It’s quite a sensation: In 2021, a previously unknown notebook from Franz Liszt’s circle of students turned up at the Goethe and Schiller Archive in Weimar. The author is Heinrich Lutter (1854–1937), who was Liszt’s student from 1876 until Liszt’s death in 1886. The notebook contains meticulous notes from Liszt’s piano lessons. With extraordinary precision, it paints a picture of Liszt’s interpretation and teaching style. The notebook covers not only Liszt’s own works but also music by Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, and many other composers.

As luck would have it, I happened to be in Weimar at that very time and was granted access to the notebook. It immediately occurred to me: this is such a valuable record of Liszt’s performance practice that it simply had to be published. So I obtained permission to publish it and set to work. It was a long, highly exciting, and at times painstaking process: the notebook had to be deciphered, the works identified, the musical examples determined, and much more. The biographical research on Heinrich Lutter also proved challenging, as there is hardly any documentation about him.

I am all the more pleased that the notebook has now been published. This edition reproduces the original text (in German) and is thus a treasure trove for both practical pianists and musicological studies. By another stroke of luck, a large collection of letters from Heinrich Lutter to one of his students surfaced in 2023, offering an intimate glimpse into his personality.

The result is a fascinating portrait of a tradition of musical interpretation and performance that is sure to inspire today's musicians as well! The book is written in German. I hope that in the future I will be able to publish an English translation, as well.

Bernhard Ruchti (ed.)
Bei Franz Liszt in der Klavierstunde
Das Notizbuch von Heinrich Lutter aus seinem Unterricht bei Franz Liszt
ISBN 978-3-8260-9803-1
eISBN 978-3-8260-9804-8
Editor: Königshausen & Neumann

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