Emil von Sauer: Liszt's Forgotten Prot�g� by Anita Crocus (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Emil von Sauer: Liszt's Forgotten Protégé by Anita Crocus Donald Manildi Emil von Sauer: Liszt's Forgotten Protégé. By Anita Crocus. Eugene, OR: Luminare Press, 2022. [x, 409 p. ISBN 9781643889641, $19.95.] Index, bibliography. The name Emil von Sauer (1862–1942) is likely to resonate with assiduous collectors of historic piano recordings, but to others he is apt to be an unknown quantity. This was not always so, since Sauer belongs to the elite coterie of virtuosos who assembled in Weimar in the early 1880s to attend the master classes of Franz Liszt. Along with such colleagues as Moriz Rosenthal, Eugen d'Albert, Rafael Joseffy, and Arthur Friedheim, Sauer helped perpetuate Lisztian principles of piano technique and interpretation well into the twentieth century. Like most of his colleagues, he pursued a career that encompassed extensive concertizing, serious composition of piano music, and important pedagogical work. But because his performing career was almost entirely confined to Europe, Sauer did not establish a significant reputation in the US. Indeed, during his seventy-nine years he made only two tours of North America (in 1899 and 1908). Born in Hamburg, Sauer was not a child prodigy, but he was nonetheless encouraged by his mother to undertake serious piano study. His progress enabled him to play for the visiting Anton Rubinstein, who urged the young Sauer to audition at the Moscow Conservatory, where Rubinstein's brother Nicholas was the director. Sauer spent two years under Nicholas's intense supervision until the latter's death in 1881. Three years later, Sauer ventured to Weimar and attended Liszt's classes. Sauer later claimed that he gained little from Liszt's teaching and that Nicholas Rubinstein was clearly the most decisive influence on his playing. He viewed Liszt mainly as an inspirational force and always expressed admiration for him as a man and musician, frequently [End Page 609] earning acclaim for his interpretations of major Liszt works. By the 1890s, Sauer was performing frequently in Germany and Austria and began a fruitful fifty-year relationship as a favorite soloist with the Wiener Philharmoniker. His recitals brought him to all the larger and smaller European centers, and he became a sought-after teacher at Vienna's conservatory, despite a few interruptions generated by heavy outside commitments and the demands of his family. Sauer's reputation was such that he received over two dozen awards and decorations from various countries. Sauer married Alice Elb in 1887, and their union produced nine children. After Alice's death in 1939, Sauer married his young Mexican pupil Angelica Morales, who was forty-nine years his junior. The two had frequently played duo-piano recitals together. Their marriage resulted in two more children. Sauer's personal and professional stories all unfolded, of course, against the backdrop of European political upheaval. Until now there have been no extensive English-language treatments of Sauer's life and career. The first forty years of his life were chronicled in Sauer's own memoir, Meine Welt (Stuttgart: Spemann Verlag, 1901), but Sauer lacked the time and energy to write a sequel. An annotated English translation of Meine Welt is badly needed. It appears that Anita Crocus prepared her own translation as part of her research for this biography, but she does not explain what, if anything, has prevented her from offering it for publication in its entirety. The present volume is Crocus's first book. Her academic background is in Latin American and European history. It was a fortuitous encounter with Sauer's youngest son, Franz, who was her mentor at the University of the Americas in Mexico City, that provided the impetus for this biography. Crocus has diligently pursued extensive—though not always exhaustive—research into Sauer's life and has given us a general overview of his long presence as one of the main figures during the so-called golden age of pianism. Her narrative proceeds in a generally straightforward fashion, but it is marred by too many digressions into incidental historical background, such as the lengthy introduction of Gustav Mahler and his wife (p. 114ff) and of Richard Strauss and his wife (p. 133ff). Tighter editorial control could...