Franz Liszt
1811-1886

Performance Dates
November 9/10/11 - Prometheus

Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a virtuoso pianist and composer. Possibly the greatest piano virtuoso of all time, Liszt studied and played at Vienna and Paris and for most of his life toured throughout Europe giving concerts.

Liszt was born in a village in Hungary not far from the town of Eisenstadt (now a part of Austria). His father was supervisor of a sheep farm owned by the powerful Esterházy family, and he also served as cellist in the court orchestra at the Esterházy palace in Eisenstadt. Though the revered Haydn had once overseen the music in this palace, to be succeeded by Beethoven’s colleague Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and though such luminaries as Luigi Cherubini had frequented the palace in its heyday, by the time of Liszt’s childhood its musical establishment was in decline. But the boy soon proved himself a talented pianist under his father’s instruction, also showing an interest in both church music and songs of the local gypsies. Several wealthy Hungarians were impressed enough by the nineyearold boy’s playing that they put up money for him to study in Vienna (under Czerny and Salieri), and he later studied with Paer and Reicha in Paris. From there he launched his brilliant performing career, touring France, England, Switzerland and Germany while making his home in Paris and frequenting Parisian artistic and intellectual circles, his Hungarian boyhood all but forgotten. In 1839 he returned to Hungary in triumph, playing to adoring crowds in Poszony and Budapest. Though he practically had to learn all over again to speak Hungarian, his feelings for his homeland was awakened. To the press he proposed the establishment of a national conservatory in Budapest, an idea that was finally realized with his help almost 30 years later. His interest in Hungarian gypsy music was also rekindled at this time, to be manifested in a series of 21 Hungarian National Melodies and Hungarian Rhapsodies he arranged for piano beginning the following year.

Last Updated: 08/31/2006