Chapter 10

I like the description of Thalberg’s practicing habits, to “play musically at all times,” (p. 174) including technical work with scales, and arpeggios. Adding crescendos, decrescendos, and different articulations, etc. to technical work, I believe, is a more favorable approach than Liszt’s, who according to Auguste Boissier, “reads in order not to be bored” while working on technique (p. 182). When working on actual music though, Liszt does not want “purposeless or mechanical study,” as Boissier writes later.

It’s hard to know for sure how much Liszt engaged in histrionics on stage, due to contradictory accounts of his playing. Boissier attests that he was not motivated by a desire to “show off at the expense of good taste. He does not play for others but for himself.” (p. 184) Schumann believed that poetry would be lost if Liszt had to be heard behind a screen (p. 179)… I don’t think this should have to detract from a performance.

While we will never know exactly how he performed, we can look at his compositions for evidence of theatrics, which I think are hard to miss. I do love Mazeppa as much as anyone else, but in my opinion, the musical benefit I would gain by its study does not outweigh the technical struggle, as it would with any Beethoven Sonata. While composing, the thoughts of what effects that certain musical and technical devices would have on the audience never seemed far from Liszt’s mind. The effect on the audience of Beethoven’s music, on the other hand, was probably never a motivating factor for his compositions. This is all of course just my own speculation - but for me, Liszt’s music occasionally lacks genuineness inherent in some other composers.

I was surprised that Liszt did not seem to advocate use of the upper arm. It was also interesting that he started working with students only after they had already developed a competent technique.

On page 183 Liszt’s advises, “Have patience with yourself. Your future is ahead of you. Rome was not built in one day.” This was valuable for me since I often try to improve very fast… it would be better to let things gradually improve a little more naturally, without trying to take shortcuts.