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The author recounts a lifetime in music, beginning with early training in New England and advanced studies in European conservatories, and describes encounters with leading 19th-century musicians and composers. He details lessons and associations with figures such as Moscheles, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Schumann, Wagner and others, offering anecdotes about performances, teaching methods, sight-reading and rehearsals. The narrative moves to his career in America, including touring, conducting developments, pedagogy and reflections on evolving musical tastes and technique, with practical discussions of piano instruction, pedal usage, autograph anecdotes and insights into concert life.
[1] In a letter written twenty-four years later, in 1878, Liszt says of "Parsifal": "The composition of the first act is finished; in it are revealed the most wondrous depths and the most celestial heights of art."
[2] As I have elsewhere stated, I was the first to meet Rubinstein in Weimar, while Liszt was away.
[3] He was at Moscow, being first professor of pianoforte-playing at the Conservatory there.