crasy as a composer ran in parallel lines with
that of the player. Most of the works of this musician are brilliant,
charming, tender, melodious, full of captivating excellence, but
bright with the flash of fancy, rather than strong with the power
of imagination. We do not find in his piano-forte pieces any of that
subtile soul-searching force which penetrates to the deepest roots
of thought and feeling. Sundry musical cynics were wont to crush
Gottschalk's individuality into the coffin of a single epigram. "A
musical bonbon to tickle the palates of sentimental women." But this
falls as far short of justice as the enthusiasm of many of his admirers
overreaches it. The easy and genial temperament of the man, his ability
to seize the things of life on their bright side, and a naive indolence
which indisposed the artist to grapple with the severest obligations of
an art life, prevented Gottschalk from attaining the greatness possible
to him, but they contributed to make him singularly lovable, and to
justify the passionate attachment which he inspired in most of those
who knew him well. But, with all of Gottschalk's limitations, he must
be considered the most noticeable and able of pianists and composers for
the piano yet produced by the United States.
FRANZ LISZT.
The Spoiled Favorite of Fortune.--His Inherited Genius.--Birth and
Early Training.--First Appearance in Concert.--Adam Liszt and his Son
in Paris.--Sensation made by the Boy's Playing.--His Morbid Religious
Sufferings.--Franz Liszt thrown on his own Resources.--The Artistic
Circle in Paris.--Liszt in the Banks of Romanticism.--His Friends and
Associates.--Mme. D'Agoult and her Connection with Franz
Liszt.--He retires to Geneva.--Is recalled to Paris by the Thalberg
_Furore_.--Rivalry between the Artists, and their Factions.--He
commences his Career as Traveling Virtuoso.--The Blaze of Enthusiasm
throughout Europe.--Schumann on Liszt as Man and Artist.--He ranks the
Hungarian Virtuoso as the Superior of Thalberg.--Liszt's Generosity to
his own Countrymen.--The Honors paid to him in Pesth.--Incidents of
his Musical Wanderings.--He loses the Proceeds of Three Hundred
Concerts.--Contributes to the Completion of the Cologne Cathedral.--His
Connection with the Beethoven Statue at Bonn, and the Celebration of
the Unveiling.--Chorley on Liszt.--Berlioz and Liszt.--Character of the
Enthusiasm called out by Liszt as an Artist.--Remarkable Personality
as a Man.
|