Editing Ferruccio Busoni (section)

===Berlin, 1893–1913: "A new epoch"===
[[File:Busonimap.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Cartoon by Busoni of his 1904 US tour, drawn for his wife: "Map of the West of the United States showing the long and dolorous Tour, the anti-sentimental journey of F.B., 1904, Chicago"]]
Busoni was at the Berlin premiere of [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s opera ''[[Falstaff (opera)|Falstaff]]'' in April 1893. The result was to force on him a re-evaluation of the potential of Italian musical traditions which he had so far ignored in favour of the German traditions, and in particular the models of Brahms and the orchestral techniques of Liszt and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]].<ref>Dent (1933), pp. 115–117.</ref> Busoni immediately began to draft an adulatory letter to Verdi (which he never summoned the courage to send), in which he addressed him as "Italy's leading composer" and "one of the noblest persons of our time", and in which he explained that "''Falstaff'' provoked in me such a revolution of spirit that I can&nbsp;... date the beginning of a new epoch in my artistic life from that time."<ref>Beaumont (1987), pp. 53–54.</ref>

In 1894, Busoni settled in Berlin, which he henceforth regarded as his home base, except during the years around [[World War I]]. He had earlier felt unsympathetic toward the city: in an 1889 letter to Gerda he had described it as "this Jewish city that I hate, irritating, idle, arrogant, ''[[Wikt:parvenu|parvenu]]''".<ref>Couling (2005), p. 143.</ref>{{efn-lr|Busoni's attitude to Jews and [[antisemitism]] is somewhat ambiguous. Busoni's great-great-grandfather on his mother's side was half-Jewish (although he may not have been aware of this);<ref>Couling (2005), p. 352.</ref> Busoni used Jewish melodies to characterize a Jewish character in his opera ''Die Brautwahl'';<ref>Knyt (2010a) p. 233</ref> when during World War I Busoni took a stand against German aggression, [[Hans Pfitzner]] took the occasion to call his views "a manifestation of the international Jewish movement" against Germany;<ref>Kogan (2010), p. 101.</ref> in 1920 Busoni referred to his pupil [[Kurt Weill]] as "a very fine Jew, who will certainly make his way".<ref>Couling (2005), p. 330.</ref> But in protest at German [[hyper-inflation]] in 1923, he rewrote for concert performance an aria from ''Das Brautwahl'', "The Gruesome Tale of the Jew Coiner Lippold", and naïvely expressed surprise when performance was turned down on the grounds of its anti-Semitic implications.<ref>Beaumont (1987), pp. 371, 374.</ref>|group= n}} The city was swiftly growing in population and influence during this period and determined to stake itself as the musical capital of the united Germany,<ref>Couling (2005), pp. 148–149.</ref> but as Busoni's friend the English composer [[Bernard van Dieren]] pointed out, "international ''virtuosi'' who for practical reasons chose Berlin as their abode were not so much concerned with questions of prestige", and for Busoni the city's development as "the centre of the musical industry [was to] develop an atmosphere which [Busoni] detested more than the deepest pool of stagnant convention".<ref>van Dieren (1935), p. 35.</ref>

Berlin proved an excellent base for Busoni's European tours. As in the previous two years in the US, the composer had to depend for his living on exhausting but remunerative tours as a piano virtuoso; in addition at this period he was remitting substantial amounts to his parents, who continued to depend on his income. Busoni's programming and style as a recitalist initially raised concerns in some of Europe's musical centres. His first concerts in London, in 1897, met with mixed comments. ''[[The Musical Times]]'' reported that he "commenced in a manner to irritate the genuine amateurs [i.e. music-lovers] by playing a ridiculous travesty of one of Bach's masterly Organ Preludes and Fugues, but he made amends by an interpretation of Chopin's [[Études (Chopin)|Studies (Op. 25)]] which was of course unequal but, on the whole, interesting".<ref>Scholes (1947), p. 318.</ref> In Paris, the critic Arthur Dandelot commented "this artist has certainly great qualities of technique and charm", but strongly objected to his addition of [[chromatic]] passages to parts of Liszt's ''[[Deux légendes (Liszt)|St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots]]''.<ref>Roberge (1996), p. 274.</ref>

Busoni's international reputation rose swiftly, and he frequently performed in Berlin and other European capitals and regional centres (including Manchester, Birmingham, Marseilles, Florence, and many German and Austrian cities) throughout this period, as well as returning to America for four visits between 1904 and 1915.<ref>Couling (2005), pp. 166–173, 183–188, 215–216.</ref> This journeying life led van Dieren to call him "a musical [[Ishmael]]" (after the Biblical wanderer).<ref>van Dieren (1935), p. 44.</ref> The musicologist [[Antony Beaumont]] considers Busoni's six Liszt recitals in Berlin of 1911 as the climax of his pre-war career as a pianist.<ref>Beaumont (n.d.), §1.</ref>

Busoni's performing commitments somewhat stifled his creative capacity during this period: in 1896 he wrote "I have great success as a pianist, the composer I conceal for the present."<ref>Dent (1933), p. 105, p. 113.</ref> His monumental [[Piano Concerto (Busoni)|Piano Concerto]] (whose five movements last over an hour and include an offstage male chorus) was written between 1901 and 1904.<ref>Beaumont (1985), p. 61.</ref> In 1904 and 1905, the composer wrote his ''[[Turandot Suite]]'' as [[incidental music]] for [[Carlo Gozzi]]'s [[Turandot (Gozzi)|play of the same name]].<ref>Beaumont (1985), p. 76.</ref> A major project undertaken at this time was the opera ''[[Die Brautwahl]]'', based on a tale by [[E. T. A. Hoffmann]], first performed (to a lukewarm reception) in Berlin in 1912.<ref>Beaumont (1985), p. 116.</ref> Busoni also began to produce solo piano works that clearly revealed a more mature style, including the ''[[Elegies (Busoni)|Elegies]]'' (BV 249; 1907), the suite ''[[An die Jugend]]'' (BV 252; 1909) and the first two piano [[sonatina]]s, [[List of compositions by Ferruccio Busoni#BV257|BV 257]] (1910) and BV 259 (1912).<ref>Beaumont (1985), pp. 101, 148, 178.</ref>

In a series of orchestral concerts in Berlin between 1902 and 1909, both as pianist and conductor, Busoni particularly promoted contemporary music from outside Germany (though he avoided contemporary music, except for his own, in his solo recitals).<ref>Wirth (1980), p. 509.</ref> The series, which was held at the ''Beethovensaal'' (Beethoven Hall), included German premieres of music by [[Edward Elgar]], Sibelius, [[César Franck]], [[Claude Debussy]], [[Vincent d'Indy]], [[Carl Nielsen]] and [[Béla Bartók]]. The concerts also included premieres of some of Busoni's own works of the period, among them, in 1904, the Piano Concerto, in which he was the soloist under conductor [[Karl Muck]]; in 1905, his ''Turandot Suite'', and, in 1907, his ''Comedy Overture''.<ref>Dent (1933), pp. 332–336.</ref> Music of older masters was included, but sometimes with an unexpected twist. For example, Beethoven's [[Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven)|Third Piano Concerto]] with the eccentric first movement cadenza by [[Charles-Valentin Alkan]] (which includes references to Beethoven's [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]]).<ref name="dent156">Dent (1933), p. 156</ref><ref>Smith (2000), vol. 2, pp. 178—179.</ref> The concerts aroused much publicity but generated aggressive comments from critics. Couling suggests the programming of the concerts was "generally regarded as a provocation".<ref>Couling (2005), p. 192.</ref>

During the period Busoni undertook teaching at masterclasses at [[Weimar]], Vienna and Basel. In 1900 he was invited by [[Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach|Duke Karl-Alexander]] of Weimar to lead a masterclass for fifteen young virtuosi. This concept was more amenable to Busoni than teaching formally in a Conservatory: the twice-weekly seminars were successful and were repeated in the following year. Pupils included [[Maud Allan]], who later became famous as a dancer and remained a friend.<ref>Dent (1933), pp. 125—128.</ref> His experience in Vienna in 1907 was less satisfactory, although amongst his more rewarding pupils were [[Ignaz Friedman]], [[Leo Sirota]], [[Louis Gruenberg]], [[Józef Turczyński]] and Louis Closson; the latter four were dedicatees of pieces in Busoni's 1909 piano album ''An die Jugend''. But arguments with the Directorate of the Vienna Conservatoire, under whose auspices the classes were held, soured the atmosphere.<ref>Dent (1933), pp. 160–161; Beaumont (1997), p. 91.</ref> In the autumn of 1910 Busoni gave masterclasses and also carried out a series of recitals in Basel.<ref>Couling (2005), p. 239.</ref>

In the years before World War I, Busoni steadily extended his contacts in the art world in general as well as amongst musicians. [[Arnold Schoenberg]], with whom Busoni had been in correspondence since 1903, settled in Berlin in 1911 partially as a consequence of Busoni lobbying on his behalf. In 1913 Busoni arranged at his own apartment a private performance of Schoenberg's ''[[Pierrot lunaire]]'' which was attended by, amongst others, [[Willem Mengelberg]], [[Edgard Varèse]], and [[Artur Schnabel]].<ref>Beaumont (1985), pp. 26–27, 208.</ref> In Paris in 1912 Busoni had meetings with [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]], who proposed collaboration in a ballet or opera.<ref>Dent (1933), pp. 197–198, 201–202.</ref> He also met with the [[Futurism|Futurist]] artists [[Filippo Tommaso Marinetti|Filippo Marinetti]] and [[Umberto Boccioni]].<ref>Dent (1933), p. 203.</ref>