(1811-1886)
Franz Liszt
I really before this knew nothing of Franz. In this paper I would like to show to all of those who read what they have missed. I don’t know after researching for this paper how I could have not heard of Franz Liszt. In his time he was considered the greatest piano player of his time. He only lived about 100 years ago. Not so much of a time barrier that no one I know should have ever heard of him. When I got on the Internet to do my research I typed in the name and was quickly presented with a list of sites that were dedicated to only Franz Liszt. This made me realize that there must be something more to this than I at first realized.
Franz it seems showed a great talent for music at a very young age. He was born October 22 in Raiding Hungary. At the age of ten he moved to Vienna with his family. There he studied with Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri and played for Beetoven. In 1823 his family moved to Paris, but Liszt was denied admission to the conservatory because of his youth and foreign origin. He before this point had been given no further piano instruction, though he studied composition with Ferdinando Paer and Anton Reicha.
After doing this for a few years he decided to tour as a recitalist. He was a very wonderful piano player. He played with such vigor and poise that it excited his audience. Franz was a crowd pleaser from the very beginning. It was how he played the piano that brought many to hear his concerts. In fact he was so good that he played musical pieces that Chopin had composed but could not physically play. He made it possible for the wonderful works that were, but had never been played to be played. He did this for a few years before settling down in Geneva, Switzerland, with the countess Marie d’Agoult. One of their three children, Cosima, married the conductor Hans von Bulow and then Richard Wagner; another, Blandine, married Emile Ollivier, premier of France at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. In 1839, Liszt embarked on a series of concert tours throughout Europe.
In 1844, Liszt was appointed musical director in Weimar; he settled there in 1848 and abandoned concertizatizing to devote himself to conducting and composition. From these Weimar years come his best known large compositions: the two piano concertos, the Totenanz (Dance of Death) for piano and orchestra, (My personal favorite) the Dante Symphony (1856), and the monumental Faust Symphony 91854-57). Liszt also invented a new form, the symphonic poem, and orchestral composition that follows a literary or other program; it consists of a single movement, generally organized either as a loose sonata form, as in Tasso, or as a on-movement symphony, as in Les Preludes. Eleven of his twelve symphonic poems date from his first Weimer period. Liszt unified his larger works by deriving their thematic materials from one or more short motifs. The Hungarian Rhapsodies, Liszt’s best-known solo piano works, were based on Hungarian urban popular music rather than folk music.
Liszt left Weimar for Rome in 1859 with the Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstien, whom he met on a concert tour in Russia in 1847 and with whom he lived until 1863. After they separated, Liszt turned to writing religious music, including two masses, the Legends for piano, and the oratorio Christus (1863). In 1865 he received minor orders and was made and abbe by Pope Pious IX. Liszt returned to Weimar in 1869, but after his appointment as president of the New Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest in 1875 he divided his time between Budapest Weimar, and Rome.
The works of Liszt’s late years, misunderstood by his contemporaries, are surprisingly modern in concept and anticipate many of the devices of Claud Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartok, and the Austrian expressionists. They seemed to foreshadow what was to come. Like he knew something no one else did. These later works sound strangely 20th century. He died while attending the Wagner festival in Bayreuth, Germany.
Liszt was perhaps the greatest piano player ever to grace the earth. Or so it is said. I don’t know this is true because I have not seen him play. Unlike music on paper music in the air fades away. There for only a few to enjoy. But what has lasted on paper is a true testament to his ability. Liszt unlike Mozart took on students. He was known throughout the world as a great teacher and had students from the U. S. A. and Europe. Many of the next generation’s great piano players studied under Liszt. Not only did he give his music but he also gave the ability to play it. Liszt was not necessarily a devoutly religious man, but he did believe in God. His later works reflect his thoughts on the savior.
References
Colliers Encyclopedia "Franz Liszt" Colliers Publishing, Copyright,1998.
Safe Haven "www.safehave.com/liszt " Franz Liszt, 1998.
Info Beat "www.encyclopedia.infobeat.com" Info Look Up on Franz Liszt, Copyright,January 3rd, 1999.
Franz Liszt "www.complook.com" The life of Franz Liszt,1997.