All the great pianists of the day were not pupils of Leschetizky, and I am far from attempting to minimize his influence, which was, and still is, profound. For example, we have with us the ever poetic Paderewski, (his pupils, Felix Schelling and Antoinette Szumowska- 5 Adamowski,) the many-sided and charming Gabrilowitsch, Mark Hambourg-whose playing is more in the demoniacal style of Rubinstein than the refined manner of Leschetizky (a tribute to that pedagogue's versatility)—brilliant Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler, Katherine Goodson, and Helen Hope- 10 kirk. There are others, here and abroad, but the few mentioned are splendid specimens of Leschetizky's discrimination as a teaching artist. But New York also harbors such remarkable pianists as Feruccio Busoni, Josef Hofmann, Leopold Godowsky, Harold Bauer, Leonard Borwick, 15 Percy Grainger, and Arthur Friedheim-to mention some names. None of these studied with Leschetizky. All of which proves anything or nothing. There were great piano teachers before Leschetizky— who, after all, originated nothing, but he had a marvelous 20 flair for talent, and its free development. Mr. Henderson has recently written that "the true Leschetizky touch is hard, that it produces a glassy, brittle tone from the piano." Who dare contradict this? It simply means that Leschetizky was not so fortunate in his pupils as Liszt, (and we 25 have heard some terrifying "pet pupils" of the Merlin of Weimar, have we not?) Once, while playing billiards at a club, Paderewski declared to me that the only thing he ever had learned from his master was to handle a cue. (If so, then Leschetizky deserves another brevet of pedagogic 30 excellence, for in those days the Polish virtuoso with the golden nimbus was expert at the game.) I fancy that the statement was intended as a delicate 1-18: g. 19-27:1, w. 33-284, 24: m, w. 66 rebuke for my rather futile question, and if he meant anything at all it was that Leschetizky had many methods, not a hard and fast procrustean bed of a method-like the Plaidy, the Stuttgart, (Lebert and Stark,) and so many 5 other conservatory methods for maiming the fingers and extirpating the intelligence with numberless finger exercises. Whatever else it may be, Leschetizky's method is human. He was a supreme psychologist. Paderewski also told me that he had learned much from the playing of that 10 supersubtle Slav, Annette Essipowa. As to Paderewski's assertion that the influence of Liszt and Rubinstein in forming a tradition to be carried on by pupils could not be compared to that of Leschetizky," it may be set down to his loyalty, an admirable trait, indeed, yet hardly supported 15 by facts. Merely to sound the roll call of Liszt's pupils disproves this belief. Liszt had luck in his pupils, but luck or no, the Liszt tradition o'ertops the Leschetizky, and will do so till the end of musical history. So it seems that the famous Leschetizky "method" is no method at all. 20 Perhaps the real Leschetizky method was his penchant for marrying his pupils, and on this pleasing intimate note let us salute his august shade, which we hope is now dancing in a musical paradise where divorce and piano-playing are no longer tolerated by the eternal powers. I, 4, 5, 9, II, 12, 13, 14. BIBLIOGRAPHY BALDWIN, C. S. "How to Write. A Handbook based on the English Bible." New York, Macmillan, 1905. BALDWIN, C. S. "A College Manual of Rhetoric." New York, Longmans, 1906. BATES, ARLO. "Talks on Writing English." Boston, Houghton, 1898. BREWSTER, W. T. "Representative Essays on the Theory of Style." New York, Macmillan, 1905. BREWSTER, W. T., and CARPENTER, G. R. "Studies in Structure and Style." New York, Macmillan, 1899. 66 COOPER, LANE. Theories of Style." New York, Macmillan, 1907. (This contains a full and valuable bibliography.) FOWLER, (H. W. and F. G.). "The King's English." London and New York, Oxford, second edition, 1908. GENUNG, JOHN FRANKLIN. "The Working Principles of Rhetoric." Boston, Ginn, 1901. GENUNG, J. F. "The Practical Elements of Rhetoric." Boston, Ginn, 1902. LAMONT, HAMMOND. "English Composition." New York, Scribner, 1906. LEWES, G. H. "The Principles of Success in Literature." Ed. F. N. Scott. Boston, Allyn & Bacon, 1892. LONG, PERCY W. "Studies in the Technique of Prose Style." Cambridge, privately printed, 1915. 66 MINTO, W. "A Manual of Prose Literature." Boston, Ginn, 1901. SHERMAN, L. A. Analytics of Literature.” Boston, Ginn, 1893. SMITH, LEWIS WORTHINGTON, and THOMAS, JAMES E. "Modern Composition and Rhetoric." Boston, Sanborn, 1901. WENDELL, BARRETT. "English Composition." New York, Scribner, 1908. |