If this were the 21st of October. . .I'd say happy birthday, Franz! You too, Mitch!
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I've been (is this the right word?)
An ignoramus. I revere Liszt and now
I finally see how his being irresistible
To a woman like Marie d'Agoult —
An exceptionally serious woman —
Derived from his own seriousness
Which, however, never expressed
Itself through anger or violence.
In recitals Liszt did sometimes
Physically wreck a piano and
In 1838 in Vienna he destroyed
Three pianos in one concert
But those pianos were in poor
Shape to begin with and Liszt's
Response was exasperation rather
Than anger in the everyday sense.
Liszt — who was always serious
But never angry, never flying
Off the handle, blowing his top,
Blowing a gasket, having a cow —
Liszt loved and was loved by
Many women. But did he snabble
Every woman he ever met? Okay,
Maybe not. Probably not. But still!
— Mitch Sisskind