PREFACE.
——
IN preparing for the public letters which were written only for home, I have hoped that some readers would find in them the charm of style which the writer's friends fancy them to possess; that others would think the description of her masters amid their pupils, and especially Liszt, worth preserving; while piano students would be grateful for the information that an analysis of the piano technique has been made, such as very greatly to diminish the difficulties of the instrument.
How much of Herr Deppe's piano "method" is original with himself, pianists must decide. That he has at least made an invaluable résumé of all or most of their secrets, my sister believes no student of the instrument who fairly and conscientiously examines into the matter will deny.
M. FAY PEIRCE.
CHICAGO, Dec., 1880.
PREFACE
TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
——
MISS FAY'S little book has been so popular in her own country as to have gone through half a dozen editions, and even in German, into which it was translated soon after its first appearance, it has had much success. It is strange that it has not been already published in England, where music excites so much attention, and where works on musical subjects are beginning to form a distinct branch of literature. This is the more remarkable because it is thoroughly readable and amusing, which books on music too rarely are. The freshness and truth of the letters is not to be denied. We may laugh at the writer's enthusiasm, at the readiness with which she changes her methods and gives up all that she has already learnt at the call of each fresh teacher, at the certainty with which every new artist is announced as quite the best she ever heard, and at the glowing and confident predictions—not, alas, apparently always realised. But no one can laugh at her indomitable determination, and the artistic earnestness with which she makes the most of each of her opportunities, or the brightness and ease with which all is described (in choice American), and each successive person placed before us in his habit as he lives. Such a gift is indeed a rare and precious one. Will Miss Fay never oblige us with an equally charming and faithful account of music and life in the States? Hitherto musical America has been almost an unknown land to us, described by the few who have attempted it in the most opposite terms. Their singers we already know well, and in this respect America is perhaps destined to be the Italy of the future, if only the artists will consent to learn slowly enough. But on the subject of American players and American orchestras, and the taste of the American amateurs, a great deal of curiosity is felt, and we commend the subject to the serious attention of one so thoroughly able to do it justice.
GEORGE GROVE.
PREFACE
TO THE GERMAN EDITION.
——
Die vorliegenden Briefe einer Amerikanerin in die Heimath, die im Original bereits in zweiter Auflage erschienen sind, werden, so hoffen wir, auch dem deutschen Leser nicht minderes Vergnügen, nicht geringere Anregung als dem amerikanischen gewähren, da sie in unmittelbarer Frische niedergeschrieben, ein lebendiges Bild von den Beziehungen der Verfasserin zu den hervorragendsten musikalischen Persönlichkeiten, wie Liszt, v. Bülow, Tausig, Joachim u. s. w. bieten.
Wir geben das Buch in wortgetreuer Uebersetzung und haben es nur um diejenigen Briefe gekürzt, die in Deutschland Allzubekanntes behandeln. Hingegen glaubten wir die Stellen dem Leser nicht vorenthalten zu dürfen, welche zwar nicht musikalischen Inhalts sind, uns aber zeigen, wie manche unserer deutschen Zu-oder Mißstände von Amerikanern beurtheilt werden.
Robert Oppenheim, Publisher.
Berlin, 1882.
| CONTENTS. | |
|---|---|
| [IN TAUSIG'S CONSERVATORY.] | |
| [CHAPTER I.] | |
| PAGE. | |
| A German Interior in Berlin. A German Party. Joachim. Tausig's Conservatory. | [13] |
| [CHAPTER II.] | |
| Clara Schumann and Joachim. The American Minister's. The Museum. The Conservatory. Opera. Tausig. Christmas. | [25] |
| [CHAPTER III.] | |
| Tausig and Rubinstein. Tausig's Pupils. The Bancrofts. A German Radical. | [37] |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | |
| Opera and Oratorio in Berlin. A Typical American. Prussian Rudeness. Conservatory Changes. Easter. | [51] |
| [CHAPTER V.] | |
| The Thier-Garten. A Military Review. Charlottenburg. Tausig. Berlin in Summer. Potsdam and Babelsberg. | [64] |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | |
| The War. German Meals. Women and Men. Tausig's Teaching. Tausig Abandons his Conservatory. Dresden. Kullak. | [79] |
| [WITH KULLAK.] | |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | |
| Moving. German Houses and Dinners. The War. Capture of Napoleon. Kullak's and Tausig's Teaching. Joachim. Wagner. Tausig's Playing. German Etiquette. | [95] |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| Concerts. Joachim again. The Siege of Paris. Peace Declared. Wagner. A Woman's Symphony. Ovation to Wagner in Berlin. | [111] |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | |
| Difficulties of the Piano. Triumphal Entry of the Troops. Paris. | [123] |
| [CHAPTER X.] | |
| A Rhine Journey. Frankfort. Mainz. Sail down the Rhine. Cologne. Bonn. The Seven Mountains. Worms. Spire. Heidelberg. Tausig's Death. | [131] |
| [CHAPTER XI.] | |
| Eisenach. Gotha. Erfurt. Andernach. Weimar. Tausig. | [145] |
| [CHAPTER XII.] | |
| Dinner-Party and Reception at Mr. Bancroft's. Audition at Tausig's House. A German Christmas. The Joachims. | [157] |
| [CHAPTER XIII.] | |
| Visit to Dresden. The Wiecks. Von Bülow. A Child Prodigy. Grantzow, the Dancer. | [163] |
| [CHAPTER XIV.] | |
| A Rising Organist. Kullak. Von Bülow's Playing. A Princely Funeral. Wilhelmi's Concert. A Court Beauty. | [174] |
| [CHAPTER XV.] | |
| The Boston Fire. Aggravations of Music Study. Kullak. Sherwood. Hoch Schule. A Brilliant American. German Dancing. | [182] |
| [CHAPTER XVI.] | |
| A German Professor. Sherwood. The Baroness von S. Von Bülow. A German Party. Joachim. The Baroness at Home. | [192] |
| [WITH LISZT.] | |
| [CHAPTER XVII.] | |
| Arrives in Weimar. Liszt at the Theatre.—At a Party. At his own House. | [205] |
| [CHAPTER XVIII.] | |
| Liszt's Drawing-room. An Artist's Walking Party. Liszt's Teaching. | [218] |
| [CHAPTER XIX.] | |
| Liszt's Expression in Playing. Liszt on Conservatories. Ordeal of Liszt's Lessons. Liszt's Kindness. | [227] |
| [CHAPTER XX.] | |
| Liszt's Compositions. His Playing and Teaching of Beethoven. His "Effects" in Piano-playing. Excursion to Jena. A New Music Master. | [235] |
| [CHAPTER XXI.] | |
| Liszt's Playing. Tausig. Excursion to Sondershausen. | [248] |
| [CHAPTER XXII.] | |
| Farewell to Liszt! German Conservatories and their Methods. Berlin again. Liszt and Joachim. | [263] |
| [CHAPTER XXIII.] | |
| Kullak as a Teacher. The Four Great Virtuosi, Clara Schumann, Rubinstein, Von Bülow and Tausig. | [272] |
| [WITH DEPPE.] | |
| [CHAPTER XXIV.] | |
| Gives up Kullak for Deppe. Deppe's Method in Touch and in Scale-playing. Fräulein Steiniger. Pedal Study. | [283] |
| [CHAPTER XXV.] | |
| Chord-playing. Deppe no mere "Pedagogue." Sherwood. Mozart's Concertos. Practicing Slowly. The Opera Ball. | [299] |
| [CHAPTER XXVI.] | |
| A Set of Beethoven Variations. Fannie Warburg. Deppe's Inventions. His Room. His Afternoon Coffee. Pyrmont. | [311] |
| [CHAPTER XXVII.] | |
| The Brussels Conservatoire. Steiniger. Excursion to Kleinberg. Giving a Concert. Fräulein Timm. | [328] |
| [CHAPTER XXVIII.] | |
| Music in Hamburg. Studying Chamber Music. Absence of Religion in Germany. South Americans. Deppe Once More. A Concert Debut. Postscript. | [331] |