BETTY HUMBY (pianoforte)
It is well known that when Franz Liszt was about twenty he was possessed with the desire to take up the Church as a profession, and neglected his music in consequence. Since, as a pianist of extraordinary powers, he had Paris at his feet, Liszt's friends, particularly students who wished to take lessons with him, deplored this state of affairs; one student even penetrated to Liszt's den, iind found him, so far from succumbing to Church discipline, reclining on a divan smoking, a la Turque. Without moving he asked the student to play, and listened for a few bars apathetically, but presently becoming very excited Liszt asked the student what it was ; on learning that it was a Weber Sonata, Liszt sat down and began to play the Sonata himself. So beautiful did he find it that, as the story goes, he was not only won back to a life of music, but made a promise to the bold student that he would teach him ; indeed, that he should be his only pupil. The roll cf those described as Liszt's ' only pupil' is, of course, a very long one.