Walter Bache
Encyclopedia
Walter Bache was an English pianist
and conductor
noted for his championing the music of Franz Liszt
and other music of the New German School
in England. He studied privately with Liszt in Italy from 1863 to 1865, one of the few students allowed to do so, and continued to attend Liszt's master classes in Weimar
, Germany regularly until 1885, even after embarking on a solo career. This period of study was unparalleled by any other student of Liszt and led to a particularly close bond between Bache and Liszt. After initial hesitation on the part of English music critics because he was a Liszt pupil, Bache was publicly embraced for his keyboard prowess, even as parts of his repertoire were questioned.
Bache's major accomplishment was the establishment of Liszt's music in England, to which he selflessly devoted himself between 1865 and his death in 1888. This was at the height of the War of the Romantics
, when conservative and liberal musical factions openly argued about the future of classical music and the merits of the compositions written in their respective schools. Bache featured several of the orchestral and choral works through an annual series of concerts, which he single-handedly funded, organized and promoted. Likewise, he played an annual series of solo recitals that incorporated Liszt's piano music.
Bache's strategy for presenting these works was one of familiarity. He performed two-piano arrangements of Liszt's orchestral works prior to the debuts of the original versions, and performed some of Liszt's symphonic poems
shortly after they had been premiered at the Crystal Palace
. He also provided informative, scholarly program notes, written by leading musical analysts and intimates in the Liszt circle. The English musical press, while generally hostile to the music he presented, noted and appreciated Bache's efforts. Liszt remained grateful; without Bache, he acknowledged, his music might not have gained the foothold that it did.
, the second-oldest son of well-known Unitarian
minister Samuel Bache, who ran a private school in conjunction with his wife, Emily Higginson. His older brother, Francis Edward Bache
, was a composer and organist, while his sister, Constance Bache
, was a composer, pianist and teacher who would write a joint biography of both brothers under the title Brother Musicians. He received some rudimentary musical education at his father's school, but remained a carefree, undistinguished and funloving child until he followed in Edward's footsteps. Like Edward, he studied with Birmingham City Organist
James Stimpson
and in August 1858, aged 16, he travelled to Germany to attend the Leipzig Conservatory. His father was supposed to accompany him to the university, but was detained at the bedside of Edward, who was dying of consumption
. Undeterred, he made the journey on his own, an early indication of his independence.
In Leipzig Bache studied piano with Ignaz Moscheles
and composition with Carl Reinecke
. He also became friends with a fellow student, Arthur Sullivan
, who, he wrote, "cannot play well, but ... has written some things which I think show great talent." Another fellow student Bache knew well, though they were not especially close, was Edvard Grieg
. While the city was reportedly past the halcyon days it had experienced under Mendelssohn
, it proved valuable for exposing Bache to artists such as Pauline Viardot, Giulia Grisi
, Joseph Joachim
and Henri Vieuxtemps
, and to the music of Beethoven
, Bellini
, Chopin
, Moritz Hauptmann
and Mendelssohn. He applied himself to his piano studies, but by his own admission wasted much time in Leipzig and lacked direction. In Brother Musicians, Constance quotes "a musician of high standing" who was one of his circle of friends (possibly Sullivan or the pianist Franklin Taylor), who explained, "You see in Leipzig nobody was compelled to work, there being no particular supervision; and there was always plenty to do, in the way of amusement, for the less energetic. As far as my recollection goes Bache was at that time rather given to working by fits and starts, frequently making excellent resolutions, the effect of which did not last many days."
Upon completing his piano studies in December 1861, the 19-year-old Bache traveled to Italy, staying in Milan and Florence with the intent of soaking in Italian culture before returning to England. In Florence he met Jessie Laussot, "who had founded of a flourishing musical society in the city ... and was intimately acquainted with Liszt, Wagner
, Hans von Bülow
and other leading musicians." While Laussot remained kindly disposed towards Bache, she also quickly summed up his overly easy-going character and decided to help him. She encouraged him to teach harmony as well as piano, then arranged a harmony class that met early in the morning some ways out of town so that he would not oversleep. She eased his way into polite society and also suggested, after hearing him play at several local concerts, that he travel to Rome and seek out Liszt. However, she insisted that he do so without any introduction from her, as she wanted Liszt to judge him solely on his own merits.
After a visit to Birmingham, Bache moved to Rome in 1863 and lived there the next two years. While there he received private lessons from Liszt, one of the few pupils thus privileged; most of Liszt's students attended only his master classes. He also heard Liszt play his own music on many occasions in private homes, including a then-rare performance of the Piano Sonata in B minor
. Liszt helped him prepare for several public concerts in Rome and encouraged him to learn some difficult pieces that Bache initially felt unable to play; these pieces included Liszt's transcriptions of Gounod
's Faust
Waltz and Meyerbeer
's "Patineurs" Waltz from his opera Le prophète
. These lessons, the kindness that Liszt continually showed, and Bache's exposure to Liszt in general, became a life-defining experience. Liszt expected him to work hard and Bache applied himself with a purpose to his keyboard studies. The same "musician of high standing" that Constance quotes about Bache's years in Leipzig also states that "there can be no doubt that it was his friendship with Liszt that he owed that enthusiasm and power of sustained hard work which distinguished him during his career in London, and which was often the astonishment of those who had known him in earlier years."
Bache supported himself as an organist at the English Church, where the chaplain had previously known Bache's brother Edward. As his reputation as a performer grew, he also came into demand as a teacher. These two activities guaranteed financial security. He also became acquainted with several young gifted musicians, including fellow Liszt pupil Giovanni Sgambati
and violinist Ettore Pinelli. During this time, Bache began exploring the two-piano repertoire, especially the arrangements of Liszt's symphonic poem
Les préludes
and Schubert
's Wanderer Fantasy
, which he performed with Sgambati in concert. The two-piano arrangements of Liszt's symphonic poems would become an important feature of Bache's concert series once he returned to England. He was also active in chamber music—the works he performed during this time include Chopin's cello sonata, the David-Pinelli Violin Variations, Mendelssohn's D minor piano trio, a piano trio by Anton Rubinstein
and a Schumann
violin sonata arranged for viola.
Bache's studies with Liszt did not end when he left Italy. He attended Liszt's master classes in Weimar
, Germany regularly until 1885. This period of study was unparalleled by any other student of Liszt and led to a particularly close bond between Bache and Liszt. He also sought out his fellow pupil Hans von Bülow
for lessons in 1871; the two spent much time together, which resulted in a lifelong friendship. The fact Bache valued Bülow's advice highly is shown by his warning to Jessie Laussot to "never again attempt to 'mark, learn and inwardly digest' the [Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue] without getting Bülow's edition of it ... it is splendid—quite equivalent to having had a lesson on it from Liszt".
For Bache, Liszt wrote his concert arrangement of the Sarabande and Chaconne from Handel's opera Almira in 1879.
's oratorio
St. Paul
, at which his organ playing was noted, and a solo piano recital which featured a few pieces by Liszt. Critics proved unreceptive to Liszt's music and Bache was advised to program less adventurous works if he wanted his career to succeed. Matters had not improved when Bache settled in London in 1865. The War of the Romantics
between musically conservative and liberal factions was in full swing and he found himself branded as "dangerous" for having studied with Liszt. This was vividly illustrated when Bache called upon J.W. Davison, then the most powerful music critic in London. Such a call was not unwarranted: Davison had been acquainted with Edward and shared that brother's conservative musical views. Bache related that when he called on Davison and handed in his card, the maid returned and told him, "Please, sir, Mr. Davison says that he is not at home."
Dangerous or not, Bache soon began a lifelong crusade to win popularity for Liszt's works in England. In 1865 he began a series of annual concerts in conjunction with singer Gustave Garcia
. They began modestly, in Collard's Rooms, Grosvenor Street. As they increased in popularity, they were relocated to the more spacious Beethoven Rooms in Cavendish Square, then to the Queen's Concert Rooms in Hanover Square, and finally to St. James's Hall in Regents Square. At first these concerts were of instrumental and chamber works and piano arrangements. In 1868, they had grown to include choral works, which allowed pieces such as Liszt's Soldatenlied and choruses from Wagner
's Tannhäuser
and Lohengrin
to be programmed. By 1871, the concerts had been changed to an orchestral format.
The concerts, which were held in February or March and continued until 1886, became known as the "Walter Bache Annual Concerts." They became fixtures on the London music scene, attracting the attention of the press and of eminent musicians. While some of the press coverage he received was positive, overall Bache faced a continual barrage of opposition and scorn from critics and fellow musicians over the music he presented. The notice printed in the Athenaeum after the first concert was typical: "On Tuesday, M. Gustave Garcia, one of the best of rising baritones, and Mr. Walter Bache gave a concert in company. We cannot think 'Les Préludes,' a very difficult duett [sic] by the Abbé Liszt for two pianofortes, worth the labour bestowed on it by a couple of players so skilled as himself and Mr. Dannreuther. It was well received however." Largely through Bache's perseverance, at least some of the public was gradually convinced of the music's worth.
At these concerts, Bache frequently appeared as soloist, accompanist or conductor, but he also engaged other artists in an attempt to show he was not giving the concerts out of self-aggrandizement. Bülow conducted two concerts, Edward Dannreuther
led the orchestra in two concerts. August Manns
, the conductor of a series of orchestral concerts held at the Crystal Palace
and an admirer of Liszt's works, led four concerts. The majority of instrumentalists engaged were also members of the Crystal Palace orchestra to ensure the level of performance was as high as possible. Among guest soloists was the noted violinist August Wilhelmj
, who played the Bach Chaconne in D minor at one concert.
For these concerts, Bache programmed five of Liszt's symphonic poem
s, the Faust
and Dante
symphonies, the Thirteenth Psalm and the Legend of St. Elisabeth. Works of Berlioz
, Schumann
and Wagner
were also featured, but Liszt's compositions predominated. While the performances of the Faust and Dante symphonies were British premieres, the symphonic poems had previously been introduced at the Crystal Palace; nevertheless, Bache felt that offering repeat performances of the symphonic poems was important in making them familiar to audiences. Les préludes was performed three times at the Bache concerts, Mazeppa, Festklänge and Orpheus
each twice and Tasso
once. Part of this strategy of familiarity was the inclusion of the two-piano arrangements of the symphonic poems as a way to prepare audiences for the orchestral versions. Bache had begun this practice with his first concert in 1865, when he and Dannreuther presented the two-piano arrangement of Les préludes. Another part of this strategy was supplying learned, well-considered and thoroughly detailed essays for program notes. Sometimes Bache wrote them himself; at other times, he relied on prominent theorists such as Carl Weitman and Frederick Niecks
. According to musicologist Alan Walker, they "are filled with insights that were both new and original for their time, and they are lavishly illustrated with music examples—a sure sign that they were aimed at a sophisticated public and were intended to have a potential life after the concert was over." According to Walker, they still are worth study for Liszt scholars as many of the ideas, while transmitted through members of Liszt's inner circle, probably originated with the composer himself. These notes, along with the inclusion of the two-piano arrangements and what musicologist Michael Allis calls "a thoughtful approach to programming ... all contributed to an aggressive marketing of Liszt's new status as a composer".
The concerts were a considerable financial outlay for Bache, who did not have a regular salary until 1881 and had to sustain himself through teaching. By 1873, he wrote, he had to "decide whether I shall sacrifice myself entirely to the production of Liszt's orchestral and choral works (which after all can never be immortal as Bach, Beethoven and Wagner: here I feel that Bülow is right). Or shall I make my own improvement the object of my life, and not spend a third of my income in one evening." Bülow became concerned enough about the situation to waive his fee after one concert he conducted, and to contribute £50 out of his own pocket. Liszt was also concerned, writing, "For years [Bache] has sacrificed money for the performance of my works in London. Several times I advised him against it, but he answered imperturbably, 'That is my business.'" Whenever Bache was asked about finances for the concerts, he would tell whoever was asking that the cost was "a just recompense" and add that even if Liszt had charged him for his lessons at the same rate as the average village piano teacher, he would still be deeply in his debt.
In addition to the orchestral concerts, Bache gave an annual series of solo recitals on Liszt's birthday, October 22, between 1872 and 1887. In October 1879, Bache gave his first all-Liszt recital. At some of these recitals, the two-piano arrangements of Liszt's orchestral works were given. The two-piano version of Mazeppa was presented in October 1876, two months before the orchestral version was played at the Crystal Palace and four months before Bache presented it at his own orchestral concert. The Monthly Musical Record felt "There was ... good reason in introducing [it] as a duet, with a view to familiarizing hearers with it beforehand", and the Musical Standard found that presenting the two-piano arrangement was "an immense help to those who wished to form a correct judgment on it at its first orchestral performance ... as it is impossible, with even the best intentions, to estimate correctly the larger works of Liszt after only one hearing."
Liszt remained grateful to Bache and thanked him on several occasions, writing to him, "Without Walter Bache and his long years of self-sacrificing efforts in the propaganda of my works, my visit to London were indeed not to be thought of."
, a performance of his oratorio The Legend of Saint Elizabeth led by Alexander Mackenzie in St. James's Hall, an audience with Queen Victoria
and a public reception in Liszt's honor at the Grosvenor Gallery. Bache was involved in all four of these events, which were highly successful; by popular demand, Saint Elizabeth had to be repeated at the Crystal Palace.
, Liszt and Schumann
in England, with Karl Klindworth
as an elder statesman for the group. The Society met regularly at one another's homes for the study and discussion of this music. The first study session met in December and consisted of the "Spinning Song" from Wagner's opera The Flying Dutchman
, played by Dannreuther in Liszt's piano transcription. At the meeting the next month, the group tackled the first two scenes of Das Rheingold
. The meeting which followed featured a reading of Die Walküre
. Neither of the latter two works had been presented anywhere; their world premieres at the Munich Court Opera were still two years away. Klindworth's special relationship with Wagner ensured that the group had access to the scores. In the July 1869 meeting, Liszt pupil Anna Mehlig played Liszt's First Piano Concerto for the group. Wagner and Liszt were not the only composers discussed—Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Henselt
, Raff
and Schumann were among the others whose music was featured. However, the main focus of the group remained the music of Wagner.
in 1881. The foundation of the Liszt Scholarship at that institution in 1886 was mainly due to his efforts. After Bache's death, the name of the scholarship was changed to the Liszt-Bache Scholarship.
While he was not the only pianist in England to play Liszt's works, Bache was significant in that he played works in concert for solo piano, two pianos and piano and orchestra. In addition to the two-piano arrangements of the symphonic poems, the first two piano concertos, the B minor piano sonata and the Dante Sonata, Bache played a handful of transcriptions, five of the Hungarian Rhapsodies
and a number of smaller-scaled virtuosic works and miniatures which often highlighted "the melodic nature of Liszt's writing". Bache also played a number of works by other composers in his recitals, many of which are unfamiliar today. Grateful for Bülow's assistance in conducting two of his annual concerts, Bache programmed several of the conductor's piano works in his recitals. He also played various works by Mackenzie, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Raff, Silas, Tchaikovsky and Volkmann and more familiar pieces by Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.
Like Bülow, Bache performed works from memory instead of from the printed page, at a time when doing so was a matter of open debate. Also like Bülow, he began giving recitals devoted entirely to the work of one composer. In 1879, he began giving all-Liszt recitals, and in 1883 he experimented with an all-Beethoven recital.
Bache received praise for the works of other composers, as well. The Musical Standard wrote that he sounded at home with whatever the musical style of the pieces he played. The Musical World noted that Bache's playing of Chopin, Raff, Schumann and Weber all showed "true artistic spirit and taste". Bache's playing of Bach was singled out for mention, with the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue "neat and highly finished". Bache was also said to have given a "masterly" performance of the Bach D minor keyboard concerto.
Despite receiving positive reviews for his pianism, Bache's difficulties with the critics on behalf of Liszt's music had a negative backlash on his performing career. He was never invited to play with the Philharmonic Society, even after Liszt personally recommended him as a soloist. After printed inquiries by the Musical Standard, which openly questioned why Bache's career had not advanced despite his obvious talent, he was invited in 1874 to play at the Crystal Palace. While his playing was lauded, his choice of music (the Liszt arrangement of Weber's Polonaise Brillante for piano and orchestra) was derided as astoundingly impudent. He also appeared at concerts led by Hans Richter
, as organist in Liszt's symphonic poem Die Hunnenschlacht
and as pianist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy
and Chopin's Second Piano Concerto
.
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
noted for his championing the music of Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
and other music of the New German School
New German School
The New German School is a term introduced in 1859 by Franz Brendel, editor of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik to apply to certain trends in German music...
in England. He studied privately with Liszt in Italy from 1863 to 1865, one of the few students allowed to do so, and continued to attend Liszt's master classes in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, Germany regularly until 1885, even after embarking on a solo career. This period of study was unparalleled by any other student of Liszt and led to a particularly close bond between Bache and Liszt. After initial hesitation on the part of English music critics because he was a Liszt pupil, Bache was publicly embraced for his keyboard prowess, even as parts of his repertoire were questioned.
Bache's major accomplishment was the establishment of Liszt's music in England, to which he selflessly devoted himself between 1865 and his death in 1888. This was at the height of the War of the Romantics
War of the Romantics
The War of the Romantics is a term used by music historians to describe the aesthetic schism among prominent musicians in the second half of the 19th century. Musical structure, the limits of chromatic harmony, and program music versus absolute music were the principal areas of contention. The...
, when conservative and liberal musical factions openly argued about the future of classical music and the merits of the compositions written in their respective schools. Bache featured several of the orchestral and choral works through an annual series of concerts, which he single-handedly funded, organized and promoted. Likewise, he played an annual series of solo recitals that incorporated Liszt's piano music.
Bache's strategy for presenting these works was one of familiarity. He performed two-piano arrangements of Liszt's orchestral works prior to the debuts of the original versions, and performed some of Liszt's symphonic poems
Symphonic Poems (Liszt)
The symphonic poems of Franz Liszt are a series of 13 orchestral works by the Hungarian composer and are numbered S.95–107. The first 12 were composed between 1848 and 1858 ; the last, Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe , followed in 1882...
shortly after they had been premiered at the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
. He also provided informative, scholarly program notes, written by leading musical analysts and intimates in the Liszt circle. The English musical press, while generally hostile to the music he presented, noted and appreciated Bache's efforts. Liszt remained grateful; without Bache, he acknowledged, his music might not have gained the foothold that it did.
Early years
Bache was born in BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, the second-oldest son of well-known Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
minister Samuel Bache, who ran a private school in conjunction with his wife, Emily Higginson. His older brother, Francis Edward Bache
Francis Edward Bache
Francis Edward Bache was an English organist and composer.Born at Birmingham as the eldest of seven children of Samuel Bache, a well-known Unitarian minister, he studied with James Stimpson, Birmingham City Organist, and with violinist Alfred Mellon while being educated at his father's school...
, was a composer and organist, while his sister, Constance Bache
Constance Bache
Constance Bache was an English composer, pianist and teacher.Bache was born in Edgbaston, the daughter of Samuel Bache , a Unitarian minister at the Church of the Messiah, Birmingham; an uncle on her mother's side was James Martineau...
, was a composer, pianist and teacher who would write a joint biography of both brothers under the title Brother Musicians. He received some rudimentary musical education at his father's school, but remained a carefree, undistinguished and funloving child until he followed in Edward's footsteps. Like Edward, he studied with Birmingham City Organist
Birmingham City Organist
Birmingham City Organist is an appointment made by the City of Birmingham. The purpose of the appointment is to have an organist for civic occasions and who will provide a series of free public organ recitals....
James Stimpson
James Stimpson
-Early life:He was born in Lincoln on 29 February 1820, the son of a lay vicar of Lincoln Cathedral, who moved to Durham Cathedral in 1822, where James became a chorister in 1827.-Career:...
and in August 1858, aged 16, he travelled to Germany to attend the Leipzig Conservatory. His father was supposed to accompany him to the university, but was detained at the bedside of Edward, who was dying of consumption
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. Undeterred, he made the journey on his own, an early indication of his independence.
In Leipzig Bache studied piano with Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
and composition with Carl Reinecke
Carl Reinecke
Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was a German composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:Reinecke was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany; until 1864 the town was under Danish rule. He studied with his father, Johann Peter Rudolph Reinecke, a music teacher...
. He also became friends with a fellow student, Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
, who, he wrote, "cannot play well, but ... has written some things which I think show great talent." Another fellow student Bache knew well, though they were not especially close, was Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
. While the city was reportedly past the halcyon days it had experienced under Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, it proved valuable for exposing Bache to artists such as Pauline Viardot, Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi, also known as Madame De Candia was an Italian opera singer...
, Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.-Origins:...
and Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century....
, and to the music of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
, Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, Moritz Hauptmann
Moritz Hauptmann
Moritz Hauptmann , was a German music theorist, teacher and composer.Hauptmann was born in Dresden, and studied violin under Scholz, piano under Franz Lanska, composition under Grosse and Francesco Morlacchi,...
and Mendelssohn. He applied himself to his piano studies, but by his own admission wasted much time in Leipzig and lacked direction. In Brother Musicians, Constance quotes "a musician of high standing" who was one of his circle of friends (possibly Sullivan or the pianist Franklin Taylor), who explained, "You see in Leipzig nobody was compelled to work, there being no particular supervision; and there was always plenty to do, in the way of amusement, for the less energetic. As far as my recollection goes Bache was at that time rather given to working by fits and starts, frequently making excellent resolutions, the effect of which did not last many days."
Upon completing his piano studies in December 1861, the 19-year-old Bache traveled to Italy, staying in Milan and Florence with the intent of soaking in Italian culture before returning to England. In Florence he met Jessie Laussot, "who had founded of a flourishing musical society in the city ... and was intimately acquainted with Liszt, Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, Hans von Bülow
Hans von Bülow
Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...
and other leading musicians." While Laussot remained kindly disposed towards Bache, she also quickly summed up his overly easy-going character and decided to help him. She encouraged him to teach harmony as well as piano, then arranged a harmony class that met early in the morning some ways out of town so that he would not oversleep. She eased his way into polite society and also suggested, after hearing him play at several local concerts, that he travel to Rome and seek out Liszt. However, she insisted that he do so without any introduction from her, as she wanted Liszt to judge him solely on his own merits.
Studies with Liszt
Bache arrived in Rome in June 1862. After some initial confusion (Liszt mistook Bache, who was nervous and tongue-tied, for someone wanting to borrow money) Liszt made Bache welcome. Two or three impromptu lessons followed, along with some chamber music appearances, thanks to Liszt's recommendation. Eventually, Liszt suggested that, if Bache were willing to move to Rome the following year, he would take him on as a regular student. Considering this "the greatest possible advantage I could have", Bache wrote to Constance,I hope I have not exaggerated in talking about Liszt; he won't make me anything wonderful, so that I can come home and set the Thames on fire—not at all, so don't expect it; but—his readings or interpretations are greater and higher than anyone else's; if I can spend some time with him and go through a good deal of music with him, I shall pick up at least a great deal of his ideas;... The two or three lessons I had of him this summer showed me what an immensity I might learn.
After a visit to Birmingham, Bache moved to Rome in 1863 and lived there the next two years. While there he received private lessons from Liszt, one of the few pupils thus privileged; most of Liszt's students attended only his master classes. He also heard Liszt play his own music on many occasions in private homes, including a then-rare performance of the Piano Sonata in B minor
Piano Sonata (Liszt)
The Piano Sonata in B minor , S.178, is a musical composition for solo piano by Franz Liszt, published in 1854 with a dedication to Robert Schumann. It is often considered Liszt's greatest composition for solo piano. The piece has been often analyzed, particularly regarding issues of form.-...
. Liszt helped him prepare for several public concerts in Rome and encouraged him to learn some difficult pieces that Bache initially felt unable to play; these pieces included Liszt's transcriptions of Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
Waltz and Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
's "Patineurs" Waltz from his opera Le prophète
Le prophète
Le prophète is an opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
. These lessons, the kindness that Liszt continually showed, and Bache's exposure to Liszt in general, became a life-defining experience. Liszt expected him to work hard and Bache applied himself with a purpose to his keyboard studies. The same "musician of high standing" that Constance quotes about Bache's years in Leipzig also states that "there can be no doubt that it was his friendship with Liszt that he owed that enthusiasm and power of sustained hard work which distinguished him during his career in London, and which was often the astonishment of those who had known him in earlier years."
Bache supported himself as an organist at the English Church, where the chaplain had previously known Bache's brother Edward. As his reputation as a performer grew, he also came into demand as a teacher. These two activities guaranteed financial security. He also became acquainted with several young gifted musicians, including fellow Liszt pupil Giovanni Sgambati
Giovanni Sgambati
Giovanni Sgambati was an Italian composer.Born to an Italian father and an English mother, Sgambati, who lost his father early, received his early education at Trevi, in Umbria, where he wrote some church music and obtained experience as a singer and conductor...
and violinist Ettore Pinelli. During this time, Bache began exploring the two-piano repertoire, especially the arrangements of Liszt's symphonic poem
Symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...
Les préludes
Les Préludes (Liszt)
Les préludes is the third of Franz Liszt's thirteen symphonic poems. Directed by Liszt himself, in April 1856 the score, and in January 1865 the orchestral parts, were published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig. Among Liszt's symphonic poems, Les préludes is the most popular...
and Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
's Wanderer Fantasy
Wanderer Fantasy
The Fantasie in C major, Op. 15 , popularly known as the Wanderer Fantasy, is a four-movement fantasy for solo piano composed by Franz Schubert in November 1822. It is considered Schubert's most technically demanding composition for the piano...
, which he performed with Sgambati in concert. The two-piano arrangements of Liszt's symphonic poems would become an important feature of Bache's concert series once he returned to England. He was also active in chamber music—the works he performed during this time include Chopin's cello sonata, the David-Pinelli Violin Variations, Mendelssohn's D minor piano trio, a piano trio by Anton Rubinstein
Anton Rubinstein
Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...
and a Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
violin sonata arranged for viola.
Bache's studies with Liszt did not end when he left Italy. He attended Liszt's master classes in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, Germany regularly until 1885. This period of study was unparalleled by any other student of Liszt and led to a particularly close bond between Bache and Liszt. He also sought out his fellow pupil Hans von Bülow
Hans von Bülow
Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...
for lessons in 1871; the two spent much time together, which resulted in a lifelong friendship. The fact Bache valued Bülow's advice highly is shown by his warning to Jessie Laussot to "never again attempt to 'mark, learn and inwardly digest' the [Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue] without getting Bülow's edition of it ... it is splendid—quite equivalent to having had a lesson on it from Liszt".
For Bache, Liszt wrote his concert arrangement of the Sarabande and Chaconne from Handel's opera Almira in 1879.
Promoting Liszt's music
Before he moved to Rome, in June 1863, Bache returned to Birmingham to raise funds for the erection of a memorial window to his brother Edward. Among these efforts was a performance of MendelssohnFelix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
St. Paul
St. Paul (oratorio)
St. Paul , Op. 36, is an oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn.The libretto was begun in 1832 by the composer with Pastor Julius Schubring, a childhood friend, pulling together passages from the New Testament and Old Testament...
, at which his organ playing was noted, and a solo piano recital which featured a few pieces by Liszt. Critics proved unreceptive to Liszt's music and Bache was advised to program less adventurous works if he wanted his career to succeed. Matters had not improved when Bache settled in London in 1865. The War of the Romantics
War of the Romantics
The War of the Romantics is a term used by music historians to describe the aesthetic schism among prominent musicians in the second half of the 19th century. Musical structure, the limits of chromatic harmony, and program music versus absolute music were the principal areas of contention. The...
between musically conservative and liberal factions was in full swing and he found himself branded as "dangerous" for having studied with Liszt. This was vividly illustrated when Bache called upon J.W. Davison, then the most powerful music critic in London. Such a call was not unwarranted: Davison had been acquainted with Edward and shared that brother's conservative musical views. Bache related that when he called on Davison and handed in his card, the maid returned and told him, "Please, sir, Mr. Davison says that he is not at home."
Gustave Garcia
Gustave Garcia was an Italian baritone opera singer and singing teacher.-Biography:He was born on February 1, 1837 in Milan, Italy to Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García and soprano Eugénie Mayer...
. They began modestly, in Collard's Rooms, Grosvenor Street. As they increased in popularity, they were relocated to the more spacious Beethoven Rooms in Cavendish Square, then to the Queen's Concert Rooms in Hanover Square, and finally to St. James's Hall in Regents Square. At first these concerts were of instrumental and chamber works and piano arrangements. In 1868, they had grown to include choral works, which allowed pieces such as Liszt's Soldatenlied and choruses from Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
and Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
to be programmed. By 1871, the concerts had been changed to an orchestral format.
The concerts, which were held in February or March and continued until 1886, became known as the "Walter Bache Annual Concerts." They became fixtures on the London music scene, attracting the attention of the press and of eminent musicians. While some of the press coverage he received was positive, overall Bache faced a continual barrage of opposition and scorn from critics and fellow musicians over the music he presented. The notice printed in the Athenaeum after the first concert was typical: "On Tuesday, M. Gustave Garcia, one of the best of rising baritones, and Mr. Walter Bache gave a concert in company. We cannot think 'Les Préludes,' a very difficult duett [sic] by the Abbé Liszt for two pianofortes, worth the labour bestowed on it by a couple of players so skilled as himself and Mr. Dannreuther. It was well received however." Largely through Bache's perseverance, at least some of the public was gradually convinced of the music's worth.
At these concerts, Bache frequently appeared as soloist, accompanist or conductor, but he also engaged other artists in an attempt to show he was not giving the concerts out of self-aggrandizement. Bülow conducted two concerts, Edward Dannreuther
Edward Dannreuther
Edward Dannreuther was a German pianist and writer on music resident from 1863 in England. He trained as a musician at the Conservatoire at Leipzig, where he was a pupil of Ignaz Moscheles, a severe critic of the music of Wagner and Franz Liszt...
led the orchestra in two concerts. August Manns
August Manns
Sir August Friedrich Manns was a German-born conductor who made his career in England. After serving as a military bandmaster in Germany, he moved to England and soon became director of music at London's Crystal Palace. He increased the resident band to full symphonic strength and for more than...
, the conductor of a series of orchestral concerts held at the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
and an admirer of Liszt's works, led four concerts. The majority of instrumentalists engaged were also members of the Crystal Palace orchestra to ensure the level of performance was as high as possible. Among guest soloists was the noted violinist August Wilhelmj
August Wilhelmj
August Wilhelmj was a German violinist and teacher.Wilhelmj was a child prodigy. When Henriette Sontag heard him in 1852, when he was seven, she said "You will be the German Paganini"...
, who played the Bach Chaconne in D minor at one concert.
For these concerts, Bache programmed five of Liszt's symphonic poem
Symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...
s, the Faust
Faust Symphony
A Faust Symphony in three character pictures , S.108, or simply the "Faust Symphony", was written by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt and was inspired by Johann von Goethe's drama, Faust...
and Dante
Dante Symphony
A Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy, S.109, or simply the "Dante Symphony", is a program symphony composed by Franz Liszt. Written in the high romantic style, it is based on Dante Alighieri's journey through Hell and Purgatory, as depicted in The Divine Comedy...
symphonies, the Thirteenth Psalm and the Legend of St. Elisabeth. Works of Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
, Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
and Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
were also featured, but Liszt's compositions predominated. While the performances of the Faust and Dante symphonies were British premieres, the symphonic poems had previously been introduced at the Crystal Palace; nevertheless, Bache felt that offering repeat performances of the symphonic poems was important in making them familiar to audiences. Les préludes was performed three times at the Bache concerts, Mazeppa, Festklänge and Orpheus
Orpheus (Liszt)
Franz Liszt composed his Orpheus in 1853-4, numbering it No. 4 in his cycle of 12 symphonic poems written during his time in Weimar, Germany. It was first performed on February 16, 1854, conducted by the composer, as an introduction to the first Weimar performance of Christoph Willibald Gluck's...
each twice and Tasso
Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo (Liszt)
Franz Liszt composed his Tasso, Lamento e trionfo in 1849, revising it in 1850-51 and again in 1854. It is numbered No. 2 in his cycle of 13 symphonic poems written during his Weimar period.-Composition:...
once. Part of this strategy of familiarity was the inclusion of the two-piano arrangements of the symphonic poems as a way to prepare audiences for the orchestral versions. Bache had begun this practice with his first concert in 1865, when he and Dannreuther presented the two-piano arrangement of Les préludes. Another part of this strategy was supplying learned, well-considered and thoroughly detailed essays for program notes. Sometimes Bache wrote them himself; at other times, he relied on prominent theorists such as Carl Weitman and Frederick Niecks
Frederick Niecks
Frederick Niecks was a German musical scholar and author, who was resident in Scotland for the bulk of his life. He is best remembered now for his biographies of Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann.-Biography:...
. According to musicologist Alan Walker, they "are filled with insights that were both new and original for their time, and they are lavishly illustrated with music examples—a sure sign that they were aimed at a sophisticated public and were intended to have a potential life after the concert was over." According to Walker, they still are worth study for Liszt scholars as many of the ideas, while transmitted through members of Liszt's inner circle, probably originated with the composer himself. These notes, along with the inclusion of the two-piano arrangements and what musicologist Michael Allis calls "a thoughtful approach to programming ... all contributed to an aggressive marketing of Liszt's new status as a composer".
The concerts were a considerable financial outlay for Bache, who did not have a regular salary until 1881 and had to sustain himself through teaching. By 1873, he wrote, he had to "decide whether I shall sacrifice myself entirely to the production of Liszt's orchestral and choral works (which after all can never be immortal as Bach, Beethoven and Wagner: here I feel that Bülow is right). Or shall I make my own improvement the object of my life, and not spend a third of my income in one evening." Bülow became concerned enough about the situation to waive his fee after one concert he conducted, and to contribute £50 out of his own pocket. Liszt was also concerned, writing, "For years [Bache] has sacrificed money for the performance of my works in London. Several times I advised him against it, but he answered imperturbably, 'That is my business.'" Whenever Bache was asked about finances for the concerts, he would tell whoever was asking that the cost was "a just recompense" and add that even if Liszt had charged him for his lessons at the same rate as the average village piano teacher, he would still be deeply in his debt.
In addition to the orchestral concerts, Bache gave an annual series of solo recitals on Liszt's birthday, October 22, between 1872 and 1887. In October 1879, Bache gave his first all-Liszt recital. At some of these recitals, the two-piano arrangements of Liszt's orchestral works were given. The two-piano version of Mazeppa was presented in October 1876, two months before the orchestral version was played at the Crystal Palace and four months before Bache presented it at his own orchestral concert. The Monthly Musical Record felt "There was ... good reason in introducing [it] as a duet, with a view to familiarizing hearers with it beforehand", and the Musical Standard found that presenting the two-piano arrangement was "an immense help to those who wished to form a correct judgment on it at its first orchestral performance ... as it is impossible, with even the best intentions, to estimate correctly the larger works of Liszt after only one hearing."
Liszt remained grateful to Bache and thanked him on several occasions, writing to him, "Without Walter Bache and his long years of self-sacrificing efforts in the propaganda of my works, my visit to London were indeed not to be thought of."
Liszt 75th birthday celebrations
Bache had long cherished the wish of bringing Liszt to London, which Liszt had last visited in 1841 while still a touring virtuoso, and Liszt knew that whatever standing his music had in that city had in large part to do with Bache's efforts. At least in part to repay the debt he felt he owed Bache, Liszt accepted Bache's invitation to attend celebrations in April 1886 to commemorate Liszt's 75th birthday. These celebrations included the foundation of a Liszt piano scholarship at the Royal Academy of MusicRoyal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, a performance of his oratorio The Legend of Saint Elizabeth led by Alexander Mackenzie in St. James's Hall, an audience with Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
and a public reception in Liszt's honor at the Grosvenor Gallery. Bache was involved in all four of these events, which were highly successful; by popular demand, Saint Elizabeth had to be repeated at the Crystal Palace.
The Working Men's Society
In the summer of 1867, Bache and Dannreuther formed "The Working Men's Society," a small association to promote the music of WagnerRichard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, Liszt and Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
in England, with Karl Klindworth
Karl Klindworth
Karl Klindworth was a German composer, pianist, conductor, violinist and music publisher.-Biography:Klindworth was born at Hanover in 1830. For a time he conducted a traveling opera troupe, but settled in Hanover as a teacher and composer. From there he went to Weimar, 1852, and studied the piano...
as an elder statesman for the group. The Society met regularly at one another's homes for the study and discussion of this music. The first study session met in December and consisted of the "Spinning Song" from Wagner's opera The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
, played by Dannreuther in Liszt's piano transcription. At the meeting the next month, the group tackled the first two scenes of Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold
is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre...
. The meeting which followed featured a reading of Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
. Neither of the latter two works had been presented anywhere; their world premieres at the Munich Court Opera were still two years away. Klindworth's special relationship with Wagner ensured that the group had access to the scores. In the July 1869 meeting, Liszt pupil Anna Mehlig played Liszt's First Piano Concerto for the group. Wagner and Liszt were not the only composers discussed—Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Henselt
Adolf von Henselt
Adolf von Henselt was a German composer and pianist.-Life:Henselt was born at Schwabach, in Bavaria. At the age of three he began to learn the violin, and at five the piano under Frau von Fladt...
, Raff
Joachim Raff
Joseph Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.-Biography:Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in...
and Schumann were among the others whose music was featured. However, the main focus of the group remained the music of Wagner.
Other achievements
Bache became a professor of piano at the Royal Academy of MusicRoyal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in 1881. The foundation of the Liszt Scholarship at that institution in 1886 was mainly due to his efforts. After Bache's death, the name of the scholarship was changed to the Liszt-Bache Scholarship.
Death
Bache died in London in 1888, at the age of 45, after a brief illness. He developed a chill and an ulcerated throat, which "proved too much for his over-worked and highly strung nature." He had otherwise been in good health and had taught his piano students just a couple of days before his death.Technique and repertoire
From his early concerts, Bache was noted for showing thoughtfulness in his interpretations and an excellent pianistic technique. He was especially noted for the evenness and crispness of his scales and the "great delicacy and refinement of feeling" in his playing. Like Hans von Bülow, he was considered an "intellectual" pianist who gave performances that were well executed. He was also considered to have improved with time, becoming a less mercurial and "fidgety" player and that despite occasional exaggerations in his interpretations, his artistry was beyond question.While he was not the only pianist in England to play Liszt's works, Bache was significant in that he played works in concert for solo piano, two pianos and piano and orchestra. In addition to the two-piano arrangements of the symphonic poems, the first two piano concertos, the B minor piano sonata and the Dante Sonata, Bache played a handful of transcriptions, five of the Hungarian Rhapsodies
Hungarian Rhapsodies
Hungarian Rhapsody redirects here. For the 1979 Hungarian film Hungarian Rhapsody . For the 1928 German film Ungarische Rhapsodie.The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R106, is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846-1853, and later in 1882 and 1885...
and a number of smaller-scaled virtuosic works and miniatures which often highlighted "the melodic nature of Liszt's writing". Bache also played a number of works by other composers in his recitals, many of which are unfamiliar today. Grateful for Bülow's assistance in conducting two of his annual concerts, Bache programmed several of the conductor's piano works in his recitals. He also played various works by Mackenzie, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Raff, Silas, Tchaikovsky and Volkmann and more familiar pieces by Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.
Like Bülow, Bache performed works from memory instead of from the printed page, at a time when doing so was a matter of open debate. Also like Bülow, he began giving recitals devoted entirely to the work of one composer. In 1879, he began giving all-Liszt recitals, and in 1883 he experimented with an all-Beethoven recital.
Reception
Bache was considered authoritative in the music of Liszt. About his performance of the B minor piano sonata, the Musical Standard wrote that Bache had made the work his own, giving the impression that Liszt's interpretation of the piece and Bache's were essentially one. However, while Bache's performances were universally acclaimed, the works he chose to play received a mixed reception. The Musical Standard wrote, after a performance of the First Piano Concerto in 1871, that while Bache's playing was excellent, it did nothing to make Liszt's "bizarre" concerto interesting. The Athenaeum wrote about the same performance that while the concerto was intricate, there was no difficulty in following the work as played by Bache.Bache received praise for the works of other composers, as well. The Musical Standard wrote that he sounded at home with whatever the musical style of the pieces he played. The Musical World noted that Bache's playing of Chopin, Raff, Schumann and Weber all showed "true artistic spirit and taste". Bache's playing of Bach was singled out for mention, with the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue "neat and highly finished". Bache was also said to have given a "masterly" performance of the Bach D minor keyboard concerto.
Despite receiving positive reviews for his pianism, Bache's difficulties with the critics on behalf of Liszt's music had a negative backlash on his performing career. He was never invited to play with the Philharmonic Society, even after Liszt personally recommended him as a soloist. After printed inquiries by the Musical Standard, which openly questioned why Bache's career had not advanced despite his obvious talent, he was invited in 1874 to play at the Crystal Palace. While his playing was lauded, his choice of music (the Liszt arrangement of Weber's Polonaise Brillante for piano and orchestra) was derided as astoundingly impudent. He also appeared at concerts led by Hans Richter
Hans Richter (conductor)
Hans Richter was an Austrian orchestral and operatic conductor.-Biography:Richter was born in Raab , Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother was opera-singer Jozsefa Csazenszky. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory...
, as organist in Liszt's symphonic poem Die Hunnenschlacht
Hunnenschlacht (Liszt)
Hunnenschlacht , S.105, is a symphonic poem by Franz Liszt, written in 1857 after a painting of the same name by Wilhelm von Kaulbach.The painting depicts the battle of the Catalaunian Fields in 451 AD, where the Hun armies led by Attila fought a savage battle against a Roman coalition led by Roman...
and as pianist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy
Choral Fantasy (Beethoven)
The Fantasy in C minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra, Op. 80, was composed in 1808 by Ludwig van Beethoven.-Background, composition, and premiere:...
and Chopin's Second Piano Concerto
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Chopin)
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, is a piano concerto composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. Chopin wrote the piece before he had finished his formal education, at around 20 years of age. It was first performed on 17 March 1830, in Warsaw, Poland, with the composer as soloist. It was...
.