Composer Profile: Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
A mesmerizing pianist and composer who nonetheless entrances us at this time
Edited by Barry Lenson from Content material Generated by the Claude AI App
You would possibly say that the compositions of Franz Liszt take second place behind these of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Wagner (who was Liszt’s son-in-law), and the opposite best composers of the nineteenth century. However if you begin to dismiss Liszt as a secondary composer, you encounter his enigmatic Faust Symphony or one in every of his huge works for organ and also you assume that you’ve got underestimated him. The person and his music nonetheless exert a selected fascination for us at this time.
Who Was Franz Liszt?
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) stands as one of the crucial influential and charismatic figures within the historical past of classical music. Born in Raiding, Hungary (then a part of the Austrian Empire), to a German father and Austrian mom, Liszt would turn into the archetypal Romantic composer-virtuoso, revolutionizing piano method, orchestral composition, and your complete strategy to musical efficiency.
Early Prodigy and Parisian Years
Liszt’s extraordinary musical items manifested early. His father, Adam Liszt, an newbie musician employed by the Esterházy household, acknowledged his son’s expertise and organized for piano classes. By age 9, Franz was performing publicly, and his skills so impressed native Hungarian nobles that they funded his musical schooling in Vienna. There, he studied with Carl Czerny, Beethoven’s former pupil, and Antonio Salieri.
In 1823, the household moved to Paris, the place twelve-year-old Franz rapidly grew to become a sensation within the metropolis’s salons. Nonetheless, the Paris Conservatory rejected him attributable to his overseas beginning, a slight that might affect his later advocacy for musical schooling reform. Regardless of this setback, Liszt thrived in Parisian musical society, performing for aristocrats and intellectuals alike.
The loss of life of his father in 1827 left sixteen-year-old Franz as his household’s sole supplier. He supported his mom by way of educating and performing, but additionally skilled a interval of religious disaster and contemplated coming into the priesthood. This non secular inclination would resurface all through his life, finally shaping the compositions of his later years.
The Virtuoso Years
The 1830s marked Liszt’s transformation into the last word Romantic virtuoso. Impressed by violinist Niccolò Paganini’s transcendent performances, Liszt devoted himself to attaining related heights on the piano. He developed revolutionary strategies that expanded the instrument’s expressive potentialities, introducing improvements like using your complete keyboard vary, complicated hand crossings, and orchestral results achieved on the piano.
Throughout this era, Liszt grew to become concerned with Countess Marie d’Agoult, a married French aristocrat and author. Their scandalous relationship produced three youngsters, together with Wagner’s future spouse Cosima, and impressed a few of Liszt’s most passionate compositions. The couple lived collectively overtly, defying social conventions and embodying the Romantic perfect of the artist as insurgent.
Liszt’s live performance excursions throughout Europe through the 1840s established the template for the trendy piano recital. He was among the many first to carry out solo packages solely from reminiscence, typically taking part in on phases lit dramatically with candles. His performances have been theatrical occasions that drew hysterical responses from audiences, notably ladies, in what Heinrich Heine dubbed “Lisztomania.”
Weimar and Artistic Maturity
In 1848, Liszt accepted the place of Kapellmeister in Weimar, marking a shift from performer to composer and conductor. This era, lasting till 1861, proved terribly productive. He composed most of his main orchestral works, together with his two piano concertos, symphonic poems, and the Faust Symphony. His conducting championed up to date composers, notably Richard Wagner.
At Weimar, Liszt lived with Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, a rich Polish-Russian aristocrat who inspired his compositional ambitions. Their relationship lasted over a decade, although they by no means married attributable to issues together with her divorce proceedings.
The Princess’s mental affect pushed Liszt towards extra severe creative pursuits and helped him develop his theories about program music, music that conveys a narrative, scene, or thought. Following his programmatic muse, Liszt primarily invented the symphonic poem, a single-movement orchestral type that tells a narrative or evokes photos by way of music. Works like Les Préludes, Mazeppa, and Hamlet demonstrated how music might paint vivid footage and categorical complicated narratives with out phrases, influencing each his up to date Berlioz and later composers, together with Richard Strauss.
Later Years and Legacy
After leaving Weimar, Liszt divided his time between Rome, Weimar, and Budapest, a interval referred to as his “vie trifurquée” (threefold life). In Rome, he took minor holy orders in 1865, changing into Abbé Liszt, although he by no means grew to become a priest. His late compositions, together with the stark By way of Crucis and experimental items like Nuages gris, pointed towards musical modernism with their harmonic improvements and religious introspection.
As a instructor, Liszt influenced numerous pianists by way of his masterclasses, establishing pedagogical traditions nonetheless adopted at this time. Not like many lecturers of his period, Liszt by no means charged charges, believing music schooling needs to be accessible to all proficient college students.
Liszt died in Bayreuth in 1886, having attended the Wagner Competition one last time. His loss of life adopted a short sickness, and he was mourned all through Europe as each a musical big and a beneficiant mentor who had formed the course of Romantic music.
My Private Liszt Favorites
I first got here below Liszt’s spell years in the past once I was a conservatory scholar. I started singing his songs and listening to as many recordings of his works as I might discover. So if you’ll indulge me, I want to share this listing of a lot of my high Liszt picks, all obtainable for listening on Classical Archives.*
Piano Works
Liszt left behind numerous exceptional works for keyboard. Listed here are only some suggestions for listening.
Transcendenal Etudes (“études d’exécution transcendante”) – These are actual finger-benders. They’re known as “transcendental” as a result of Liszt meant them to showcase a method of taking part in the piano that transcended all earlier types of piano method. They usually do. However if you reside with them for some time, you sense that they’ve deeper meanings than you at first realized. We’ve got a terrific Naxos efficiency for you on Classical Archives, performed by Jenö Jandó.
Piano Sonata in B-minor – Okay, you simply can’t make a listing of Liszt piano works with out together with this immense, rambling, and confounding one-movement sonata. It’s a favourite amongst younger pianists making their debut recitals, who simply wish to show they will play it. Once I was in music faculty, I as soon as spent just a few hours analyzing it and – would you consider? – it truly is inbuilt a traditional sonata construction. We’ve got one other terrific Naxos efficiency for you on Classical Archives, once more performed by Jenö Jandó.
Années de pèlerinage (“Years of Pilgrimage”) – Liszt wrote three volumes of those distinctive piano items, that are a form of musical travelogue of locations he visited throughout his exceptional life. A few of these items appear to presage the impressionist works of Debussy. Right here is a good Chandos recording on Classical Archives, that includes pianist Louis Lortie.
Songs
I’ve a selected affection for Liszt’s songs. Some are distinctive, actually fairly implausible, and properly price exploring.
“Oh! Quand je dors” (“Oh, as I sleep”) – This exceptional setting of a textual content by Victor Hugo is lyrical, romantic, atmospheric, and lovely. The primary stanza is:
Oh once I sleep, come close to to my mattress,
As Laura appeared to Petrarch,
And as you go, your breath will contact me
And instantly my lips will half!
Classical Archives invitations you to listen to this track in a efficiency by Konstantin Wolff (baritone) and Trung Sam (pianist) on the Harmonia Mundi label.
Tre Sonetti di Petrarca (“three sonnets by Petrarch”) – Liszt’s settings of three sonnets by Francesco Petrarca are as advantageous as any songs written within the nineteenth century. We’re happy to give you a exceptional recording that includes the good tenor Alfredo Kraus and pianist Edelmiro Arnaltes.
“Die drei Zigeuner” (“The three gypsies“) – This extremely uncommon track depicts an opportunity assembly between its narrator and three gypsies, who train him life classes . . .
In 3 ways they confirmed me that,
When life turns darkish,
To sleep it, smoke it, and fiddle it away,
. . . are 3 ways of disdaining it.
Word that the opening theme of this track was additionally utilized by Liszt in his Piano Concerto No. 1 (see under). We’re happy to share with you a historic recording on the Bluebell label, that includes tenor Nicolai Gedda and pianist Lars Roos.
Symphonic Poems
Liszt wrote numerous what he known as “poems” for orchestra – all of them exceptional tone poems. You’ll want to discover all of them in recordings on Classical Archives, however listed here are two of my favorites.
Les Préludes – This perennial viewers favourite is predicated on the poem of the identical title by Alphonse de Lamartine. This Naxos recording options the Polish Nationwide Radio Orchestra carried out by Michael Halász.
Mazeppa – My favourite amongst all of Liszt’s symphonic poems, this dramatic piece depicts Ivan Mazeppa, a Ukrainian nobleman, as he takes a wild experience on horseback. Our recording on the Archiphon label options the Vienna Opera Orchestra carried out by Hermann Scherchen.
Piano Concertos
Piano Concerto No. 1 – Liszt composed many works for piano and orchestra. But his first piano concerto represents every thing that makes Liszt’s music so uncommon – its virtuosic calls for on the soloist, deeply romantic temper, and brooding ambiance. This Russian Compact Disc recording options the good Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter with the London Symphony carried out by Kyrill Kondrashin.
* Please be aware that to take heed to the recordings cited on this publication, you should be a member of Classical Archives. If you’re not but a member, we invite you to hitch now. Free 14-day trial memberships at the moment are obtainable.
