The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt by Hall-Swadley Janita R.; Hall-Swadley Janita R;

Author:Hall-Swadley, Janita R.; Hall-Swadley, Janita R;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1664198
Publisher: Scarecrow Press

CHAPTER 7

To Professor Fétis (1837)846

Here we have Professor Fétis, Director of the Brussels Conservatory,847 who pleased himself to fill eleven columns in the Gazette musicale with serious accusations, striking out at us directly and indirectly, and now we are entangled in polemics against our will, and this has disturbed some people very much. For the public, this unpleasantness appears much too late.

In his writing titled “Mr. Thalberg and Mr. Liszt,” the argument of our highest qualified and most educated antagonist is divided into two sections, and more specifically, into the following divisions:848

The Prolegomena: Mr. Fétis modestly reminds his readers about his writings in the Revue musicale, as well as his Concerts historiques. “Maybe,” he tells us, “these endeavors were successful; many meaningful conversions arose from them; there is still much leftover to do to exterminate prejudice at its roots; and the forthcoming publication of my Philosophy of Music was the consummation of this mission;”

A general theory of the periodic prevalence of individual principles of art during various periods of their development;

A summary of the piano’s history—of which Weber849 is absent from the discussion—where he offers a glowing opinion of Mr. Kalkbrenner’s850 “astonishing dexterity of both hands;”

A biographical sketch of the “Little Liszt”—a remarkably inventive discussion;

The performance programs and compositions of Mr. S[igismond] Thalberg, where Mr. Fétis carries on and on about him as “that one thunderbolt of851 genius who fosters epoch-making changes,” who appears to be a consummation of “the wonder of our time.” But Mr. Fétis offers nothing to substantiate his claims. This is entirely his concoction.852 Certainly the famous pianist does not have the slightest inkling of this problem in which the educated professor has involved him, and like wise he wishes to stay removed from it;

The demand for the recall of our article about Mr. Thalberg, and his conclusion, which takes the form of a prosopopöie.

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