Carl Tausig

Carl Tausig

Carl Tausig or Karl Tausig (November 4, 1841 – July 17, 1871) was a Polish pianist and composer.

Life

Tausig was born in Warsaw to Jewish parents and received his first piano lessons from his father, pianist Aloys Tausig. He was introduced to Franz Liszt in Weimar at the age of 14, and studied and travelled with him. At the age of 16 he met Richard Wagner, of whom he became a devoted follower and friend. Tausig made piano arrangements of many of Wagner's operas. He also introduced to Wagner his friend Peter Cornelius, another Wagner devotee.

Tausig's grave in Berlin

Tausig settled in Germany and opened a piano school in Berlin in 1865 which, however, closed soon afterwards. He toured throughout Europe, becoming known for his exemplary technique. He died in Leipzig from typhoid at the age of 29.

Pianism

Tausig was considered by some critics to be the greatest of Liszt's pupils, pianistically speaking, and to carry pure virtuosity to heights only suggested by Liszt. Anton Rubinstein called him "the infallible."^[1] Where Tausig differed from his teacher was in his lack of flamboyant gestures while playing. Tausig sat motionless at the piano and abhorred what he called Spektakel. While his fingers were working miracles at the keyboard without any digital errors, the only sign of tension from Tausig would be an imperceptible tightening of one corner of his mouth.^[2]

Until his untimely death, some critics surmise that Tausig may not have had a pianistic equal, combining Liszt's force and range of tone color with the intellectuality of his fellow pupil Hans von Bülow. Another Liszt pupil, Eugen d'Albert, compared Tausig very favorably with their teacher. He said that while Liszt's musical conceptions were grander, Tausig possessed a better and more accurate technique coupled with a good deal of poetry.^[3]

Works

Tausig's surviving output is for piano solo only. Where indicated, unpublished works are shown. Some further works are also unpublished or lost, and are not listed - these include a transcription in double notes of Chopin's Etude Op. 25 No. 2 and orchestral compositions (including a piano concerto and an orchestral version of Das Geisterschiff).

Original compositions

• Impromptu, Opus 1a
• Two Concert-Etudes, Opus 1b
• Das Geistershiff (Ballade), Opus 1c
• Introduction and Tarantella, Opus 2a
• L'Espérance (nocturne varié), Opus 3
• Rêverie, Opus 5
• Le Ruisseau, Opus 6a
• Ten Préludes
• Ungarische Zigeunerweisen
• Valse-Caprice (published as nos.4 and 5 following on from J.Strauss transcriptions, given below)

Transcriptions

Note 1: Some of these works for one reason or another were left incomplete by Tausig; where possible, details of the state of the manuscript are given.

• J. S. Bach: (6) Chorale Preludes (BWV 1098, 614, 622, 656, ???, 648)
• Bach: Praeludium, Fuge und Allegro, BWV 998
• Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Sechs Sätze aus Streichquartetten
• Hector Berlioz: Gnomenchor und Sylphentanz
• Frederic Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor
• Liszt: Les Préludes (Published by Editio Musica Budapest)
• Liszt: Tasso (essentially complete, only last 4 bars not finished) (completed and published by Bellsarius edition?)
• Liszt: Hamlet (UNPUBLISHED)
• Liszt: Orpheus (no phrasing, dynamics or tempo markings) (UNPUBLISHED)
• Liszt: Die Ideale (last 25 bars incomplete) (UNPUBLISHED)
• Liszt: Hungaria (last 13 bars incomplete) (UNPUBLISHED)
• Liszt: Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne (UNPUBLISHED)
• Liszt: Heroide funebre (no phrasing, dynamics or tempo markings) (UNPUBLISHED)
• Liszt: A Faust Symphony (Gretchen incomplete, remainder mostly complete) (UNPUBLISHED)
• Liszt: Dante Symphony (UNPUBLISHED)
• Stanisław Moniuszko: Reminiscences de Halka
• Domenico Scarlatti: Five Sonatas
• Franz Schubert: Andantino und Variationen, Opus 84 No.1
• Schubert: Marche Militaire, Opus 51 No.1
• Schubert: Polonaise, Opus 75 No.3
• Schubert: Rondo, Opus 84 No.2
• Schumann: Contrabandista
• J. Strauss II: Nouvelles soirees de Vienne (Valses-caprices nos.1 - 3)
• Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (solo piano and four hand arrangement)
• Wagner: Kaiser-Marsch
• Wagner: Meditation from "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"
• Wagner: Three paraphrases on "Tristan und Isolde"
• Wagner: Two transcriptions from "Die Walküre"
• Weber: Aufforderung zum Tanz

Note 2: Tausig also arranged another 3 of Liszt's Symphonic Poems but the manuscripts are not sufficiently intact to be accessible. See D.Hennig's article in the Liszt Society (UK) Journal volume 17 (1992), p.65 for more details.

Bibliography

• Schonberg, Harold C., The Great Pianists (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987, 1963). ISBN 0-671-64200-6.

References

Media

External links

• Free scores by Carl Tausig in the International Music Score Library Project