Franz Liszt

Considered to be one of the world’s greatest pianists, Franz Liszt’s career spanned virtually the whole of the Romantic period.

He taught and aided two generations of younger musicians and laid the foundation for much of the 20th century’s composition.

He was the son of a talented amateur musician who was a steward in the service of the Esterhàzy family.

Liszt was a child prodigy at the piano and, by the time he was eleven, he had performed in many parts of Europe.

In 1821 he left Hungary and moved to Vienna where he studied piano with Czerny and composition with Salieri.

Two years later he went with his family to Paris where he was recognised as a brilliant performer and quickly became a favourite of the wealthy French families.

In 1830 he met Chopin, Berlioz and the violinist Paganini, whose virtuosity inspired Liszt to explore the expressive possibilities of the piano.

As a young man in Paris, Liszt was as famed for his affairs of the heart as for his piano technique.

In 1835 he eloped with his mistress, the Countess Marie d'Agoult, to Switzerland and they spent the next few years in the Alps and in Italy.

Soon Liszt began a vagabond life that took him to every capital in Europe where he achieved tremendous success as a pianist.

In 1844 he separated from his mistress, by now the mother of his three children, and four years later he settled in Weimar, with Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, and was appointed Court Kapellmeister. Later, his daughter, Cosima left her husband to marry Richard Wagner.

In Weimar he abandoned his performing career and turned his attention to composition.

Public denouncements on his relationship with the princess forced Liszt to move to Rome in 1861.

Here he found expression for his long-held spiritual leanings and he composed many religious works. In 1865 he joined the Franciscans and was given the title of Abbé.

From then on he divided his time between Rome, Weimar, where he had many pupils, and Budapest, where he was regarded as a national hero.

Some of his most famous works are:

Transcendental Etudes (No. 10)

Mephisto Waltz (No. 1)

La Campella (Paganini Etudes No. 3)

Consolation No. 3

Liebestraum in Ab

Hugarian Rhaspodies 1-20 (You are listening to No.2) 

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