LISZT AND SOME FAMOUS PUPILS
S. Liebling - Rosenthal - Liszt - Dora - Peterson
Siloti - Ans der Ohe - Sauer - Gottschlag
Friedheim - Reisenauer
All good and wonderful things live on forever. Even though Liszt moved from Weimar, spending his last years in Budapest, Rome and elsewhere, he was not idle. There was always a circle of people about him. And always his full-hearted, generous nature kept him at work for the good of others. He reminds us of Beethoven who once said, "Composing is a capital thing. For instance if a friend is in distress and I have no money at hand to help him, I can sit down and compose something which I can sell and so relieve him." It seems that Franz Liszt thought the same for he was forever helping someone else.
We have already seen how Liszt looked as he sat at the piano (see picture No. 12). This is Liszt at the conductor's stand. Do you see his baton and the score on the desk? And the position of the left hand? When Liszt conducted the orchestra the players watched every movement of his hands and every look of his eyes so as to play just as he desired.
LISZT AS CONDUCTOR
Franz Liszt was kind to all people who came to him. There was one musician, however, for whom he did a great deal. You know him for he composed many operas. One of them is called "Parsifal." Another is "The Flying Dutchman." Place his picture here and write his name beneath.
Some day the operas of Richard Wagner will give you great pleasure. At first they were not liked by the public. Wagner had few friends and his life was very hard. But Franz Liszt believed in him and in his work. And so he helped him.
At first Wagner did not like Liszt. He once said, "I never repeated my first call on Liszt." By this he meant that he wished the acquaintance to end. When Liszt realized that Wagner did not care to understand him, he tried his best to keep the friendship secure. Liszt never wished to misunderstand another human being. So, it was not long before Wagner's opinion of Liszt changed, for he said, later, "Through the love of this rarest friend I gained a real home for my art."