Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

102 MY MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
drilled player, he would show his anger without dis-
guise, and send the performer from the piano in a
most summary manner ; while in the latter case he
would either get up from his seat, and walk up and
down the entire length of the room, looking the very
picture of an individual who is profoundly bored, but
who has made up his mind to go through with it to
the end, or else he would stand a minute or two beside
the player, seeming to listen to the performance, and
then, quietly observing, ' That is very nice, but I
think we shall turn to something else,' he would take
the piece off the music-deck, move away from the
piano, and call on another pianist to come forward.
The following may serve as an example of how he
treated a bungling and badly-trained player : A young
man began to play one of the Meister's own composi-
tions—a difficult polonaise—and in a few bars from
the start came down with a jumble of wrong notes on
a difficult chord, and when Liszt said in a loud voice,
' Begin again !' the luckless player, trying the piece a
second time, made the same blunder over again.
'Shame, shame!' said Liszt, in a, still louder voice;
' begin once more !' The unfortunate individual
started off once again, came to the passage, and, for
the third time, played the chord all wrong. Then,
indeed, there was a scene which I cannot easily forget.
Liszt's voice trembled with anger and scorn, as, fling-
ing the music from the desk, he said more than
once, in a voice which was calculated to terrify us all.