CONCERNING THE PIANO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 87

CONCERNING THE PIANO.

— "Reminiscences of Mr Oscar Beringer. —

Mr Oscar Beringer has just published with Messrs Bosworth his memories of half a. century, under tbe title, "Fifty Years' Experience of Pianoforte Teaching- and Play.in.g-"

Mr Beringer made his fir.** appearance as an infant prodigy at the Crystal Palace in. 1857, and for nearly nine yea-rs he continued to play there doily, as well as with the orchestra two or three times a week.

"I am not eentaiin_, however," he says, "that I' did not gain more in this way than by taking tes&ons, which were then of the. most penfunotory character, as I quickly found out when I 'was aible to afford them. The method, even of the best teachers, was primitive. One was either praised) up to the skies, or told that the piece wamied more practice ; in the latter event the usual prescription was an hour's scales and a dose of Czerny's 'Etudes de la Vetocite' or Cramer's Studies, to be taken as raany times a day as the poor sufferer could stand it — and this was all! Aa for any proper finger or touch training, such things did not enter the head of the paanoib-nte-teaoher of those days. Oould your instructor play he or she would play the- piece over to you, and if .you were keen you tried to copy tihem."

His first experience of being- a teadher himself came two years later. "I had ratihfr a good opinion of myself. I made up my mind to charge Is 6d a lesson ; but, alas ! I had overrated my earning capacity, for the mother of my fiarat pupil beat me down to 1b 3d.

"Queen Marie Amelie, the wife of Louis HbiUppe, wthd was, of course, quite an old lady, at one time used frequently to come to the PaAace concerts, and one day she sent an. equerry with a purse and a bag of sweets ar_ present for me. When J learnt tha* fcbiey were from the Queen of France I iras greatly impressed, and I rememlber ifche serere internal struggle I had %c to wshetber I ghoaxld eat' the sweets 01 keep them ac a souvenir. I am sorry to say that greed prevailed over veneration — 'but they were very good sweets I" Anton Dvorak; the Bohemian composer, once stayed with Mr Beringer. for a mouth, and would frequently go out for long walks around London with a- friend wJbo, like himself. Hid not speak English,

"They had lost their way one fine morning, and, feeling hungry, they looked out for a cafe. Dvorak caught sight, of some men sitting a>t a. wrindow reading papers, and said, 'Ah ! this must be a. cafe.' -»They entered, and found a gorgeously-aitf.ired porter in the hall, but, nothing daunted, they went into the room wihere the men were reading the papers and told the uniformed waiter to bring them some ooffee. They were trying hard to make themselves understood, wihen a gentleman informed them in French that it was not a cafe, bivt the Athenaeum Club, of which he was the secretary. They did not get their coffee." In 1864 Mr Berio&ojs t&>--34 U Leipzig for fni*irM» Irxnirng, «fr<3 r« a pup.il of Mosohe l es at the Conservatoire.

"As a. teacher he was most pain staking and patient, and I learnt a great deal from him with regard to correct accentuation and phrasing, but of touch and tone colour little or nothing. He was very particular about wfha-t ho termed his staccato playing — all done with stiff arm and wrist. He was explaining this one day to an American who was in his class, and. using his gold pencil-case to illustrate h.is point. 'If this were a red-hot pofcer,' he said, 'you would not touch it so— ibut so — and tha* is my staccato.' To which bhe coolly l-eiplied, 'If that were a red-hot poker, professor, I guess I wouldn't touch it a* all."'