Liszt and his Country [antikvár]

To the ReaderA Hungarian printer of long ago, Miklós Tótfalusi Kis, wrote in 1698 in his book Mentség (Justification): "if one falls into the sea, one either drinks the lot or swims out of it: otherwise he perishes".With this in mind, let me relate how I managed to swim out of itand how the reader may also touch ground on firm soilin those five years of the sea of Liszt's life and art that are under survey here.Above all not in the conventional way. Not only to imagine that sea in the light of the constantly changing views in the time that has elapsed between then and our era, but to boldly embark on the unfamiliar and often befogged waters, and allow ourselves to drift along them.This is not aimless drifting: Liszt's letters and the accounts of his contemporaries who saw and heard him, save us from this. These accounts revealand this is the purpose of this bookhow the eyewitness saw Liszt and his works, and how he revealed himself in his letters.As a result, I have given the contemporary view of each of Liszt's works, wherever I could find contemporary reviews, for this is what is usually overlooked in musicological writings, even though this is precisely a view that does not change with time. I have made a point of giving the detailed source of the review. As regards those of Liszt's works where nothing, or mere inanities were written I proceeded in two ways. I remained silent when contemporaries were silent about a nowadays well-known, significant worklike the sonata and concertos, for instance, which are familiar todaythe reader can use his own judgement on these. But where an unfamiliar, never performed work is concerned, I have said as much as can be said, or is worthwhile saying without actual musical quotations, for the reader to have some idea of a composition he will not be able to hear played. In such cases, and in general reviews and accounts of works for which I myself am responsible, there is no mention of the source in the notes.Wherever possible I have used direct quotations in quotation marks, with two exceptions, where I have used marks equivalent to quotation marks, indicating live speech: street shouts, dialogues. Where quotation was not possible, either on account of the cumbrous, archaic phrasing, or through the sheer verbosity of the writer, or indeed for other reasons, I have given a résumé in the text, but also noted the source in the notes in the appendix. The notes differ from the customary procedure. They are not in the form of footnotes,