Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

164 -'W'J' MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
serving him closely and taking ia every detail of his
personal appearance. His fine head was quite bald,
excepting a slight fringe of silver close by the neck
beard and moustache silvery white ; eyebrows which
reminded me of Liszt's ; a prominent nose, and a
very harsh and combative-toned voice. The eyes
were the most noticeable feature. As I looked at
them I thought that, except those of Liszt, I had
never seen any that were so large, and so ablaze with
light ; but Liszt's eyes were gi'ay, and these were the
darkest shade of brown ; and, in alluding to their
brilliancy, I have been told that when he was a
younger man no one could bear to meet the glance of
those eyes when they flashed in anger or in scorn.
Professor Zschocher and I chancing to meet the
next day on the promenade, we naturally fell into
talk of Liszt and Henselt. The professor was sur-
prised to find me in Warmbrunn instead of Weimar
and it was easy to see that he had more respect than
love for Henselt, at whose ' pedantry '
he
;
began to
rail in no measured terms. For all this, before we
parted he said, ' Nevertheless, now that you are with
him, Fraulein, try, if you can, to get at the secret of
his wonderful touch—that touch of which Liszt has
so often spoken to me, so often said, "Niemand weiss
es ihm nachzumachen " ' (' No one can imitate it ').
To speak of this wonderful touch, so as to convey
any idea of what it was like to those who have never
heard him—now, alas ! will never hear him—is, I