Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-07
TRAITS OF LESCHETIzKY.
"The Greatest Teacher of the Piano
the World Has Ever had"
From Current Literature.

from current Literature.
Concentration. it seems. is the watchword
of Theodor Leschetizky the Vienna music
master. In complete, answering concen-
tration," says Annette Hullah. an English
writer he has fulfilled his own life and
character. and he is never tired OF impress
ing upon his pupils the idea that without
concentration you can do nothing
Leschetizky's personality and piano
method" both of which are fully described
by Miss Hullah, have a real and vital inter
est for all mankind. They helped to mold
the careers of several of the greatest living
pianists, among them PaderewSki, Mark
Hamburg, Gabrilowitch. Fanny Bloom
f1eld-Zeisler. and for thirty years have
drawn. as a magnet, the promising musical
students of every nation. 1t Is well to re-
member, however, that the .'Leschetizky
Method so called. is not in any strict sense
a method at all. The term was coined by
LeSchetizkyS assistants, who arranged in
connected series the technical exercises
through which they have put the pupils to
be prepared for him. He himself has said
II have no technical method. There are GER
tain ways of producing certain effects, and
have found those which succeed best; but
l have no iron rules. How is it possible one
should have them? One pupil needs this,
another that: the hand of each differs.
The brain of each differs. There can be
no rule. / am doctor to whom my pu
pills come, as patients to be cured of their
musical ailments, and the remedy must
vary In each case" In only one respect
can 1t be said that Leschetizky has orig
mated method. and this is In the way
In which he teaches his pupils to learn
piece Of music. He requires the student
to analyze composition bar by bar, slow
~ and deliberately engraving each point on
his mind as on map, until he knows It so
thoroughly that he can play any part with
out the music.
Leschetizky endeavors to incuicate: % an
apsoiuteiy clear comprehension of the prin-
cipal points to be studied in the music on
hand; CD a clear conception of where the
difficulties lie, and of the way In which to
conquer them; and 80 the mental realiza-
ton OF these facts before they are carried
out by the hands. Decide exactly what 1t
is you want to do In the first place" he
counsels his pupils. then how you will do
1t; then play it. Stop and think il You have
played 1t In the way you meant to do; then
only, IL sure Of this. go ahead Without
concentration. remember you can do MOTH
ing. The brain must guide the figures mot
the fingers the brain" Other points in mu-
steal science have been conveyed by Les
chetzky In felicitous SMILES and sugres-
tons, as follows:
ITO make an affective acceierando Won
must glide into rapidity as steadily as
train increases its speed when steaming out
of station.
Peach yourself to make a railentando
evenly by watching the drops of water
cease IS you turn of a tap.
"A player with an unbalanced rhythm re-
minds me of an intoxicated man who cam
not walk straight.
If your wrists are weak go and roll the
grass in the garden.
IF you want to develop strength and sem
sitiyeness In the tips of your fingers, use
them in everyday life. For instance, when
You go out for a walk. hold your umbrella
with the tips instead of in the palm of
your hand
Practice your technical exercises ON
cushion or upon a table sometimes You do
not always need the plano to strengthen
your muscles
Leschetizky is said to love his pupils as
II they were his own children: but "as
good father" observes Miss HuIiah. ..he
considers his duty better done through the
aid OF discipline than OF sympathy" Like
all highly strung people, he is extremely
sensitive to personality. Once In while,
when the door bell announces the arrival of
the drst pupil, II the professor happens to
be In q fastidious frame Of mind, he will
steal downstairs to find out who 1t is and
II on peeping surreptitiously into the room
he sees some one antipathetic 20 him. he
promptly steals upstairs again and stays
there q quarter OF an hour or more TO re-
cover from the blow. Like all Individuals
t1sn emotions He may be sad. but. others
must not be so He cannot endure half
heartedness; enthusiasm he must and will
have. Nor can he bear dismal solemnfty and
silence On one occas1on he gave lesson
to tacfturn lady Without utterinE single
world. She would not speak. he said. % why
should her Still further eccentricities are
recounted by Miss HuIlah:
He y fun Of benevolent sympathy But