Wednesday, November 30, 2011

i'm so sorry franz liszt - for your music is so hard and beautiful

Franz Liszt.

How could I have mentioned the Masters - even Wagner - without
mentioning Franz Liszt.


A name that strikes fear in the heart of even the greatest of pianists - for
his music is among the most challenging ever - even making the rach 3
look like a finger exercise.


But what a Heart Liszt must have had.  For only a few minutes ago I invited
him into my living room while I played the hauntingly beautiful parts of his
beloved Liebestraume - blowing off the difficult parts of course. :  )
But even with mistakes - there is no mistaking the depth of the feeling that
comes from this Love Ballad.  And only those like me - who have known
the heartbreak of Unrequited Love can truly play Liebestraume and do it
justice - without the hard parts of course.


When I used to be a piano teacher I had a student who broke my heart becasue
he could have been the quinessential concert pianist - he had all the right
ingredients - not to mention that he was extremely intelligent.  I used to tell his
mother that I should be paying HIM to take lessons from me.

But alas - it was not to be.  Instead - he is a budding composer - and I hope
we will hear more from him.
~~~

Liszt - according to Harold C. Schonberg in his book The Lives of the Great
Composers  - established once and for all the genre of the bravura pianist -
coming out and and haughtily assulting the piano - shocking the 'purist'
musicians - who rarely lifted their fingers a few inches above the keyboard.

Oh to have seen this man perform - not to mention hearing the Master himself
play his own compositions.

Schonberg goes on to say that Franz Liszt was indeed an institution - even in
his old age - constantly surrounded by young pianists, composers, journalists,
sycophants (see below) and hangers-on.

In addition - Schonberg describes Liszt as although having white hair and  a
'notable collection of warts' on his face - this could not dim the 'ardent lover'
in the great musician.

Furthermore - women remained attracted to this amazing composer and pianist -
and a scandal ensued when one of his pupils tried to shoot him - and subsequently
herself.
~~~

One only has to hear the stains of Liebestraume - aka love dreams - to realize the
passion that spewed forth from the beloved notes.
~~~

Franz Liszt - thank you for what you have given us - and on a personal note - me.

For although I can never do justice to your music technically - I can reproduce
the passion that you may have felt when you composed it.



and really - that is all that matters




for your music belongs to the ages now





and to all of us



sycophant - someone who hangs around a celebrity trying
to suck up to him but not really caring about him kinda like
stalking

12 comments:

The Absolute Marxist said...

:)

sue hanes said...

Why thank you Abso.




now read my f*ing post - will ya?



:)

The Absolute Marxist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Absolute Marxist said...

I thank Goethe for the story... Liszt for the music. ;)

The Absolute Marxist said...

Oooops. Here's the English version. Sorry. :(

sue hanes said...

Abso - That was abso-lutely wonderful.

So cute and I loved the little lego men.


Surely it was put together by the Goethe Fan Club - of which Goethe would have approved.


Thank you for that.

Speedy G said...

De nada

sue hanes said...

'de nada'

speedy - that reminds me that i have yet to find my Rosetta Stone
so that i can continue my quest to not learn Spanish


:)

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

Can't you not learn it w/o the Stone?

sue hanes said...

-FJ - Good Point.

Quite Right.


But you see I am still getting my house in order and it would be nice just to sit there and let RS do the work.


Have you ever seen a Rosetta Stone
computer program, -FJ? They are really great. It cost $300 but is worth every penny. Not only totally educational but just plain fun.

The only reason that I am not speaking and writing Spanish after almost 4 years is due to my own laziness.

It is not the fault of the Stone.


I have tons of workbooks, Spanish dictionaries, even People mag. in Spanish. Sometimes I watch my movies with Spanish subtitles.

You name it - I've got it.


Now that I'm talking about it I think I'll get back to not learing Spanish.

:)

P.S. One of these days I expect to wake up and automatically start speaking Spanish.

:}

Speedy G said...

You will not learn it until you need to. Since you don't need to learn it, you don't.

I learned it because I needed to, and for no other reason.

sue hanes said...

Speedy - we'll see