y
affirm it. But outsiders ask: How is it, then, that so great a virtuoso
has not trained players who have made the world ring with their fame?
Mr. Halle, whilst pointing out the fact that Chopin's pupils have not
distinguished themselves, did not wish to decide whether this was owing
to a deficiency in the master or to some other cause. Liszt, in speaking
to me on this subject, simply remarked: "Chopin was unfortunate in his
pupils--none of them has become a player of any importance, although
some of his noble pupils played very well." If we compare Liszt's
pianistic offspring with Chopin's, the difference is indeed striking.
But here we have to keep in mind several considerations--Chopin taught
for a shorter period than Liszt; most of his pupils, unlike Liszt's,
were amateurs; and he may not have met with the stuff out of which great
virtuosos are made. That Chopin was unfortunate in his pupils may
be proved by the early death of several very promising ones. Charles
Filtsch, born at Hermannstadt, Transylvania (Hungary), about 1830, of
whom Liszt and Lenz spoke so highly (see Chapter XXVI.), died on May
11, 1845, at Venice, after having in 1843 made a sensation in London and
Vienna, both by the poetical and technical qualities of his playing. In
London "little Filtsch" played at least twice in public (on June 14 at
the St. James's Theatre between two plays, and on July 4 at a matinee
of his own at the Hanover Square Rooms), repeatedly in private, and had
also the honour to appear before the Queen at Buckingham Palace. J. W.
Davison relates in his preface to Chopin's mazurkas and waltzes (Boosey
& Co.) a circumstance which proves the young virtuoso's musicianship.
"Engaged to perform Chopin's second concerto in public, the orchestral
parts not being obtainable, Filtsch, nothing dismayed, wrote out the
whole of them from memory." Another short-lived great talent was Paul
Gunsberg. "This young man," Madame Dubois informed me, "was endowed
with an extraordinary organisation. Chopin had made of him an admirable
executant. He died of consumption, otherwise he would have become
celebrated." I do not know in which year Gunsberg died. He was still
alive on May 11, 1855. For on that day he played with his fellow-pupil
Tellefsen, at a concert given by the latter in Paris, a duet of
Schumann's. A third pupil of Chopin prematurely snatched away by death
was Caroline Hartmann, the daughter of a manufacturer, born at Munster,
near Col