Chapter 2 - Master Liszt in Manchester, 1824

Summary

SYNOPSIS

From the end of July toward mid-August 1824 Liszt and his father visited the Manchester area, including the village of Cheetwood; there Liszt gave several performances and lost some—perhaps most—of his youthful compositions to fire. It may be assumed that Liszt became totally au fait with the Logerian system of pianoforte instruction when based at the home of Andrew Ward and his apprentice, Richard Hoffman Andrews in Cheetwood village near Manchester: a system that Ward introduced to the local community, Friedrich Kalkbrenner modified, and Liszt occasionally adopted. And given the “general playing” by Ward's “numerous pupils” at his Manchester Logerian school of works by “Clementi, Scarlatti, Mozart and Beethoven” it is not surprising to find Liszt entering publicly into the field of piano teaching two years later by publishing Books II and III of Muzio Clementi's Préludes et exercices with his added fingering and metronome marks.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS, July-August 1824

31 July Liszt and his father arrive at Andrew Ward's house in Cheetwood village.

1 August Liszt's Érard piano arrives at the Theatre Royal in Manchester.

2 August Liszt performs at the Theatre Royal, Manchester.

4 August Liszt performs at the Theatre Royal, Manchester.

6 August Liszt performs at the Theatre Royal, Manchester.

7, 8, or 9 August Liszt and his father leave Cheetwood village for the Port of London.

CORRESPONDENCE

There are no known letters from or to Liszt or his father during this period.

WORKS PERFORMED BY LISZT

2 August Hummel: Grand Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 89.

2 August Moscheles: Grand Variations on The Fall of Paris with orchestral accompaniment.

4 August Czerny: Reichstadt Waltz with Brilliant Variations for piano and orchestra, Op. 14.

6 August Nothing is known of the works Liszt performed on 6 August.

Liszt and his father left the White Horse Inn, Fetter Lane, London, in an Edward Sherman “Telegraph” coach on the afternoon of 30 July. After travelling through Barnet, St. Albans, Northampton, Leicester, Derby, Leek, and Macclesfield, they arrived in Market Street, Manchester, twenty-four hours later. It was a tedious journey of some 186 miles, euph-emistically described in the Manchester Mercury as “expeditious.”