Omaha daily bee., 1911-10-22
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NE hundred years ago today /
N there was born. as The saying /
is, with a silver spoon in /
IF,FTFvE@ his mouth an infant who |
IsjEtt was to astonish the world OF
@ music in many OF its branches; |
at whose birth a brilliant comet burst
forth III the sky; and whose anniversary
Is being celebrated this very day all
over the musical realm. The boys name
was Franz Liszt
And let 1t not be forgotten that Franz
List was the son of one OF those dc
voted, faithful passionate lovers OF
music who can ulkc the gu.de-posO
point the way which they cannot them
selves travel. Musical history Is fun OF
the deeds Of its great men and women.
but little Is over said about tie unknown
heroes those friends OF faithfulucss who
were happy. to glory in the success OF
another.
Adam Bszt started the boy right. And
the little town Of Raidlng loved and re-
spected the father and mother of Fran.
as they i'm turn loved and rcvered their
religion. Devout Catholics as they were
little Franz came. early under the infIu-
ence of religion, and was highly suscep-
tible to the religious suggestion. whether
In the ringing of the Angelus by the
village bell whose iron voice sounded
like silver On the summer air of the
evening shy: or whether in the never
to-be-forgotten walk to church with the
family, through the darkness of
Christmas night the gloom being dis
PEELED only by the lantern which Adam
List, the father, carried in front OF his
little family procession. as 1t wended its
way to Christmas mass.
As this wonder-child grew older, an
other influence stirred him deeply, al
most as deeply as the religious emo
tion, and that, Of course. was the Gipsy.
the real, live, genuine, original glpsy.
When List was at the half-century
milestone Of his earthly life. he wrote:-
'Recollections of the gypsies are asso-
ciated with memories of my childhood
and some of its most vivid Impressions
Afterwards [ became n wander
ing virtuoso, as they are. in our father
land. They have pitched their tents In
all the countries OF Europe, and | have
traversed the tangled maze of roads and
paths over which they have wandered.
In the course of time, my experiences
some years, in a certain sense, being
very similar to their historical destiny.
Like them, was a stranger to the
people Of every country. Like them, I
pursued my ideal in the CONTINUAL reve-
lations of art, If not of nature"
: StiH earlier he writes of a summer.
Npart Of which was spent visiting the
gypsies. List says:-"I visited them in
their outdoor kingdom, slept with them
under the open heavens, played with the
children, made presents to the maidens.
gossiped with their rulers and chiefs,
listened at concerts given to gratuitous
audiences, by a hearth-fire whose place
chance determined"
Now, II is precisely this wonderful con-
trast Of two natures, or If you prefer It.
the strange duality Of one nature, which
makes the work and life of Franz List.
of most unusual interest ii is this
blending of the gypsy and the saint. the
orthodox and the heterodox, the irrever-
ent and the religious, the conventional
and the anarchistic, the gypsy fire and
the altar candle, the Halelujah and the
Huzza the wild dance and the solemn
professional, the priest and the prodigaI.
the adored and petted darling of the
world, and the solitary monastc-it is this
blending, we may say, that astonishes US
and offers us one of the most absorbing
Of psychological enigmas
1t is this duality, Of this anomaly,
which makes Liszt and his music entirely
unique.
= There is nothing like it anywhere, and
in all probability there never will be
again
of the father and mother of Iiszt was
typical, even il not prophetic as the su-
perstitous peasantry believed.
1t was this singular opposlteness of
characteristic which led the brilliant HUI
neker to observe that when Liszt was
not kneeling before crucfix, he was,
before a woman!
No one but Huneker could write thus
''Iie dearly loves to blend plety and pas
\sion in the most mystically -amorous fash
- ion and in this sonata Geferring to the
b minor) with the cantando expressive
in d, begins some lovely music, secular
in spirit, mayhap intended by its creator
for pyx and reredos. But the rustic Of
sllken attire is in every bar: sensuous
imagery faint perfume OF feminnity
turks In each triu and cadence. All
naughty Able, have a care! After all
thy chorales and tonsures, thy credos
and sackcloth, wilt thou admit the Evil
one In the guise of a melody, and in
whose chromatic intervals lie dlmpled
check and sunny tress: wilt thou. allow
her to make away with thy resolutions?
Wade retro. Sathanas". Get thee behind
me, Satan)
(AIr. Huneker facetiously remarks that
he wishes that Liszt had not manufac-
tured the rhapsodies and the Liszt pu-
pilD
.
From the very first appearances he was
smothered with caresses and surfeited
with applause, lie was spoiled and spoiled
and spoiled. over and over again, and yet
p refused to be spoiledl From the manner
in which he was cuurted and udored and
loved, by all with whom he came in con
anrHrr