November 2008

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Liszt, Grandes Etudes de Paganini no.6

Liszt, Grandes Etudes de Paganini no.6

II was dreaming about a tattoo parlour called “Graceland”, in which people pay to be marked by branding irons, when my phone buzzed under the pillow. A text message said: “There is going to be an opera sat eve in williamsburg. To be inside a one hundred year old restored building.” I fell back asleep, and in a new dream I went to the opera. Packed house, the scent of crinoline. I shuffled in with the crowd, worried that there’s no room for me. Did I buy a ticket? I didn’t buy a ticket! One by one, the seats filled. Shifting from foot to foot, I skimmed the sea of hair-do’s and spotted the last empty seat, toward the back. Sorry, excuse me, pardon me, sorry. The Last Empty Seat had been saved for me: there was a red rose lain diagonally across its cushion.

The Last Empty Seat has been saved for me, but by whom?
The Last Empty Seat has been saved for me, but why?

Until November 16th, the Morgan Library is running an exhibit called “Liszt in Paris“, featuring the letters, manuscripts, and first editions from the Hungarian pianist’s time in the City of Light. Only twelve years old when he arrived in Paris in 1823, Franz Liszt was denied entry to the Conservatoire (due to a recent law banning foreigners), but by 1830 he had started to situate himself well within the city’s cultural and monied circles. His red hair, good looks and precocious technique had become trademarks: everybody loved Liszt!

At a benefit concert in April, 1831, Liszt heard the violinist Paganini’s “24 Caprices” for the first time and was invigorated. He determined that he should play the piano as Paganini did the violin, with a technical and expressive mastery hitherto unknown. By 1838 his Études d’exécution transcendante d’après Paganini was completed. The two composers remained friends until Paganini’s gruesome death in 1840. I find it touching that the elder Paganani influenced Liszt so profoundly.

If you live in New York City, get yourself to the Morgan Library! Admission is free on friday nights, with a classical ensemble on the ground floor. There’s also an exhibit of the Babar drawings…you remember Babar don’t you?

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