Liszt et le virtuose romantique (review)

For anyone interested in the breadth and development of musical culture in France in the 19^th century, Liszt et le virtuose romantique is an informative monograph, providing extensive information on instrumental music, virtuosity, and Liszt in particular. Despite the burdensome dissertation style - the book originates from Reynaud's doctoral thesis in Comparative Literature at Paris 3 in 2001 - one can clearly follow the progression from opera to instrumental music and the underlying significance this development has for the Romantic ethos of individuality, isolation, and a direct connection to God through music.

After an extensive chapter on the rise of instrumental music, Reynaud discusses in great detail the emergence of virtuosity, including the distancing of the term from its origins in virtú. Very interesting is the discussion of the expansion in fabrication and in technique of the pianoforte and the piano during the July Monarchy, including the accretion of a variety of specificities (sustaining features, which gave the illusion of a "singing" capacity [this is the bel canto period], rapid key action, which allowed for nuances and heightened control) that separated it from the harpsichord and the pianoforte, moving it to a position of more than a basso continuo. One is not surprised that Érard's development of rapid key action, to take just one example, is directly linked to Liszt's playing style and composition. From these technical advances grew a new reverence for the piano, and thus, with the help of Cherubini, piano classes were established at the Conservatoire in full recognition of the piano's newly acquired status. There follows a long discussion of the specifications of Liszt's own pianos.

Part 2 focuses on the state of musical criticism in France during this time, and more particularly on the role François-Joseph Fétis played therein. The growth of journalistic publications during the early 19^th century in France witnesses the ancillary development of concert reviews. Modeled on German publications (principally the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung), Fétis' Revue musicale (starting in 1827 ) combines music history and music criticism as well as æsthetics and a philosophical imperative inspired by Saint-Simonian precepts. Maurice Schlesinger's Gazette musicale takes over the marketplace after 1835, soon followed by a fusion of the two publications, under the title La Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris. The legacy of Fétis goes beyond his highly revered and wide-ranging journal; he also compiled La Bibliographie universelle des musiciens (1835), which provided a general history of music and a sort of "music for everyone" handbook. Reynaud's reason for going into such detail about Fétis is to observe the importance he places, in his reviews but especially in "Musique mise à la portée de tout le monde" section of the Bibliographie universelle, on the sensitivity to music appreciation and in particular on the alertness of listeners not just to an instrumentalist's technique but to the exploitation of that technique to produce sublime music. Later on Reynaud will compare this treatise to Castil-Blaze's writings on music.

In Part 3 (250 pages into the book), the author finally takes on the analysis of virtuosity, artistry, with Liszt as the example. These last 100 pages of the book provide valuable information about Liszt as a virtuoso as well as a writer. Through Liszt's writings Reynaud takes us beyond a technical definition of "virtuoso" to find a familiar and Romantic definition of "artist." Liszt's focus is the execution of music, its faithfulness and its appropriateness to the spirit of the music. In his Lettres d'un Bachelier ès Musique (1835-41), he relates in quasi diary form his thoughts about musical interpretation and participants in the musical world of the period. (Reynaud does not mention that George Sand had a significant role in the writing and revising of these texts.) After pointing out that Liszt doesn't use the word "virtuoso" very often, Reynaud then cites each occurrence of the word in his correspondence with a meticulous explanation...