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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 May 2019
When Franz Liszt died, the world lost an innovative composer, mentor, and pianist. Although his influence did not die with him, few of his successors can claim to have walked in his footsteps – to have lived and taught in the same rooms – and to have shared many of his ideals. Ferruccio Busoni did just that when the Grand Duke Carl Alexander invited him to hold piano master classes in Weimar in 1900 and 1901, just as he had invited Liszt to do nearly two decades earlier (1881–1885).
This article shows how Liszt's activities in Weimar as Pedagogue and as Kapellmeister (1848–1861) became models for Busoni as he sought to position himself as a prominent ‘musical polymath’ at the turn of the century. Yet Busoni not only emulated Liszt, he also promoted him in an age when the older composer was considered of only tangential importance.
By producing authoritative editions of Liszt's music, and perhaps more significantly, by emulating Liszt's activities as a transcriber and composer, Busoni enhanced piano sonority while extending Liszt's ideas about the future of music. In that way, he shared attitudes associated with the Zukunftsmusik movement, and his outlook was rooted in Liszt's compositions, as opposed to Richard Wagner's. At the same time, he helped foster a lineage of young musicians who patterned their careers and music after Liszt.
Drawing on surviving memoirs, letters, scores, essays and concert programmes, this article thus explores Liszt's impact on Busoni and his mentees. It reveals a musician not only emulating Liszt, but also expanding upon his ideas and promoting them to others.
I am grateful to David Trippett and other anonymous readers for their comments on this article. In addition, thanks are due the following people for their insights about Liszt and/or assistance locating archival materials: Alan Walker, Evelyn Liepsch (Goethe-Schiller Archive), Jean-Christophe Gero (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin), Apel Maximilian (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin), Zsuzsanna Domokos (Liszt Research Institute and Museum in Budapest), and Mária Eckhardt (Liszt Research Institute and Museum in Budapest).
1 Die musikalische Sonne, welche mit Liszt's Tode untergegangen, gewinnt durch Busoni wieder neuen Glanz. Er erwärmt durch die Macht seiner Kunst, womit er die Entwicklung in jedem Einzelnen zur Blüte gebracht hat. Es ist der Wunsch aller seiner Schüler, dass es ihm vergönnt sein möge, sich auch fernerhin durch den Zauber seiner Kunst, durch seinen fascinierenden, geistvollen Umgang musikalischen Einfluss in der Künstlerwelt zu erringen.’ Mirus, Adolf, ‘Die Meisterschule von Busoni zu Weimar’, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 97 (1901): 464Google Scholar. All translations are mine unless otherwise indicated.
2 Although Busoni had proven to be an effective teacher since his first position in 1888 at the Helsinki Music Institute, he considered giving piano lessons in traditional institutions to be drudgery. Teaching appointments at the Helsinki Music Institute (1888–90), the Moscow Conservatory (1890–91), and the New England Conservatory (1891–92) ended in frustration. Busoni was hindered by restrictions on lesson time, an emphasis on technique, and little control over the student selection processes, among other things. Never desiring to teach in an institutional setting again (even though he continued to teach privately), Busoni turned down teaching jobs to focus on a performing career. For more information about these early appointments and Busoni's Weimar invitation, see the following sources: Beaumont, Antony, Busoni the Composer (London: Faber and Faber, 1985)Google Scholar; Dent, Edward, Ferruccio Busoni: A Biography (1933; London: Eilenburg Books, 1974)Google Scholar; Knyt, Erinn, ‘Ferruccio Busoni and the New England Conservatory: Piano Pedagogue in the Making’, American Music 31/3 (2013): 277–313CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sitsky, Larry, Busoni and the Piano: The Works, the Writings and the Recordings (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986)Google Scholar; Stuckenschmidt, H.H., Ferruccio Busoni: Chronicle of a European, trans. Morris, Sandra (London: Calder and Boyars, 1970)Google Scholar; Wis, Roberto, ‘Ferruccio Busoni and Finland’, Acta musicologica 40/2 (1977): 250–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3 Unter allen Interpreten der Klavierwerke Liszt's steht Busoni für unsere Zeit und wahrscheinlich auch für die Zukunft in ganz erster Linie, sowohl durch seine Verständnis für die Tradition von Weimar, wie durch seine ästhetische, kulturelle Begabung, wie ‘last not least’ durch seine fabelhafte, unerreichte Klaviertechnik. Hans Huber ‘Liszt and Busoni’, Basler Nachrichten, 10 January 1917.
4 By contrast, Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, Hugo Wolf, and Claude Debussy, for instance, can be viewed as following Wagner's vision of Zukunftsmusik.
5 See, for instance, Deaville, James and Saffle, Michael, eds, Liszt's Legacies (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2014)Google Scholar and Cormac, Joanne, Liszt and the Symphonic Poem (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
6 Sitsky, Busoni and the Piano, 211.
7 For a comparison of literature about Busoni and Liszt, see ‘Busoni e Liszt’ www.rodoni.ch/busoni/cronologia/Note/notecrono9303.html (accessed 24 June 2015). The website contains excerpts on the topic from several authors, including Sergio Sablich, Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt, and Larry Sitsky, among others.
8 Busoni, letter of 2 August 1907 to his wife, in Busoni, Ferruccio, Letters to his Wife [1938], trans. Ley, Rosamond (New York: Da Capo Press, 1975), 211Google Scholar.
9 See Sitsky, Busoni and the Piano, 209.
10 Edward Dent, Ferruccio Busoni, 24–6. If true, this anecdote seems to be a misrepresentation, as Liszt is known to have written letters of recommendation.
11 Dent, Ferruccio Busoni, 85. For more information about the Busoni–Liszt connection, including how Liszt's music helped develop Busoni's technical acumen, see Leichtentritt, Hugo, Ferruccio Busoni (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1916), 18Google Scholar. Although not recent, both of these biographies were written by people who knew Busoni well, and they can be considered first-hand accounts of Busoni's life. Dent is also known to have studied many letters by Busoni when preparing his manuscript. His collection of Busoni documents is found in Kings College, Cambridge.
12 Busoni, letter of mid-September, 1888, to Henri and Petri, Kathi, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, trans. and ed. by Beaumont, Antony (New York: Columbia University Press, 1987), 34Google Scholar.
13 H.H. Stuckenschmidt, Ferruccio Busoni: ‘Chronicle of a European’, 22–3.
14 The information in Table 1 is compiled from an appendix in Dent, Ferruccio Busoni, where he lists the first time pieces appear on Busoni recital programmes. The Table does not take into account the frequency at which compositions were repeated or reprogrammed.
15 This information is gleaned primarily from Dent, Ferruccio Busoni, 317–31. The year of the first performance by Busoni is in parentheses.
16 See, for instance, Busoni's essays about the future of music [1922], in The Essence and Oneness of Music, trans. Ley, Rosamond (London: Rockliff, 1957)Google Scholar and his Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, trans. Baker, Theodore (New York: Schirmer, 1911)Google Scholar, published for the first time in German in 1907.
17 Busoni, Letter of 10 June 1903 to Egon Petri, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 68. It is unclear how Busoni learned of this anecdote.
18 For more information about Busoni's treatment of form and extra-musical ideas, see Knyt, Erinn, ‘Ferruccio Busoni and the Absolute in Music: Form, Nature and Idee’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association 137/1 (2012): 35–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
19 Busoni, ‘Biographical and Critical Study Drawn up as a Foundation to the Proposed Collected Edition of Liszt's Pianoforte Works’, in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 144.
20 Busoni, letter of 4 June 1913 to Egon Petri, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 166. See also Busoni, letter of 15 April 1917 to Hans Reinhart, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 258 and Busoni, ‘The Theory of Orchestration’ [1905] in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 35; Busoni, ‘The Essence and Oneness of Music’ [1922], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 7.
21 Busoni, ‘Routine’ [1911], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 185.
22 Busoni, ‘Open Letter about Liszt’ [1916], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 139.
23 Busoni, letter of 20 October 1916 to José Vianna da Motta, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 250–51.
24 Busoni, letter of 22 March 1920 to Philipp Jarnach, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 306.
25 Busoni, ‘Biographical and Critical Study Drawn up as a Foundation to the Proposed Collected Edition of Liszt's Pianoforte Works’, 144.
26 Busoni, , Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, trans. Baker, Theodore (New York: Schirmer, 1911)Google Scholar. This is a slightly modified version of the text that was first published in German in 1907.
27 Busoni, ‘Report on the Division of the Whole Tone into Three Parts’ [1922], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 30.
28 Daniel Ortuno-Stühring, ‘Liszt's “Heirs” and the New German School after 1861’, in Liszt's Legacies.
29 For more about the topic of the perception of disparity between Liszt's status as a composer and as a performer, see Trippett, David, ‘Après une Lecture de Liszt: Virtuosity and Werktreue in the “Dante” Sonata’, 19th-Century Music, 32/1 (2008): 52–93Google Scholar. See also Gooley, Dana, The Virtuoso Liszt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 13Google Scholar; Samson, Jim, Virtuosity and the Musical Work (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
30 Busoni, letter of 14 December 1895 to Ludwig von Bösendorfer, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 54. James Deaville claims that even Liszt's arrangements were avoided by pianists by the 1920s as notions of Werktreue gained in prominence. James Deaville, ‘Liszt's Transcriptions and Authenticity’, in Liszt's Legacies, 167.
31 Heuss, Alfred Valentin, ed., Erläuterungen zu Franz Liszts Symphonien und Sinfonischen Dichtungen: Band-Ausgabe der ‘Kleinen Konzertführer’ (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1912)Google Scholar. However, Busoni was not the first to make this Beethovinian connection. It may have come from Liszt himself, and is articulated by his followers and Franz Brendel in the press in the 1850s.
32 Liszt, , ‘About Beethoven's Music to Egmont’ [1854], The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt: Dramaturgical Leave: Essays about Musical Works for the Stage and Queries about the Stage, Its Composers, and Performers, vol. 3, pt. 1, ed. Hall-Swadley, Janita R. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013), 90–94Google Scholar; Liszt, ‘About Mendelssohn's Music to Midsummer Night's Dream’ [1854], in The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt, vol. 3, pt. 1, 104.
33 The level of Liszt contributions to the article might never be resolved. Liszt and Sayn-Wittgenstein, , ‘Berlioz and his “Harold” Symphony’ [1855], trans. Strunk, Oliver, in Source Readings in Music History, ed. Strunk, Oliver, rev. Treitler, Leo (New York: W.W. Norton, 1998), 1161–3Google Scholar.
34 Liszt and Sayn-Wittgenstein, ‘Berlioz and his “Harold” Symphony’, 1168.
35 Busoni, ‘How I Compose’ [1907], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 50–51.
36 For a richer description of these issues, see Knyt, ‘Ferruccio Busoni and the Absolute in Music; Knyt, , ‘How I Compose: Ferruccio Busoni's Views about Invention, Quotation, and the Compositional Process’, Journal of Musicology 27/2 (2010): 224–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
37 Busoni, ‘Open Letter About Liszt’, in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 139.
38 See Busoni, ‘The Essence and Oneness of Music’, 1–16.
39 Busoni, ‘The Essence and Oneness of Music’, 1.
40 Busoni, ‘The Theory of Orchestration’ [1905], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 35.
41 The project was brought to an untimely end due to political issues, and thus, editions of Liszt's organ works, along with several of his works for piano and orchestra and some of his transcriptions were never completed. For more information about the edition, including information about reprints, see Saffle, Michael, Franz Liszt: A Research and Information Guide, 3rd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2009)Google Scholar. For more information about Busoni's disagreements with the other editors, see Hamilton, ‘Liszt's Legacy to his Students’, in Liszt's Legacies, 102–3.
42 Busoni completed this piece, which Liszt left incomplete, in 1912. In the process, Busoni made substantial revisions, including eliminating the pages devoted to the music of Don Giovanni.
43 The German here is ‘gedruckte aber unveröffentlichte Stücke’. Busoni, letter of 26 August 1907 to Petri, Egon, in Briefe an Henri, Katharina und Egon Petri, ed. Weindel, Martina (Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel, 1999), 89Google Scholar.
44 Busoni, letter of 26 August 1907 to Egon Petri, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 86. In a letter to Petri the following year, Busoni wrote that he had ‘discovered a music dealer in Vienna with many old volumes of Liszt’. Busoni, letter of 2 May 1908 to Egon Petri, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 88. Liszt sent a set of four pieces to his publisher (S. 159) – Lento, Allegro, Andante placido, and Tarantelles napolitaines. Although an initial proof was created, the pieces were not issued during Liszt's lifetime. The latter two pieces of the set were later revised for inclusion of Book II of the Années, S. 162. Arnold, Ben, ‘Piano Music: 1835–1861’, in The Liszt Companion, ed. Arnold, Ben (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002), 88–9Google Scholar.
45 Liszt-Stiftung, Franz, eds., Franz Liszt's Musikalische Werke, ed., Werke, Pianoforte, Vol. III, Etüden, ed. Busoni (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1912), III–IVGoogle Scholar.
46 This open approach to the various versions can be seen as aligning with some current editing approaches, as, for instance, the Online Chopin Variorum Project, in which users construct their own edition from images of manuscripts and first editions. Busoni however, took a ‘less pure’ approach, in that his was primarily a performance edition.
47 Bach, Johann Sebastian, Das Wohltemperierte Clavier, ed. Busoni, Ferruccio, vol. 1 (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1894)Google Scholar. Busoni, ‘Biographical and Critical Study Drawn up as a Foundation to the Proposed Collected Edition of Liszt's Pianoforte Works’,
48 Busoni's textual passages could be seen as aligning with Liszt's occasional practice of providing prefaces to his own music, such as in selected symphonic poems).
49 Busoni, arr., Réminiscences de ’Don Juan’, S. 418, by Liszt (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1918), 34–9. For a more extensive analysis of Busoni's version, see Sitsky, Busoni and the Piano, 230–31.
50 Busoni, Preface to Liszt's Réminiscences de ’Don Juan’, S. 418 (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1918). For more about Busoni's view of Liszt's interpretation of Mozart's Don Juan, see Rosen, Charles, The Romantic Generation (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 540Google Scholar. Busoni recorded his version on 16 March for Welte in Freiburg (Welte 1323). The piano roll was reissued as a CD in 1988: Ferruccio Busoni Performs Franz Liszt, Welte Legacy of Recorded Treasures (Recorded Treasures CD-1).
51 Ferruccio Busoni Performs Franz Liszt,.
52 For a list of the pieces performed in these recitals, see Sitsky, Larry, Busoni and the Piano: The Works, The Writings, and the Recordings, 2nd ed. (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2009), 211Google Scholar.
53 Busoni, letter of 24 March 1910 to H.W. Draber, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 106.
54 Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives, http://archives.bso.org/Search.aspx?SearchType=Performance&Composer=Liszt&StartTime=1881&EndTime=1892 (7 July 2018).
55 ‘Boston Symphony Orchestra’, The Washington Post, 7 December 1892.
56 Busoni, letter of 23 June 1920 to Volkmar Andreae, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 311. The programme for the London concert, on 22 June 1920, is in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn Archiv, Mus. Nachl. F. Busoni, E, 1920, 13A. He conducted the Faust symphony on 22 April 1914, 1 May 1914, and 10 May 1914 in Italy.
57 Les deux premiers ici sont très bien reussi. La Symphonie Faust fut une revelation pour la ville, qui s'etait consacrée au rite Wagnerien, et qui fut bouleversée par la decouverte de l’origine de plusiers procedés du maître preferé. L'arrangement du Theatre ‘Communale’ a sale de Concert presente un aspect de haute festivité et du meilleur goût. Busoni, letter of 29 April 1914 to Isidor Philipp, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn Archiv, N. Mus. Nachl. F. Busoni, BI, 918C.
58 Programme of 5 May 1914, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn Archiv, N. Mus. Nachl. F. Busoni, E, 1914, 13; Programme of 5 March 1916, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn Archiv, N. Mus. Nachl. F. Busoni, E, 1916, 7.
59 Dent, Ferruccio Busoni, Appendix III, 332–6.
60 Untitled review, The Lady, July 1920, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn Archiv, N. Mus. Nachl. F. Busoni, F, 1920, 98.
61 For an English translation of Hoffmann's tale, consult Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus, ‘Albertine's Wooers’, in The Serapion Brethren, vol. II, trans. Ewing, Alex (London: George Bell and Sons, 1892)Google Scholar.
62 Busoni, letter of 18 August 1915 to Harriet Lanier, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 211.
63 Busoni, letter of 30 May 1921 to Edward Dent, in Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, 336. The use of an offstage chorus could have been inspired by the finale of Liszt's ‘Dante Symphony’.
64 For a description of Liszt's practices of revision and re-composition see Samson, Virtuosity and the Musical Work, 107. Busoni also described this process in his short essay, ‘Wert der Bearbeitung’, in Von der Einheit der Musik: von Dritteltönen und Junger Klassizität, von Bühnen und Bauten, und anschliessenden Bezirken, Verstreute Aufzeichnungen, ed. Weindel, Martina (Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel, 2006)Google Scholar. This essay originally appeared in a concert programme in Berlin, in November 1910.
65 Busoni's awareness of the different versions is expressed in his ‘Bibliographical and Critical Study Drawn up as a Foundation to the Proposed Collected Edition of Liszt's Pianoforte Works’ [1900], in The Essence and Oneness of Music and Other Papers, 143.
66 For more information about Busoni's transcription process and its indebtedness to Liszt, see Jonathan Kregor, ‘Legacies of the Composer-Pianist’, in Liszt's Legacies, 141–3.
67 Busoni, Preface to Liszt's Réminiscences de ’Don Juan’.
68 Duke Carl Alexander, letter of 1900 to Busoni, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn Archiv, N. Mus. Nachl. 4, 132.
69 Busoni, ‘Concert Program Notes’ [Zurich, April 1916], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 138. Wilhelm Ernst, renewed the invitation in 1901 after the death of the Grand Duke on 5 January 1901. It is unlikely that Busoni would have read any of the personal accounts of the students’ experiences during Liszt's master class as none were yet published, but the Grand Duke would have shared details about Liszt's approach with Busoni. Die Meisterschule von Busoni zu Weimar die von Sr. Königliche Hoheit dem hochseligen Grossherzog Carl Alexander dem Grossherzoglichen Hofpianisten Ferruccio Busoni im vorigen jahre erwiesens Gunst, die Räume des Tempel-Herrenhauses im Park zu Weimar für seine Unterrichtsstunden im Piano-Spiel benutzen zu dürfen, hat auch Seine Königliche Hoheit der jetzt regierende Grossherzog Wilhelm Ernst huldvoll erneuert. Demzufolge haben sich um den Künstler eine grosse Anzahl von Damen und Herren geschaart, welche ihm die Feinheiten seines Spiels abzulauschen bestrebt sind, die er auf den von Bechstein und Bösendorfer freundlichst zur Verfügung gestellten Flügeln ertönen lässt. Es erinnert dies an dieselbe Methode, mit welcher der verwigte Meister Franz Liszt seinen Piano-Unterricht erteilte. Neue Zeitschrift für Musik-Leipzig, 18 September 1902.
70 For correspondence between the two see Busoni, Ferruccio and da Motta, José Vianna, Briefwechsel 1898 bis 1921, ed. Beirão, Christine Wassermann and de Melo Beirão, José Manuel (Wilhelmshaven: F. Noetzel, 2004)Google Scholar.
71 There is little research about master classes. For more information about classes in institutional settings, see Knyt, ‘Ferruccio Busoni and the New England Conservatory’. This format remains common in German Musikhochschulen today.
72 See Zimdars, Richard Louis, ed., The Piano Masterclasses of Hans von Bülow: Two Participants’ Accounts (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993)Google Scholar.
73 Annette Hullah, Theodor Leschetitzky (London: John Lane, n.d.).
74 Gut, Serge, ‘Les dernières années d'enseignement de Liszt à travers les écrits de Carl Lachmund et August Göllerich’, Revue de Musicologie 90/1 (2004): 55–82Google Scholar; Walker, Alan, Living with Liszt: from the Diary of Carl Lachmund, An American Pupil of Liszt, 1882–1884, Franz Liszt Studies 4 (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1995)Google Scholar; Göllerich, August, The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt 1884–1886, ed. Jerger, Wilhelm, trans. Louis, Richard Zimdars (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996)Google Scholar. As Kenneth Hamilton has documented, many of Liszt's master class pupils also studied with him privately. Hamilton, ‘Liszt's Legacy to his Students’, 98–9. The same was true for Busoni's pupils.
75 Walker, Living with Liszt, 189.
76 ‘Liszt as Teacher: A Sketch by Jose Vianna da Motta’,.
77 Friedheim, Life and Liszt, 51 and Walker, Living with Liszt, 14.
78 The coffee hours were hosted by the Stahr sisters. Anna Stahr (1835–1909) also taught piano in Weimar.
79 Allan, Maud, My Life and Dancing (London: Everett & Co., 1908)Google Scholar.
80 Weigert, Marga, ‘Busoni at Weimar in 1901’, The Music Review 15:1 (1954), 47Google Scholar. It is unclear exactly how Busoni selected the pianists, but some – such as Petri – were personal acquaintances. Others had won notable awards for their playing or were well-reputed prodigies.
81 Allan, My Life and Dancing, 70
82 Allan, My Life and Dancing, 70.
83 Liszt usually had around 35 students during the peak of the summer.
84 Many of the students are listed in Mirus, ‘Die Meisterschule von Busoni zu Weimar’, 463–4.
85 H.W. Draber was a Silesian-born flautist, musicologist and critic. He studied piano with Busoni at Weimar and later became an assistant.
86 William Smythe Babcock and Blanche Dingley, eds, Music: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Art, Science, Technic (May 1900–Oct. 1900), 486.
87 Petri, Egon, ‘How Ferruccio Busoni Taught: An Interview with the Distinguished Dutch Pianist Egon Petri’, interview by Rothe, Friede F., Etude 58 (1940): 657Google Scholar.
88 Dent, Ferruccio Busoni, 126.
89 Hoffzimmer, Ernest, The Musical Memory (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1931), 13Google Scholar. He later became a professor of piano at Indiana University.
90 Petri, ‘How Ferruccio Busoni Taught’, 657.
91 See, for instance, Busoni, ‘The Requirements Necessary for a Pianist’ [1910], and ‘Rules for Practicing the Piano’ [1898], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 80–81.
92 Petri, ‘How Ferruccio Busoni Taught’, 657.
93 Draber, quoted in H.H. Stuckenschmidt, Ferruccio Busoni: ‘Chronicle of a European’, 185.
94 Busonis Haupttätigekeit besteht hier im Erteilen des Unterrichts. Seine Art darin ist eine ganz individuelle. Zunächst hat das Ganze mehr den Anstrich einer Freundschaft zwischen Lehrer und Schüler, dadurch ist das Verhältnis zwischen beiden Teilen ein viel offeneres und freieres. Selten wird man so klare Erläuterungen, so scharfsinnige, treffliche Bezeichnungen und Ausdrücke beim Unterricht hören, wie sie Busoni zur Verfügung stehen. Das was er angiebt, ist alles eigenstes Produkt des Geistes und der Erfahrung. [ … ] Als seine Aufgabe hat sich dieser Mann nun vorgenommen, den nötigen jungen Nach wuchs in möglicher Vollkommenheit zu erziehen, doch zunächst nur als Musiker. Unbewusst jedoch bildet er auch den geistigen Menschen in ihnen dadurch, dass er einen Teil seiner Schüler alltäglich nach Tisch um sich versammelt und dann ernste und heitere Konversation mit ihnen pflegt. Dabei geht es manchmal ziemlich hoch her, denn in diesem Kreise kann jeder frei seine Meinung äußern, da hören Patriotismus, persönliche Verehrung und Pietät auf. ‘Busoni in Weimar’, Rheinische Musikzeitung, 23 August 1901.
95 Busoni, ‘The Pianoforte Should be Esteemed’ [1910], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 79.
96 Kestenberg performed both Liszt concertos on 4 January 1908, in the Berlin Singakademie with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Busoni. Kestenberg is best known for his work as Prussian Culture Minister, in which capacity he granted Busoni a prominent teaching position in composition at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin from 1921–1924. He later managed the Palestine Orchestra from 1938–1945, which was renamed the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1948.
97 He stated in a letter to Robert Freund, dated 12 September 1900, that the master class was ending in a few days ‘Etelka Freund’, http://arbiterrecords.org/music-resource-center/etelka-freund/ (accessed 10 February 2017).
98 Busoni, ‘The Pianoforte Genius’ [1912], in The Essence of Music and Other Papers, 83.
99 Bomberger, E. Douglas, ‘Charting the Future of Zukunfstmusik: Liszt and the Weimar Orchesterschule’, The Musical Quarterly 80/2 (1996): 348CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
100 Kestenberg, Leo, ‘Briefwechsel mit Ferruccio Busoni’ Gesamelte Schriften, vol. 3, I Briefwechsel, ed. Gruhn, Wilfried (Freiburg: Rombach Verlag, 2010)Google Scholar. See also Fontaine, Susanne, Mahlert, Ulrich, Schenk, Dietmar and Weber-Lucks, Theda, eds, Leo Kestenberg: Musikpedägoge und Musikpolitiker in Berlin (Berlin: Rombach Verlag, 2008)Google Scholar.
101 Initially a cellist, Ganz had to switch instruments when in a fit of rage he broke his cello and his father refused to buy him another instrument. He studied piano with Robert Freund and composition with Charles Blanchet at the Lausanne Conservatory. He began studying with Busoni in Berlin in 1899 and worked with him for one year. Ganz made his debut at Berlin's Beethovensaal on 7 December 1899 with the Berlin Philharmonic (Chopin 1, Beethoven 5, Liszt Hungarian Fantasy) four months later he made his conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic. Florenz Ziegfeld happened to be in Berlin at the time (May 1900) and invited him to join the piano department at the Chicago Musical College. Ganz's Berlin students include Edward Collins, Edna Gunnar Peterson, Leo Miller, Mollie Margolies, Charles Haubiel and Edward Ballantine.
102 His students include Victor Borge, Gunnar Johansen, Earl Wild and John Ogdon. Petri studied one intensive year with Busoni and he also studied with Carreño and Felix Draeseke (composition). Julian White, conversations with the author of various dates between 1997 and 2004.
103 For more detailed discussions, see Knyt, Erinn, Ferruccio Busoni and his Legacy (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
104 Knyt, Ferruccio Busoni and His Legacy, 56.
105 For more about Varese's studies with Busoni, see Knyt, Ferruccio Busoni and His Legacy, 93–8.
106 Schoenberg, Arnold, ‘Franz Liszt's Work and Being’ [1911], in Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg, ed. Stein, Leonard, trans. Black, Leo (New York: St Martin's Press, 1975), 443–4Google Scholar. See also James Wright, ‘Schoenberg's Liszt: ‘Greater than an Artist: A Prophet’,’ in Liszt's Legacies, 280–99.
107 Deaville and Saffle, Liszt's Legacies.