The Basis of Greatness

"Here we have a figure which brings out very clearly the real meaning of originality in piano playing and at the same time indicates how every pupil with or without a teacher should work for himself. Why was the great Liszt greater than any pianist of his time? Simply because he found out certain pianistic secrets which Czerny or any of Liszt's teachers and contemporaries had failed to discover.

"Why has Godowsky—Ach! Godowsky, der ist wirklich ein grosser Talent—how has he attained his wonderful rank? Because he has worked out certain contrapuntal and technical problems which place him in a class all by himself. I consider him the greatest master of the mysteries of counterpoint since the heyday of classical polyphony. Why does Busoni produce inimitable results at the keyboard? Simply because he was not satisfied to remain content with the knowledge he had obtained from others.

"This then is my life secret—work, unending work. I have no other secrets. I have developed myself along the lines revealed to me by my inner voice. I have studied myself as well as my art. I have learned to study mankind through the sciences and through the great literary treasures, you see; I speak many languages fluently, I have stepped apace with the crowd, I have drunk the bitter and the sweet from the chalices of life, but remember, I have never stopped, and to-day I am just as keenly interested in my progress as I was many years ago as a youth. The new repertoire of the works of Liszt and Brahms and other composers demanded a different technic, a bigger technic. What exquisite joy it was to work for it. Yes, mio amico, work is the greatest intoxication, the greatest blessing, the greatest solace we can know. Therefore work, work, work. But of all things, my good musical friends in America, remember the old German proverb:

"'Das mag die beste Musik sein
Wenn Herz und Mund stimmt überein.'"

("Music is best when the heart and lips (mouth) speak together.")

Questions in Style, Interpretation, Expression
and Technic of Pianoforte Playing

SERIES XII

vladimir de pachmann

1.What does originality in pianoforte playing really mean?
2.State something of the evils of the forcing methods of training applied to young children.
3.Have the compositions of the most original composers been the most enduring?
4.Name seven of the most original composers for the pianoforte.
5.Must the pupil continually help himself?
6.What is considered the most difficult scale to learn?
7.Is a great virtuoso obliged to practice years in order to secure results?
8.How may piano study be compared with the polishing of beautiful jewels?
9.Tell what characteristics a great teacher must have.
10.What lies at the foundation of pianistic greatness?