Bruno Moysan, The Testament of a Privileged Musician: The Legacy of Moriz Rosenthal, the Heir of Liszt and Chopin

From 1872 Moriz Rosenthal (1862–1946) studied with Karol Mikuli, the great pupil of Chopin, and, from 1878, with Liszt, with whom he worked in both Weimar and Rome. He also studied with Rafael Joseffy, who had himself studied with both Liszt and Tausig. Rosenthal has left a number of valuable accounts of Liszt’s teaching methods in the form of an autobiographical article, recordings and compositions, including his two potpourris of Strauss waltzes, and a collection of exercises writ­ten in collaboration with the Danish pianist Ludvig Schytte and publi­shed in around 1890 under the title Schule des höheren Klavierspiels. To these accounts may be added the one left by Rosenthal’s pupil, Charles Rosen. Together they help to shed light on what was so special about Liszt, especially when they are placed in perspective and examined in the context of the recordings and writings of another of Mikuli’s pupils who never worked with Liszt: Raoul Koczalski.

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