“Technique is created from the spirit, not from mechanics.” This oftenquoted precept attributed to Liszt, seemingly cited for the first time by Lina Ramann as one of the pieces of advice he insistently repeated to his pupils in his later years, should not lead one to think that there was something mystical or supernatural about Liszt's legendary mastery of piano technique. As empirical history and documentary evidence show, transcendental piano technique is not magic; it is rather the consequence, at least in Liszt's case, of a balance between musical intelligence, intensive practice, mental rigor and organization, and a mighty but delicate hand. If Liszt verbalized this somewhat vague rule during his lessons, it should be understood in the context of Lina Ramann's introduction to her Liszt Paedagogium. There it appears at the end in bold letters, for she insists on the importance of the master's hand, described in a somewhat poetic way as the “Organ der Seele” (organ or tool of the soul). Beyond the metaphor always stands an idea: what she wants to emphasize here is that the mastery of technique is due to the complementarity of physical and mental skills. It must also be noted that if this rule does not express word for word what Liszt actually said, it undoubtedly indicates something important about his conception of transcendental piano technique. It is in fact Liszt’s conception of the balance between Letter and Spirit that points to a way of clarifying these kinds of declarations.

It is generally assumed that Liszt's teaching, especially the master classes he pioneered later in life, was more about interpretation than about technique. However, this does not mean that Liszt never spoke, especially in his youth, about the latter. Direct and indirect sources can help us understand and illustrate his dictum about spirit and mechanism, which is not, as it has recently been labeled, a “platitude.” On the contrary, documented and exemplified, this instruction can illuminate Liszt's conception of piano training in terms of the equation between mechanics and thinking.