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MY DEAR FELIX,--You ask me about my scoring of the Bach Concerto. Well,
it seemed to me that one might give it a kind of new varnish, by doing
for it what Mozart had done with such perfect taste for the “Messiah,”
when he added wind-instruments to the score. Only, fully aware as I was
of the poverty of my pen as compared with that of the master, I
naturally hesitated. If now, however, I have followed the great example
before me, the worst that can be said of me is that I am but a poor
imitator; and consoling myself with that reflection, I wrote Parts for
one Flute, two Clarinets, two Bassoons, and two Corni. I mainly intended
this wind-accompaniment to take the same position in the Concerto which
is taken by the organ in the performance of a Mass.
Hauser kept his promise very punctually, and sent me two more of Bach’s
Concertos,--one for three, and one for two pianofortes. I will shortly
let you know what I already possess of Bach’s concert-music; perhaps you
can help me to complete my collection. My thirst for more of his work is
simply unquenchable.
Of the pianoforte-players, Thalberg is really the most interesting.
Sound and genuine in his style of playing, he does not seem to seek
after effect, however much he may do so in reality. In his combinations,
capricious and fantasia-like as they are, all follows and develops
itself so naturally that one easily overlooks the lack of unity and a
certain Italian mannerism. In 1826 I gave him some instruction; and at
that time already I became aware that he would little need me to do
great things,--_sans comparaison_, like a certain Berlin youth, who soon
threw aside all leading-strings, and donned the purple.
I find that at my age my fingers require to practise most carefully the
exercises of former years, in order to keep pace with the times. I can
manage to preserve them pliable and elastic, but I cannot make them any
longer than they are; and that is just the road that modern pianists,
like Chopin, Thalberg, etc., have taken, in order to develop their
technique. To play your music, I have also to stretch my fingers to the
fullest extent; but there they obey more naturally, because the
mechanical construction of your passages is of secondary importance, as
compared to the spirit which dictates them.
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