The Liszt tradition, through his pupils Bernhard Stavenhagen and Berthold Kellermann,
was expounded by their pupil Tilly Fleischmann in ‘Aspects of the Liszt Tradition’ by
Tilly Fleischmann edited by Michael O’Neill (Adare Press, Magazine Road, Cork, 1986.
Michael O’Neill writes:
‘Aspects of the Liszt Tradition’ captures for us the essence of the theory and practice of
piano playing which were current among the students and disciples of Franz Liszt, and
are now in danger of becoming lost.
In this book Tilly Fleischmann presents us with ideas relating to interpretation and
technique, based mainly on her studies with Stavenhagen and Kellermann at the Royal
Academy of Music, Munich, in the early years of this [twentieth] century. Many famous
pieces by Chopin and Liszt are examined in detail with reference to fingering, phrasing,
pedalling, dynamics, rubato – matters of interest to amateur and professional pianists
alike’
Born in Cook in 1879, a daughter of the organist of St Mary’s Cathedral, Tilly Swerz was
sent to Munich by her father in 1899 to study with Bernhard Stavenhagen, then an
internationally celebrated pianist, who taught at the Royal Academy of Music, Munich,
from 1898, and in 1901 was appointed Director. At orchestral concerts there she
performed the Weber Konzertstück under Stavenhagen, and the Schumann Piano
Concerto under Felix Mottl, Generalmusikdirector in Munich and for many years
conductor of the Wagner Festspiele in Bayreuth. Having given a number of successful
recitals in Munich, after the last of them she was invited to play for Prince and Princess
Ludwig of Bavaria at their Castle at Nymphenburg.
While still a student at the Academy she met another student, Aloys Fleischmann, who
was studying composition with Josef Rheinberger. They married in 1906, and went to
live in Cork. ... She was the first Irish pianist to give a BBC broadcast ... [and] presented
all-Liszt programmes to mark the centenary of the composer’s birth in 1911, and the
fiftieth anniversary of his death in 1936.’
Tilly Fleischmann’s book, containing her life’s teaching experience, consisted of 340
pages and several hundred illustrations, and could not be published owing to the
relatively high cost.
‘As a one-time student of Mrs Fleischmann it occurred to me that an abridged version
might be put into circulation by means of private subscription. The affirmative replies to
a circular of enquiry were so numerous as to justify the project, and so the present edition
has come into being.
In producing this book I have attempted to record what I learned in Munich at the start of
this century from my teachers Bernhard Stavenhagen and Berthold Kellermann as regards
piano playing in general, and the interpretation of Chopin and Liszt in particular.’