The sun., 1910-08-14
LISZT.

Tho future bibliographer 81 fiszt litera
tur" has a heavy task In store for him. FOL
hooks about the great Hungarian com
I poser are multiplying apace. Liszt this
dazzling virtuoso has long heen thems
with variations. and IL, We suspect. a
thems nearly exhausted; hut I.iszt a.
: tone poet. I.iszt As song writer. as CON-
/ poser for the pianoiorte. as litteratsur
! the man. the wickedeat OF Don JuAns. the
! ecclcsiastic- these and a dozen othsr
studies OF the most protean musician OF
the last century have been AppearinE z
ever since the publication OF Lima Ra-
mann's vast and sentimental biography
Instead Of there being q lack Of material
for a new book there is an embarrassment,
not always Of riches. from industrious
pens. though few are OF value. The Liszt
pupils have had their say. and their pupllS
are beginning TO intone the psalmody
Of uncritical praise Liszt the romantic.
magnificent, magnAnimous. supernal. is
set to the same old hArmonies. until the
reader tired Of the gabble and g,ish. longs
for biographer who will riddle the
various legends and once and for all prove
that List was not perfection. even IL he
was the fascinating Admirable Crichton
of his times
Yet. and the fact sets us wondering over
the mutability Of fame the LisZt propa-
ganda il not fiourishing. well known
pupil and adinirer Of the master in Berlin
assured US that Liszt is heard In all the
concerts in Germany. but the public IL
ukewarm. Richard Strauss ia more
eagerly listened 20. LISTS familiar re-
mark. Il can wait provoked from the
authority above mentioned the answer.
Perhaps he hhs waited too long" We
are inclined "a disagree with this dictum.
Liszt once had musical and unmusical
Europe at his feet His success was called
cometlike. probably because he was born
IN the comet year 1871. also because
his hair was long and hiz technique
transcendsntally brilliant His critical
compositions wsr. received with lesS
approval. That such an artist OF the
keyboard could be also n successor 20
Beethoven was an idea rnocked at by
the conservative l.eipsic school Besides.
he came in such questionable giise as
a Symphoniker. A piano concerto with
a triangle in the score (the r fat. compo-
ti"ns for full orchestra which were called
symphonic poems lyrics without n tune.
that pretended % follow the curve Of the
words; finally church music. solemn
masses through which stalked the appari-
ton of the naughty Magyar chiettain
accompanied ny echoes Of the gypsies on
the putz,a (the Graner massD: no. il
was too much for ears attuned o. the
suav". melodious MendelSsohn Indeed
the entire Nso-German school was too
exotic for Germany Berlioz. a half mad
IN..V, -
revolutionist. a fugitive from Saxony; and
the Hungarian List. half French, wholly
diabohc Of such were the uncanny in
gradients ~ the new music And then
were there not Iiszt and his Princess Witt
gensteln at Neimar. and the crew Of pupils
courtiers and bohemians who collected at
the Altenberg? Decidedly these people
would never do even though patrunizsd
by royalty George Eliot and her man
Friday. proper British persons. were
shocked when they visited weimar
LIszt survived IL all and enjoyed
notwithstanding the opposition Of Fer
dinand Hitler. Joseph Joachim. the
Sch,rnanns, later Brahms and Hanslick.
the pleasure of hearing his greater works
played. understood and Applauosd In
cOmnemoration OF the fiftieth ami YER
sary OF the Tonk 0nstIerverein. founded
by Liszt there is 20 he a nesting At
Nsimar next June. a week after Whit
sIntd. All musical Europe will assem-
Ole 10 honor ~" memory OF the composer.
who's. lDth birth anniversary occurs the
following October - laIn Looking
backward IN an impartial manner il
cannot be said that the Liszt compost
tons hav" suffered from the provsrbial
neglect Of genius LisZt orchestral
number II not imperative. IL a matter OF
Courr~ az most symphony concerts. The
piano music ~ done ~ death. espe-
Ciallv IA" Hungarian Rhapsodiss. I.iazt
has be,'u ranged the indebtedness Of mod
srn music 20 his PIONEER efforts has been
duly credited We know that the Faust
aud Dante symphonies (which might
have been called symphonic poems are
forerunner- not only - much Of Wagner
but - IN. later group from Saint -Sasns
10 Richard Strauss Why then the in
wail from the I.iszt lans that the
Ii-zt music - not heardf -Christus- and
the other oratoriOs and the masses mi ght ha
heard uftener. and there are many Of the
compositions We, unsuns that
would make some critics sit up No. We
motive has been sounded too often. In
a double sense a reaction il bound 10 come
The true Tiszt ~ beginning 20 emerge
from the clouds ~ legend. and Liszt the
composer will bs definitely placed. A
little disappointment will result in both
camps: tn" camp ~ the ultra .Liszt wor-
shippers. which sets him in line with
Beethoven and above Wagner. and tn.
camp II the anti-I.is1tiaDs. which re-
fuses him even the credit Of having writ
ten tar Of original music. How Wagner
would have rapT--d the knuckles Of these
latter; how he would have told them what
he ~ often wrote ~ Liszt' -Ich be-
l.ichne dich ais Schopfer mciner ietzixen
StsllunR Wenn ich komponiers und
d-nke ich INNER nur
an diCh define drei letzten
Partitur-n soll-n mich wiedsr zlIm M,isiker
wrih.n for den Beginn rncinas zweitep
Akte- l-SiegfrIed'l. d"nn dies Studium |
soil
IOd Wagner mean IL all9 Va D..