chances are that the examiner will too. When the examiner’s report arrives read it and
learn from it.
FACSIMILE EDITIONS
Facsimile editions present a photographic reproduction of one of the original sources for
a work of music. They are used by scholars along with performers who pursue
scholarship as a part of their preparation. The Liszt Sonata and many of the piano works
of Chopin have been issued in facsimile editions. A facsimile edtion of the autograph and
first edition of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata has been published.
The autograph manuscript of the Liszt Sonata is on deposit at New York’s Pierpont
Morgan Library in the Robert Owen Lehman Collection. Henle published it in 1973 in a
colour facsimile edition with a postscript by Claudio Arrau.
Nothing beats the fascination of studying the actual autograph manuscript of a composer
by way of a facsimile edition. An ürtext edition, however, adds value, by integrating
evidence from multiple sources and exercising informed scholarly judgment, and is easier
to read than a facsimile edition.
FAY
Life
Amy Fay (1844-1928) was an American who studied with Franz Liszt for a period in
- In her letters in May and June 1878, from Weimar to her family in America, she
told of her piano lessons with Liszt and gave a vivid description of him and his playing.
Her collection of letters appeared in America in 1881 and in a German translation the
following year. In addition to a chapter on Liszt from which the following extracts are
taken, her book contained an account of her lessons with Tausig, Kullak and Deppe.
Amy Fay was back in Weimar in 1885 because Göllerich reports on a Liszt Masterclass
held at Weimar on the afternoon of Monday 17 August 1885. ‘Afterwards double-whist
until 8 o’clock, and to close, the performance of American pieces by Miss Fay and Miss
Senkrah’.
Fay &Liszt
Amy Fay wrote:
‘1 May 1873. Last night I arrived in Weimar, and this evening I have been to the theatre,
which is very cheap here, and the first person I saw, sitting in a box opposite, was Liszt,
from whom, as you know, I am bent on getting lessons, though it will be a difficult thing,
I fear, as I am told that Weimar is overcrowded with people who are on the same errand.
I recognised Liszt from his portrait, and it entertained and interested me very much to
observe him. He was making himself agreeable to three ladies, one of whom was very
pretty. He sat with his back to the stage, not paying the least attention, apparently, to the