FILLING IN A PASSAGE

"You suggest that a composer may fill in or make up a passage, should he
forget a portion of the piece when playing in public. True; but
improvising on a well-known work is rather a dangerous thing to do in
order to improve a bad case. Apropos of this, I am reminded of an
incident which occurred at one of my European recitals. It was a wholly
new program which I was to give at Vevay. I had been staying with
Paderewski, and went from Morges to Vevay, to give the recital. In my
room at the hotel I was mentally reviewing the program, when in a
Mendelssohn Fugue, I found I had forgotten a small portion. I could
remember what went before and what came after, but this particular
passage had seemingly gone. I went down to the little parlor and tried
the fugue on the piano, but could not remember the portion in question.
I hastened back to my room and constructed a bridge which should connect
the two parts. When the time came to play the fugue at the recital, it
all went smoothly till I was well over the weak spot, which, it seems, I
really played as Mendelssohn wrote it. As I neared the last page, the
question suddenly occurred to me, what had I done with that doubtful
passage? What had really happened I could not remember; and the effort
to recall whether I had played Mendelssohn or Stojowski nearly brought
disaster to that last page.

"As soon as my season closes here I shall go to London and bring out my
second piano concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra, under Nikisch.
I shall also play various recitals."

It was my good fortune to be present at the orchestral concert at
Queen's Hall, when Mr. Stojowski was the soloist. It was pleasant to
see the enthusiasm aroused by the concerto itself, and the performance