Book Review: Wilhelm Jerger,eds,The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt,1884-1886: Diary Notes of August Göllerich

Master classes are a standard feature for applied music students in universities, colleges, conservatories, and music camps. They offer participants and observers a chance to learn from professional performers beyond the scope of private lessons. Studio classes likewise offer a similar format for public performance and critique. These forms of group teaching can be traced back to their originator, nineteenth-century composer and renowned pianist Franz Liszt. By the 1850s, Liszt taught primarily in class settings. Even well into his seventies, between 1884 and 1886, he taught over a hundred classes in Weimar, Rome, and Budapest. Students in attendance included virtuoso performers and teachers who established themselves throughout the musical capitals of Europe. One of Liszt’s students, August Göllerich became his secretary, recording Liszt’s comments and listing performers and repertoire in these final two years of classes. These accounts are contained in The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt, 1884-1886: Diary Notes of August Göllerich.

Göllerich wrote fourteen diaries during his work with Franz Liszt, six of which contain notes about Liszt’s master classes. Göllerich’s association with Liszt was a long one. He compiled the first catalogue of Liszt’s works and authored part of a Liszt biography. He was only twenty-six when he first met Liszt and, subsequently, his writing shows a youthful exuberance and reverence for the man he referred to throughout as the “master.” These initial writings were somewhat incomplete and informally presented. In 1973, Austrian musicologist and composer Wilhelm Jerger transcribed and published the diaries with explanatory notes. In 1996, Richard Louis Zimdars, a piano professor at the University of Georgia, translated and enlarged Jerger’s work with additional commentary, 152 musical examples (Jerger included only four), and a glossary with biographical sketches of composers and pupils in attendance. A paperback edition was issued in 2010.

Individual chapters are organized geographically and chronologically. Chapters 1 through 3 provide detailed information about a series of fifty-six master classes taught in Weimar between May 1884 and September 1885. Midway through chapter 3 commentary is omitted without explanation. Chapter 4 outlines twenty-nine master classes given in Rome from November 1885 to January 1886 and provides intermittent commentary for most of the classes. Chapters 5 and 6 list repertoire and performers from nine classes in Budapest in February and March of 1886 with more commentary in the former chapter. Chapters 7 and 8 list repertoire and some performers with commentary from an additional nine classes in Weimar in May and June 1886.

Göllerich gave the date of each class, often noting the time of day and length. He then listed composers, repertoire, and performers. Besides numerous works by Liszt, performers brought in the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, and Robert Schumann as well as Xaver Schwarenka, Anton Rubinstein, Joachim Raff, and others. Selections included solos, concertos, transcriptions, and occasional chamber music featuring the piano.

Liszt often taught through demonstration and the use of metaphors. There is minimal technical advice with most comments focused on composers’ styles, musical form, and a respect for the details of the printed score. Liszt addressed topics such as tempo, articulation, clarity, and balance of melody and accompaniment, always in an effort to bring out the musical essence of a work. Because Göllerich filled his diaries with quotations, we get a sense that Liszt could range from witty and encouraging to severe and judgmental, reserving his harshest criticism for players who were unprepared and for his own compositions.

Aside from the diary entries themselves, other items of interest include a chronology of Göllerich’s life, two appendices, a glossary, and an index. The chronology provides evidence of Göllerich’s qualifications and a lifelong interest in Liszt. The appendices offer two other students’ brief sketches of Liszt while the glossary furnishes the biographical background of the numerous musicians mentioned throughout the book. The index is particularly useful in locating information on specific compositions.

There are other published accounts of the teaching of Franz Liszt but what makes this book especially important is its comprehensiveness and the fact that the account was written by a witness while the class was underway. ¹ Although it covers only a few years late in Liszt’s life, hundreds of musical selections and ideas are discussed. Musical examples and quotations appear on almost every page and keep the material alive. The musical excerpts are particularly helpful for less familiar and out-of-print repertoire. Because Göllerich did not gloss over the derogatory statements Liszt made about contemporaries, such as Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, the material feels particularly authentic. ²

Educators and researchers would find this volume beneficial. Franz Liszt spoke with the authority as one who had performed most of the music presented numerous times in his long career (e.g., he stated that he had performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “several hundred times”) and as one who knew many of the composers personally (71). Piano students and teachers can find direct insight into performance practice of nineteenth-century piano literature. Although many of the works listed are no longer performed, there are numerous examples from the standard literature that advanced students still routinely study in lessons today. Less well known works would be worth exploring, perhaps through online public-domain databases such as the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP). The instances of technical advice contained in the lessons are still applicable to modern students as well. Historians of music and music education can glean information about how original master classes were taught as well as the varied nature of repertoire being performed by nineteenth-century pianists. Researchers interested in the life of Franz Liszt and program annotators seeking primary source material would find this a worthy investment.

Readers should be aware that the volume works best as a reference source rather than a text to read straight through, because of the repetitive nature of listed repertoire from hundreds of classes. This is especially true of the second half of the book. It is also unclear why Göllerich did not take notes on some works. Some of the expressions Liszt used remain vague to the modern reader even in translation, but they nevertheless add a colorful, authentic quality to writing. ³

Translator Richard Louis Zimdars notes this primary source provides “reliable” information that helps us understand the legacy and tradition of Liszt as a master teacher (ix). Given the scope of the classes presented in Göllerich’s diaries, Liszt’s energy for teaching and generosity for sharing his musical knowledge (he never charged anyone for these classes!) must have been incredibly inspiring to experience. Through Zimdars’s updated translation, the Liszt tradition can continue to impact piano pedagogy today and would be a welcome addition to many libraries.