New-York tribune., 1910-10-09

-f-a~r
- s..;,-, % what he had been taught III
o YTis studies began when he was ho'
- ,ton five wears old, and he seems 10 H''
- ,,ro,+x, thoroughly grounded IN the fIin
- Of q p F. Bach and TO have peiie'e =
- o,uo,-e His first advice when ne 'oO>
-. os n,,ni was to get BaChs y erS~O -
- ,,,lv eleven and a half years ola VIZ"
,,ocan 10 play the organ as sHos'l'u'e :, =.
.oacbar Neefe in the electoral chapei d ~.
:. evolve he was cembalist and at thI'seN
. ,.,r he became second orGanist py appo'"-
--o-+ Al eighteen he played VIOLA III 'i'e
-, =, tbe theatre ani also IN concerts LIS
-s o.. the clavichord and organ pei
h;s ,setriulent at the latter)' was sinoo'n
,io, and despite the fact that ms poie
-. =, have been rude he preserved '-ie ie
,,osefuI manner 10 a late 0a'e-
-. COS. His attitude while playing was
mastery in its quietness' hoole an"
-. ~, last crimace. though he bent for
,,,-a more and more as his deafness gre" upon
-, F5e attached great Importance to correct
-, ,,f She fingers in his teaching accord
- :, tba school Of Emanuel Bach. which ne
,,so5 IN teaching mel IN Thayer's notebook IN
,,bi,b Reethoven's biographer recorded the con-
,-o-sations which he had with the men who
had come into personal contact with the COM
,oser I found the following memorandum under
5ato Of Nav IS 1860: I called again on
MAILER and questioned him as to the above and
find that / have reported him correctly one
+l,i7g he saws. particularly attracted ms al
trntion. and that was that he played "llh HlS
hands so very still. Wonderful as was MS eNe
.--,-i,n there was no tossing Up and about OF
,,=s lands fflt they seemed to glide right and
left over the KEYS. the fingers doing the work
The incident which l1dhler in his youth a
uafnter who had painted portrait Of the mas
teri had described took place IN the winter OF
1919 OF 1901 for Beethoven was at Work on l"e
finale of the .Er3ica'' symphony and played
some Of the variations for his listeners After
,rsf date Beethoven gradually abandoned play
ing in public. Two years later Pleyel describes
his rIavine as extremely daring and fearless of
I'll difficulties. though they were not always
crsan1v overcome he ~thrashed" too much. said
47-.,r.r FF,1rl-neI's adhereut- found fault with
,is -1aving because Of his excessive use Of the
-,5a.s (which produced a confused noise
I-7a-rv also refers to his pedalling and in his
ao1..5I~ describing the manner in which Bee
tro,en's music ought To be played, says: Char
sr-rr5stfc and passionate power alternately with
al the charms of cantabile are dominant. The
means Of expression are often developed to the
extreme. particularly IN respect Of the humorous
mood TIE piQuaEt. brilliant manner is seldom
r, he applied here. but all the cftener the gen
s-9l effect IS u be attained partly through a
rgr voiced TCgGto partly 10y the use Of the forte
,eisl. etc Great dexterity without pretensions
n brilliancy In adagios rhapsodical expression
and emotional song
The rudaneSs Of BeethOyens Playing harped
rnon by musicians who heard him in the later
vaars Of his life. such as Spohr and Moscheles,
finds ample explanation in his temperament, ag-
r-avated by his deafness. If WegeIer is to be
believed il was noticeable before he had heard
anv really great players. but when he was
twenty years Did he heard Johann Franz Naver
Sterkel 1710-1S17). whose playing was light and
nleasing. almost efTeminate, SO much more fin |
jsbed and refined than anything that Beethoven
had ever heard that he was Unspeakably amazed |
and much persuasion was necessary to get him
70 the pianof7rte in turn When finally he did
pay. howcve-. he astonished his friends by do
ing so with a perfect reproduction Of SterkeIs
style. SCHNEIDER says that in his later years
Beethoven confessed TO him that his rude man
ne- was due To his having played the organ so
much which is altogether likely considering the |
heavy action Of the organs at that period. Yet
Il may haze been due also TO his emotional i'm |
pulsiveness and his original bent, for Carl Lud-
wig Junker wrote in 1871: His playing is so |
different from the usual manner Of handling the |
instrument that il seems as If he had tried TO
open entirely new paths for himself"
In his early years in Vienna he gave much
thought to perfecting his violin playing, and it