Thalberg - an appraisal

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Article by yours truly 

Hopefully of interest to some:

https://crosseyedpianist.com/2017/12/09/sigismund-thalberg-forgotten-master/

[ted]

Thanks for that Andrew, it reinforces a worrying notion, unfortunately true I think, that music itself might be a minor factor in its own chance at perpetuity. Other aspects to do with personality, society, economics and sheer luck, seem to hold power of arbitration in the matter. Would we be listening to Bach at all without Mendelssohn, to Alkan and Henselt without Llewenthal and a couple of others ? Joplin now has legendary status, being termed the Chopin of America by reputable musicians, but would it have happened excluding the chance event of someone wanting music to accompany a film ? I am very fond of the piano music of Frank Bridge, John Ireland, and Arnold Bax, and the remarkable symphonic work of Havergal Brian and Gerald Finzi, but all these seem to have become a good deal more obscure in recent years. It can go either way, and for all the wrong reasons.   

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Fair comment re Bach and Alkan. I'm not sure how many people listen to Henselt; I'm skeptical that any significant number of people know him beyond the Concerto and "Si oiseaux j'etais" (and the latter only because Rachmaninov recorded it). I have to be quite clear though: Thalberg, and especially his "original" music, is not a match for Liszt and Chopin, even if pianistically he was. Nevertheless perhaps we should give thought to how radically a composer's status can change over time. An appropriate corollary would be the perception of Liszt's music; certainly it has changed considerably over the last century. And even the perceived status of transcriptions and paraphrases has varied over that time, from being a staple of the performing pianist's repertoire to outright disapproval and now to a more ambiguous position.

[visitor]

most excellent, a great write up and superb subject matter!
*vintage old man pipe baby approved

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Thanks visitor!