left for Maurin to make something out of these terrible quartets.
Maurin had peculiar gifts. He had a lightness of bow which I have never
seen equalled by anyone and a lightness and charm which enchanted the
public. But I can say in all sincerity that Seghers's execution was even
better. Unfortunately for him I was his only listener.

Madame Seghers was a woman of great beauty, unusually intelligent and
distinguished. She had been one of Liszt's pupils and was a pianist of
first rank. But she was even more timid than her husband--a single
listener was sufficient to paralyze her. When Liszt was teaching Madame
Seghers, he came to appreciate her husband's real worth and entrusted
his daughter's musical education to him. This is sufficient indication
of the esteem in which Liszt held Seghers. So it was not surprising that
he gave me valuable and greatly needed suggestions in regard to style
and the piano itself, for his friendship with Liszt had given him a
thorough understanding of the instrument.

I first saw and heard Liszt at Seghers's house. He had reappeared in
Paris after long years of absence, and by that time he had begun to seem
almost legendary. The story went that since he had become chapel-master
at Weimar he was devoting himself to grand compositions, and, what
appeared unbelievable, "piano music." People who ought to have known
that Mozart was the greatest pianist of his time shrugged their
shoulders at this. As a climax it was insinuated that Liszt was setting
systems of philosophy to music.

I studied Liszt's works with all the enthusiasm of my eighteen years for
I already regarded him as a genius and attributed to him even before I
saw him almost superhuman powers as a pianist. Remarkable to relate he
surpassed the conception I had formed. The dreams of my youthful
imagination were but prose in comparison with the Bacchic hymn evoked by
his supernatural fingers. No one who did not hear him at the height of
his powers can have any idea of his performance.

* * * * *

Seghers was a member of the Societe des Concerts at the Conservatoire.
This reached only a restricted public and there was no other symphony
concert worthy of the name in Paris at the time. And if the public was
limited, the repertoire was even more so. Haydn's, Mozart's and
Beethoven's symphonies were played almost exclusively, and Mendelssohn's
were introduced with the greatest difficulty. Only fragments o