Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Franz Liszt (Hungarian; Liszt Ferenc) (October 22,
1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian
virtuoso pianist and composer. He is widely
considered to have been one of the greatest
virtuosi of all time.



Liszt studied and played at Vienna and Paris and
for most of his life toured throughout Europe
giving concerts. His virtuosity earned him
approbations by composers and performers alike
throughout Europe. His great generosity with both
time and money benefitted the lives of many
people: victims of disasters, orphans and the many
students he taught for free. He also contributed
to the Beethoven memorial fund.

His piano compositions include works such as his
Piano Sonata (Liszt)|Piano Sonata in B minor, and
two piano concertos, which have entered the
standard repertoire. He also made many exuberant
piano transcriptions of operas, famous
symphony|symphonies, and Franz Schubert|Schubert
Lieder. As would be expected from a
pianist-composer of Liszt's virtuosity, many of
his piano compositions are amongst the most
technically challenging in the repertoire.

==Biography==

Liszt was born in the village of Doborján, near
Sopron, Hungary, in what was then the Austrian
Empire (Doborján is now Raiding (Austria)|Raiding
in Austria after the Treaty of Trianon of 1920). 
His baptism record is in Latin and lists his first
name as Franciscus. The Hungarian
language|Hungarian variant Ferenc is often used,
though this was never used by Liszt himself. His
parents were his Hungarian father Adam
Liszt|Ádám Liszt and Austrian-born mother Anna
Liszt, née Lagen.

Liszt displayed incredible talent at a young age,
easily sight-reading multiple staves at once. His
father Ádám Liszt, who worked at the court of
Count Estarházy, gave him his first music lessons
when he was aged 6. Local aristocrats noticed his
talent and paid a scholarship so that he was able
to go with his family to Vienna, and later to
Paris. As a result, Liszt never fully learned
Hungarian language|Hungarian; his later letters
and diaries show that he came to regret this
deeply. One letter to his mother begins in
faltering Hungarian, and after an apology
continues in French language|French (his preferred
language).

In Vienna he was educated in piano technique by
Carl Czerny. His father had wanted him to be
taught by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, but Hummel's fees
were too high. Antonio Salieri taught him the
technique of composition and fostered the young
Liszt´s musical taste.

He formed an early friendship with Frédéric
Chopin — some of Chopin's early
compositions including the Études Op. 10 are
dedicated to Liszt — but later fierce
competition turned the men into rivals.

On April 13, 1823, Liszt gave a concert, and it is
often said that the 53-year-old Ludwig van
Beethoven gave him a kiss for his marvellous
playing, although this is unlikely to be true as
Beethoven was profoundly deaf by this time. An
account of the episode can be found in the
separate article Liszt and Beethoven.

===Inspiration of Pilgrimage===


Liszt left Vienna in 1823 to travel. In Paris, he
attended a concert by the virtuoso violinist
Paganini and became motivated to become the
greatest pianist of his day. He often took to
seclusion in his room, and was heard practising
for over 10 hours a day. In 1832 he wrote the
Grande Fantaisie de Bravoure sur La Clochette de
Paganini ("Great Bravura Fantasy on Paganini's La
Campanella"). A shorter piece using the same
thematic content was included in the 1838 Etudes
d'Execution Transcendante d'apres Paganini (Etudes
for Transcendental Technique after Paganini). Also
composed in this period were the 12 Grandes Etudes
(Liszt later rewrote these into the 12
Transcendental Etudes in 1851). 

He fraternized with such noted composers of his
time as Frédéric Chopin, Hector Berlioz, Robert
Schumann, and Richard Wagner, the last of whom his
daughter later married. He was very widely read in
philosophy, art and literature and was on friendly
terms with the painter Jean Auguste Dominique
Ingres|Ingres and the authors Heinrich
Heine|Heine, Hughes Felicité Robert de
Lamennais|Lamenaise, Hans Christian Andersen|H.C.
Andersen, and Charles Baudelaire|Baudelaire who
wrote the poem "le thyrse" to Liszt.

From 1835 to 1839 Franz Liszt lived with Marie
d'Agoult|Marie Catherine Sophie de Flavigny,
ex-wife of the Comte d'Agoult. She is better known
by her pen name, "Daniel Stern". They had two
daughters and one son.

In 1847 Liszt met Princess Carolyne zu
Sayn-Wittgenstein and he lived with her until his
death. The Princess was an author, whose one work
was published in 16 volumes, each containing over
1600 pages. Her longwinded writing style had some
effect on Liszt himself. His biography of Chopin
and his chronology and analysis of Roma
(people)|Gypsy music (which later inspired Béla
Bartók) were both written in the Princess'
loquacious style. The couple had intended to marry
in 1860, but since the Princess had been
previously married and her husband was still
alive, the Roman Catholic authorities would not
approve the wedding.  Liszt and Princess Carolyne
remained friends, although Liszt never recovered
from being unable to marry her.

===Liszt in Germany===
In 1848, Liszt gave up public performances on the
piano and went to Weimar, Germany|Weimar,
remaining there until 1861. During this period he
acted as conductor at court concerts and on
special occasions at the theatre, gave lessons to
a number of pianists, including the great virtuoso
Hans von Bülow, who married Liszt's daughter
Cosima Wagner|Cosima in 1857. He also wrote
articles championing Berlioz and Wagner, and
produced those orchestral and choral pieces upon
which his reputation as a composer mainly rests.
His efforts on behalf of Richard Wagner|Wagner,
who was then an exile in Switzerland, culminated
in the first performance of Lohengrin in 1850.

The compositions belonging to the period of his
residence at Weimar comprise two piano concertos,
in E flat and in A, the Totentanz
(Liszt)|Totentanz, the Concerto pathetique for two
pianos, the solo Piano Sonata (Liszt)|sonata An
Robert Schumann, sundry Etudes, fifteen Rhapsodies
Hongroises, twelve orchestral Poemes symphoniques,
Eine Faust Symphonie, and Eine Symphonie zu Dantes
Divina Commedia, the 13th Psalm for tenor solo,
chorus and orchestra, the choruses to Johann
Gottfried Herder|Herder's dramatic scenes
Prometheus, and the Graner Fest Messe.

In 1851 he published a revised version of the 1838
Etudes d'Execution Transcendante d'apres Paganini,
now titled Grande Etudes de Paganini (Grand etudes
after Paganini), the most famous of which is La
Campanella, a study in octaves, shakes (trills)
and leaps.

===In Retirement===

Liszt retired to Rome in 1861. He joined the
Franciscan order in 1865, receiving the tonsure
and four Minor orders|Minor Orders of the Catholic
Church (namely, Porter (doorkeeper)|Porter,
Lector, Exorcist and Acolyte). From 1869 onwards,
Abbé Liszt divided his time between Rome, Weimar
and Budapest where during the summer months he
continued to receive pupils gratis, including
Alexander Siloti. During this time, his
relationship with Wagner grew more strained.
Cosima left Bülow, who abused her, for Wagner in
1869. The intensely devout Catholic Liszt was
personally repulsed by his new son-in-law, but
continued to champion his music, and regularly
attended the Bayreuth Festival.

From 1876 until his death he also taught for
several months every year at the Hungarian
Conservatoire of Budapest. He died in Bayreuth on
July 31, 1886 as a result of pneumonia which he
contracted during a Wagner festival hosted by his
daughter, Cosima. At first he was surrounded by
some of his more adoring pupils, including Arthur
Friedheim, Siloti and Bernhard Stavenhagen, but
they were denied access to his room by Cosima
shortly before his death at 11:30pm. He is burried
in the Bayreuth Friedhof.

==Musical Style and Influence==
The majority of Liszt's piano compositions reflect
his advanced virtuosity; however he was a prolific
composer, and wrote works at several levels of
difficulty, some being accessible to intermediate
level pianists.  Abschied (Farewell) and Nuages
Gris are examples of this less virtuosic style.

In his most popular and advanced works, he is the
archetypal romantic composer.  Liszt pioneered the
technique of thematic transformation, a method of
development which was related to both the existing
variation technique and to the new use of the
leitmotif by Richard Wagner.  As a transcriber of
even the most unlikely and complicated orchestral
works, he created piano arrangements which stood
on their own merits; many other pianist-composers
followed his example.

While his Hungarian nationalist works are widely
recognized, his understanding of form, expression
and use of virtuosity for musical effect are more
apparent elsewhere. 

Later works of the composer such as Bagatelle sans
tonalité ("Bagatelle without Tonality")
foreshadow composers who would further explore the
modern concept of atonality.  His thoroughly
revised masterwork, Années de Pélerinage ("Years
of Pilgrimage"), arguably includes his most
provocative and stirring pieces. This set of three
suites ranges from the pure virtuosity of the
Suisse Orage (Storm) to the subtle and imaginative
visualizations of artworks by Michaelangelo and
Raffaello Santi|Raphael in the second set. 
Années contains some pieces which are loose
transcriptions of Liszt's own earlier
compositions; the first "year" recreates his early
pieces of Album d'un voyageur, while the second
book includes a resetting of his own song
transcriptions once separately published as Tre
sonetti del Petrarca (Three sonnets of Petrarch). 
The relative obscurity of the vast majority of his
works may be explained by the immense number of
pieces he composed.

==Noted Works==

* (1822) Variation on a Theme by Diabelli (S/G147,
R26)
* (1826) Etude in Twelve Exercises, including No.
10 in F Minor
* (1832) Grande Fantasie de Bravoure sur La
Clochette, variations (S/G420, R321)
* (1833) Arrangement of "Scaffold March" from
Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique (S/G470, R136)
* (1833) Divertissement on the Cavatina "I tuoi
frequenti palpiti" from Pacini's La Niobe (S/G419,
R230)
* (1838) Grandes Etudes de Paganini, including No.
3, "La Campanella"; and No. 5, "The Chase"
(revised 1851)
* (1841) Feuilles d'album ('Album Leaves'),
(S/G165)
* (1841) Réminiscences de Don Juan, (S/G418)
* (1848) Trois Études de Concert No. 3, Un
Sospiro ("A sigh"), Etude No. 39 (piano solo)
(S/G144, R5)
* (1848-53) Années de Pèlerinage: Première
Année — Suisse; Deuxième Année —
Italie - Venezia e Napoli; Troisième Année
* (1848-61) Twelve Symphonic Poems
** Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne, (1848-9)
(after Victor Hugo)
** Tasso:  lamento e trionfo, (1849) (after George
Gordon, Lord Byron|Byron)
** Les préludes, after Lamartine (1848, rev.
before 1854)
** Orpheus, (1853-4)
** Prometheus, (1850)
** Mazeppa, (1851)
** Festklänge, (1853)
** Héroïde funèbre, (1849-50)
** Hungaria, (1854)
** Hamlet, (1858)
** Hunnenschlacht, (1857)
** Die Ideale (1857), after Friedrich
Schiller|Schiller
* (1849) Piano Concerto No. 1 (Liszt)|Piano
Concerto no. 1 in E-flat Major (S/G124)
* (1849) Piano Concerto no. 2 in A Major (S/G125)
(revised 1861)
* (1849) Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuse,
(S/G173) a collection of solo piano pieces
including Funerailles.
* (1849) Totentanz (Liszt)|Totentanz ('Dance of
death') (S/G126ii), piano concerto. (revised
1853-1859)
* (1850) Liebestraume No. 3 ("Dreams of Love") in
A♭ Major  (piano solo) (S/G541, R211)
* (1851) Transcendental Etudes (Prelude, Molto
Vivace, Paysage, Mazeppa, Feux Follets, Vision,
Eroica, Wilde Jagd, Ricordanza, Allegro Agitato
Molto, Harmonies du soir, and Chasse-niege. Known
well for being technically difficult, notedly
Mazeppa and Feux Follets) (S/G139, R2B)
* (1851) Nineteen Hungarian Rhapsodies (S/G244,
R106)
* (1853) Piano Sonata (Liszt)|Piano Sonata in B
minor (S/G178, R21)
* (1854) Faust Symphony
* (1857) Dante Symphony
* (1860) Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (piano solo)
(S/G514, R181)
* (1866) Christus (S/G498b)
* (1881) Nuages Gris ('Grey clouds') (S/G199, R78)
* (1885) Hungarian Rhapsodies|Hungarian Rhapsody
No. 19 in D Minor
* (1885) Bagatelle sans tonalité

Note: Although Liszt provided opus numbers for his
works during his lifetime, these are rarely used
today. Instead, his works are usually identified
using one of two different cataloging schemes: 
* More commonly used in English speaking countries
are the "S" or "G" numbers, derived from Humphrey
Searle catalogue of the 1960s, The Music of Liszt.
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/liszt_index.asp
* Less commonly used is the "R" number, which
derives from Peter Raabe's 1931 catalogue Franz
Liszt: Leben und Schaffen.



==See also==
* :