As related in the previous chapter, Busoni was criticized for “liberties” of two varieties: departing from the commonly accepted, traditional interpretations, the “inheritance of the great interpreters,” on the one hand, and altering the original text, on the other.

The first reproach should not be taken too seriously. Any true artist, an artist-performer included, without exception, differs in some way from his predecessors and necessarily departs from their accomplishments; otherwise, his “creations” would have no greater value than exact repetitions of the Ninth Symphony or War and Peace. “The ‘new’ is included in the idea of ‘Creation.’ … One follows a great example most faithfully if one does not follow it, for it was through turning away from its predecessor that the example became great,” contributing something new. Beethoven would not have become Beethoven if he merely repeated Haydn and Mozart.

This, of course, does not devalue the creations of the great artists of the past; but these creations can be only admired, not duplicated. Through repetition, the discoveries of great artists pale, lose their life's breath, their potency: “tradition is a wax mask taken of life, which, passing through many years and the hands of countless craftsmen, finally loses the look of the original.”