tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6717274106260594383.post4868692126326251067..comments2024-01-10T17:22:13.898-08:00Comments on Mary Kunz Goldman - Music Critic: Liszt and BrahmsHoward Goldman http://www.blogger.com/profile/11835068305524570405noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6717274106260594383.post-46656448078491805712010-01-11T13:39:58.171-08:002010-01-11T13:39:58.171-08:00One quickie from the book and it's not a spoil...One quickie from the book and it's not a spoiler: Bulow learned to speak and write in English fairly well, and wrote the following admirable aphorism (in English) in an autograph album:<br /><br />"A true artist should hate respectability<br />And respect ability."Prof. Gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6717274106260594383.post-36101749970336333762010-01-11T13:18:07.557-08:002010-01-11T13:18:07.557-08:00Yes, the Bulow book is new and it's by Alan Wa...Yes, the Bulow book is new and it's by Alan Walker, who has also written a fascinating 3 volume bio of Liszt. I'm going to offer a Prof G know - it- all opinion, however, and opine that for all of its excellence, I think it suffers from a tiny defect that runs through the Liszt tomes; the author so admires the subject and wants to set records straight that hagiography occasionally peeps through. Still, both works are definitive reading for anyone interested in both people. I identify with Bulow. I have some talent, but am aware that it's not first class, and I have a depressive personality linked to a caustic viewpoint, as did Von Bulow. I do not share his anti-semitism. Still, I have the book and am glad someone did a full length bio in English. I'm also pleased that Norman Lebrecht, who I admire, gave it a favorable review. In his book on conductors, The Maestro Myth, Lebrecht described Bulow as a rape victim (emotionally).Prof Hans Von G.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6717274106260594383.post-58711117007722247302010-01-10T20:47:28.627-08:002010-01-10T20:47:28.627-08:00And Steven, thanks for the scholarship on the Lisz...And Steven, thanks for the scholarship on the Liszt picture. I just went through the whole thing matching up the people and things to what you wrote out. I should have recognized Rossini! I never would have recognized Joan of Arc.Mary Kunz Goldmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02691118577179541037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6717274106260594383.post-31409785436043536012010-01-10T20:46:21.498-08:002010-01-10T20:46:21.498-08:00Prof. G, that must be the new book on Hans von Bul...Prof. G, that must be the new book on Hans von Bulow, that just came out! Is it?? I am going to read it. Norman Lebrecht in the Wall Street Journal said it's good.Mary Kunz Goldmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02691118577179541037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6717274106260594383.post-73350799707095176512010-01-04T11:13:17.918-08:002010-01-04T11:13:17.918-08:00Caption reads...(I am not saying this is correct, ...Caption reads...(I am not saying this is correct, but it is on Wiki this way so...)<br /><br />Franz Liszt Fantasizing at the Piano (1840), by Danhauser, commissioned by Conrad Graf. The imagined gathering shows seated Alfred de Musset or Alexandre Dumas, père, George Sand, Franz Liszt, Marie d'Agoult; standing Hector Berlioz or Victor Hugo, Niccolò Paganini, Gioachino Rossini; a bust of Beethoven on the grand piano (a "Graf"), a portrait of Byron on the wall, a statue of Joan of Arc on the far left.pythagorashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11561877302449115710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6717274106260594383.post-75999891083789267762010-01-04T11:10:46.369-08:002010-01-04T11:10:46.369-08:00According to the caption for this painting on Wiki...According to the caption for this painting on Wikipedia, that bust over the Graf piano is of Beethoven. Based on most portraits we see of him, the bust here pictured must have been meant to portray Beethoven on a 'good hair' day.pythagorashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11561877302449115710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6717274106260594383.post-7909114712258846442010-01-04T06:41:39.728-08:002010-01-04T06:41:39.728-08:00An opinion exists that Brahms, who was on tour wit...An opinion exists that Brahms, who was on tour with the violinist Remenyi, was completely exhausted when they stopped to visit Liszt, and that's why he fell asleep. I don't know if the story is true, but Brahms did speak in awe of Liszt's playing( "We all can play the piano, but we only have a few fingers of his hands").<br /><br />I wonder where that story came from. I just finished a bio of Hans Von Bulow (umlaut over the "u") which demolishes a story about Bulow, told by Max Kalbeck, so thoroughly that it casts a shadow over the whole Kalbeck bio. Could the "Brahms asleep" story have appeared first in there and be just an anti Liszt-and-his-school canard?Prof. Gnoreply@blogger.com