"I have been asked whether I prefer to play for an audience of
'music-lovers' or one of 'music knowers.' Perhaps an equal mixture is
the happy medium. Of the two sorts it seems to me the music-knowers are
preferable, for even if they are very critical, they also recognize the
various points you make; they see and appreciate what you are striving
for. They are not inclined to say, 'I don't like such or such a player';
for the music-knower understands the vast amount of time and energy,
labor and talent that go to make a pianist. He rather says, 'I prefer
the playing of such or such an artist.' The word 'like' in connection
with a great artist seems almost an affront. What does it matter if his
work is not 'liked' by some? He knows it can stand for what it is--the
utmost perfection of his powers--of himself. And after all the audience
is the greatest teacher an artist can have; I have learned more from
this teacher than from any other. In this school I learn what moves and
touches an audience; how to improve this or that passage; how to make a
greater climax here, or more sympathetic coloring there. For in
conceiving how a work should sound, I get--in my study of it--a general
idea of the whole, and make it as nearly perfect as I am able. But it
has to be tested and tried--an audience must pass its opinion--must set
the seal of approval upon it. When the work has been polished by
repeated trials in this school, interpretation then becomes crystallized
in the mind and the piece can always be given in nearly the same way. A
painter does not change nor repaint his picture each time he exhibits
it; why need the musician change his idea of the interpretation at each
repetition? To trust too much to the inspiration of the moment might
injure the performance as a whole. When I have my ideal of the
interpretation worked out in mind, it becomes my sacred duty to play it
always in this spirit--always to give my best. I can never think that
because I am playing in Boston or New York, I must strive harder for
perfection than if I play in a little town. No, I must give the highest