The last half of the 18th century brought many changes to Europe one of them being the emerging middle class.  No longer was music something only to be enjoyed by royalty in their courts but the common person could now enjoy hearing recitals of music.  One of the problems that the early pioneers of piano recitals had to decide was how to sit vis a vis the audience.  With his back to the audience? Facing the audience?  It was finally settled by a young and handsome pianist who came from Bohemia by the name of Jan Ladislav Dussek.   It was his decision to sit sideways to the audience and raise the lid of the piano to act as another sounding board and project the sound into the audience.  Also, sitting sideways allowed the audience to admire his handsome profile, or as he was described in Paris – le beau Dussek!

Enjoy listening to another composition of Franz Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 first played by Adam Gyorgy.

And then another rendition given by the comedian Victor Borge.