Evening star., 1949-07-24
By EIeno de Soyn

more than a teacher, it enabled
him to withdraw for a while from
the concert stage in order to bring
his mechanism to highest perfec-
ton, to work out details and to de-
velop artistically. He devised a
special technical system to meet
his own needs which led him to
the belief that individual prob
lens are as varied as every hand,
arm, every set of ten fingers or.
the most important factor of any,
the intellect"
Letters Are an Inspiration.
A man of culture and refine
ment, conversant with several
European languages and born with
a gift of expressing himself equally
well in any given one, Busoni put
down words of truth and wisdom
based on personal experience.
These can be found in his letters
and articles intended to help the
performer or teacher to attain q
higher level of artistic conscious.
ness. They reflect his ideals, per-
sonality, outlook on art and give
his definition of what the word
artist" means.
In letter belonging to Etelka
Freund, his artist-pupil, who
played in the National Gallery
of Art and with the National
Symphony Orchestra, Busoni sums
up the qualifications necessary to
produce an artist: Environment
manner of living, physical
and moral capacity to
gather impressions and to turn
them into a source of inspiration
= thousand unforeseen cir
cumstances 40 The mold Of
a great artist, however. he ex-
plains. consists of character, in
dividuality, personality and true
artist-blood ="
Concerning Performances.
With reference to piano playing
in one of his articles, Busoni
makes very clear the points which
govern an artistic performance.
In this he reiterates the long.
established law upon which all in.
strumental and vocal art is found.
ed. Its gist is not new. At one
time or another, the student heard
of it from a good teacher or ar
rived at it by experience.
In piano playing, all details are
important .. 1t is the per-
fection in little things which dis
tinguishes the performance of q
great pianist from that of novice
.. Little niceties of interpre-
tations are invariably the defining
characteristics of the real ar
tist ."
Concerning the rarely observed
detail of learning how to listen
to oneself, Busoni reminds: 1T
Is of such vast Importance that
one is tempted to say. the entire
success of musical prosress de-
pends upon it =. =" Every
sound should be subjected to
minute scrutiny and to intelligent
analysis during practice time.
while the mind should be always
alert to opportunities for improve
ment ."
Placing greatest Importance on
phrasing he stresses its undisput-
able need for making a COMPOSE
ton Ineligible.
To Busoni each piece Of music
Is a beautiful tapestry" the design
Of which, taken as a whole, should
have prime consideration. The
universally adopted bar-lines,
which in a piece Of music divide
are necessary only to
facilitate sight-reading or for the
less advanced. According to him.
each composition should be sub
divided by invisible bars, called
for by phrases. These threads"
as he refers to them, should dis
appear, however, when the COM
position is ready for public per-
formance and is viewed as a whole.
AS a composer, Busoni's greatest
fame lies in his transcriptions.
New Tonal System Set Up.
However, he left many compo-
sitions of his own in different
forms. The popular legend of
Faust" which Goethe turned
into a masterpiece, inspired Bu-
soni. as it has done others, to
write an opera on that theme. Al
though unfinished. it is considered
to be his greatest achievement.
Among others, he left a skeleton
for a new tonal system, built upon
the raising and lowering of in
tervals and the arranging of the
degrees within a seven-tone scale.
BY doing this he evolved 113 diff
ferent scales within the space Of
an octave.
He believed that although
music was born Free" and
whatever its modern trend, it
should reflect human nature and
It's emotions. He says: "Let music
be pure invention and sentiment
IN harmonies, in form and tone
color. Let it follow the line
If the rainbow and vie with the
clouds in breaking sunbeams.
Let music be naught else than
nature mirrored by and reflected
rom the human heart" ." ~
It is too early as yet to fully
gauge the extent of Busoni's
achievements and to contemplate
hem in the same light as those by
Chopin or Goethe. whose centen-
nial and bicentennial are COM
nemorated this year. Time will
prove whether what he discovered
IS Of lasting value. Meanwhile, 1t
Is almost certainty that genera
lions will continue to honor him
Tor the fruits Of his labor and a.
ope who stressed nightly the i'm.
mutable laws Of artistry.