Continued from “ Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin’s friendship Part 1”.
On 26th of April, 1841 Chopin gave another concert in Salle Pleyel in Paris on which Liszt wrote a long review, published in the Revue et Gazette Muscale, that left itself open to varying interpretations.
While Liszt expressed his admiration for his fellow artist, Chopin and his circle of friends, and his family members, were upset about some parts of his review.
They were upset by the fact that Liszt did not praise Chopin as a composer, and failed entirely to mention the opus 38 Ballad in F major, opus 40 Polonaise in A major, and opus 39 Scherzo in C sharp minor, all of which Chopin had performed as part of the program.
At the same time, Lisztomania was spreading like wildfire.
Wherever he performed, audiences were awestruck by Liszt’s breathtaking virtuosity and style, and the audiences reveled and raved, quite beside themselves with wonder and enthusiasm.
Very few artists are able to achieve such successes or bathe in the glory of idolization.
It seems quite possible that Chopin’s self-imposed seclusion was motivated at least in part by jealousy, as he was never able to excite an audience in quite the same way, partly because of his physical condition (he was often sickly), but more importantly because of his terrible stage fright.
He was undoubtedly aware of this when he said to Liszt,
“I am not suited to give concerts, I, who is made timid by the audience… in front of unfamiliar faces I go mute.
But this is your calling, for if you cannot win the audience, you have something with which to strike it dead.”
But Liszt may well also have been jealous of Chopin.
He found unbearable the thought that he was only seen as a piano virtuoso but that his compositions, unlike those of Chopin, were not receiving the same high amount of praise.
It’s interesting that even these two genius artists, who achieved the loftiest heights of musical creativity, composition and performance, were still human, and at times experienced feelings of rivalry, envy and even some moments of self doubt.
But ultimately, they did not let these feelings eclipse their friendship and admiration for each other.
Frederic Chopin
The two artists met for the last time in December 1845.
In November 1849, a few weeks after Chopin’s death, Liszt had a statue made in memory of Chopin, the first in the world, and also began writing the world’s first biography on Chopin’s life and work.
One of Franz Liszt's pianos and his painting from Franz Liszt museum in Hungary
In his decision to write a book on Chopin, Liszt was motivated by several factors.
With the deaths of Chopin and Mendelssohn , the generation of early Romantics lost two of its greatest figures.
By the end of the 1840s the artistic movement associated with the names Schumann, Hiller, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Chopin and Liszt seemed to be ending.
One of Frederic Chopin's pianos
Liszt slowly came to feel himself alone, one of the last remaining representatives of a romantic trend.
Recognition of the place of the arts and the calling of the artist was not widespread in public thinking at the time.
As Liszt’s earlier writings make clear, the notion of artistic heritage was always central to his thinking, as was the teaching of the arts and music and the circumstances and social role of the artist.
It was Liszt’s intention to free the artist from all limitations and constraints so that artists would be able to follow the promptings of inspiration.
He demanded, almost obsessively, that artists be given the appropriate reverence, and respect, because only then could be realized the romantic philosophy .
Liszt’s book about Chopin should be considered, not so much as a regular biography, but more importantly, as a portrayal of a great artist and admired friend.
Liszt’s inspired depiction of Chopin and the world in which he lived and moved is captivating.
It teems with romantic flights of fancy, like a painting, visions of landscapes, and literary quotations.
His book shows the influence of the spirit of French Romanticism of the age.
Using references to works by Dante, Petrarch, Tasso, Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, and Miczkiewicz, proverbs and adages, and works of the visual arts, Liszt expresses not only the ideas he sought to put into words, but also the fundamental inspiration of his own compositions.
Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein worked together with Liszt on the book, helping primarily with descriptions of the Polish historical background.
The book was published in installments in the February through August 1851 issues La France Musicale and in 1852 later as a book by Escudier.
In 1874 Breitkopf Härtel suggested that it be published again in a revised format.
Breitkopf & Härtel suggested that it be published again in a revised format.
Liszt entrusted the task of reworking the text to Carolyne.
Given that he spent the vast majority of his time traveling, Liszt was unable to check the second edition, which was significantly expanded between 1876 and 1879 and hardly resembled the first, so its publication was cause for later misunderstandings.
He was understandably unable to make any unambiguous remarks concerning his girlfriend’s role in writing the book, but he did comment to Friedrich Niecks that the second edition “was written by Carolyne.”
The new Hungarian edition published by Gondolat Kiadó in 2010 in honor of the bicentennial of Chopin’s birth and of the upcoming bicentennial of Liszt’s, is a reprint of the translation of the original 1852 edition.
One of Franz Liszt's pianos
The style may seem a bit difficult to a reader of today, but the text nonetheless bears the most affinities with the spirit of Liszt’s era, the romantic world of which Liszt and Chopin were two of the leading artists.
It is a captivating book that will be particularly fascinating reading for those interested both in the life and art of Chopin and Liszt.
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The biographical information is from the article linked below. Keep in mind, the original article is a translation from Hungarian and may be difficult to read.
http://www.hungarianreview.com/article/liszt_on_chopin
One of Frederic Chopin's pianos