Blaketalks

o Gerald

Larner

David Blake's

Toussaint

will

be

first

erformedby

English

National

Opera

at

the Coliseum

on

September

28.

The

libretto,

by Anthony

Ward,

is

based

on

the

last seven

years

of

Toussaint

Louverture,

the

slave

who

led the

revolution

against

the

French domination

in

Haiti

in the 1790s.

The

conductor is Mark

Elder,

the

producer

David

Pountney.

GERALD

LARNER:

What

ttracted

ou

o

this

ubject?

DAVID

BLAKE:

It's a marvellous

tory.

Anthony

Ward

had

read

the

book,

The

BlackJacobins

y

C. L. R.

Ward,

some

years

previously

nd

he

thought

e

might

write

play

on the

ubject.

When

appro-

ached

him

about a libretto

e

said

it

would

suit

721


Documents

Walker, A., Liszt and the Keyboard