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The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt Volume 1 F. Chopin Edited and Translated by }anita R. Hall-Swadley I THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2011 Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http:/ /www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2011 by }anita R. Hall-Swadley All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Liszt, Franz, 1811-1886. [Literary works. English] The collected writings of Franz Liszt I edited and translated by }anita R. Hall Swadley. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-o-8xo8-8101-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Music. 2. Chopin, Frederic, xSxo-1849· I. Hall-Swadley, }anita R., 1963- II. Title. ML410.L7A113 2011 780-dc22 2011003030 eTM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39·48-1992. Printed in the United States of America To Alan Walker and Michael Saffle Without your help, this project could not have been completed. !thank you Contents List of Figures vii Foreword by Jolanta T. Pekacz ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 Liszt as Author 4 Publishing F. Chopin 17 Liszt's Research Methodology 23 Liszt and Chopin: A Monumental Admiration 31 Translator's Notes 41 2 General Remarks about Chopin's Works 53 3 The Polonaises 73 4 The Mazurkas 93 5 Chopin's Virtuosity 125 6 Chopin's Character 155 7 Chopin's Youth 187 8 Lelia 211 9 Final Days and Hours 231 Appendix: Allegretto and Mazurka by Chopin 253 Bibliography 261 Index 279 About the Editor/Translator 293 v Figures Autograph draft ofLiszt's early article De Ia situation des artistes (1835), page 4 I2 2 Facsimile page from Liszt's introduction to his piano transcriptions of nos. 5, 6, and 7 ofBeethoven's symphonies, written ca. 1838, page 10 13 3 Excerpt from Paganini: A Eulogy (ca. I840), pages I-2 14 4 Chopin excerpt. Autograph by Liszt with corrections by Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein. Private possession, page I 15 5 "Publications pour le Piano (Kroll, Reinecke)." Manuscript in Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein's hand and title and outline in Liszt' s hand, page I I6 6 "Publications pour le Piano (Kroll, Reinecke)." Page 7 of manuscript in Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein's hand with si~nature and corrections by Liszt I7 7 Liszt, Etude en douze exercises, no. IO, mm. I-9 34-35 8 Chopin, Douze grandes etudes, op. IO no. 9, mm. I-6 35 9 Liszt, Douze grande etudes, no. IO, mm. 22-27 36 IO Liszt, Douze grande etudes, no. IO, mm. I-9 36-37 11 Liszt, Etudes d'execution transcendante, no. 10, mm. 22-27 37-38 I2 Traditional tarantella rhythm I45 13 Rhythmic pattern of the Krakowiak 207 14 Liszt, Melodies polonaises, measures 1-9 254 15 Liszt, second motive from Duo Sonata, excerpt 254 16 Chopin, Allegretto and Mazurka holograph 256 17 Chopin/Hall-Swadley, Allegretto in A Major, music score 257 18 Chopin/Hall-Swadley, Mazurka in D Minor, music score 258 vii Foreword Jolanta T. Pekacz Franz Liszt's F. Chopin occupies an ambiguous place in the vast literature on Frederick Chopin. On the one hand, it is recognized as a unique work written by a fellow musician of comparable stature, containing valuable observations about Chopin's music and his personality, and historically the first biographical work on Chopin. On the other hand, however, it began attracting criticism even before it was published, and its lambasting has continued until this day. A detailed questionnaire which Liszt sent to Chopin's sister Ludwika Jc;drzejewicz on 14 November 1849, just two weeks after Chopin's funeral, turned out to be a bone of contention. Ludwika likely considered the questionnaire insensitive, espe cially the questions regarding her brother's relationship with George Sand, and handed it over to Chopin's Scottish pupil and friend Jane Stirling, who answered some of its questions, albeit incompletely and cautiously, and evaded others. There is no evidence that Liszt used Stirling's answers. His sources consisted of his personal recollections, other people's memoirs, anecdotes without a clear provenance, and the current opinions, perceptions, and stereotypes about Poland and the Poles. It is widely agreed that a manuscript produced within a short time was the result of literary cooperation between Liszt and his companion at the time, Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, an aristocrat of Polish origin. Uncer tain of its quality, Liszt sent the manuscript for assessment, first to his friend, the music writer Joseph d'Ortigue (who apparently offered an overall positive opin ion), and then to the prominent literary critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve (who advised a complete rewriting but refused to get involved in the project). Liszt was not discouraged by Sainte-Beuve's thinly disguised criticism, nor did he undertake a thorough rewriting as far as scholars can tell. When the biogra phy appeared in Paris, first in installments in La France musicale in 1851 and then in book form in 1852, it was received with mixed feelings. Critics noted its factual errors, verbosity, and bombastic prose. Chopin's family was offended with Liszt's inaccurate statement that young Frederick's education was fmanced ix