A Talk with Josef Hofmann (Part II)

TAKING RISKS

"If one is to play with freedom and inspiration, one must strike out boldly and not hold back in timidity or bashfulness; these are bad faults. We sometimes see people in society who fear to make a faux pas here or there ; so they hold back stiffly and bore everybody, besides being very uncomfortable themselves."

"The player must cast fear to the winds and risk everything. He should be an absolutely free and open avenue for the expression of the emotional and spiritual meaning of the music. When one can thus improvise the composition, it seems that the piano no longer sounds like a piano. It has been said that when Rubinstein played, the instrument did not sound like a piano. As you have heard Rubinstein, you remember how different his piano sounded from the ordinary kind; like another sort of medium, or like a whole orchestra in spite of the many wrong notes. When playing himself he often struck wrong notes, yet in teaching he was very exact; he could not endure wrong notes or slips of any kind, in his pupils or in himself. But in public he took the risk! He was not troubled about the false notes if only he could present the emotional content of the music in the most compelling light."

"I heard Rubinstein play in Berlin, at his last concert there. Moszkowski sat beside me. Rubinstein, in playing his Valse Caprice, missed all but one of those treacherous high skips. When he hit that solitary one correctly, Moszkowski turned to me and whispered, humorously, 'We must excuse him, for he can't see any more.'"

THE METRONOME

"I notice, Mr. Hofmann, that you have a metronome standing here. In one of your answers to questions in the Ladies' Home Journal,, I believe you disapproved of it."

"That was a misunderstanding. We cannot do without the metronome. It is the policeman ! I may have said not to play with metronome, as a true sense of rhythm cannot be acquired in this way. But I never said not to use one. On the contrary the metronome is a necessity, for it gives us the correct idea of tempo ; in that capacity I use it frequently."

MODERN MUSIC

"What do I think of modern music? Some of it is only contortion; Stravinsky and Schoenberg, for instance. Yet it is much sought after as a fad, nowadays, from curiosity, if for no other reason. If one falls in a fit on the street people run together, curious to see what has happened. What do they see? Contortion! The Stravinsky ballet, recently given at the Century, was fascinating in color, movement and ensemble, but the music was again contortion."

THE PIANO AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSION

"Absolute control of all means in the performer's power does not belong alone to the pianist, it may belong to the flute player, the violinist or cellist. It should always be possessed by the player who would improvise his interpretations."

"The piano is the universal instrument, the one independent medium. All other instruments either require or are improved by an accompaniment, even the voice. But the pianist stands alone, and controls everything. He can express every emotion, even despotism, by means of his instrument. We often say the piano expresses all these, when we really know it can say nothing at all without the pianist. If he have many emotions and the ability to express them, the piano will do his bidding."

PLAYING WITH ORCHESTRA

"We regret you elect to give but one recital in New York during the season." "But I play a number of times with orchestra here. You have good ones in America."

"In assisting the artist the orchestra should take the part of an accompaniment, and although the conductor directs it, he should, for the time being, efface himself. This the conductor of the New York Symphony is able to do. After we have played together five or six times, we come to be in perfect accord. A soloist ought to play with his orchestra in smaller places before appearing in the large cities if he wishes his ensemble to be at its best."

THE "PROGRESSIVE SERIES"

"Yes, I am a co-worker with Godowsky on the Progressive Series of Piano Lessons. It is slow and tedious business, this editing of the various pieces required. Every finger mark and sign of phrasing must be absolutely correct. It takes me several hours to edit a short piece. It is work fit for a schoolmaster."

"After my touring season, we shall spend the summer in Maine. Ah, how beautiful it is there, by the sea! I love it. Of course wherever I am, my time is fully taken up. In summer I exchange the rush of travel, the catching of trains, for the repose and quiet of a vacation by the sea. That is when I work on my programs and prepare the various concertos I am to play the following season."

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