Besides enriching the technique of the piano, he augmented the
materials of musical expression, contributing fresh charms to those
prime factors of music melody, harmony and rhythm. New chord extensions,
passages of double notes, arabesques and harmonic combinations were
devised by him and he so systematized the use of the pedals that the
most varied nuances could be produced by them.
In melody and general conception his tone-poems sprang spontaneously
from his glowing fancy, but they were subjected to the most severe
tests before they were permitted to go out into the world. Every
ingenious device that gave character to his exquisite cantilena, and
softened his most startling chord progressions, was evolved by the vivid
imagination of this master from hitherto hidden qualities of the
pianoforte. Without him neither it nor modern music could have been what
it is. An accentuation like the ringing of distant bells is frequently
heard in his music. To him bell tones were ever ringing, reminding him
of home, summoning him to the heights.
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