Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt   1858

Photo: Franz Hanfstaengl

Source: Piano 4 Life

Born on 22 Oct 1811 in Doborján (now Raiding), Franz Liszt is the first Hungarian (Magyarul) composer to find these histories of classical music. As a pianist, Liszt's only rival was his friend, Chopin. Liszt, however, was a concert pianist while Chopin was a solon performer, meaning little rivalry at all. Though they had Paris in common, especially Chopin, neither their turf nor venues were the same. Also differently than Chopin, Liszt gave lessons for free to an innumerable host of students throughout the years while Chopin charged exclusive fees to only high-end clients. Liszt is also among those composers who were Freemasons (beginning in these histories with Frederick II), joining in 1841.

Liszt's father, a musician, was employed in some capacity otherwise by Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy. The Esterházy dynasty had long been among the most powerful in Europe, the family ever an influential patron to the arts. Liszt began playing piano at seven and began scratching compositions at eight. Performances at concerts at age nine resulted in the financing of studies in Vienna beneath Carl Czerny, Ferdinando Paer and Antonio Salieri. His first performance in Vienna on 1 December 1822 at the Landständischer Saal was naturally successful. His first published composition, 'Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli' S 147, followed in 1824, appearing as No.24 of fifty variations by various composers published in 'Vaterländischer Künstlerverein'. Liszt is complemented with a few numbering schemes. The most commonly used is the "S" directory by Humphrey Searle in 'The Music of Liszt' of 1966. The "LW" system is by Dolores Pesce, Rena Charnin Mueller and Maria Eckhardt referenced at Grove Music Online as of 2001. There is also the "R" directory by Felix Raabe in Peter Raabe's 'Franz Liszt; Buch 2; Liszt's Schaffen' ('Liszt's Works') of 1968.

'Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli'   S 147   Franz Liszt

First published composition as of 1824 at age 11

Piano: Erolon   IMSLP

Upon his father's death in 1827 Liszt moved to Paris with his mother, where he began giving lessons as he started to emphasize composing over performing. Along with much else Liszt authored some six dozen songs with piano. Most were keyboard arrangements of such as traditional dances or pieces by other composers. Two early examples are his two 'Ungarische Werbungstänze' ('Hungarian Recruiting Dances') arranged in 1828:

'Ungarische Werbungstänze'   'Hungarian Recruiting Dances'   Franz Liszt

S 241/1: Poco andante in B-flat major

S241/2: Non troppo lento in D minor

Piano: Minkyu Kim   IMSLP

It was upon viewing a performance by violinist, Niccolò Paganini, in 1832 that Listz decided to become a virtuoso. His aspirations were further fueled in 1833 upon beginning a relationship with Countess Marie d'Agoult. They would live together for the next several years in Switzerland, Liszt teaching at the Geneva Conservatory, and Italy. He also began contributing essays to the 'Revue et gazette musicale' in Paris during that period.

In 1839 Liszt began a tour of Europe for several years that would begin to be called Lisztomania (similar to Beatlemania) in 1844 by writer, Heinrich Heine. It would also make Liszt so rich that by 1857, the year he became a Franciscan, he began to simply forward his performance fees to charities, his a great heart as a philanthropist. In 1847 Liszt toured not only the Balkans and Russia, but Turkey, the first composer in these histories to introduce classical music to that region south of the Black Sea. In 1842 he became Kapellmeister Extraordinaire to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia in Weimar, where he kept for the next couple decades.

Liszt wrote his first of nineteen Hungarian Rhapsodies in 1846, the initial two of which he published 1851. The last two being S 244/18-19 were authored in 1885 toward publishing the next year.

'Hungarian Rhapsodies'   S 244/1-19   Franz Liszt   1846-85

Piano: Edith Farnadi   IMSLP   Wikipedia

Liszt began work on his first of thirteen symphonic poems in 1848, the third version of which would see publishing in 1857 as 'Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne' (S 95), based on Victor Hugo's 1831 poem of the same name. Liszt's symphonic poems were expansions of the overture, the last of which would be published as 'Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe' ('From the Cradle to the Grave') in 1883. Liszt also scored these for piano4hands and two pianos.

'Symphonic Poem No.1'   S 95   Franz Liszt   1849

'Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne' ('What We Hear on the Mountain')

London Philharmonic Orchestra / Bernard Haitink

Fugue for Thought   IMSLP   Blair Johnston   Wikipedia

'Symphonic Poem No.10'   'Hamlet'   S 104   Franz Liszt   1858

London Philharmonic Orchestra / Bernard Haitink

Alan Beggerow   IMSLP   Wikipedia

'Symphonic Poem No.13'    S 107   Franz Liszt   1882

'Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe'   ('From the Cradle to the Grave')

Orchestre de Paris / Sir Georg Solti

All Music   IMSLP

Liszt published his three nocturnes, 'Liebesträume' ('Dreams of Love') S 541, in 1850, the more famous of which was the third (No.3), 'Oh Lieb, so lang du lieben kannst' in A-flat major. His twelve 'Études d'exécution transcendante' ('Transcendental Etudes') S 139 followed in 1851.

'Liebestraum No.3'    S 541/3   A major   Franz Liszt   1850

'Oh Lieb, so lang du lieben kannst'   ('Oh love, so long as you can love')

Piano: Khatia Buniatishvili

IMSLP   Piano TV   Wikipedia

'Études d'exécution transcendante'    S 139/1-12    Franz Liszt   1851

'Transcendental Etudes'

Piano: Claudio Arrau

IMSLP   Han Wang   Wikipedia

Preceded by a version written in 1849, Liszt published his 'Sonata in B minor' S 178 dedicated to Robert Schumann in 1854. He that year completed the first version of his 'Faust Symphony' S 108 to be revised in 1857–61 and again in 1880. The libretto was taken from Goethe, key literary figure at the inception of the Romantic period, particularly in the character of Faust. List dedicated the work to Hector Berlioz.

'Piano Sonata'    S 178    B minor   Franz Liszt   1853

Pub June 1854 in Leipzig by Breitkopf und Härtel

Premiere 22 Jan 1857 in Berlin w Hans von Bülow at piano

Piano: Seong-jin Cho

Dominick Cristofori D’Alessandro   The Conversation   IMSLP

Norbert Müllemann   Rovi Staff   Wikipedia   Frances Wilson

'Faust Symphony'    S 108    Franz Liszt

1854   Revised 1857–61 & 1880 (this version above)

Premiere 5 Sep 1857 in Weimar   Pub 1861

Libretto: Goethe

Hungarian National Choir Hungarian / National Philharmonic Orchestra / Zoltán Kocsis

IMSLP   Wikipedia

Liszt's 'Piano Concerto No. 1' in E-flat major S 124 saw conducting by Berlioz on 17 Feb 1855 in Weimar. His 'Piano Concerto No.2' in A major S 125 was performed in Weimar on 7 January 1857. He left his third unfinished. Liszt himself conducted his 'Dante Symphony' S 109 at the Hoftheater in Dresden on 7 November 1857.

'Piano Concerto No. 1'    S 124   E-flat major   Franz Liszt

Composed 1835-56   Premiere 17 Feb 1855 in Weimar   Pub 1857

Piano: Yuja Wang   NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Alan Gilbert   27 Feb 2022

Classy Classical   Jeff Counts   Robert Cummings

Calvin Dotsey   IMSLP   John Mangum   Wikipedia

'Piano Concerto No. 2'    S 125   A major   Franz Liszt

Composed 1849-61   Premiere 7 Jan 1857 in Weimar   Pub 1862 or 1863

Piano: Khatia Buniatishvili   Orchestre de Paris / Andrey Boreyko

IMSLP   Vitaly Katsenelson   LA Phil   Hugh Macdonald   Wikipedia

'Dante Symphony'    S 109   A major   Franz Liszt

Composed 1855-56   Premiere 7 Nov 1857 at the Hoftheater in Dresden

Pub 1859 in Leipzig by Breitkopf und Härtel

Libretto from 'Luke 1:46'

Orquestra Sinfonica de Galicia / Dima Slobodeniouk

Alan Beggerow   Jonathan Blumhofer   IMSLP

Blair Johnston   Sebastian Mitchelll   Wikipedia

In 1861 Liszt left for Rome, intending to marry one Princess Carolyne, which plan was foiled upon his arrival by Carolyne's husband or, prior husband, which was the trouble. Liszt's 'Mephisto Waltz No. 1' S 514 saw publishing in 1862.

'Mephisto Waltz No.1'   S 514   Franz Liszt   Pub 1862

Piano: Félix Ardanaz

Anastasia Huppmann   IMSLP   Wikipedia

Having lost two of his children by 1862, Liszt assumed a largely solitary existence but for ordination as a Franciscan priest in 1865. In 1866 he composed the coronation ceremony in Hungary for Franz Joseph I of Austria and Elizabeth of Bohemia. Liszt began teaching in Weimar in 1869, in Budapest two years later, then was elected President of the new Royal Academy in Budapest in 1875, that to become the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Meanwhile making trips to Rome, Liszt's traveling is estimated at some four thousand miles a year during that period. If continual travel wears out a musician now, in Liszt's time even more so. A fall down a flight of stairs in Weimar in 1881 marked Liszt's rapid decline in health, but he wasn't finished yet. In 1883 he published his 'Mephisto Polka' S 217 based on the 1836 drama, 'Faust', by Nikolaus Lenau.

'Mephisto Polka'   S 217   Franz Liszt   Pub 1883

Piano: Aldo Ciccolini

IMSLP   Wikipedia

In 1885 Listz composed 'Bagatelle sans Tonalité' S 216a which may have been intended to replace his unfinished Fourth Mephisto Waltz S 696 also written that year. That bagatelle premiering on 10 July of 1885 by his student, Hugo Mansfeldt, is the earliest identifiable exploration of atonality by a major composer, finding Liszt the first musician in these histories to be described as "avant-garde" in modern terms.

'Bagatelle sans Tonalité'   S 216a   Franz Liszt   Pub 1885

Piano: Yulianna Avdeeva

Robert Cummings   IMSLP   Wikipedia

Liszt's final of nineteen Hungarian Rhapsodies that is S 244 was published in 1886. Among a few other final works that year was 'Die Vätergruft' ('The Fathers' Crypt') S 371 for voice and orchestra which was an expansion of S 281 for voice and piano of 1844:

'Die Vätergruft'   ('The Fathers' Crypt')   S 371   Franz Liszt   1886

Libretto: Ludwig Uhland

Baritone: Thomas Hampson   Orchester Wiener Akademie / Martin Haselböck

Liszt died in Bayreuth, Germany, on 31 July 1886 of pneumonia.