Kissed By Liszt

Ah, to be a beautiful, aristocratic woman in the 19th century. Were I fortunate enough to stumble upon a time machine, I would surely go back to a private parlor concert to see our "wizard" of pianist friend Franzie, and kick Madame d'Agoult out of her chair. Even if I couldn't convince him that I was married and wanted to have illegitimate babies, perhaps I could generate a situation in which I could at least end up with a kiss on the cheek, which I would indubitably refrain from washing until I could return home, save his DNA and somehow have it injected into my fingers.

The "Greatest of all 19th century pianists" was literally compared to Jesus (p.173). A fact that was unknown to myself until I read on, deeper into the chapter. Liszt was pretty much incredible. He expanded the dynamic range of the instrument, he used his arm weight in unconventional ways, he was the most influential in revealing some of our most important repertoire to the public, and he took long vacations to have anonymous children with married women under different names. Let's just say he broke some boundaries.

Nonetheless, he will go down in history as being one of the most important pianists EVER. AND he owned a Steinway! As we go, the study of the history of piano pedagogy becomes more and more relevant today, because we actually see instruments getting very close to what we have today. What impressed me the most about this chapter was Liszt's "midlife analysis" or "I'm going to be crazy and practice 10 hours a day to be the best pianist in the world" period, as I commonly refer to it. Liszt says:

"I had been playing the piano for years, and had concertized with great public acclaim. I thought I was marvelous. Then one day as I realized that I failed to express the feelings and emotions which oppressed me, I decided to make a thorough analysis of myself. This proved to me that I did not know how to play a trill properly and that neither of my octaves nor certain aspects of my chord playing were satisfactory. I set to work and soon my whole approach was radically changed" (183).

This is something that I have always wanted to do. It's slightly more impossible in my life, but can you imagine going back to the basics, and re-learning how to play the piano? Personally, I advocate playing scales, and technical exercises regularly, even at the college level (a thought also shared by several of my teachers). Everyone has surely developed some bad habits over the years, and in my mind there can only be many benefits from taking time to re-evaluate, slowly and patiently re-work, and to eventually evolve as a pianist. Though exercises are certainly not the only way to do this, it has always been a fantasy of mine to take a year (or perhaps longer :) ) and "start over", so to speak.


Liszt advocates slow practice, hands separately, practice sessions dedicated to specific aspects of the piece, and a supple technique (not to mention practicing scales in octaves for two hours a day, but conceivably that was just for poor Valerie). What didn't he get? Apparently he knew it all, except for the fact that he was an advocate of the Handguide and Chiroplast, which is why I will end by suggesting that even "God" has a pay-off price.