Leschetizky

Sixteen candles, divided eight and eight in two towering candelabras, flanked, on the stage of Aeolian Hall, Manhattan, the sleek black bulk of a pianoforte. An audience waited, marveling, expectant. The stage grew dark. An attendant appeared, tiptoed to the candelabras, lit each candle in turn with a glimmering taper. Scarce breathed the audience now, so grave, so holy, was the sight. A young woman in a rose-colored frock suddenly detached herself from the gloom, stood bowing in the soft-lustre before her instrument. She was Marie Leschetizky, final wife of the late Theodor Leschetizky, famed Viennese music teacher,* about to make her Manhattan debut. After due trouble with her chair, she addressed herself to a highly uneventful performance of a Bach Sicilienne. Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Debussy followed; in all of whose works Mme. Leschetizky strove courageously to support the improbable theory that the Kingdom of Heaven can be taken by storm.

* Theodore Leschetizky, four times married, died in 1915. Among his one-time pupils are Paderewski, Hambourg, Gabrilowitsch, Moiseiwitch, Brailowsky, Essipov, Friedman, Leginska.