As a piano virtuoso unparalleled in the history of music and a composer whose visionary works presaged the developments of the twentieth century, Franz Liszt cast so far-reaching a shadow that a hundred years after his death in 1886 he continues to attract the fascination of millions. Musicologist Tom Pniewski here offers a glimpse into the many-sided personality and accomplishments of this remarkable man.
In an age of brilliant and spectacular artists, Franz Liszt was one of the most brilliant and spectacular. It is this very brilliance, though, that may partially obscure him. We see him as the golden-haired youth, in impeccable English suits, deified by Ingres; as the pianist-composer-conductor who swept through Europe, first with the Countess d'Agoult, then with Princess Carolyne of Sayn-Wittgenstein; and then finally as the Abbe Liszt, in clerical robes, eyes lifted to heaven.
Liszt was all of these, and more. His life always gave people something to talk about. Moving among the glitterati of his day, he met in the salons of Paris with Chopin, in the Tuileries Gardens with Napoleon III, and in the Vatican with Pope Pius IX.
He was one of the foremost creative minds of his time. But Liszt, the man, was ultimately a kind and gentle soul, generous with his time and his money to help others, and, through most of his life, devoutly religious.
He was born in what was then Hungary, in October 1811, and from the beginning he showed a genius which prompted others to help him. His father encouraged his studies, and when the budding musician was nine his father secured a guarantee from a group of Hungarian nobles which made it possible for young Franz to go to Vienna. There he studied with Salieri and Czerny, receiving strict training which proved to be a lifelong resource. He played before Beethoven, who embraced him and gave him his blessing.
Then it was off to Paris, where his public and private concerts were the talk of the town. Shops were filled with his portraits, the press compared him to Mozart and proclaimed him the Ninth Wonder of the World, and the common people flocked to his concerts. Next he conquered London, concertizing at Drury Lane and appearing as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic.
All this occurred while he was still in his early teens. Then his father, who had accompanied him on these journeys and watched over his career, died suddenly, and Liszt was left on his own at age sixteen.
To support his mother, the adolescent Liszt threw himself into teaching and concertizing. In fact, he practically invented the solo recital as we know it. He was the first pianist to give a concert by himself and the first to play works of others from memory. He championed Beethoven, Weber, Schumann, and Chopin, whose works were rather neglected at the time. This became characteristic of him; Liszt forever assisted other musicians, often at his own expense.
Liszt's performances generated enormous excitement, sometimes too much for either him or his listeners to bear. An Englishman who heard him in 1835 described on such event:
As the
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