the acquisition of a technic was solely to enable the pupil to
explore the world of music equipped in such a way that he was not to be
overcome by anything. The everlasting continuance of technical exercises
was looked upon by Koehler as a ridiculous waste of time and a great
injury.

"I also hold this opinion. Let us suppose that I were to sit at the
piano for six or seven hours and do nothing but play conventional finger
exercises. What happens to my soul, psychologically considered, during
those hours spent upon exercises which no man or woman could possibly
find anything other than an irritation? Do not the same exercises occur
in thousands of pieces but in such connection that the mind is
interested? Is it necessary for the advanced pianist to punish himself
with a kind of mental and physical penance more trying, perhaps, than
the devices of the medieval ascetics or the oriental priests of to-day?
No, technic is the Juggernaut which has ground to pieces more musicians
than one can imagine. It produces a stiff, wooden touch and has a
tendency to induce the pianist to believe that the art of pianoforte
playing depends upon the continuance of technical exercises whereas the
acquisition of technical ability should be regarded as the beginning and
not the end. When pupils leave your schools you say that they are having
a 'Commencement.' The acquisition of a technic is only the commencement,
unfortunately too many consider it the end. This may perhaps be the
reason why our conservatories turn out so many bright and proficient
young people who in a few years are buried in oblivion.

WITH LISZT

"When I had reached a certain grade of advancement it was my great
fortune to become associated with the immortal Franz Liszt. I consider
Liszt the greatest man I have ever met. By this I mean that I have never
met, in any other walk of life, a man with the mental grasp, splendid
disposition and glorious genius. This may seem a somewhat extravagant
statement. I have met many, many great men, rulers, jurists, authors,
scientists, teachers, merchants and warriors, but never have I met a man
in any position whom I have not thought would have proved the inferior
of Franz Liszt, had Liszt chosen to follow the career of the man in
question. Liszt's personality can only be expressed by one word,
'colossal.' He had the most generous nature of any man I have ever met.
He had aspirations to become a great composer, greater than his own