Translated for The Etude from The Klavierlehrer.
The true elementary teacher of the piano, must, even with the first lessons given to the pupil, with the finger exercises, the scales, the first melodies, have a thorough and intimate knowledge of the ideal Piano Compositions which are to follow, and the proper rendition of which is the object of all Technic.
The elementary teacher creates in the pupil the power for such rendition, and must therefore, like the old Italian singing-masters (now become proverbial), out of pure love of the artistic work which is to follow, pay the closest attention to the good cultivation of the tones, the melodies, even, further, encourage the pupil, with all the enthusiasm of which he is capable, to study for himself the anatomy of the hand, in order to obtain such control over it as will enable him in playing to give expression to the deepest meaning of the music.
The further work of the elementary teacher will be to apply this power, and beginning with the simplest, go on to the richer and increasingly artistic piano compositions, constantly binding the physical with the spirtual (sic) development, cultivating harmoniously form and meaning, one in and with the other.
Schumann’s piano compositions occasionally remind us, in the manifold ramifications of their harmonies and in their elementary motives, of an orchestral composition. Not materially in the moderation of the sound, or in the compass of the fingering, but in a more spiritual manner, since in them a multiplicity of musical harmonies is condensed.
He who sees in Bach’s Fugues and similar compositions only examples of number gives himself a deathblow, as such an opinion shows the utmost superficiality of judgment.
After L. Köhler.
