The bicentennial anniversary of Franz Liszt's birth is well underway even though his birthday is not until October 22. Juilliard had a Liszt Festival week before last. The Mannes School got into the fray on Friday with a lecture by Alan Walker. Carnegie Hall clocked in on Saturday with a Franz Liszt "Discovery Day."
Although I was not in NYC for the Juilliard festival, I did get to hear Prof. Walker's wonderful lecture on Liszt and his transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies. With his 3-volume biography,Walker has long been the preeminent Liszt authority.
In his lecture, Walker began by asserting that Liszt had a "deep and profound" connection with Beethoven. Although the bulk of his talk was on Liszt's transcriptions, he did touch on some more general ideas concerning Liszt, his purpose being to get rid of the notion that Liszt was preoccupied with technique and with life on the concert stage as a self-centered performer. He quoted Liszt as saying that "technique forms itself from experience" and that the key to the formation of the artist is the development of the human being. Although we can all cite artists who were not especially well developed human beings, Walker's point was that Liszt himself was so multi-dimensional and involved in so many aspects of life that his musical career was both just a strand in his life and a means to an end, not an end in itself. Walker contends that Liszt might have been the most selfless great musician in music history.
In his lecture, Walker began by asserting that Liszt had a "deep and profound" connection with Beethoven. Although the bulk of his talk was on Liszt's transcriptions, he did touch on some more general ideas concerning Liszt, his purpose being to get rid of the notion that Liszt was preoccupied with technique and with life on the concert stage as a self-centered performer. He quoted Liszt as saying that "technique forms itself from experience" and that the key to the formation of the artist is the development of the human being. Although we can all cite artists who were not especially well developed human beings, Walker's point was that Liszt himself was so multi-dimensional and involved in so many aspects of life that his musical career was both just a strand in his life and a means to an end, not an end in itself. Walker contends that Liszt might have been the most selfless great musician in music history.
Walker commented on the well-known story of the young Liszt's first encounter with Beethoven and the famous "kiss of consecration." He verified that the meeting did occur and is not just one of the many legends created around Liszt and that it had a profound impact on Liszt's sense of his life mission. Liszt did not view the meeting as something to be recounted as a form of bragging but rather he took Beethoven's pronouncement as a mantle of responsibility. Walker asserted that Liszt viewed talent as a call to service. He cited the numerous ways Liszt used his talents to help others and how he gave much of the money he earned to causes that needed assistance, living a life of "genteel poverty."
Walker recounted some of the myriad ways Liszt repaid what he considered to be his debt to Beethoven. First and foremost, he was always credited with showing the utmost fidelity to Beethoven's scores in performance. He prepared an edition of Beethoven's piano sonatas which might be one of the first examples of "performance urtext" where the editor's (in this case Liszt's) editorial markings are clearly delineated from the composer's. He was clearly not "transcribing" or "arranging" or "revising" the sonatas. Walker noted that this edition is now available from Zen-on music publishers.
With the symphonies, he was clearly transcribing orchestral scores for solo piano. Why did he do this? Walker stated that there were bad piano solo and piano ensemble versions of the symphonies that did not, in Liszt's view, serve the composer well so Liszt agreed to prepare transcriptions of the symphonies for the German music publisher Breitkopf and Haertel. He also performed the transcriptions, most frequently Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. He fulfilled this arduous task in addition to teaching, conducting, giving benefit concerts, composing, and promoting the music of other composers he believed in.
With the symphonies, he was clearly transcribing orchestral scores for solo piano. Why did he do this? Walker stated that there were bad piano solo and piano ensemble versions of the symphonies that did not, in Liszt's view, serve the composer well so Liszt agreed to prepare transcriptions of the symphonies for the German music publisher Breitkopf and Haertel. He also performed the transcriptions, most frequently Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. He fulfilled this arduous task in addition to teaching, conducting, giving benefit concerts, composing, and promoting the music of other composers he believed in.
The deaths of two of Liszt's children, Daniel and Blandine, helped send Liszt into a deep depression. He went to Rome where he undertook religious studies. While there, living in an austere cell he worked on his transcription of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. He struggled mightily with the choral finale and ultimately reported to the publisher that he simply could not complete a transcription of the fourth movement. The publisher would not accept this so Liszt very grudgingly created a very obvious perfunctory conclusion a recorded performance of which was played by Walker. I was reminded of Gluck's final scene for his setting of Orpheus and Euridice. A "happy ending" was required by his noble patron so Gluck provided a very folksy and cheery conclusion that is clearly not in keeping with the poignancy of the rest of the opera. ("Must it be? It must be!")
As an apologist for Liszt, Alan Walker is unbelievably convincing. He further continued to demonstrate his devotion to this composer at a lecture at Weill Hall on the next day. But that is for a future blog.
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