The illustrations (and captions in the text version) have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate. Thus the page number of an illustration might not match the page number in the List of Illustrations, and the order of illustrations may not be the same in the List of Illustrations and in the book.

An advertisement listing books available from the author has been moved from the front of the book to the end, where it precedes full advertisements for the books; a heading thus duplicated ("BOOKS BY JAMES HUNEKER") has been removed.

The text contains many inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation, which have been left unchanged. In particular, Liszt's works are referred to inconsistently by their titles in various languages, and names of keys are inconsistently hyphenated (e.g. "A-flat" and "A flat").

Words in other languages were sometimes printed without their diacritics, e.g. "Fraulein" for "FrÄulein", and "czardas" for "czÁrdÁs". On page 13, "Dobrjan" appears to have been printed with a diaeresis on the "j"; this has been omitted, while the two other spellings used ("DobrjÀn" and "Dobrjan") have been retained.

Other inconsistencies include:

• Suiss and Swiss
• MedÆival and mediÆval
• Graner Messe and Graner-messe
• PrÉludes and Preludes
• Tschaikowski and Tschaikowsky
• BelvÉdÈre and Belvedere
• BerÇeuse and Berceuse
• d'exÉcution and d'execution
• DÉbats and Debats
• FrÄuleins and Frauleins
• KÖhler and Kohler
• MÉditations and Meditations
• MÜllerlieder and Mullerlieder
• leitmotive and Leitmotive
• PrÜckner and Pruckner
• RÁkÓczy and Rakoczy
• ZÜrich and Zurich
• Mickelangelo and Michelangelo
• Nadine Hellbig and Nadine Helbig
• MunkÁcsy is spelled as Munkacsy, Munkaczy, MunkaÇzy, Munkacszy, and MunkÀcsy
• any one and anyone
• benefit concerts and benefit-concerts
• boat-hand and boathand
• Czerny and Czerni
• concert room and concert-room
• d' Este and d'Este
• Danziger Rosebault and Danziger-Rosebault
• e 'l and e'l
• Erl King and Erl-King
• ever ready and ever-ready
• every one and everyone
• Fest-klÄnge and FestklÄnge
• Feux-follets and Feux follets
• for ever and forever
• half dozen and half-dozen
• iron gray and iron-gray
• key-note and keynote
• Maria-Pawlowna, Maria Pawlowna, and Maria Paulowna
• Merian-Genast and Merian Genast
• music loving and music-loving
• octave playing and octave-playing
• opera house and opera-house
• piano concerto and piano-concerto
• Piano-Forte, Piano Forte, and pianoforte
• piano player and piano-player
• piano playing and piano-playing
• piano recital and piano-recital
• piano teacher and piano-teacher
• pianoforte playing and pianoforte-playing
• programme music and programme-music
• puzta and putzta
• quasi-sonata and quasi sonata
• Ramann and Ramagn
• rewritten and re-written
• RivÉ-King and RivÉ King
• three quarters and three-quarters
• well known and well-known
• what ever and whatever
• wood-wind and woodwind
• writing table and writing-table

Inconsistent punctuation in the sentence beginning "Masterpieces, besides those already" on p. 153 has been retained.

Some apparent errors have been retained:

• p. 17 extra comma ("Paganini, had set")
• p. 34 extra comma ("a man who, accomplished")
• p. 58 mis-spelling ("Hoffgartnerei")
• p. 83 extra comma ("Gregory XIV, had opened")
• p. 111 mis-spelling ("Bestandig")
• p. 123 extra comma ("the god, believing in his own")
• p. 144 mis-spelling ("GotterdÄmmerung")
• p. 204 mis-spelling ("infinitively")
• p. 309 mis-spelling ("troup")
• p. 341 full stop instead of comma ("much for fame. I bitterly")

Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have been corrected as follows:

• p. 27, comma changed to full stop (winds and murmurs.")
• p. 74 "though" changed to "through" ("through his pupils continued")
• p. 74 comma added to text ("whose fiery passions, indomitable energy")
• p. 89, quotation mark added to text (outside of Italy":)
• p. 98, "Madamoiselle" changed to "Mademoiselle" (Mademoiselle Cognetti)
• p. 108, quotation mark removed from text ("same school.")
• p. 149, "pentinent" changed to "penitent"
• p. 152, "philsophical" changed to "philosophical"
• p. 169, quotation mark removed from text ("a spirited march.")
• p. 174, quotation mark removed from text ("wonders by black art.'")
• p. 177, full stop changed to comma ("dispensed with,")
• p. 199, "talent as a violonist" changed to "talent as a violinist"
• p. 205, single quotation mark added to text ("'FreischÜtz,'")
• p. 209, "Bailot's" changed to "Baillot's"
• p. 212, "Liszt's and Berlioz intimacy" changed to "Liszt's and Berlioz's intimacy"
• p. 214, "Listz was playing" changed to "Liszt was playing"
• p. 219, "ooms:" changed to "rooms:"
• p. 236, "genuis" changed to "genius"
• p. 299, double quotation mark changed to single quotation mark ("grace, and beauty.'")
• p. 299, "genuis" changed to "genius"
• p. 302, double quotation mark changed to single quotation mark ("'as a concertante wit")
• p. 351, full stop changed to comma ("he loved Germany,")
• p. 356, comma added to text ("Adolf Blassmann,")
• p. 358, full stop changed to comma ("Johannes Zschocher,")
• p. 359, comma changed to full stop (""Second Tausig."")
• p. 372, quotation mark added to text (""Friedheim is of medium height")
• p. 422, "À la main gouche" changed to "À la main gauche"
• p. 424, full stop changed to comma ("no other in the world,")
• p. 441, "When" changed to "when" (when Breitkopf and HÄrtel finish)
• p. 447, closing brackets added to text ("(Princess Nadine Schakovskoy)"
• p. 447, "Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst" changed to "Hohenlohe-SchillingsfÜrst"
• p. 447, semi-colon changed to full stop ("Museum (Budapest), 338.")
• p. 451, full stop changed to semi-colon ("Piano arrangements, 86;")
• p. 451, comma added to text ("to the Grave, 132;")
• p. 452, comma added to text ("Sofie (pupil), 24, 42,")
• p. 453, comma added to text ("Paderewski, 16, 17, 418, 419,")
• p. 455, "Niebelungen" changed to "Nibelungen"
• p. 455, comma added to text ("Rosenthal, Moriz (pupil)")
• p. 457, "Veldi" changed to "Velde"
• p. 457, comma added to text ("Tristan and Isolde (Wagner),")
• (Unnumbered advertisement) quotation mark added to text (""Here we see how winning")