Franz Liszt Bio & Analysis

A detailed Summary of Franz Liszt Bio & Analysis

"An Abbe, honorary canon of Albano, a sincere mystic and at the same time one of history's most publicized lovers, incredible showman, hypnotic virtuoso, astonishing amalgam of magician, zealot and philanthropist, Liszt is easily the most colorful personality in the history of music" (Lieberson 256.) From his dazzling beginning in the musical circles of Vienna as a child prodigy of eleven years old, Ferenc (Franz) Liszt would establish himself as the leading piano virtuoso and one of the foremost progressive forces in music of his day.

Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary (now part of Austria) about thirty miles from Vienna, Austria (Longyear 105.) His Father was steward to the family of Esterhazy and a good amateur musician; consequently, he was also Liszt's first piano teacher. Young Liszt's extraordinary abilities were recognized without delay and he was soon taken to Vienna to study piano under Czerny and composition under Salieri (the former teacher of Schubert, an acquaintance of Liszt's.) His phenomenal aptitude for the piano at the age of eleven was greeted with a kiss from Beethoven, and praised endlessly by the musical circles of the day. In 1823, Liszt went to Paris, where he studied music theory and compositio

The Weimar Years (1848-1860) which followed his touring years produced some of his best known works. After meeting Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein one of his most important lovers in 1847, he retired from the stage and moved, with her to Weimer, Germany as musical director to the Prince. There he remained for ten years and enjoyed his fame, great abundance of money, and spending time pushing rising genius such as Wagner, conducting his first opera, Lohengrin (Scholes 576). Many of his most frequently performed large compositions were written during this period as well as revisions of most of his early compositions into final form. Piano works of this period include "Consolations," "Harmonies Poetiques et religiesus" (a continuation of Annees de perlerinage,) the grand heroic elegy: "Funerailles," and most importantly his B minor Piano sonata, dedicated to Schumann in 1853, and considered one of the most influential compositions for the second half of the 19th century (Longyear 108). The B minor Piano Sonata

Following his Parisian period were his Years of Transcendental Execution from about 1839-1847 (Arnold.) He spent much of his time as a touring virtuoso and thus had little time for composition, although he did begin to write songs and sketches of several works to be completed in Weimer after retiring from performing. His most representative works of this period were his piano transcriptions, which were most often operatic works such as "Isoldens Liebstod" from the final scene of Wagner's Tristan un Isolde. In addition, he performed transcribed orchestral works by Beethoven, Berlioz, and JS Bach's Weimer organ works. He also transcribed many songs, his own and songs by Schubert, in fact, Liebestraume and Petrarch sonnets were originally songs or Lieder (Longyear 107.) These many transcriptions brought many unfamiliar works to the general public and aroused public desire to hear the originals his altruism was also displayed when he played works of Schumann and Chopin since they were often physically incapable to do so.

This prince of pianist and leading artistic figure in European capitals was the pinnacle of the romantic artist: long flowing hair, a lover of women, a man loved by women, gay and preoccupied with glamour rather than work or war. He even became an Abbe as sinners do in romantic novels. His restless intellect, and unceasing creativity helped him seek the "new" in music. And as the greatest pianist of his time, he composed some of the most difficult piano music ever written, the Transcendental Studies, an extraordinarily broad repertory, from Scarlatti onwards, and the invention of the modern piano recital with the pianist's memorization of music and placement of piano in such a way as the audience can see his hands and profile. "He expanded the boundaries of piano technique, like Paganini with broadly sweeping scales and arpeggios, rapid changes of register, unusual divisions of the beat, extremes of tempo and dynamics, and dense chordal textures (Politoske.)" Because of all of these innovations Liszt h

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Category: Music