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LISZT

Liszt, Ferencz [Franz Liszt] (baptized as Franciscus Liszt) (b Raiding, Hung.,


1811; d Bayreuth, 1886). Hung. composer and pianist. A child prodigy, he gave
his first pf. recital at age 9. Went to Vienna in 1821, having lessons from Salieri
and Czerny. Played in Paris 1823 and London 1824 (where he was received by
George IV). Returned to Eng. in 1825 and 1826; operetta Don Sanche was prod.
in Paris, 1825, where he lived 1823-35, becoming friend of Berlioz and Chopin
and of leading literary figures and painters. His fame as a virtuoso pianist,
flamboyant in style and taste, was at its height. From 1833 he lived with
Countess Marie d'Agoult; of their 3 children, Cosima (b 1837) became the wife of
Blow and then of Wagner. He returned to Vienna in 1838 and to London in
1840 and 1841. Until 1847 he toured widely, incl. Russia, his mistress by now
being Princess Carolyn Sayn-Wittgenstein.
In 1848 he became Kapellmeister at the Weimar court, staying until 1859. In this
decade he made Weimar a pre-eminent mus. centre, conducting a vast number
of works, notably by Berlioz and by his friend Wagner whom he had met in 1842.
In 1850 he conducted the f.p. of Lohengrin. These were also rich years for Liszt's
own work; he wrote his Faust and Dante syms., 12 symphonic poems, and much
else. From 1860 Liszt lived in Rome in the Villa d'Este, and in 1865 took minor
orders, becoming the Abb Liszt. He comp. much religious mus. at this period,
incl. The Legend of St. Elizabeth and Christus. From 1869 he divided his time
between Rome, Weimar, and Budapest, and his amorous adventures were still
the talk of Europe. In the last 5 years of his life he concentrated on teaching, his
pupils incl. Ziloti, Lamond, Rosenthal, and Weingartner, and entered a new and
important compositional phase in which his harmonic innovations, always a
significant feature, anticipated the impressionism of Debussy, e.g. in Nuages
gris and the Csrds macabre. In 1886 he made a jubilee tour to mark his 75th
birthday, revisiting Paris and London.
As a pianist, Liszt was, from all reliable accounts, among the greatest, if not the
greatest, there has ever been. His comps. have taken longer to win a rightful
place, but they are now recognized as occupying a high place for their own
virtues as well as for their undoubted influence on Wagner, R. Strauss, and
subsequent composers. The pf. works are in a category of their own, the
symphonic poems developed a new art-form, the syms. are compelling and
imaginative, the religious works are moving and visionary, and the songs hold
their own in high company. He remains a romantic enigma of mus., a genius with
a touch of the charlatan, a virtuoso with the flair of an actor-manager, a man
generous to colleagues and to the young. His championship of Wagner in the
Weimar years, with its subsequent effect on Brahms and Schumann, thereby
causing the great schism in 19th-cent. mus., had incalculable results on the art.
Prin. works:

OPERA: Don Sanche (1824-5, collab. Paer).


SYMPHONIES: A Faust Symphony, for ten., male ch., orch. (1854-7, rev. 1880);
Dante Symphony (1855-6, with choral Magnificat as last movt.).
SYMPHONIC-POEMS: Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne (Bergsymphonie)
(What one hears on the mountain) (1848-9, orch. Raff, rev. 1850, 1854); Tasso:
lamento e trionfo (1849, orch. Conradi, rev. 1850-1, orch. Raff, rev. 1854); Les
Prludes (1848, rev. before 1854); Orpheus (1853-4); Prometheus (1850, orch.
Raff, rev. 1855); Mazeppa (1851, orch. with Raff, rev. before 1854; based on
1840 pf. study); Festklnge (1853); Hrode funbre (1849-50, orch. Raff, rev.
c.1854); Hungaria (1854); Hamlet (1858); Hunnenschlacht (1856-7); Die Ideale
(1857); Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (From the Cradle to the Grave) (1881-2).
MISC. ORCH.: 2 Episodes from Lenau's Faust: 1. Der nchtliche Zug (The Night
Ride), 2. Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke (Dance in the Village Inn, also Mephisto
Waltz No.1) (before 1861); Mephisto Waltz No.2 (1880-1); Huldigungsmarsch
(1853, rev. 1857, orig. for pf.); 3 Odes funbres (Les Morts; La Notte; Le
triomphe funbre du Tasse (1860-6); Rkczy March (1865); 6 Hungarian
Rhapsodies (orch., in collab. with F. Doppler, from pf. solos. Orch. No.1 is pf.
No.14, No.2 (No.12), No.3 (No.6), No.4 (No.2), No.5 (No.5), No.6 (No.9, 2nd
version) (date unknown).
PIANO & ORCH.: conc. No.1 in Eb (1849, collab. Raff; rev. 1853, 1856), No.2 in
A major (1839, rev. 1849-61); Maldiction, pf., str. (c.1840); Fantasia on Themes
from Beethoven's Ruins of Athens (?1852); Fantasia on Hungarian Folk
Melodies (Hungarian Fantasia, based on Hungarian Rhapsody No.14 in F minor
for solo pf.) (?1852); Totentanz (1849, rev. 1853, 1859); Rapsodie espagnole
(c.1863 solo pf., orch. Busoni).
SACRED CHORAL: Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth, oratorio, sop.,
cont., ten., 3 bar., bass, ch., org., orch. (1857-62); Christus, oratorio, sop., cont.,
ten., bar., bass, ch., org., orch. (1862-7); Cantico del Sol di S. Francesco
d'Assisi, bar., male ch., org., orch. (1862, rev. 1880-1); Mass, 4 male vv., org.
(1848, rev. 1859; 2nd version, 1869); Missa solemnis, sop., cont., ten., bass, ch.,
orch. (1855, rev. 1857-8); Missa Choralis, ch., org. (1865); Hungarian Coronation
Mass, sop., cont., ten., bass, orch. (1867); Requiem, 2 ten., 2 bass, male vv.,
org., opt. brass (1867-8); Psalm 13, ten., ch., orch. (1855, rev. 1859); Psalm 116,
male vv., pf. (1869); Ave verum corpus, ch., opt. org. (1871); St Christopher, bar.,
women's ch., pf., harmonium (after 1874); Via Crucis (1878-9); Rosario (1879);
Psalm 129, bar., male vv., org. (1881); Qui seminant in lacrimis, mixed ch., org.
(1884); Salve Regina, unacc. ch. (1885).
SECULAR CHORAL: Second Beethoven Cantata, sop., cont., ten., bass, double
ch., orch. (1869-70); An die Knstler, 2 ten., 2 bass, male ch., orch. (1853, orch.

Raff, rev. 1853, 1856); Choruses from Herder's Entfesseltem Prometheus, sop.,
cont., 2 ten., 2 bass, double ch., orch. (1850, orch. Raff, rev. 1855); Hungaria
1848, cantata, sop., ten., bass, male vv., orch. (1848, orch. Conradi); Fr
Mnnergesang, 12 songs, some with acc. (1842-59).
CHAMBER MUSIC: Romance oublie, pf. qt. (1880); La lugubre gondola, pf. trio
(1882, also pf. solo); At Richard Wagner's Grave, str. qt., harp (1883).
PIANO: tude en 12 Exercises (1826); 24 Grandes tudes (1837); Mazeppa
(1840, orch. 1851); 6 tudes d'excution transcendante d'aprs Paganini (1838,
rev. 1851 as Grandes tudes de Paganini); 12 tudes d'excution transcendante
(Transcendental Studies) (1851); Apparitions (1834); Album d'un voyageur (3
books, 1835-6); 3 Sonetti del Petrarca (?1839-46); Venezia e Napoli (c.1840, rev.
1859); Annes de plerinage, Book 1 Switzerland, 9 pieces (1848-54, all but 2
pieces based on Album d'un voyageur), Book 2 Italy, 7 pieces (1837-49), Book
3, 7 pieces (1867-77); Harmonies potiques et rligieuses, 10 pieces (1845-52);
6 Consolations (1849-50); Grosses Konzertsolo (?1849, arr. 2 pf. c.1855 as
Concerto pathtique, and for pf. and orch. as Grand Solo de Concert ?1850);
Liebestrume3 Notturnos (c.1850, transcr. of songs); Scherzo und Marsch
(1851); Sonata in B minor (1852-3); Huldigungsmarsch (1853, arr. for orch. 1853,
rev. 1857); Berceuse (1854, rev. 1862); 2 Concert Studies (Waldesrauschen,
Gnomenreigen) (?1862-3); 2 Lgendes (St Francis of Assisi preaching to the
birds, St Francis of Paule walking on the waves) (1863); Weinen, Klagen,
Sorgen, Zagen prelude (1859); Rapsodie espagnole (c.1863); Weihnachtsbaum,
12 pieces (1874-6); Nuages gris (1881); La lugubre gondola (1882); R.W.Venezia (1883); Mephisto Waltz No.3 (1883); 4 Valses oublies (1881-?1885);
Csrds macabre (1881-2); Mephisto Waltz No.4 (1885); Csrds obstin
(1886); 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies (1846-85, see also ORCH.) (No.1 in C#, 1846;
No.2 in C#, 1847; No.3 in Bb; No.4 in Eb; No. 5 Herode-lgiaque in E minor;
No.6 in Db; No.7 in D minor; No.8 in F#; No.9 in Eb, 1st version pubd. 1848, 2nd
version pubd. 1853; No.10 in E; No.11 in A minor; No.12 in C#; No.13 in A minor;
No.14 in F minor; No.15 Rkczy March, 1st version pubd. 1851, 2nd version
pubd. 1871; No.16 in A minor, 1882; No.17 in D minor; No.18 in C#, 1885; No.19
in D minor, 1885).
PIANO TRANSCRIPTIONS: Liszt's transcr. of his own works are too numerous
for listing here. A selective list follows of his transcr. of works by other composers
(operatic transcr. are listed separately): J. S. BACH: Fantasia and Fugue in G
minor (BWV 542) (1863); BEETHOVEN: Syms. Nos. 5, 6, and 7 (1837),
remaining 6 (1863-4), Septet, Op.20 (1841); BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique
(1833, finale rev. 1864-5), Harold en Italie (c.1836, rev. 1862), Danse des
Sylphes (c.1860); CHOPIN: 6 Chants Polonais (1847-60); MENDELSSOHN: 7
Lieder (1840); PAGANINI: Grand Fantasia de bravoure sur La Clochette (on La
Campanella from Violin Conc. in B minor, Op.7) (1831-2, rev. as No.3 of tudes
d'excution transcendante d'aprs Paganini, 1838); ROSSINI: 12 Soires
Musicales (1837), Ov., William Tell (1838); SAINT-SANS: Danse macabre

(1876); SCHUBERT: 12 Lieder (1837-8), Schwanengesang (1838-9),


Winterreise (1839); SCHUMANN: Widmung (1848).
PIANO TRANSCRIPTIONS FROM OPERAS: BELLINI: Rminiscences des
Puritains (1836), Hexamron (vars. on march from I Puritani, collab. with
Thalberg, Pixis, Herz, Czerny, Chopin) (1837), Fantaisie sur les motifs favoris de
l'opra La Sonnambula (1839, rev. 1840-1), Rminiscences de Norma (1841);
DONIZETTI: Rminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor (1835-6), Rminiscences
de Lucrezia Borgia (1840); HALVY: Rminiscences de La Juive (1835);
MEYERBEER: Grande Fantaisie sur des thmes de l'opra Les Huguenots
(1836), Rminiscences de Robert le Diable (1841); MOZART: Rminiscences de
Don Juan (1841); TCHAIKOVSKY: Eugene Onegin: Polonaise (1880); VERDI:
Concert Paraphrase on Themes from Ernani (1847), Miserere du Trovatore
(1859), Rigoletto: paraphrase de concert (1859), Don Carlos: Coro di festa e
marcia funebre (1867-8), Rminiscences de Simon Boccanegra (1882);
WAGNER: Phantasiestck on themes from Rienzi (1859), Ov. Tannhuser
(1848), 2 Pieces from Lohengrin (1854), Isoldes Liebestod (1867), Am stillen
Herd from Die Meistersinger (1871), Feierlicher Marsch zum heiligen Gral,
Parsifal (1882); WEBER: Fantasia on Themes from Der Freischtz (1840), Ov.
Oberon (1843), Ov. Der Freischtz (1846).
ORGAN: Prelude and Fugue on the Name of Bach (1885, rev. 1870); Requiem
(1879); At Richard Wagner's Grave (1883).
SONGS (selected list): Tre Sonetti di Petrarca (1838-9); Die Loreley (Heine)
(1841); Mignons Lied (Goethe) (1842); Es war ein Knig in Thule (Goethe)
(1842); Oh! quand je dors (Hugo) (1842); Du bist wie eine Blume (Heine)
(c.1843); Jeanne d'Arc au bcher (Dumas) (1845, arr. v. and orch. 1858, rev.
1874); En ces lieux (Monnier) (1854); Die drei Zigeuner (Lenau) (1860); Go not,
happy day (Tennyson) (1879); Verlassen (Michell) (1880).

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