was also fascinated, and instructed him in
harmony; and fortunate it was that Liszt began his course under two
strict mentors. He soon began to resent Czerny's method--thought he
knew better and needed not those dry studies of Clementi and that
irksome fingering by rule--he could finger anything in a half-a-dozen
different ways. There was a moment when it seemed that master and
pupil would have to part, but timely concessions to genius paved the
way to dutiful submission, and years afterward the great master
dedicated to the rigid disciplinarian of his boyhood his "Vingt-quatre
Grandes Etudes" in affectionate remembrance.

Such a light as Liszt's could not be long hid; all Vienna, in 1822,
was talking of the wonderful boy. "_Est deus in nobis_," wrote the
papers, profanely. The "little Hercules," the "young giant," the boy
"virtuoso from the clouds," were among the epithets coined to
celebrate his marvellous renderings of Hummel's "Concerto in A," and a
free "Fantasia" of his own. The Vienna Concert Hall was crowded to
hear him, and the other illustrious artists--then, as indeed they have
been ever since forced to do wherever Liszt appeared--effaced
themselves with as good a grace as they could.

It is a remarkable tribute to the generous nature as well as to the
consummate ability of Liszt, that, while opposing partisans have
fought bitterly over him--Thalbergites, Herzites, Mendelssohnites
_versus_ Lisztites--yet few of the great artists who have, one after
another, had to yield to him in popularity have denied to him their
admiration, while most of them have given him their friendship.

Liszt early wooed, and early won Vienna. He spoke ever of his dear
Viennese, and their resounding city. A concert tour on his way to
Paris brought him before the critical public of Stuttgart and Munich.
Hummel, an old man, and Moscheles, then in his prime, heard him and
declared that his playing was equal to theirs. But Liszt was bent upon
completing his studies in the celebrated school of the French capital,
and at the feet of the old musical dictator, Cherubini. The Erards,
who were destined to owe so much to Liszt, and to whom Liszt
throughout his career owed so much, at once provided him with a
magnificent piano; but Cherubini put in force a certain by-law of the
Conservatoire excluding foreigners, and excluded Franz Liszt.

This was a bitter pill to the eager student. He hardly knew how little
he required such patronage. In a