upwards or downwards, fast or slow, in crescendo or decrescendo, and countless other
ways. Trills too were to be played as a means of expression, so that one played slow trills,
fast trills, loud trills, soft trills, everything to bring out what a particular trill was meant to
convey. But perhaps the greatest thing I absorbed from Krause as part of the Liszt
mystique or way was an utter devotion to the work to be played – to be totally and
profoundly in the service of the music before you.’
We have evidence, through Liszt’s pupils Bernhard Stavenhagen and Berthold
Kellermann, that Liszt used arpeggiata in Chopin’s music, at least occasionally.
Normally at his masterclasses Liszt could be severe towards any pianist who performed
Chopin with any alteration to the score.
‘Stavenhagen used to tell us of a special effect which Liszt obtained towards the end of
[Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor opus 27 no. 1]. Bars 94-95 and 96-97 are in
apposition, but to make the contrast more effective Liszt used to play the latter bars
pianissimo and with more rubato than in the previous two bars, slightly accentuating the
top note of the accompaniment in the left hand, and at the same time playing the chords
in the right hand arpeggiata [they are not marked arpeggiata by Chopin], upwards for the
second and fourth chords, downwards for the third chord in bar 96 and the first and third
chords in bar 97. The result is delicately expressive and adds a richness to the intense
tranquillity which pervades the end of this Nocturne. Stavenhagen used to add that
Chopin himself approved of Liszt’s rendering of this passage, and that though Liszt was
sometimes accused of tampering with Chopin’s music it was only an occasional effect
such as this which he had known him to introduce, and in each case one which greatly
enhanced the context.
To come now to technical matters, in the second bar of the third Ballade a quite
incongruous effect is produced by playing the last chord of the bar arpeggata, as usually
marked [presumably in some editions of the day but not by Chopin], in contrast to the
enhanced effect obtained by playing the second chord arpeggiata [not so marked by
Chopin]. The same progression occurs at bar 38, and again at bar 46, with a repetition in
alt at bars 46-47. Liszt used to play the first progression of bar 46 as marked, non-
arpeggiata, but the repetition in alt was played by him as a delicate echo of the preceding
progression with both chords arpeggiata [the second chord is not marked arpeggiata by
Chopin].’ Source: Fleischmann – matter in square brackets added.
Eugen d’Albert often practised arpeggiata where not marked as may be heard in many of
his reproducing piano recordings including the Liszt Sonata and Beethoven’s Waldstein
Sonata, especially in the second subject of the first movement. The high-water mark is
perhaps reached by Ernest Schelling in his reproducing piano recording of the Liszt
Sonata. Paderewski, with whom Schelling studied for three years, was also an inveterate
practitioner of arpeggiata as his discs and rolls show.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) and Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) were contemporaries for
fifty-three years. It follows that how Brahms played may be of some assistance in
understanding how Liszt played his own compositions, and those of other composers.