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Franz Liszt [n 1] (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most prolific and influential composers of his era, and his piano works continue to be widely performed and ...
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Franz Liszt received piano lessons from his father at an early age. Showing interest in church and folk music, Liszt began to compose at age eight, giving his first public concert at age nine. Impressed by his playing, Hungarian magnates funded his musical education in Vienna for the next six years.
What did Franz Liszt do while in Weimar, Germany?
Having performed all over Europe, Franz Liszt decided to settle in Weimar, Germany, in 1848 and focus on composition, with encouragement from the princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein. This was the period of his greatest production. He composed the first 12 symphonic poems as well as piano concertos and choral music. Liszt taught many pupils at Weimar.
What was the role of religion in Franz Liszt’s life?
As a teenager, Franz Liszt expressed a desire to become a priest, but this never happened. During his later years in Rome, he became increasingly occupied with religious music, composing oratorios such as Christus (1855–66). He wanted to create a new kind of religious music that would be direct and moving rather than sentimental.
How did Franz Liszt popularize the music of other composers?
Liszt’s father, Ádám Liszt, was an official in the service of Prince Nicolas Eszterházy, whose palace in Eisenstadt was frequented by many celebrated musicians. Ádám Liszt was a talented amateur musician who played the cello in the court concerts. By the time Franz was five years old, he was already attracted to the piano and was soon given lessons by his father. He began to show interest in both church music and Roma music. He developed into a religious child, also because of the influence of his father, who during his youth had spent two years in the Franciscan order.
Franz began to compose at the age of eight. When only nine he made his first public appearance as a concert pianist at Sopron and Pozsony (now Bratislava, Slovakia). His playing so impressed the local Hungarian magnates that they put up the money to pay for his musical education for the next six years. Ádám obtained leave of absence from his post and took Franz to Vienna, where he had piano lessons with Carl Czerny, a composer and pianist who had been a pupil of Ludwig van Beethoven, and studied composition with Antonio Salieri, the musical director at the Viennese court. He gave several concerts in Vienna, with great success. The legend that Beethoven attended one of Liszt’s concerts and kissed the prodigy on the forehead is considered apocryphal—but Liszt certainly met Beethoven.
Liszt moved with his family to Paris in 1823, giving concerts in Germany on the way. He was refused admission to the Paris Conservatoire because he was a foreigner; instead, he studied with Anton Reicha, a theorist who had been a pupil of Joseph Haydn’s brother Michael, and Ferdinando Paer, the director of the Théâtre-Italien in Paris and a composer of light operas. Liszt’s Paris debut on March 7, 1824, was sensational. Other concerts quickly followed, as well as a visit to London in June. He toured England again the following year, playing for George IV at Windsor Castle and also visiting Manchester, where his New Grand Overture was performed for the first time. This piece was used as the overture to his one-act opera Don Sanche, which was performed at the Paris Opéra on October 17, 1825. In 1826 he toured France and Switzerland, returning to England again in the following year. Suffering from nervous exhaustion, Liszt expressed a desire to become a priest. His father took him to Boulogne to take sea baths to improve his health; there Ádám died of typhoid fever. Liszt returned to Paris and sent for his mother to join him; she had gone back to the Austrian province of Styria during his tours.
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Composers & Their Music
Liszt now earned his living mainly as a piano teacher, and in 1828 he fell in love with one of his pupils. When her father insisted that the attachment be broken off, Liszt again became extremely ill; he was considered so close to death that his obituary appeared in a Paris newspaper. After his illness he underwent a long period of depression and doubt about his career. For more than a year he did not touch the piano and was dissuaded from joining the priesthood only through the efforts of his mother. He experienced much religious pessimism. During this period Liszt took an active dislike to the career of a virtuoso. He made up for his previous lack of education by reading widely, and he came into contact with many of the leading artists of the day, including Alphonse de Lamartine, Victor Hugo, and Heinrich Heine. With the July Revolution of 1830 resulting in the abdication of the French king Charles X and the coronation of Louis-Philippe, he sketched out a Revolutionary Symphony.
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- Mephisto Waltz No.1. Liszt wrote four Mephisto Waltzes, named for one of the most renowned demons in German folk literature (also known as Mephistopheles).
- La Lugubre Gondola No.2. The dark and moody La Lugubre Gondola, which translates to The Black Gondola, is an important late work of Liszt’s. Whilst visiting his son-in-law and fellow composer, Richard Wagner, on Venice’s Grand Canal in late 1882, Liszt began composing the piece after having a premonition of Wagner’s death.
- Three Concert Études, No.3: Un sospiro. If there’s one hallmark of Liszt’s piano music, it’s his ability to pack an unthinkable number of notes into just a few seconds.
- Transcendental Études, No.4: Mazeppa. For much of the 1850s, Liszt must have been afflicted by the most terrible earworm – a tune so catchy that he had to use it in two different pieces of music for it to finally leave his head!
- 30 min
- Transcendental Études, Nos 1-12. The Transcendental Études are a set of twelve highly varied and technically demanding compositions that pushed contemporary pianos (and pianists!)
- Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos 1-19. The Hungarian Rhapsodies are a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes and noted for their difficulty. Liszt also arranged versions for orchestra, piano duet, and piano trio.
- Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos 1-6. The Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos 1-6 are among Liszt’s most extroverted and popular orchestral works. The Rhapsodies are based on Hungarian folk themes and, in their original piano form, are noted for their difficulty.
- La Lugubre Gondola. La Lugubre Gondola (The Black Gondola) is one of Liszt’s best late pieces. The deeply introspective piece was first inspired by a premonition Liszt had of Wagner’s death when in Venice in 1882 in response to the striking visions of funeral gondolas on the lagoons of Venice.
Here is all the scored videos of Liszt's solo piano works uploaded to YouTube so far, from original works S.136-S.254, transcriptions S.384-S.577, and other ...
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