CONSCIOUSNESS 20/ 



well as forward or backward displacements of the finger 

 or hand in passing from the white to the black keys and 

 back. Each of these motions requires time and ofiFers an 

 additional impediment to speed; and consequently the 

 introduction of harmony and melody, the compounding 

 of thematic passages, of two or more voices, and of con- 

 nected phrases, all serve to slow the music. 



Fingering reaches what is perhaps its greatest com- 

 plexity in the works of Leopold Godowsky ( 1870-1938) . 

 For example, in this composer's 'Badinage/ Chopin's 

 'Black Key Etude (Op. 10, No. 5) is alternated with 

 his 'Butterfly' Etude (Op. 25, No. 9) in the right and 

 left hand, respectively, with preservation of the original 

 melodies; both hands are working furiously throughout 

 and operating against all the resistance factors enumer- 

 ated above. As recorded by Dr. Saperton for Command 

 Performance Records (No. 1202), this work, containing 

 1680 independent finger movements, requires 80 sec- 

 onds, or involves an average of 21 notes per second. The 

 execution of this work is not made easier by the con- 

 stant use of two notes against three (polyrhythms), 

 sometimes with two in the left hand and three in the 

 right, and sometimes the reverse. There is no doubt that 

 Godowsky 's 'Badinage' is far more difficult to play than 

 the Mendelssohn presto, as is attested by the fact that 

 the former, like much of Godowsky's music, is rarely 

 heard in pubhc performance, and to the writer's knowl- 

 edge his most difficult compositions have not been re- 

 corded by anyone except Dr. Saperton. 



In this same category is Godowsky's arrangement of 

 Strauss's 'Artists' Life' waltz which, in the original, has 

 a di£Ferent theme for each movement. Godowsky often 

 fuses two or three of these themes into a simultaneous 

 pattern while maintaining a three-four rhythmic motif 

 in the bass, and when in one place a vertical or harmonic 

 factor is added, there are five factors in simultaneous 

 execution, played with such individual emphasis that the 

 separate themes can be distinguished. Here the achieve- 



