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{{redirect|Liszt}}
{{eastern name order|Liszt Ferenc}}

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[[Image:Liszt 1858.jpg|thumb|Detail of a photo by [[Franz Hanfstaengl]], 1858]]'''Franz Liszt''' ({{lang-hu|'''Liszt Ferenc'''}}; {{pronounced|ˈlɪst ˈfɛrɛnts}}) (October 22, 1811 &ndash; July 31, 1886) was a [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungarian]] [[composer]], [[virtuoso]] [[pianist]] and teacher.

Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer during the 19th century. He is said to have been the most technically advanced and perhaps greatest pianist of all time.<ref>An indication of this can be found in: Saffle: ''Liszt in Germany'', p.209. Regarding the 1840s Saffle wrote, "no one disputed seriously that he [Liszt] was the greatest living pianist, probably the greatest pianist of all time." Since Saffle gave no sources, his statement can only be taken as his own point of view.</ref> He was also an important and influential composer, a notable piano teacher, a conductor who contributed significantly to the modern development of the art, and a benefactor to other composers and performers, notably [[Richard Wagner]], [[Hector Berlioz]], [[Camille Saint-Saëns]], [[Edvard Grieg]] and [[Alexander Borodin]].<!--He used both his technique and his concert personality not only for personal effect but also, through his transcriptions, to spread knowledge of other composers' music.<ref>Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:29.</ref>-->

As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the "[[New German School|Neudeutsche Schule]]" ("New German School"). He left behind a huge and diverse body of work, in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated some 20th-century ideas and trends. Some of his most notable contributions were the invention of the [[symphonic poem]], developing the concept of [[thematic transformation]] as part of his experiments in [[musical form]] and making radical departures in [[harmony]].<ref>Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:28-29.</ref>

==Life==
{{main|Life of Franz Liszt}}

[[Image:Blava 2007-3-28-37.jpg|right|thumb|A memorial tablet in Bratislava at building of Leopold de Pauli Palace telling about his concert in this building in 1820 at age 9]]

===Early life===
Franz Liszt was born to a Hungarian father [[Adam Liszt]] and an Austrian mother [[Anna Liszt|Anna Lager]] on October 22, 1811, in the village of Raiding (Hungarian: Doborján) in the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], then part of the Habsburg Empire, in the comitat of Oedenburg (Hungarian: [[Sopron]]). His father played the piano, violin, cello, and guitar, was in the services of Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy and knew Haydn, Hummel and Beethoven personally. At age six, Franz began listening attentively to his father's piano playing as well as to show an interest in both sacred and gypsy music. Adam began teaching Franz the piano at age seven and Franz began composing in an elementary manner when he was eight. He appeared in concerts at Sopron and Pozsony (present day Bratislava) in October and November 1820 at age 9. After these concerts, a group of Hungarian magnates offered to finance Franz's musical education abroad.[6]

In Vienna, Liszt received piano lessons from [[Carl Czerny]], who in his own youth had been a student of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] and [[Johann Nepomuk Hummel|Hummel]]. He also received lessons in composition from [[Antonio Salieri]], who was then music director of the Viennese court. His public debut in Vienna on December 1, 1822, at a concert at the "Landständischer Saal," was a great success. He was greeted in Austrian and Hungarian aristocratic circles and also met Beethoven and [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]. <ref>At a second concert on April 13, 1823, Beethoven was reputed to have kissed Liszt on the forehead. While Liszt himself told this story later in life, this incident may have occurred on a different occasion. Regardless, Liszt regarded it as a form of artistic christening. Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:29.</ref> In spring 1823, when the one year's leave of absence came to an end, Adam Liszt asked Prince Esterházy in vain for two more years. Adam Liszt therefore took his leave of the Prince's services. At the end of April 1823, the family for the last time returned to Hungary. At end of May 1823, the family went to [[Vienna]] again.

===Adolescence in Paris===
After his father's death Liszt returned to Paris; for the next five years he was to live with his mother in a small apartment. He gave up touring. To earn money, Liszt gave lessons in piano playing and composition, often from early morning until late at night. His students were scattered across the city and he often had to cross long distances. Because of this, Liszt kept uncertain hours and also took up smoking and drinking—all habits he would continue throughout his life.<ref name="seng1130">Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:30.</ref><ref>Walker, ''Virtuoso Years'', 131.</ref>

The following year he fell in love with one of his pupils, Caroline de Saint-Cricq, the daughter of [[Charles X]]'s minister of commerce. However, her father insisted that the affair be broken off. Liszt again fell ill (there was even an obituary notice of him printed in a Paris newspaper), and he underwent a long period of religious doubts and pessimism. He again stated a wish to join the Church but was dissuaded this time by his mother. He had many discussions with the [[Abbe de Lamennais]], who acted as his spiritual father, and also with [[Chrétien Urhan]], a German-born violinist who introduced him to the [[Saint-Simonianism|Saint-Simonists]].<ref name="seng1130">Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:30.</ref> Urhan also wrote music that was anti-classical and highly subjective, with titles such as ''Elle et moi, La Salvation angélique'' and ''Les Regrets'', and may have whetted the young Liszt's taste for musical romanticism. Equally important for Liszt was Urhan's earnest championship of Schubert, which may have stimulated his own lifelong devotion to that composer's music.<ref>Walker, ''Virtuoso Years'', 137-8.</ref>

During this period Liszt read widely to overcome his lack of a general education, and he soon came into contact with many of the leading authors and artists of his day, including [[Victor Hugo]], [[Lamartine]] and [[Heine]]. He composed practically nothing in these years. Nevertheless, the July Revolution of 1830 inspired him to sketch a Revolutionary Symphony based on the events of the "three glorious days," and he took a greater interest in events surrounding him. He met [[Hector Berlioz]] on December 4, 1830, the day before the premiere of the ''[[Symphonie fantastique]]''. Berlioz's music made a strong impression on Liszt, especially later when he was writing for orchestra. He also inherited from Berlioz the diabolic quality of many of his works.<ref name="seng1130">Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:30.</ref>

[[Image:NiccoloPaganini.jpeg|thumb|upright|Niccolò Paganini. His playing inspired Liszt to become as great a virtuoso.]]

===Paganini===
After attending an April 20, 1832 charity concert, for the victims of a Parisian cholera epidemic, by [[Niccolò Paganini]],<ref>The date is known from Liszt's pocket calendar.</ref> Liszt became determined to become as great a virtuoso on the piano as Paganini was on the violin. Nor was Liszt alone in developing his technique. Paris in the 1830s had become the nexus for pianistic activities, with dozens of steel-fingered pianists dedicated to perfection at the keyboard. Some, such as [[Sigismond Thalberg]] and [[Alexander Dreyschock]], focused on specific aspects of technique (eg the "three-hand effect" and octaves, respectively). While it was called the "flying trapeze" school of piano playing, this generation also solved some of the most intractable problems of piano technique, raising the general level of performance to previously unimagined heights. Liszt's strength and ability to stand out in this company was in mastering all the aspects of piano technique cultivated singly and assiduously by his rivals.<ref>Walker, ''Virtuoso Years'', 161-7.</ref>

In 1833 he made transcriptions of several works by Berlioz, including the ''Symphonie fantastique''. His chief motive in doing so, especially with the ''Symphonie'', was to help the poverty-stricken Berlioz, whose symphony remained unknown and unpublished. Liszt bore the expense of publishing the transcription himself and played it many times to help popularise the original score.<ref>Walker, ''Virtuoso Years'', 180.</ref> He was also forming a friendship with a third composer who influenced him, [[Frederic Chopin]]; under his influence Liszt's poetic and romantic side began to develop.<ref name="seng1130">Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:30.</ref>

===With Countess [[Marie d'Agoult]]===
In 1833, Liszt began his relationship with the Countess [[Marie d'Agoult]]. In addition to this, at the end of April 1834 he made the acquaintance of [[Hughes Felicité Robert de Lamennais|Felicité de Lamennais]]. Under the influence of both, Liszt's creative output exploded. In 1834 Liszt debuted as a mature and original composer with his piano compositions ''Harmonies poetiques et religieuses'' and the set of three ''Apparitions''. These were all poetic works which contrasted strongly with the fantasies he had written earlier.<ref name="seng1130">Searle, ''New Grove'', 18:30.</ref>

In 1835 the countess left her husband and family to join Liszt in Geneva; their daughter Blandine was born there on December 18. Liszt taught at the newly-founded Geneva Conservatory, wrote a manual of piano technique (later lost)<ref>For more details see: Bory: ''Une retraite romantique'', p.50 sq.</ref> and contributed essays for the Paris ''Revue et gazette musicale''. In these essays, he argued for the raising of the artist from the status of a servant to a respected member of the community.<ref name="seng1130">Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:30.</ref>

For the next four years Liszt and the countess lived together, mainly in Switzerland and Italy with occasional visits to Paris. On May 9, 1839 Liszt and the countess's only son, Daniel, was born, but that autumn relations between them became strained. Liszt heard that plans for a Beethoven monument in Bonn were in danger of collapse for lack of funds, and pledged his support. Doing so meant returning to the life of a touring virtuoso. The countess returned to Paris with the children while Liszt gave six concerts in Vienna then toured Hungary.<ref name="seng1130">Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:30.</ref>

===Touring virtuoso===
For the next eight years Liszt continued to tour Europe; spending holidays with the countess and their children on the island of [[Nonnenwerth]] on the Rhine in summers 1841 and 1843. In spring 1844 the couple finally separated. This was Liszt's most brilliant period as a concert pianist. Honours were showered on him and he was adulated everywhere he went.<ref name="seng1130">Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:30.</ref> Since Liszt often appeared three or four times a week in concert, it could be safe to assume that he appeared in public well over a thousand times during this eight-year period. Moreover, his great fame as a pianist, which he would continue to enjoy long after he had officially retired from the concert stage, was based mainly on his accomplishments during this time.<ref>Walker, ''Virtuoto Years'', 285.</ref>

After 1842 "[[Lisztomania]]" swept across Europe. The reception Liszt enjoyed as a result can only be described as hysterical. Women fought over his silk handkerchiefs and velvet gloves, which they ripped to shreds as souvenirs. Helping fuel this atmosphere was the artist's mesmeric personality and stage presence. Many witnesses later testified that Liszt's playing raised the mood of audiences to a level of mystical ecstasy.<ref>Walker, ''Virtuoso Years'', 289.</ref>

Adding to his reputation was the fact that Liszt gave away much of his proceeds to charity and humanitarian causes. While his work for the Beethoven monument and the Hungarian National School of Music are well known, he also gave generously to the building fund of Cologne Cathedral, the establishment of a ''Gymnasium'' at Dortmund, and the construction of the Leopold Church in Pest. There were also private donations to hospitals, schools and charitable organisations such as the Leipzig Musicians Pension Fund. When he found out about the Great Fire of Hamburg, which raged for three weeks during May 1842 and destroyed much of the city, he gave concerts in aid of the thousands of homeless there.<ref>Walker, ''Virtuoso Years'', 290.</ref>

=== Liszt in Weimar ===
[[Image:Liszt Ferenc Kalocsa.jpg|thumb|A statue of Liszt|upright]]
In February 1847, Liszt played in Kiev. There he met the Princess [[Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein]], who dominated most of the rest of his life. She persuaded him to concentrate on composition, which meant giving up his career as a travelling virtuoso. After a tour of the Balkans, Turkey and Russia that summer, Liszt gave his final concert for pay at Elisavetgrad in September. He spent the winter with the princess at her estate in Worononce.<ref>Searle, ''New Grove'', 11:31.</ref> By retiring from concertising at age 35, while still at the height of his powers, Liszt succeeded in keeping the legend of his playing untarnished.<ref>Walker, ''Virtuoso Years'', 442.</ref>

The following year, Liszt took up a long-standing invitation of Grand Duchess [[Maria Pavlovna of Russia]] to settle at [[Weimar, Germany|Weimar]], where he had been appointed ''[[Kapellmeister]] Extraordinaire'' in 1842, remaining there until 1861. During this period he acted as conductor at court concerts and on special occasions at the theatre. He gave lessons to a number of pianists, including the great virtuoso [[Hans von Bülow]], who married Liszt's daughter [[Cosima Wagner|Cosima]] in 1857 (before she later married [[Wagner]]). He also wrote articles championing [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]] and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]. Finally, Liszt had ample time to compose and during the next 12 years revised or produced those orchestral and choral pieces upon which his reputation as a composer mainly rests. His efforts on behalf of Wagner, who was then an exile in Switzerland, culminated in the first performance of ''[[Lohengrin (opera)|Lohengrin]]'' in 1850.

Princess Carolyne lived with Liszt during his years in Weimar. She eventually wished to marry Liszt, but since she had been previously married and her husband, Russian military officer Prince Nikolaus zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Ludwigsburg (1812-1864), was still alive, she had to convince the Roman Catholic authorities that her marriage to him had been invalid. After huge efforts and a monstrously intricate process, she was temporarily successful (September 1860). It was planned that the couple would marry in Rome, on October 22, 1861, Liszt's 50th birthday. Liszt having arrived in Rome on October 21, 1861, the Princess nevertheless declined, by the late evening, to marry him. It appears that both her husband and the Czar of Russia had managed to quash permission for the marriage at the Vatican. The Russian government also impounded her several estates in the Polish Ukraine, which made her later marriage to anybody unfeasible.

===Liszt in Rome===
[[Image:Liszt-1870.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Liszt, photo by Franz Hanfstaengl, June 1867.]]
The 1860s were a period of severe catastrophes of Liszt's private life. On December 13, 1859, he had lost his son Daniel, and on September 11, 1862, his daughter Blandine also died. In letters to friends Liszt afterwards announced that he would retreat to a solitary living. He found it at the monastery ''Madonna del Rosario'', just outside Rome, where on June 20, 1863, he took up quarters in a small, Spartan apartment. He had on June 23, 1857, already joined a [[Franciscan]] order.<ref>See the document in: Burger: ''Lebenschronik in Bildern'', p.209.</ref> On April 25, 1865, he received from Gustav Hohenlohe the tonsure and a first one of the [[minor orders]] of the Catholic Church. Three further minor orders followed on July 30, 1865. Until then, Liszt was [[Porter]], [[Lector]], [[Exorcist]], and [[Acolyte]]. While Princess Wittgenstein tried to persuade him to proceed in order to become priest, he did not follow her. In his later years he explained that he had wanted to preserve the rest of his freedom.<ref>Comp. Ramann: ''Lisztiana'', p.198.</ref>

At some occasions, Liszt took part in Rome's musical life. On March 26, 1863, at a concert at the ''Palazzo Altieri'', he directed a programme of sacred music. The "Seligkeiten" of his "Christus-Oratorio" and his "Cantico del Sol di Francesco d'Assisi", as well as [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn's]] "Die Schöpfung" and works by [[J. S. Bach]], Beethoven, Jornelli, [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]] and Palestrina were performed. On January 4, 1866, Liszt directed the "Stabat mater" of his "Christus-Oratorio", and on February 26, 1866, his "Dante Symphony". There were several further occasions of similar kind, but in comparison with the duration of Liszt's stay in Rome, they were exceptions. Bódog Pichler, who visited Liszt in 1864 and asked him for his future plans, had the impression that Rome's musical life was not satisfying for Liszt.<ref>[Sources for this paragraph will be added later.]</ref>

===Threefold life===
Liszt was invited back to Weimar in 1869 to give master classes in piano playing. Two years later he was asked to do the same in Budapest at the Hungarian [[Franz Liszt Academy of Music|Music Academy]]. From then until the end of his life he made regular journeys between Rome, Weimar and Budapest, continuing what he called his "vie trifurquée" or threefold existence. It is estimated that Liszt travelled at least 4000 miles a year during this period in his life—an exceptional figure given his advancing age and the rigours of road and rail in the 1870s.<ref name="wang214781">Walker, ''New Grove 2'', 14:781.</ref>

===Last years===
[[Image:Liszt at piano.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Liszt at the piano, an engraving based on a photograph by Louis Held, Weimar, 1885.]]
On July 2, 1881, Liszt fell down the stairs of the Hotel in Weimar. Though friends and colleagues had noted swelling in Liszt's feet and legs when he had arrived in Weimar the previous month, Liszt had up to this point been in reasonably good health, and his body retained the slimness and suppleness of earlier years. The accident, which immobilised him for eight weeks, changed this. A number of ailments manifested—[[dropsy]], [[asthma]], [[insomnia]], a [[cataract]] of the left eye and chronic heart disease. The last-mentioned eventually contributed to Liszt's death. He became increasingly plagued with feelings of desolation, despair and death—feelings which he expressed in his [[Late Musical Works of Franz Liszt|works from this period]]. As he told [[Lina Ramann]], "I carry a deep sadness of the heart which must now and then break out in sound."<ref>Walker: ''Final Years''.</ref>

He died in Bayreuth on July 31, 1886, officially as a result of [[pneumonia]] which he may have contracted during the Bayreuth Festival hosted by his daughter Cosima. Questions have been posed as to whether [[medical malpractice]] played a direct part in Liszt's demise. <ref>Walker: ''Final Years'', p.508, p.515 with n.18). </ref> Composer [[Camille Saint-Saëns]], an old friend, whom Liszt had once called "the greatest organist in the world" dedicated his [[Symphony No. 3 (Saint-Saëns)|Symphony No. 3 "Organ Symphony"]] to Liszt, which premiered in London only a few weeks before Liszt's death.

==Liszt as pianist==
===Performing style===
There are few, if any, good sources that give an impression of how Liszt really sounded from the 1820s. Czerny claimed Liszt was a natural who played according to feeling, and reviews of his concerts especially praise the brilliance, strength and precision in his playing. At least one also mentions his ability to absolutely never change tempo<ref>Review of a concert in Marseilles on April 11 1826, reprinted in ''Eckhardt, Maria: Liszt à Marseille, in: Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientarum Hungaricae 24'' (1982), p.165</ref>, which may be due to his father's insistence that he practise with a metronome{{Fact|date=November 2008}}. His repertoire at this time consisted primarily of pieces in the style of the brilliant Viennese school, such as concertos by [[Johann Nepomuk Hummel|Hummel]] and works by his former teacher [[Carl Czerny|Czerny]], and his concerts often included a chance for the boy to display his prowess in improvisation.
[[File:Liszt at the Piano.JPG|thumb|right|300px|Liszt, around 1840, playing piano for Beethoven and surrounded by Hugo, Paganini, Rossini, Lamartine, Sand and Marie d'Agoult (seated on the floor). Painting by Josef Danhauser.]]
Following the death of Liszt's father in 1827 and his hiatus from the life as a touring virtuoso, it is likely Liszt's playing gradually developed a more personal style. One of the most detailed descriptions of his playing from this time comes from the winter of 1831/1832, during which he was earning a living primarily as a teacher in Paris. Among his pupils were Valerie Boissier, whose mother Auguste kept a careful diary of the lessons. From her we learn that:
<blockquote>
''M. Liszt's playing contains abandonment, a liberated feeling, but even when it becomes impetuous and energetic in his fortissimo, it is still without harshness and dryness. [...] [He] draws from the piano tones that are purer, mellower and stronger than anyone has been able to do; his touch has an indescribable charm. [...] He is the enemy of affected, stilted, contorted expressions. Most of all, he wants truth in musical sentiment, and so he makes a psychological study of his emotions in order to convey them as they are. Thus, a strong expression is often followed by a sense of fatigue and dejection, a kind of coldness, because this is the way nature works.''
</blockquote>
Possibly influenced by Paganini's showmanship, once Liszt began focusing on his career as a pianist again his emotionally vivid presentations of the music were rarely limited to mere sound. His facial expression and gestures at the piano would reflect what he played, for which he was sometimes mocked in the press<ref>For example, see: Duverger, ''Franz Liszt'', p.140.</ref>. Also noted was the extravagant liberties he could take with the text of a score at this time. Berlioz tells us how Liszt would add cadenzas, tremolos and trills when playing the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, and created a dramatic scene by changing the tempo between Largo and Presto.<ref>See Berlioz's essay about Beethoven's Trios and Sonatas, in: ''Musikalische Streifzüge'', transl. Ely Ellès, Leipzig 1912, p.52 sq.</ref> In his ''Baccalaureus letter'' to George Sand from the beginning of 1837, Liszt admitted that he had done so for the purpose of gaining applause, and promised to follow both the letter and the spirit of a score from now on. It has been debated to what extent he realized his promise, however. By July 1840 the British newspaper ''The Times'' could still report
<blockquote>
''His performance commenced with Händel's Fugue in E minor, which was played by Liszt with an avoidance of everything approaching to meretricious ornament, and indeed scarcely any additions, except a multitude of ingeniously contrived and appropriate harmonies, casting a glow of colour over the beauties of the composition, and infusing into it a spirit which from no other hand it ever received.''
</blockquote>

===Repertoire===
During his years as a travelling virtuoso Liszt performed an enormous amount of music throughout Europe<ref>Comp.: Walker: ''Virtuoso years'', p.445 sqq.</ref>, but his core repertoire always centered around his own compositions, paraphrases and transcriptions. Studying Liszt's German concerts between 1840 and 1845, the five most frequently-played pieces were the ''Grand Galop chromatique'', Schubert's ''Erlkönig'' (in Liszt's transcription), ''Réminiscences de Don Juan'', ''Réminiscences de Robert le Diable'', and ''Réminiscences de Lucia de Lammermoor''<ref>Comp.: Saffle: ''Liszt in Germany'', p.187 sqq.</ref>. Among the works by other composers we find compositions like Weber's Aufforderung zum Tanz, Chopin Mazurkas, Etudes by composers like Moscheles, Chopin and Hiller, but also major works by Beethoven, Weber and Hummel, and from time to time even selections of Bach, Händel and Scarlatti.

Most of the concerts at this time were shared with other artists, and as a result Liszt also often accompanied singers, participated in chamber music, or performed works with an orchestra in addition to his own solo part. Frequently played works include Weber's Konzertstück, Beethoven's Emperor Concerto and Choral Fantasy, and Liszt's reworking of the Hexameron for piano and orchestra. His chamber music repertoire included Hummel's Septet, Beethoven's Archduke Trio and Kreutzer Sonata, and a large selection of songs by composers like Rossini, Donizetti, Beethoven and especially Schubert. At some concerts Liszt could not find musicians to share the program with, and consequently was among the first to give solo piano recitals in the modern sense of the word. The term was coined by the publisher Frederick Beale, who suggested it for Liszt's concert at the Hanover Square Rooms in London on June 9 1840<ref>Walker: Virtuoso years, p.356</ref>, even though Liszt had given concerts all by himself already by March 1839<ref>Comp.: Óváry: Ferenc Liszt, p.147. </ref>.

==Musical works==
{{main|Musical works of Franz Liszt}}
{{seealso|List of compositions by Franz Liszt (S.1 - S.350)|List of compositions by Franz Liszt (S.351 - S.999)}}
[[Image:Liszt.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The sound of the fountains of the famous garden of [[Villa d'Este]] inspired Liszt to write a piano piece called "Jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este". The villa and the portrait of the composer can be seen in the same image made by [[István Orosz]]]]

Liszt was a prolific composer. Most of his music is for the piano and much of it requires formidable technique. His thoroughly revised masterwork, ''[[Années de Pèlerinage]]'' ("Years of Pilgrimage") includes arguably his most provocative and stirring pieces. This set of three suites ranges from the virtuosity of the Suisse ''Orage'' (Storm) to the subtle and imaginative visualisations of artworks by [[Michelangelo]] and [[Raffaello Santi|Raphael]] in the second set. ''Années'' contains some pieces which are loose transcriptions of Liszt's own earlier compositions; the first "year" recreates his early pieces of ''[[Album d'un voyageur]]'', while the second book includes a resetting of his own song transcriptions once separately published as ''[[Tre sonetti di Petrarca]]'' ("Three sonnets of [[Petrarch]]"). The relative obscurity of the vast majority of his works may be explained by the immense number of pieces he composed.

In his most famous and virtuosic works, he is the archetypal Romantic composer. Liszt pioneered the technique of thematic transformation, a method of development which was related to both the existing [[variation (music)|variation]] technique and to the new use of the ''[[Leitmotif]]'' by [[Richard Wagner]].

Liszt's piano works are usually divided into two classes. On the one hand, there are "original works", and on the other hand "transcriptions", "paraphrases" or "fantasies" on works by other composers. Examples for the first class are works such as the piece ''Harmonies poétiques et religieuses'' of May 1833 and the [[Piano Sonata (Liszt)|''Piano Sonata in B minor'']]. Liszt's transcriptions of [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] songs, his fantasies on operatic melodies, and his piano arrangements of symphonies by [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]] and [[Beethoven]] are examples for the second class. As special case, Liszt also made piano arrangements of own instrumental and vocal works. Examples of this kind are the arrangement of the second movement "Gretchen" of his ''Faust Symphony'' and the first "Mephisto Waltz" as well as the "Liebesträume" and the two volumes of his "Buch der Lieder".

=== Transcriptions ===

Liszt's composing music on music, being taken as such, was nothing new. Nevertheless, Liszt invested a particular kind of creativity. Instead of just overtaking original melodies and harmonies, he ameliorated them. In case of his fantasies and transcriptions in Italian style, there was a problem which was by [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] addressed as "Klappern im Geschirr der Perioden".<ref>While "Klappern" is "rattling" or "clattering" and "Geschirr" is "dishes", "Klappern im Geschirr" is a German idiom with meaning, a thing was not properly made. Being taken literally, it can be imagined as a badly made cupboard in which the dishes are clattering when opening or closing a door.</ref> Composers such as [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]] and [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]] knew that certain forms, usually periods of eight measures, were to be filled with music. Occasionally, while the first half of a period was composed with inspiration, the second half was added with mechanical routine. Liszt corrected this by modifying the melody, the bass and - in cases - the harmonies.

Many of Liszt's results were remarkable. The ''Sonnambula-fantasy'' for example, a concert piece full of charming melodies, could certainly not have been composed either by Bellini or by Liszt alone. Outstanding examples are also the ''Rigoletto-Paraphrase'' and the ''Faust-Walzer''. The most delicate harmonies in parts of those pieces were not invented by [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]] and [[Charles Gounod|Gounod]], but by Liszt. [[Hans von Bülow]] admitted, that Liszt's transcription of his ''Dante Sonett'' "Tanto gentile" was much more refined than the original he himself had composed.<ref>Comp. his letter to Louise von Welz of December 13, 1875, in: Bülow, Hans von: ''Briefe'', Band 5, ed. Marie von Bülow, Leipzig 1904, p.321.</ref>

===Original songs===
Franz Liszt composed about six dozen original [[song]]s with [[piano]] accompaniment. In most cases the lyrics were in German or French, but there are also some songs in Italian and Hungarian and one song in English. Liszt began with the song "Angiolin dal biondo crin" in 1839, and by 1844 had composed about two dozen songs. Some of them had been published as single pieces. In addition, there was an 1843-1844 series "Buch der Lieder". The series had been projected for three volumes, consisting of six songs each, but only two volumes appeared.

Although Liszt's early songs are seldom sung, they show him in much better light than works such as the paraphrase "Gaudeamus igitur" and the ''[[Galop]]'' after Bulhakow, both composed in 1843. The transcriptions of the two volumes of the "Buch der Lieder" can be counted among Liszt's finest piano works.<ref>Alan Walker, in: ''Virtuoso Years'', p.368, gives an example from a transcription of "Die Lorelei". While Walker claims Liszt had with this stolen from the future of music, especially from Wagner's ''Tristan'', he overlooked that his example was from Liszt's second transcription of the song, composed in 1860 after Liszt had already received the first act of Wagner's opera.</ref> However, the contemporaries had much to criticise with regard to the style of the songs. Further critical remarks can be found in Peter Raabe's ''Liszts Schaffen''.

Today, Liszt's songs are nearly entirely forgotten. As an exception, most frequently the song "Ich möchte hingehen" is cited. It is because of a single bar, most resembling the opening motif of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde". While it is commonly claimed that Liszt wrote that motif ten years before Wagner started work on his masterpiece<ref>For example, comp: Raabe: ''Liszts Schaffen'', p.127, and Walker: ''Virtuoso Years'', p.408.</ref>, it has turned out that this is not true: the original version of "Ich möchte hingehn" was composed in 1844 or 1845. There are four manuscripts, and only a single one, a copy by August Conradi, contains the said bar with the ''Tristan'' motif. It is on a paste-over in Liszt's hand. Since in the second half of 1858 Liszt was preparing his songs for publication, and he just at that time received the first act of Wagner's ''Tristan'', it is most likely that the version on the paste-over was a [[Musical quotation|quotation]] from Wagner.<ref>Comp. the discussion in: Mueller, Rena Charin: ''Liszt’s "Tasso" Sketchbook: Studies in Sour­ces and Re­vi­si­ons'', Ph. D. dissertation, New York University 1986, p.118ff.</ref>. This is not to say, the motif was originally invented by Wagner. An earlier example can be found in bar 100 of Liszt's ''Ballade No.2 in B&nbsp;Minor'' for piano, composed in 1853.<ref>Still earlier examples from works of Machaut, Gesualdo, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Spohr can be found in: Vogel, Martin: ''Der Tristan-Akkord und die Krise der modernen Harmonie-Lehre'', Düsseldorf 1962.</ref>

=== Programme music ===
Liszt, in some of his works, supported the idea of [[programme music]] - that is, music intended to evoke extra-musical ideas. By contrast, [[absolute music]] (a radical new idea in the 19th century world of music) stands for itself and is intended to be appreciated without any particular reference to the outside world.

Liszt's own point of view regarding programme music can for the time of his youth been taken from the preface of the ''Album d'un voyageur'' (1837). According to this, a landscape could evoke a certain kind of mood. Since a piece of music could also evoke a mood, a mysterious resemblance with the landscape could be imagined. In this sense the music would not paint the landscape, but it would match the landscape in a third category, the mood.

In July 1854 Liszt wrote his essay about Berlioz and the Harold-Symphony that stated that not all music was programme music. If, in the heat of a debate, a person would go so far as to claim the contrary, it would be better to put all ideas of programme music aside. But it would be possible to take means like harmony, modulation, rhythm, instrumentation and others in order to let a musical motif endure a fate.<ref>In August 1854 Liszt started composing his ‘’Faust-Symphony’’.</ref> In any case, a program should only be added to a piece of music if it was necessarily needed for an adequate understanding of that piece.

Still later, in a letter to Marie d'Agoult of November 15, 1864, Liszt wrote:

:''Without any reserve I completely subscribe the rule of which you so kindly want to remind me, that those musical works which are in a general sense following a programme must take effect on imagination and emotion, independent of any programme. In other words: All beautiful music must be first rate and always satisfy the absolute rules of music which are not to be violated or prescribed''.<ref>Translated from French, after: Liszt-d'Agoult: ''Correspondance II'', p.411.</ref>

=== Late works ===

{{See also|Late works (Liszt)}}
[[Image:liszt-vanity-fair.jpg|thumb|right|<center>Liszt as caricatured in 1886 by ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine, historical)|Vanity Fair]]'s ''[[Leslie Ward|'Spy']]</center>]]
With some works from the end of the Weimar years Liszt drifted more and more away from the musical taste of his time. An early example is the melodrama "Der traurige Mönch" ("The sad monk") after a poem by [[Nikolaus Lenau]], composed in the beginning of October 1860. While in the 19th century harmonies were usually considered as major or minor triads to which [[consonance and dissonance|dissonances]] could be added, Liszt took the [[augmented triad]] as central chord.

More examples can be found in the third volume of Liszt's ''Années de Pèlerinage''. "Les Jeux d'Eaux à la Villa d'Este" ("The Fountains of the [[Villa d'Este]]"), composed in September 1877, foreshadows the [[impressionism]] of pieces on similar subjects by [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]] and [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]. However, other pieces such as the "Marche funèbre, En mémoire de Maximilian I, Empereur du Mexique" ("Funeral march, In memory of Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico")<ref>The inscription "In magnis et voluisse sat est" ("In great things, to have wished them is sufficient") had in Liszt's youth been correlated with his friend Felix Lichnowski.</ref> composed in 1867 are without stylistic parallel in the 19th and 20th centuries.

At a later stage Liszt experimented with "forbidden" things such as parallel 5ths in the "Csárdás macabre"<ref>Liszt wrote to the cover of the manuscript, "Darf man solch ein Ding schreiben oder anhören?" ("Is it allowed to write such a thing or to listen to it?")</ref> and [[atonality]] in the ''[[Bagatelle sans tonalité]]'' ("Bagatelle without Tonality"). In the last part of his "2de Valse oubliée" ("2nd Forgotten waltz") Liszt composed that he could not find a lyrical melody.{{Clarifyme|date=September 2008}} Pieces like the "2nd Mephisto-Waltz" are shocking with nearly endless repetitions of short motives. Also characteristic are the "Via crucis" of 1878, as well as ''Unstern!'', ''[[Nuages Gris]]'', and the two works entitled ''[[La lugubre gondola]]'' of the 1880s.

== Literary works ==
Besides his musical works, Liszt wrote essays about many subjects. Most important for an understanding of his development is the article series "De la situation des artistes" ("On the situation of the artists") which 1835 was published in the Parisian ''Gazette musicale''. In winter 1835-36, during Liszt's stay in [[Geneva]], about half a dozen further essays followed. One of them which should have been published under the name "Emm Prym" was about Liszt's own works. It was sent to Maurice Schlesinger, editor of the ''Gazette musicale''. Schlesinger, however, following an advice of Berlioz, did not publish it.<ref>See the letter by Berlioz to Liszt of April 28, 1836, in: Berlioz, Hector: Correspondance générale II, 1832-1842, éditée sous la direction de Pierre Citron, Paris 1975, p.295.</ref> In the beginning of 1837, Liszt published a review of some piano works of [[Sigismond Thalberg]]. The review evoked a huge scandal<ref>For example, see Liszt's letter to J. W. von Wasielewski of January 9, 1857, in: La Mara (ed.): [http://www.fullbooks.com/Letters-of-Franz-Liszt-Volume-1--From-Paris6.html ''Liszts Briefe, Band 1'', translated by Constance Bache], No.171.</ref>. Liszt also published a series of writings titled "Baccalaureus letters", ending in 1841.

During the Weimar years, Liszt wrote a series of essays about operas, leading from [[Gluck]] to [[Wagner]]. Besides, Liszt wrote essays about Berlioz and the symphony "''Harold in Italy''", [[Robert Schumann|Robert]] and [[Clara Schumann]], [[John Field (composer)|John Field's]] nocturnes, songs of [[Robert Franz]], a planned [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]] foundation at Weimar, and other subjects. In addition to these essays, Liszt wrote a book about [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]] as well as a book about the Gypsies and their music in Hungary.

While all of those literary works were published under Liszt's name, it is not quite clear which parts of them he had written himself. It is known from his letters that during the time of his youth there had been collaboration with Marie d'Agoult. During the Weimar years it was the Princess Wittgenstein who helped him. In most cases the manuscripts have disappeared so that it is difficult to decide which of Liszt's literary works actually were works of his own. However, until the end of his life it was Liszt's point of view that it was he who was responsible for the contents of those literary works.

Liszt also worked until at least 1885 on a treatise for modern harmony. Pianist Arthur Friedheim, who also served as Liszt's personal secretary, remembered seeing it among Liszt's papers at Weimar. Liszt told Friedheim that the time was not yet ripe to publish the manuscript, titled ''Sketches for a Harmony of the Future''. Unfortunately, this treatise has been lost.

== Legacy ==
{{Expand-section|date=September 2008}}
===Liszt's students===
====Early students====
Liszt was one of the most noted teachers of the 19th century. This part of his career commenced after his father's death in August 1827. For the purpose of earning his own and his mother's living, Liszt gave lessons in composition and piano playing. According to a letter to Monsieur de Mancy on December 23, 1829, he was so full of lessons that each day, from half-past eight in the morning till 10 at night, he had scarcely breathing time.<ref>See: La Mara (ed.) [http://www.fullbooks.com/Letters-of-Franz-Liszt-Volume-1--From-Paris1.html ''Liszts Briefe'', Band 1, translated to English by Conatance Bache], No.2.</ref> Most of Liszt's students of this period were amateurs, but there were also some who made a professional career. An example of the first kind is Valerie Boissier, the later Comtesse de Gasparin. Examples of the second kind are Pierre Wolff and Hermann Cohen. During winter 1835-36 they were Liszt's colleagues at the Conservatoire at [[Geneva]]. Wolff then went to [[St. Petersburg]].

Cohen, who from [[George Sand]] received the nickname "Puzzi", developed into a very successful pianist. Of Jewish origin, he was baptized on August 28, 1847. On this day he experienced what he called an "apparition" of Christ, Mary and the saints in an "ecstasy of love". A year later he became novice of a Carmelite convent. When on October 7, 1850, he was professed, he took the name Père Augstin-Marie du Très Saint Sacrament ("Pater Augustin-Mary of the Holiest Sacrament"). On April 19, 1851, he was ordained as priest. In spring 1862 he met Liszt in [[Rome]]. After colloquies with Pater Augustin, Liszt decided that he would himself become ecclesiastic.<ref>More details will be found in: Cross: ''"Puzzi" Revisited: A new Look at Hermann Cohen'', in the ''Journal of the American Liszt Society'', Volume 36/July-December 1994, p.19ff.''</ref>

During the years of his tours Liszt gave only few lessons. Examples of students from this period are Johann Nepumuk Dunkl and Wilhelm von Lenz. Dunkl received lessons from Liszt during winter 1839-40. He had introduced himself by playing [[Sigismond Thalberg|Thalberg's]] Fantasy op.6 on melodies from [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer's]] opera "Robert le diable". Liszt later called him a "Halbschüler" ("half-student"). Lenz, from St. Petersburg, had met Liszt already at the end of 1828. In summer 1842 he was in Paris again where he received further lessons from Liszt. He was merely an amateur with a repertoire of pieces such as Chopin's Nocturne op.9/2. In spring 1844, in Dresden, Liszt met the young [[Hans von Bülow]], his later son in law. Bülow's repertoire included Thalberg's Fantasy "La Donna del Lago" op.40 and Liszt's ''Sonnambula-Fantasy''.

====Later students====
Since Liszt had settled in Weimar, the number of those who received lessons from him was steadily increasing. Until his death in 1886 there would have been several hundred people who in some sense may have been regarded as his students. August Göllerich published a voluminous catalogue of them.<ref>See: Göllerich: ''Liszt'', p.131ff. According to Göllerich's note, his catalogue was the most complete one which until then existed.</ref> In a note he added the remark that he had taken the connotation "student" in its widest sense. As consequence, his catalogue includes names of pianists, violinists, cellists, harpists, organists, composers, conductors, singers and even writers. Another catalogue was prepared by Carl Lachmund. In Lachmund's catalogue his own wife's name, missing in Göllerich's catalogue, is included. She had successfully persuaded Liszt to listen to her playing the harp. After she had played a single piece, without Liszt saying a word about it, she was nominated as Liszt's student by her husband.

The following catalogue by Ludwig Nohl, headed with "Die Hauptschüler Liszts" ("Liszt's main students"), was approved in September 1881 and, with regard to the order of the names, corrected, by Liszt.<ref>See: Nohl: ''Liszt'', p.112ff. The book includes the facsimile of a letter by Liszt to Nohl of September 29, 1881, in which Liszt approved the catalogue. Liszt's letter also includes his suggestions with tegard to the order of the names.</ref>
{|cellpadding="3"
|[[Hans von Bülow]]||[[Carl Tausig]]||[[Franz Bendel]]
|-
|[[Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff|Hans von Bronsart]]||[[Karl Klindworth]]||Alexander Winterberger
|-
|[[Julius Reubke]]||Theodor Ratzenberger||Robert Pflughaupt
|-
|Friedrich Altschul||Nicolaus Neilissoff||Carl Bärmann||
|-
|[[Dionys Pruckner]]||Ferdinand Schreiber||Louis Rothfeld
|-
|Antal Siposs||George Leitert||Julius Richter
|-
|Louis Jungmann||[[William Mason (composer)|William Mason]]||Max Pinner
|-
|[[Juliusz Zarębski]]||[[Giovanni Sgambati]]||Carlo Lippi
|-
|Siegfried Langaard||[[Karl Pohlig]]||[[Arthur Friedheim]]
|-
|Louis Marek||Eduard Reuss||Bertrand Roth
|-
|Berthold Kellermann||Carl Stasny||Josef Wieniawsky
|-
|[[Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff|Ingeborg Starck-Bronsart]]||[[Sophie Menter|Sophie Menter-Popper]]||Sophie Pflughaupt
|-
|Aline Hundt||[[Max Erdmannsdörfer|Pauline Fichtner-Erdmannsdörfer]]||Ahrenda Blume
|-
|Anna Mehlig||[[Vera Timanova]]||Martha Remmert
|-
|Sara Magnus-Heinze||Dora Petersen||Ilonka Ravacz
|-
|Cäcilia Gaul||Marie Breidenstein||Amy Fay
|}

In 1886 a similar catalogue would have been much longer, including names such as [[Eugen d'Albert]], [[Walter Bache]], Carl Lachmund, [[Moriz Rosenthal]], [[Emil von Sauer|Emil Sauer]], [[Alexander Siloti]], [[Conrad Ansorge]], William Dayas, August Göllerich, [[Bernhard Stavenhagen]], [[August Stradal]], [[István Thomán]] and others.

Nohl's catalogue was by far not complete, and this even when the restriction to the period since the Weimar years is neglected. Of Liszt's Hungarian students, for example, only Antal Siposs and Ilonka Ravasz were mentioned. Siposs had become Liszt's student in 1858 in Weimar, after Liszt had heard him playing at a concert and invited him. In 1861 Siposs returned to Budapest, where in 1875 he founded a music school.<ref>See: Prahács: ''Briefe aus ungarischen Sammlungen'', p.362, n.1 to letter 263.</ref> Ilonka Ravasz was since winter 1875-76 one of Liszt's most gifted students at the newly founded Royal Academy for Music at Budapest. Astonishingly, the names of Aladár Juhász and Károly Aggházy are missing in Nohl's catalogue, although both had been among Liszt's favourite students at the Hungarian Academy.

Also missing are the names of Agnes Street-Klindworth and Olga Janina. Agnes Street-Klindworth had in 1853 arrived in Weimar, where she received lessons in piano playing from Liszt and lessons in composition from Peter Cornelius. Until 1861 she was Liszt's secret mistress. Olga Janina had joined the circle around Liszt in 1869 in Rome. According to Liszt's impression, she had rare and admirable musical talents.<ref>See his letter to Olga Janina of May 17, 1871, in: Bory, Robert: ''Diverses lettres inédites de Liszt'', in: ''Schweizerisches Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft'' 3 (1928), p.22.</ref> In his presence, she performed his piano concertos in E-flat and A Major as well as further examples of his works.

Unfortunately, Olga Janina fell in love with Liszt. They had a short affair, until in spring 1871 - on Liszt's initiative - they separated. Olga went to America, but in spring 1873 returned to Budapest. In a telegram to Liszt she had announced that she would kill him. After three adventurous days together with Liszt in an apartment in Budapest she left.<ref>Some details will be found in: Legány: ''Ferenc Liszt and His Country, 1869-1873''.</ref> Together with Liszt's student Franz Servais she first went to Belgium where she gave concerts which were brilliant successes. She then, together with Servais, went to Italy.

During the 1870s Olga Janina wrote several scandalous books about Liszt, among them the novel ''Souvenirs d'une Cosaque'', published under the pseudonym "Robert Franz". In Göllerich's catalogue of Liszt's students she is registered as "Janina, Olga, Gräfin (Marquise Cezano) (Genf)". Thus she may have changed her name and moved to Geneva. Taking the preface of her ''Souvenirs d'üne Cosaque'' literally, she had first moved from Italy to Paris where she had lived in poverty. The last paragraph of the preface can be read as a dedication to Liszt.

Besides Liszt's master students there was a crowd of those who could at best reach only moderate abilities.<ref>On June 17, 1880, it was Hans von Bülow, who gave the lesson instead of Liszt. He tried to get rid of those with minor abilities, but in vain. A couple of days later they went weeping to Liszt and were accepted again; see: Ramann: ''Lisztiana'', p.151, n.55.</ref> In such cases, Liszt's lessons changed nothing.<ref>For example, see: Stradal: ''Erinnerungen an Franz Liszt'', p.157f.</ref> However, also several of Liszt's master students were disappointed about him.<ref>See: Stradal: ''Erinnerungen an Franz Liszt'', p.158.</ref> An example is Eugen d'Albert, who in the end was on nearly hostile terms with Liszt.<ref>For example, see: Ramann: ''Lisztiana'', p.341.</ref> The same must be said of [[Felix Draeseke]] who had joined the circle around Liszt at Weimar in 1857, and who during the first half of the 1860s had been one of the most prominent representatives of the [[New German School]]. In Nohl's catalogue he is not even mentioned. Also Hans von Bülow, since the 1860s, had more and more drifted towards a direction which was not only different from Liszt's, but opposite to it

According to August Stradal, some of Liszt's master students had claimed that [[Anton Rubinstein]] was a better teacher than Liszt.<ref>See his ''Erinnerungen an Franz Liszt'', p.158.</ref> It might have been meant as allusion to Emil Sauer, who had in [[Moscow]] studied with [[Nikolai Rubinstein]]. During a couple of months in summers 1884 and 1885 he studied with Liszt at Weimar. When he arrived for the first time, he already was a virtuoso of strongest calibre who shortly before had made a concert tour through Spain. The question of whether there was any change in his playing after he had studied with Liszt remains open. According to his autobiography ''Meine Welt'', he had found it imposing when Arthur Friedheim was thundering Liszt's ''Lucrezia-Fantasy''. Regarding Liszt's playing a Beethoven Sonata, however, he wrote, Liszt had at least given a good performance as actor. As his opinion, Sauer had told his fellow students that Anton Rubinstein was a greater composer than Liszt.<ref>See: Steinbeck: ''Liszt's approach to piano playing'', p.70.</ref> In Sauer's own compositions, a piano concerto, two sonatas, about two and a half dozen Etudes and several concert pieces, no influence of Liszt as composer of the 1880s can be recognized.

===Liszt's teaching approach===
Liszt offered his students little technical advice, expecting them to "wash their dirty linen at home," as he phrased it. Instead, he focused on musical interpretation with a combination of anecdote, metaphor and wit. He advised one student tapping out the opening chords of Beethoven's [[Piano Sonata No. 21 (Beethoven)|''Waldstein'' Sonata]], "Do not chop beefsteak for us." To another who blurred the rhythm in Liszt's ''Gnomenreigen'' (usually done by playing the piece too fast in the composer's presence): "There you go, mixing salad again." Liszt also wanted to avoid creating carbon copies of himself; rather, he believed in preserving artistic individuality.<ref name="wang214780">Walker, ''New Grove 2'', 14:780.</ref>

There were some pieces which Liszt famously refused to hear at his masterclasses. Among them were [[Carl Tausig]]'s transcription of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]]'s organ [[Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565|Toccata and Fugue in D Minor]], and [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]]'s [[Scherzo No. 2 (Chopin)|Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor]]. Liszt also did not like to hear his own Polonaise No. 2 in E Major, as it was overplayed and frequently badly played.

Liszt did not charge for lessons. He was troubled when German newspapers published details of pedagogue [[Theodor Kullak]]'s will, revealing that Kullak had generated more than one million marks from teaching. "As an artist, you do not rake in a million marks without performing some sacrifice on the altar of Art," Liszt told his biographer [[Lina Ramann]]. He also wrote the ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung'', urging Kullak's sons to create an endowment for needy musicians, as Liszt himself frequently did.<ref name="wang214781">Walker, ''New Grove 2'', 14:781.</ref>

===Royal Academy of Music at Budapest===
Since the early 1860s there were attempts of some of Liszt's Hungarian contemporaries to have him settled with a position in Hungary. In January 1862, in Rome, Liszt received a letter by Baron Gábor Prónay, since 1850 President of a Conservatory in Pest. Baron Prónay offered Liszt the position as President. When in 1867 the Conservatory became "Ungarisches National Konservatorium" ("Hungarian National Conservatory"), Baron Prónay still tried to persuade Liszt to take the leadership.<ref>See: Prahács: ''Briefe aus ungarischen Sammlungen'', n.3 to letter 122.</ref> Liszt, however, in letters to Baron Prónay and further ones of his Hungarian contemporaries explained that his career as virtuoso and as conductor had finally ended. If he took a position in Hungary, it would be solely for the purpose of spreading his own compositions, his Oratorios and his symphonic works. Besides, as soon as he left Rome, it was his duty to spend some months of the year in Weimar. The Grand Duc had for several times asked for it.<ref>For example, see Liszt's letter of November 10, 1862, to Mihály Mosonyi, in: Prahács: ''Briefe aus ungarischen Sammlungen'', p.112ff. A similar letter to Baron Prónay of November 9, 1862, is solely available in a translation to Hugarian, in ''Zenlap'' of November 27, 1862, p.69f.</ref>

In 1871 the Hungarian Prime Minister [[Gyula Andrássy]] made a new attempt. In a writing of June 4, 1871, to the Hungarian King<ref>In 1867 the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef had been crowned as Hungarian King.</ref> he demanded an annual rent of 4,000 Gulden and the rank of a "Königlicher Rat" ("Councellor of the King") for Liszt, who in return would permanently settle in Budapest, directing the orchestra of the National Theatre as well as music schools and further musical institutions. With decision of June 13, 1871, the King agreed.<ref>See: Prahács: ''Briefe aus ungarischen Sammlungen'', p.353, n.1 to letter 221.</ref> By that time there were also plans of the foundation of a Royal Academy for Music at Budapest, of which the Hungarian state should be in charge. The Royal Academy is not to be confused with the National Conservatory which still existed. The National Conservatory, of which the city Budapest was in charge, was until his death in 1875 directed by Baron Prónay. His successor was Count Géza Zichy.

The plan of the foundation of the Royal Academy was in 1871 refused by the Hungarian Parliament, but a year later the Parliament agreed. Liszt was ordered to take part in the foundation. In March 1875 he was nominated as President. According to his wishes, the Academy should have been opened not earlier than in late autumn 1876. However, the Academy was officially opened already on November 14, 1875. Since it was Liszt's opinion that his colleagues [[Ferenc Erkel|Franz Erkel]], the director, [[Kornél Ábrányi]] and [[Robert Volkmann]] could quite well do this job without him, he was absent. He arrived on February 15, 1876, in Budapest. On March 2 he started giving lessons, and on March 30 he left. The main purpose of his coming to Budapest had been a charity concert on March 20 in favour of the victims of a flood.

In November 1875, 38 students had passed the entrance examinations. 21 of them wanted to study piano playing, the others composition. Details of the entrance exainations are known from an account by Károly Swoboda (Szabados), one of Liszt's first students at the Royal Academy.<ref>See: Prahács: ''Franz Liszt und die Budapester Musikakademie'', p.61.</ref> According to this, candidates for a piano class had to play a single piano piece of their own choice. It could be a sonata movement by Mozart, Clementi or Beethoven. The candidates then had to sight read an easy further piece. Candidates for a composition class had to reproduce and continue a given melody of 4, 5 or 8 bars, after Volkmann had played it for about half a dozen times to them. Besides, they had to put harmonies to a given bass which was written on a table.

After Liszt had arrived, he selected 8 students for his class for advanced piano playing. To these came Áladár Juhász as the most outstanding one. As exception, he was to study piano playing only with Liszt.<ref>Liszt later tried to install Juhász with a position at the Academy, but for some resons Juhász drifted towards a different path; see: Prahács (ed.): ''Briefe aus ungarischen Sammlungen'', p.405f, n.5 to letter 439.</ref> The others were matriculated as students of Erkel, since it was him from whom they would receive their lessons during Liszt's absence. Erkel also gave lessons in specific matters of Hungarian music. Volkmann gave lessons in composition and instrumentation. Ábrányi gave lessons in music aesthetics and harmony theory. Liszt had wished that there should have been a class for sacral music, leaded by Franz Xaver Witt. He had also wished that Hans von Bülow should take a position as piano professor. However, neither Witt nor Bülow agreed.

In spite of the conditions under which Liszt had in June 1871 been appointed as "Königlicher Rat", he neither directed the orchestra of the National Theatre, nor did he permanently settle in Hungary.<ref>As consequence, there were complaints from the side of the Hungarian Parliament according to which Liszt's appointment had been a mistake.</ref> As usual case, he arrived in mid-winter in Budapest. After one or two concerts of his students by the beginning of spring he left. He never took part in the final examinations, which were in summer of every year. Most of his students were still matriculated as students of either Erkel or later Henrik Gobbi. Some of them joined the lessons which he gave in summer in Weimar. In winter, when he was in Budapest, some students of his Weimar circle joined him there.

Judging from the concert programs of Liszt's students at Budapest, the standard resembled that of an advanced masterclass of our days. There was a difference, however, with regard to the repertoire. Most works as played at the concerts were works of composers of the 19th century, and many of the composers are now forgotten. As rare exceptions, occasionally a piece of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]] or [[George Frideric Handel|Händel]] was played. [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] and [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], but also [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] and [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]], were missing. Of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] only a comparatively small selection of his works was played. In typical cases Liszt himself was merely represented with his transcriptions.

The actual abilities Liszt's students at Budapest and the standard of their playing can only be guessed. Liszt's lessons of winter 1877-78 were in letters to Lina Ramann described by Auguste Rennebaum, herself Liszt's student at the Royal Academy. According to this, there had been some great talents in Liszt's class. However, the abilities of the majority had been very poor.<ref>See: Ramann: ''Lisztiana'', p.125.</ref> August Stradal, who visited Budapest in 1885 and 1886, took the same point of view.<ref>See his ''Erinnerungen an Franz Liszt'', p.46.</ref> In contrast to this, Deszö Legány claimed, much in Stradal's book was nonsense, taken from Stradal's own fantasy.<ref>See the critical notes in his ''Ferenc Liszt and His Country, 1874-1886''.</ref> Legány's own reliability, however, is not beyond doubt since many of his attempts of whitewashing Liszt and - even more - the Hungarian contemporaries are too obvious. Margit Prahács shared and supported Stradal's view. Her quotations from the contemporary Hungarian press show that much of Stradal's critique had been true. Concerning Liszt's relation with his Hungarian contemporaries at the end of his life, for example, in spring 1886 the journal ''Zenelap'' wrote:

:''It is solely in Budapest, where musicians are wandering on such high clouds that they hardly take notice when Liszt is among them.''<ref>Translated from German after: Prahács: ''Franz Liszt und die Budapester Musikakademie'', p.91.</ref>

In 1873, at the occasion of Liszt's 50th anniversary as performing artist, the city Budapest had installed a "Franz Liszt Stiftung" ("Franz Liszt Foundation"). The foundation was destined to provide stipends of 200 Gulden for three students of the Academy who had shown excellent abilities and especially had achieved progress with regard to Hungarian music. Every year it was Liszt alone who could decide which one of the students should receive the money. He gave the total sum of 600 Gulden either to a single student or to a group of three or more of them, not asking whether they were actually matriculated at the Academy.

It was also Liszt's habit to declare all students who took part in his lessons as his private students. As consequence, nearly none of them paid any charge at the Academy. Since the Academy needed the money, there was a ministerial order of February 13, 1884, according to which all those who took part in Liszt's lessons had to pay an annual charge of 30 Gulden. However, Liszt did not respect this, and in the end the Minister resigned. In fact, the Academy was still the winner, since Liszt gave much money from his taking part in charity concerts.

The lessons in specific matters of Hungarian music turned out as problematic enterprise, since there were different opinions, exactly what Hungarian music actually was. In 1881 a new edition of Liszt's book about the Gypsies and their music in Hungary appeared. According to this, Hungarian music was identical with the music as played by the Hungarian Gypsies. Liszt had also claimed, Semitic people, among them the Gypsies, had no genuine creativity. For this reason, according to Liszt's book, they only adopted melodies from the country where they lived. After the book had appeared, Liszt was in Budapest accused for a presumed spreading of anti-Semitic ideas.<ref>Liszt was as composer boycotted by the Budapest Philharmonic Society. On October 22, 1881, his 70th birthday, for example, they gave a concert where exclusively works by Brahms, directed by Brahms himself, were played. Liszt afterwards refused to attend any further concert of the Philharmonic Society.</ref> In the following year no students at all wanted to be matriculated for lessons in Hungarian music. According to the issue of July 1, 1886, of the journal ''Zenelap'', this subject at the Hungarian Academy had already a long time ago been dropped.

In 1886 there was still no class for sacral music, but there were classes for solo and chorus singing, piano, violin, cello, organ and composition. The number of students had grown to 91 and the number of professors to 14. Since winter 1879-80 the Academy had an own building. In the first floor there was an apartment where since winter 1880-81 Liszt lived during his stays in Budapest. His last stay was from January 30 to March 12, 1886. After Liszt's death Janós Végh, since 1881 vice-president, became president. Not earlier than 40 years later the Academy was renamed as "Franz Liszt Akademie". Until then, due to world war I, Liszt's Europe and also his Hungary had died. As main part, the only connection between Franz Liszt and the "Franz Liszt Akademie" thus was the name.

===Liszt School of Music Weimar===
On June 24, 1872, the composer and conductor Karl Müller-Hartung founded an "Orchesterschule" ("Orchestra School") at Weimar. Although Liszt and Müller-Hartung were on friendly terms, Liszt took no active part in that foundation. The "Orchesterschule" later developed to a conservatory which still exists and is now called "Franz Liszt Hochschule".

==Media==
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{{multi-listen item|filename=Franz Liszt - Liebestraum, Ab Major.ogg|title=Liebesträume No. 3|description=Performed by Martha Goldstein on an 1851 Erard piano|format=[[ogg]]}}
{{multi-listen item|filename=Liszt - Mephisto Waltz No.1.ogg|title=Mephisto Waltz #1|description=Performed by Kristian Cvetković|format=[[Ogg]]}}
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{{multi-listen item|filename=Liszt-La Campanella-Greiss.ogg|title=La Campanella|description=Performed by Romuald Greiss on an 1850 Budynowicz piano|format=[[ogg]]}}
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==See also==
* [[List of compositions by Franz Liszt (S.1 - S.350)]]
* [[List of compositions by Franz Liszt (S.351 - S.999)]]
* [[:Category:Compositions by Franz Liszt]]
* [[Symphonic Poems (Liszt)]]
* [[War of the Romantics]]
* [http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liszt_Ferenc Hungarian wikipedia]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
*Bory, Robert: ''Une retraite romantique en Suisse, Liszt et la Comtesse d'Agoult'', Lausanne 1930.
*Burger, Ernst: ''Franz Liszt, Eine Lebenschronik in Bildern und Dokumenten'', München 1986.
*Ehrhardt, Damien (éd.): ''Franz Liszt - Musique, médiation, interculturalité'' ([http://www.klincksieck.com/livre/?GCOI=22520100111740&fa=sommaire Etudes germaniques] 63/3, 2008).
*Franz, Robert (i. e. Janina, Olga): ''Souvenirs d'une Cosaque'', Deuxième édition, Paris 1874.
*Göllerich, August: ''Musikerbiographien, Achter Band, Liszt, Zweiter Theil'', Reclam, Leipzig, without date (1887-88).
*Hamburger, Klara (ed.): ''Franz Liszt, Beiträge von ungarischen Autoren'', Budapest 1978.
*Hamilton, Kenneth (ed.) ''The Cambridge Companion to Liszt'', Cambridge University Press, 2005.
*Jerger, Wilhelm (ed.): ''The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt 1884-1886, Diary Notes of August Göllerich'', translated by Richard Louis Zimdars, Indiana University Press 1996.
*Legány, Deszö: ''Franz Liszt, Unbekannte Presse und Briefe aus Wien 1822-1886'', Wien 1984.
*Legány, Dezsö: ''Ferenc Liszt and His Country, 1869-1873'', Occidental Press, Budapest 1983.
*Legány, Dezsö: ''Ferenc Liszt and His Country, 1874-1886'', Occidental Press, Budapest 1992.
*Liszt, Franz: ''Briefwechsel mit seiner Mutter'', edited and annotated by Klara Hamburger, Eisenstadt 2000.
*Liszt, Franz and d'Agoult, Marie: ''Correspondence'', ed. Daniel Ollivier, ''Tome I: 1833-1840'', Paris 1933, ''Tome II: 1840-1864'', Paris 1934.
*Nohl, Ludwig: ''Musikerbiographien, Vierter Band, Liszt, Erster Theil'', Reclam, Leipzig, without date (1881-82).
*Ollivier, Daniel: ''Autour de Mme d’Agoult et de Liszt'', Paris 1941.
*Prahács, Margit (ed.): ''Franz Liszt, Briefe aus ungarischen Sammlungen, 1835-1886'', Budapest 1966.
*Prahács, Margit: ''Franz Liszt und die Budapester Musikakademie'', in: Hamburger (ed.): ''Franz Liszt, Beiträge von ungarischen Autoren'', p.49ff.
*Raabe, Peter: ''Liszts Schaffen'', Cotta, Stuttgart und Berlin 1931.
*Ramann, Lina: ''Lisztiana, Erinnerungen an Franz Liszt in Tagebuch­blättern, Briefen und Doku­men­ten aus den Jah­ren 1873-1886/87'', ed. Arthur Seidl, text revision by Friedrich Schnapp, Mainz 1983.
*Rellstab, Ludwig: ''Franz Liszt'', Berlin 1842.
*Saffle, Michael: ''Liszt in Germany, 1840-1845'', ''Franz Liszt Studies Series No.2'', Pendragon Press, Stuyvesant, NY, 1994.
*Sauer, Emil: ''Meine Welt'', Stuttgart 1901.
*Searle, Humphrey: Article ''Liszt, Franz'', in: Sadie, Stanley (ed.): ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, First Edition'', London 1980.
*Steinbeck, Arne: ''Franz Liszt's approach to piano playing'', Ph.D. dissertation, University of Maryland 1971.
*Stradal, August: ''Erinnerungen an Franz Liszt'', Bern, Leipzig 1929.
*Walker, Alan: ''Franz Liszt, The Virtuoso Years (1811-1847)'', revised edition, Cornell University Press 1987.
*Walker, Alan: ''Franz Liszt, The Final Years (1861-1886)'', Cornell University Press 1997.
*Walker, Alan: Article ''Liszt, Franz'', in: Sadie, Stanley (ed.), ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition'', London 2001).

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Liszt, Franz}}
*{{dmoz|Arts/Music/Composition/Composers/L/Liszt,_Franz_Joseph}}
* {{IMSLP | id=Liszt%2C_Franz | cname=Franz Liszt}}
* {{WIMA|idx=Liszt}}
* {{gutenberg author| id=Franz+Liszt | name=Franz Liszt}}
*[http://www.zeno.org//Musik/M/Ramann,+Lina/Franz+Liszt Lina Ramann's classical Liszt biography] at [http://www.Zeno.org Zeno.org]
*[http://home.earthlink.net/~marnest/discliszt.html The Students of Liszt on Record and Reproducing Piano Roll] by Mark Arnest

{{Franz Liszt}}
{{Romanticism}}

<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->

{{Persondata
|NAME= Liszt, Franz
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= [[Composer]], [[conducting|conductor]], [[pedagogue]], [[pianist]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= October 22, 1811
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Raiding (Austria)|Doborján]]/[[Burgenland]], [[Kingdom of Hungary]]
|DATE OF DEATH= July 31, 1886
|PLACE OF DEATH=Bayreuth, Germany
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liszt, Franz}}
[[Category:1811 births]]
[[Category:1886 deaths]]
[[Category:Hungarian people]]
[[Category:Romantic composers]]
[[Category:Hungarian classical organists]]
[[Category:Hungarian classical pianists]]
[[Category:Hungarian composers]]
[[Category:Composers for pipe organ]]
[[Category:Organ improvisers]]
[[Category:People with synesthesia]]
[[Category:Hungarian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Hungarians of German descent]]
[[Category:Franciscans]]
[[Category:People from Burgenland]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]

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[[zh-classical:李斯特]]
[[zh:弗兰兹·李斯特]]

Revision as of 17:20, 30 April 2009

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