Masters Cannot be Studied in OrderWill you give me your views as to the order in which the masters of piano composition should be studied?To classify composers, without specifying their works, is never advisable. Beethoven's first and last sonatas differ so fundamentally from each other in every particular that one may play the first one very well and yet be for many years (perhaps forever) unable to play the last one. And still, it is the same Beethoven that wrote both works. We can, therefore, hardly speak of an "order of composers." So long as we are dealing with masters the question should not be: Which master?—but, Which composition does your stage of mental and technical development call for? If you will defer the study of any othercomposer until you have fully mastered the works of Beethoven—only the principal ones, at that—you will need a life of more length than the Bible allots to the average man.
Masters Cannot be Studied in Order
Will you give me your views as to the order in which the masters of piano composition should be studied?
To classify composers, without specifying their works, is never advisable. Beethoven's first and last sonatas differ so fundamentally from each other in every particular that one may play the first one very well and yet be for many years (perhaps forever) unable to play the last one. And still, it is the same Beethoven that wrote both works. We can, therefore, hardly speak of an "order of composers." So long as we are dealing with masters the question should not be: Which master?—but, Which composition does your stage of mental and technical development call for? If you will defer the study of any othercomposer until you have fully mastered the works of Beethoven—only the principal ones, at that—you will need a life of more length than the Bible allots to the average man.