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20 Letter to Herbert Hughes September 9, 1927 M. R. My dear friend, I was very happy to receive your charming letter, which I will answer immediately in spite of being con¤ned to bed for several days. Kindly excuse my handwriting! First of all: Many hearty thanks for your kind intention to dedicate to me such an important work, as your Chopin-book will undoubtedly turn out. I regard this as a most fascinating and convincing proof of your friendship. Let me now try to answer your both questions, from several points of view: 1) Who of all Chopin pupils was the most important one? Chopin himself was easily in®uenced by personal predilections. Very likely no pupil could satisfy such an incomparable master. It is very queer that he con¤ned himself in his teaching strictly to piano playing, that he never discussed with his pupils the merits or shortcomings of his or others’ compositions, contrary to the teaching of Liszt, who dwelled more upon the music itself than the manner how it was interpreted. His love for piano technique was so outspoken, that he writes in the last year of his life: Nothing has come forth from my efforts except my long nose and my badly cultivated fourth ¤nger! This seems to me a proof that he did not think much of his pupils in a musical way. On the other hand, it is reported by all his friends and contemporary musicians that he was hugely interested in the art of piano playing, where he was a worthy rival of the greatest pianists, whereas as a composer he certainly was without a peer,namely after the year 1828,in spite of Schumann’s greatness. Wagner belongs to quite another type. (Beethoven died in 1827, Schubert in 1828.) His favorite pupils were: Gutmann, and “La princesse” Marcelina Czartoryska from Kraków, Poland.1 Gutmann was not only his pupil, Chopin treated him as a friend. He was also on terms with G.’s family. It is reported that he was the guest of the G. family and that they treated him like he would have been a King or an Emperor. (Only?!) When Moscheles came to Paris (around 1839) Chopin was very anxious: Herbert Hughes (1882–1937) was an Irish-born composer and critic. At this time he was writing a biography of Chopin, but on May 1, 1937, he died after a short illness, with the work un¤nished. Moscheles should hear the titanic Scherzo op. 39 in C-sharp Minor. Being too weak then (it was, if I am not mistaken, shortly after the trying Majorca episode ) to play it, he conferred this honor to Gutmann. Gutmann had only one day’s time to prepare it but came off, if not with®ying colors, nevertheless in a decent way. He excused himself with the short time of his preparation, but Chopin declined his excuses with the words: “Of course, if you will play it better than anyone else in this world,” etc. Wilhelm [von] Lenz, the biographer of Beethoven and for a short time one of the lesser pupils of Chopin, told me in St. Petersburg, where I concertized as a boy in 1879: Gutmann had no poetry nor “¤nesse.” He pleased Chopin by his mere strength (!?) The ¤rst chord in the C-sharp Minor Scherzo (left hand) was only possible for the prize-¤ghter ¤st (“Klopffechterfaust” in German) of Gutmann . Therefore the dedication to Gutmann.2 So far Lenz, who printed also this nonsense in a short study on Chopin. As a matter of fact, this chord is only dif¤cult or rather impossible with the ¤ngering Lenz seems to have employed [5–4–3–2–1] but becomes very easy for normal hands with the ¤ngering Chopin has very likely invented and Liszt has taught. It is the following: [5–4–2–1–1]. It seems and stands to reason that Chopin dedicated the Scherzo to Gutmann for his artistic services in the affair with Moscheles. On the other hand, it is reported that Chopin, asked if Gutmann makes good progress, coolly answered: “Yes, he makes an excellent [hot] chocolate” (referring to some breakfast, taken in company with Gutmann).The success of Gutmann as a concert pianist seems to have been rather mediocre. Surely the world has judged him less favorably than his great teacher and friend. Marcelina, Princesse Czartoryska! Here I can speak as an eye- and ear-witness. When I concertized in...

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