Vadimir Jankélévitch. Liszt et la Rhapsodie: Essai sur la Virtuosite No. V in the series De la Musique au Silence, Librairie Plon, Paris. 1979. Translated by John Bell Young
V l a d i m i r
J a n k é l é v i t c h
On virtuosity
Virtuosity does not exist on credit...
Virtuosi who inspire confidence solely by their good looks don’t exist. One cannot take a virtuoso at his word, but only recognize his acts, and his manner of doing.Don’t listen to what he says, listen to what he does; the virtuosic performance is the only authentic proof of virtuosic credibility. The sincerity of a virtuoso recognizes itself in an effective performance…Virtuosity presupposes not only an aptitude, but the exercise of an attitude; it is neither a quiescent souvenir, nor a promise, nor a fait accompli, not platonic virtuality; it is the very fullness of accomplishment itself. [virtuosity is concerned] nothing counts except success! Virtuosity is judged ruthlessly by its results!
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An excess of instrumental mastery, such as that of the orator in possession of a surfeit of vocabulary…that exceeds the current needs of the average life or the everyday. Not knowing what to do with this surplus of riches … he expands rather than squanders them on exercises and acrobatics; neither strokes nor trills, nor arpeggios, nor cadences in small notes, nor the most luxurious ornaments, nor the most extravagant profusion can suffice to exhaust such inexhaustible animation.