I observed that Anton Rubinstein had played ‘Islamey’ at his last historical concert in
Berlin and that he used comparatively little pedal. The master said; ‘There he was right.
I thought it a wonderful performance.’
Liszt never charged a fee from any of his pupils, and we all looked upon him with a
feeling akin to adoration. Felix Weingartner, the only conductor who understood the
genius of Liszt the composer, and who interpreted as no one else did gigantic works like
the ‘Faust’ and ‘Dante’ symphonies – works strangely neglected by British conductors –
once said to me, ‘Liszt was the decentest of them all.’ The word ‘decent’ in German
seems a strange one to apply to this extraordinary personality, but the more I think of it,
the more I realize it’s the right epithet for Liszt. Indeed I go further than that. Liszt was
the Good Samaritan of his day and generation.
Let us today honour Franz Liszt, that wonderful personality, that fiery spirit and truly
great man. Let me assure my readers that I’m profoundly grateful to Providence to have
been one of his last pupils. To those of us who knew him, he remains, after nearly sixty
years, something much more vital than a memory, and if we were ever tempted to forget,
it is easy to recall him in the music he played so incomparably.
Source: ‘The Memoirs of Frederick Lamond’ Glasgow, 1949, chapter 5, excerpted as
Appendix A: The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt 1884-1886: Diary Notes of
August Göllerich’: Edited by Wilhelm Jerger: translated, edited, and enlarged by
Richard Louis Zimdars: Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis.
LEARNING
Children who learn the piano tend to do better at school. This has been attributed to the
discipline, eye-hand coordination, building of social skills, learning of a new language
(music) and the pleasure derived from making one’s own music. Anyone considering a
career in music should consider studying the piano first.
LEITERT
Georg Leitert (1852-1902) was a pianist and Liszt pupil. On Monday 3 May 1869, as a
seventeen year old, he performed Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata and Liszt’s
Sonata in the small auditorium of the Concert Hall in Budapest. Liszt pupil Sophie
Menter was present as were Liszt himself and his close musical acquaintances. Among
the first pupils to arrive at the Hofgärtnerei in Weimar in the early part of 1869 were
Georg Leitert and Rafael Joseffy. During the spring of 1873 Leitert was also present as
was Liszt’s new pupil from Chicago, Amy Fay. Georg Leitert did not survive into the
recording age.
LESCHETIZKY
Life