ABSTRACT
In Difficult Rhythm, Michelle Fillion frames the Pianola performance of the Pathtique admirably. She situates Forster's fictional use of Tchaikovsky's music in its historical context by providing detailed information on the English performance history of the Pathtique from 1894, the year following the composer's tragic death, and throughout most of the Edwardian period. The New Woman wished to break out of old and confining forms. In fact, as Ledger observes, the woman writer was a frequently recurring figure in New Woman fiction where writing itself is seen as a liberatory activity. The woman composer was the musical equivalent of the writing woman seeking a creative outlet. In July 1901, a music critic declared that with Beethoven, Chopin is unplayable and that with all our fingers and brains and such souls as we possess we cannot do either of them justice. Liszt concentrates on Chopin, man and musician his life, character, psychopathology and the canonical and political significance of his music.
