Mason, William, 1829-1908; Musicians -- United States -- Biography
to his guests that it became associated with memories of Berlioz,
Rubinstein, Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, Joachim, and our immediate circle,
Raff, Bulow, Cornelius, Klindworth, Pruckner, and others. When I left
Weimar I took this copy with me as a souvenir, and still have it; and I
treasure it all the more for the marks of usage which it bears. I also
have a very old copy of the Handel "E Minor Fugue," which was given to
me by Dreyschock and which I studied with him and afterward with Liszt.
Dreyschock had evidently used this same copy when he studied the fugue
under Tomaschek. It has penciled figures indicating the fingering, made
by both Dreyschock and Liszt. A few years ago I missed this valuable
relic for a while, and was much grieved by my loss. Fortunately it was
discovered in the ash-barrel at the back of the house. Shades of
Tomaschek, Dreyschock, and Liszt!
LISZT CONDUCTING
In his conducting Liszt was not unerring. I do not know how far he may
have progressed in later years, but when I was in Weimar he had very
little practice as a conductor, and was not one of the highest class. He
conducted, however, and with good results on certain important
occasions, such as, for instance, when "Lohengrin" was produced.
On account of his strong advocacy of Wagner and modern music generally,
he had many enemies, as was to be expected of a man of his prominence.
If perchance a mishap occurred during his conducting there were always
petty critics on hand to take advantage of the opportunity and to
magnify the fault.
One of these occasions happened at the musical festival at Karlsruhe in
October, 1853, while he was conducting Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony." In
a passage where the bassoon enters on an off beat the player made a
mistake and came in on the even beat. This error, not the conductor's
fault, occasioned such confusion that Liszt was obliged to stop the
orchestra and begin over again, and the little fellows made the most of
this royal opportunity to pitch into him.
LISZT'S SYMPHONIC POEMS--REHEARSING "TASSO"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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