Liszt — The Magician of the Piano and the Invention of the Recital

Liszt — “The Magician of the Piano”

Franz Liszt (Hungarian: Liszt Ferenc, 1811–1886) was born in Hungary and worked in Paris, Weimar, and Rome — a composer and pianist. He was the greatest pianist of the 19th century, and the “magician” opposite Chopin’s “poet” of the previous article.

He left more than 700 works, with vast influence in transcendent piano writing, symphonic poems, and sacred music. He directly invented the modern pianist’s professional model — recital, world tour, virtuoso adoration.

Life — 75 Turbulent Years

• 22 October 1811 — Born in Raiding, Hungary (now Austrian territory). His father Adam was accountant to the Esterházys
• 1821–1823 — At 12, studies piano with Czerny (Beethoven’s pupil) and composition with Salieri in Vienna
• April 1823 — At 12, Vienna concert; tradition says Beethoven kissed him in praise
• 1823–1835 — Life in Paris; success as a young pianist
• 1832 — Shocked by the playing of Paganini (violinist) and resolves to become the “Paganini of the piano”
• 1835–1839 — Elopes with Countess Marie d’Agoult to Switzerland and Italy — the “pilgrimage” years
• 1839–1847 — Great European touring as a transcendent virtuoso; the “Lisztomania” phenomenon
• 1848–1861 — Kapellmeister at Weimar, founder of the symphonic poem, supporter of Wagner
• 1861–1869 — In Rome; turns to sacred music
• 1865 — Takes minor orders, becomes “Abbé Liszt”
• 1869–1886 — Travels between Weimar, Budapest, and Rome; teaching activity
• 31 July 1886 — Dies of pneumonia in Bayreuth at 74 (at his daughter Cosima’s house, three years after Wagner’s death)

The Paganini Shock — 1832

In March 1832 in Paris, a concert by Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840), Italian violinist, completely overwhelmed Liszt:

“I will become the Paganini of the piano.”

He abandoned “elegant salon pianism” and pursued transcendent virtuosity.

Grandes études de Paganini, S. 140 (1838) and later Grandes études de Paganini, S. 141 (1851) — piano transcriptions of Paganini’s violin caprices. “La Campanella” (“The Little Bell”) is the most famous.

Lisztomania — The First Musical Idol Phenomenon

Between 1839 and 1847, Liszt toured all of Europe — Paris, London, Vienna, Berlin, Saint Petersburg, Constantinople. What happened:

• Female fans went wild, fought over Liszt’s handkerchiefs and cigars
• Women fainted mid-concert
• The poet Heinrich Heine coined “Lisztomania” in 1844
• In Russia, Tsar Nicholas I looked cynically on “Liszt fever”

The origin of the “musical idol,” the direct ancestor of 21st-century K-pop, J-pop, and rock stars.

Ken Russell’s film Lisztomania (1975) — a bizarre film modeled on this. Starring Roger Daltrey of The Who.

The Invention of the “Recital” — 1839

In London in 1839, Liszt named a concert in which one performer played the entire program a “recital.” Distinct from the mixed concerts of the day:

• One performer, one instrument
• The program is entirely one performer’s choice
• The audience focuses on a single artist

The professional format of the modern pianist is Liszt’s invention. Horowitz, Gould, Lang Lang, Fujita Mao — all owe it to him.

Liszt’s Piano Music

Études d’exécution transcendante, S. 139 (1852)

Twelve extremely difficult études, refined over three drafts. The final versions each carry a title (Mazeppa, Feux follets, Wilde Jagd, Ricordanza, Vision, etc.).

An ultimate goal for pianists. Modern performances: François, Cziffra, Berman, Kissin, Fujita Mao.

Hungarian Rhapsodies, S. 244 (1846–1885)

Nineteen works in a brilliant idiom that draws on Hungarian and Roma music. The second in C-sharp minor is overwhelmingly famous (used in the Tom and Jerry short The Cat Concerto).

• Structure: a slow lassan followed by a fast friska
• Reflects Liszt’s era’s misunderstanding of Roma music (“gypsy music” ≠ Hungarian folk music), but the artistic effect is enormous

Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178 (1853)

The summit of Liszt’s solo piano writing. A single 30-minute movement, standing with Beethoven’s Hammerklavier (previous article) at the pinnacle of Romantic piano music.

• Cyclic themes — a group of themes transforms across the whole work
• Formal innovation — a fusion of sonata, variation, and fantasy
• Contemporary with Wagner’s Tristan (1859) — a foretaste of late Romanticism

Modern performances: Argerich, Sokolov, Zimerman, Kissin, Uchida Mitsuko.

Années de pèlerinage, S. 160–163

Three collections (Year 1 Switzerland, Year 2 Italy, Year 3) plus extras. Travel experiences turned into music:

• Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este — descriptions of water, called “a forerunner of Impressionism”
• Sonetto 104 del Petrarca — a poem turned into music
• Vallée d’Obermann — a deep Swiss landscape

Programme and Poetic Works

• Liebesträume, S. 541 (1850) — three pieces; No. 3 in A-flat is famous
• Consolations, S. 172 — six pieces of consolation
• Après une lecture de Dante — Fantasia quasi Sonata, S. 161-7
• Légendes, S. 175 — “St. Francis walking on the water” and one other

Transcriptions and Paraphrases

Liszt was a transcriber of genius. He arranged Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Verdi, and Wagner for piano:

• Piano versions of all 9 Beethoven symphonies — a monumental challenge
• Schubert lieder transcriptions — “Erlkönig,” “Serenade,” “Ave Maria”
• Verdi opera paraphrases — Rigoletto, Il trovatore
• Wagner music-drama paraphrases — Tannhäuser Overture, Isolde’s Liebestod

“Reproducing an entire orchestra on one piano” — the actualization of the “small orchestra” from the overview.

The Women in His Life — Marie and Carolyne

Liszt had two “wives” (neither by law):

Countess Marie d’Agoult (1805–1876)

• Eloped 1835; six years in Switzerland and Italy
• Three children: Blandine, Cosima (later Wagner’s wife), Daniel
• Broke up 1839–1844
• Later wrote novels as Daniel Stern

Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (1819–1887)

• Met in Kyiv in 1847; a lifelong partner
• Shared the Weimar years 1848–1861
• The Catholic Church refused annulment of her marriage; they could not marry
• 1861 in Rome, on the eve of the wedding, the Pope intervened; they parted
• Afterward the two lived apart, but the emotional bond lasted to death

Music, religion, love — the intertwined themes of Liszt’s life.

The Relationship with Wagner — The Tragedy of Cosima

Liszt’s daughter Cosima (1837–1930) was his second child by Marie d’Agoult. She married Hans von Bülow (conductor and Liszt’s pupil) in 1857 but from 1863 was in a relationship with Wagner, and married Wagner in 1870.

Liszt himself:

• Supported Wagner’s music early on; conducted premieres of Tannhäuser and Lohengrin at Weimar
• But furious at his daughter’s affair and remarriage; broke with Wagner for years
• Reconciled around 1872; visited his daughter’s house (Wahnfried, Bayreuth) until death
• Died at Wagner’s house in Bayreuth on 31 July 1886

“Music vs. family passion” as drama. To this day, a Bayreuth visitor can see Liszt’s room and grave.

The Weimar Years — Founding the Symphonic Poem

1848–1861, thirteen years as Kapellmeister at Weimar. Liszt retired from concertizing and turned to composition, conducting, and teaching.

The Invention of the Symphonic Poem

A single-movement programmatic orchestral work. Liszt wrote twelve:

• Les Préludes, S. 97 — the most famous
• Tasso, S. 96
• Mazeppa, S. 100 — the orchestral version of his piano étude
• Hamlet, S. 104
• Die Ideale, S. 106 — after Schiller

A direct influence on later R. Strauss’s Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Ein Heldenleben.

The Weimar Pupils

• Hans von Bülow (1830–1894) — Cosima’s former husband, conductor and pianist
• Carl Tausig (1841–1871) — died young
• Emil Sauer (1862–1942) — performing into the 20th century
• Carl Lauflaus (1863–1946)

“The New German School” — the Liszt/Wagner faction — was in dispute with the Brahms faction (see the next article).

The Roman Years — “Abbé Liszt”

1861–1869 in Rome. After the collapse of the Carolyne engagement, Liszt turned to Catholicism:

• 25 April 1865 — at the Sant’Alberto Romano abbey in Rome, tonsured and receives minor orders
• Now called “Abbé Liszt”
• Not ordained a priest (only minor orders — he could still marry)

Sacred Masterpieces

• Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth, S. 2 (1857–1862) — an oratorio
• Christus, S. 3 (1866–1872) — a large oratorio
• Funérailles, S. 173-7 — piano solo (1849, in mourning for the failed Hungarian revolution)
• Nuages gris, S. 199 (1881) — a late atonal avant-garde piece

Late Avant-Garde — Prophecy of the 20th Century

In the 1880s, past 70, Liszt’s music turns rapidly avant-garde:

• Dissolution of tonality, whole-tone scales, dissonance
• Nuages gris, La lugubre gondola, Unstern! — music of death and vision
• A direct prophecy of Wagner, Debussy, and Schoenberg

Contemporary scholars value the late Liszt as the most essential. A striking contrast between the “brilliant young Liszt” and the “introspective, avant-garde old Liszt.”

Teaching — Training the World’s Pianists

Liszt taught many young pianists in Weimar, Rome, and Budapest. His Weimar masterclasses are the prototype of the modern masterclass:

• Free and open to talented students from around the world
• Public lessons — playing and teaching before other students
• Liszt himself gives model performances

The prototype of modern pianist training. The Liszt lineage — his pupils, and his pupils’ pupils, and so on — extends to most of the leading 20th-century pianists.

Three Cities — Liszt Brought Piano to the World

The three cities of Liszt’s activity:

• Paris (1823–1835, and 1839–1841) — salons, recitals, and inventions
• Weimar (1848–1861) — composition, conducting, symphonic poems
• Rome (1861–1869) — sacred music, introspection

Add Hungary (his homeland) and there are the four faces of Liszt.

Relations with the Piano Makers — Érard and Bösendorfer

Liszt used Érard (France) and Bösendorfer (Austria):

• Érard — double escapement (see the earlier article), enabling rapid repetition
• Bösendorfer — a Viennese firm, deep sound; a Bösendorfer was at his side at his death

“Érard for brilliance, Bösendorfer for depth” — Liszt’s own use.

Liszt the Hungarian

• Hungarian, but his mother tongue was German (he spoke little Hungarian)
• “Liszt Ferenc” is the Hungarian form; “Franz Liszt” is the German form
• A national hero of Hungary; the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest (founded 1875, Liszt first president)
• Appears on the 500-forint banknote

A parallel to Erdős (Hungarian mathematician) in the previous [Lineage of Mathematics] series — a giant of Hungarian culture.

Modern Impact

Performer Model

• The recital — his invention
• The world tour — his ancestor
• The masterclass — his method
• Pianist adoration — Lisztomania in a 21st-century form

Compositional Influence

• Symphonic poem → R. Strauss, Smetana, Sibelius
• Thematic transformation → Wagner, Mahler
• Transcendent virtuosity → Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Ligeti

The Liszt Lineage of Pianists

• Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924) — reinterpreter of Liszt
• Lazar Berman (1930–2005) — Soviet Liszt player
• György Cziffra (1921–1994) — Hungary; master of the Hungarian Rhapsodies
• Claudio Arrau (1903–1991) — deep Liszt
• Alfred Brendel (1931–) — intellectual Liszt
• Kissin (1971–), Lang Lang (1982–), Yuja Wang (1987–), Fujita Mao (1998–) — contemporary masters

From This Article to the Next

We have traced Liszt’s brilliant life. The next article turns to Schumann and Brahms (1833–1897) — the introspective German Romantic. Their group opposed the Liszt–Wagner “New German School”; the Brahms faction had a different aesthetic. The lifelong friendship with Clara Schumann, the music of the Piano Concertos 1 and 2, the Hungarian Dances, the late intermezzi — the contrast of “the brilliant Liszt” and “the contemplative Brahms.”