The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt, 1884-1886, Ed
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THE PIANO MASTER CLASS OF FRANZ LISZT: ITS NATURE AND INFLUENCE An Annotated Bibliography Among the most influential developments in piano pedagogy, and thus music education, was the creation of the master class by the extraordinary Franz Liszt (1811-1886) in 1869 during his stay at Weimar. I will describe the nature of Liszt‟s group lessons: the numbers of students, its length, how often it occurred, what kind of repertoire was used, Liszt‟s pedagogical method, and Liszt‟s pupils. I will also compare Liszt‟s model of a piano class with twentieth-century version for instrument or voice group lessons. Liszt‟s example has been changed in several aspects compared to the way that master classes are conceived today. Every masterful musician during the last fifty years has performed several times in master classes with notable teachers and has received criticism about their performance. The use of this teaching concept is present today even in other areas such as physics. Sources for this study come primarily from diaries of Liszt‟s pupils. These diaries describe each lesson or class, explaining how Liszt advised them to practice or what should be improved. The Diary Notes of August Göllerich, for example, records phrases that Liszt said after hearing his pupils perform. Some biographical sources by historical researchers provide a musician‟s scholarly overview and investigate the main body of Liszt‟s music. They also include brief discussions that provide more details about Liszt‟s life. Many letters and writings serve as important sources to know Liszt‟s emotions, aspirations, dreams, goals, and frustrations. There is also an interview with one of Liszt‟s pupils, Claudio Arrau that provides important information for understanding Liszt‟s pedagogy and how he conducted his class. A biography of one of Liszt‟s pupil, Amy Fay, also serves as an excellent source. She describes her lessons, her emotion before and after play, her relationship with Liszt, and his admiration for her. Some Liszt‟s biographies are also consulted to put all his classes into a context of life. Liszt‟s correspondence will serve as last sources, just to know about his thoughts, desires, and project. The entries in this bibliography are classified in the following manner: Biographical Studies of Liszt, Studies of Liszt‟s Music, The Testimony of Liszt‟s Pupils, Liszt‟s Correspondence, Piano Pedagogy of Franz Liszt, Studies of Liszt‟s Master Classes, and Piano Pedagogy in the Twentieth-Century and Twentieth- First-Century. Jailton Santana Introduction to graduate study in music 1 Fall Semester 2002 2 THE PIANO MASTER CLASS OF FRANZ LISZT: ITS NATURE AND INFLUENCE Biographical Studies of Liszt 1. Sitwell, Sacheverell. Liszt. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934. This is a scholarly book that provides an overview and investigation of Liszt‟s life. The author divides Liszt‟s life in five chronological periods. The reader does not need to have a music background to understand this book but basic music knowledge would help to understand some musical conceits. There is information since 1811, such as the birth of Liszt, his studies with Salieri and Czerny, his life in Paris, Liszt‟s first love affair with Caroline de Saint-Cricq, his meeting with Berlioz, Chopin and Paganini, and much more details about Liszt‟s life, correspondence, works, family, and pupils until Liszt‟s last tour. The reader can also find a catalog of works by Liszt, a chronological table of the life of Liszt, a short commented bibliography, and a twenty-one-page index. This is an important book to understand how Liszt‟s life was and understand why he chose teaching the piano in a different way than everyone else on his time (see also #3, 5, and 7). 2. Laszlo, Zsogmond. Franz Liszt: A Biography in Pictures. London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1968. This book is an iconographical study of Liszt‟s life. The reader can find in this book several picture of Liszt, his family, his students, his piano class, other musician that met him, concert program, his bust, his statue, caricatures, sculptures, concert hall and many other kind of pictures. Some of the pictures have information that explains historically each one (see also #3). All the pictures are black and white. This is an important biographical book because the reader can see many representations of situation that is difficult or impossible to describe by words such as concert hall and classes room size, kind of instrument used on concert hall performance and classes performance, the position of pupils during one class mate performance, program notes, and pictures of people contemporary of Liszt. It requires basic music knowledge to understand the music vocabulary used by the author. Those characteristics make this book important as a source to this project. 3. Wilkinson, Anthony. Liszt. London: Macmillan, 1975. This book is part of a series entitled The Musicians, and prepared under the editorship of Geoffrey Hindley. He paints an exciting visual and verbal portrait of Liszt and his music, setting both in the context of their times – social, political, and artistic. It is not chronological but approaches different aspects of the artist 3 and his works chapter by chapter. Full catalogues of works, a reading list, a chronological life summary and an index are included. Ninety per cent of the pictures, paints, and performance program are black and white. This book is important to every one who needs to know about Franz Liszt‟s biography. The difference between this book and others from the same category (see also #4, 6, and 8) is just the way that the author organized each subject and expressed his thoughts. The reader needs some musical knowledge to understand better the musical concepts. 4. Walker, Alan. Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, Vol. I. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983. This is part of three-volume Liszt biographical book (see #6 and 8). The reader needs some music background to understand all the three books. This volume covers Liszt‟s life from 1811 until 1847. Walker divided this period in four sub periods. The first is from 1811 until 1829 and Walker calls this “The Young Prodigy”. The reader can find information about Liszt‟s childhood in Hungary, his years in Vienna (1821 -1823), Paris and Liszt first world tour, the death of Liszt‟s father and he returns to Paris. The second sub period covers from 1830 until 1834. The writer includes information about Paris conservatory and names some Liszt‟s friends and contemporaries, such Paganini, Berlioz, Chopin and Marie d‟Agoult. The third section is about “The Years of pilgrimage that started in 1835 until 1839. The last section is called “The Years of Transcendental Execution” and it cover from 1839 until 1847. In this section the Walker writes about the modern piano, the returns of Liszt to Hungria, and three more world tours. This book, together with the others volume, is the most complete Liszt biographical source and the best source in this category (see also #17). 5. Liszt, Franz. Liszt: A Self-Portrait in His Own Words, Ed. David Whitwell, California: Winds, 1986. This is a book with a different approach than other biographical books. The events and happenings of Liszt‟s life are passed by, and all attention is concentrated on Liszt thoughts, as expressed in his own words (see #16). Whitwell divides Liszt‟s life into chronological periods, and gives to the reader insights into Liszt‟s thinking on a subject. The author shows the development of Liszt‟s thoughts as they surface during his lifetime. This book is important to this project in order to understand Liszt‟s thoughts and reactions, applying these conclusions to explain his behavior (see also #1, 3, and 7). This is not a easy understandable book, and require a musical knowledge to understand better the editor ideas. 6. Walker, Alan. Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, Vol. II. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. 4 This is a continuation of #4 (see also #8). The second volume covers Liszt‟s life from 1848 until 1861. Walker introduces some people that took part of Liszt‟s life, such Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, her daughter, Princess Marie, and her husband, Prince Nicholas. There is some information about Liszt‟s job at Weimar and his years of struggle, his conducting, and his family. The quantity and quality of information make this book an important biographical source superior to all others in this category (see #17). 7. Watson, Derek. Liszt. New York: Schirmer Books, 1989. This is a work that discusses important subjects concerning Liszt‟s life (se also #4, 6, and 8). The reader can find information from Liszt as a child until last years of his life. Watson writes about years of pilgrimage, about Lisztomania between 1839 and 1847, and about the years at Weimar. The six first chapters are chronological; after that there are ten chapters with different subjects as, “The man Liszt”, “The Piano: Technique and Teaching”, and so on. The reader can find also five chapters that he wrote about Liszt‟s music (see #10 and 16), including concertos, orchestral music, organ and chamber music, choral works and songs. The author comments about Liszt‟s transcriptions and all his original written piano music. The importance of this book to this research is centralized on Liszt‟s as a pianist, as a composer and as a teacher, making correlations among them. This is an easy understandable book, but requires basic musical skill from the reader. 8. Walker, Alan. Franz Liszt: The Final Years, Vol. III. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. This is a continuation of #4 and 6.