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Franz Liszt

Hungarian pianist and composer

The Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt is regarded as the founder of the solo piano recital. Many people consider Liszt as the greatest pianist of all time.
Liszt already left his native country at an early age. In Vienna he was given theory lessons by Salieri, the teacher and great competitor of Mozart. In 1823 he moved to Paris. Paris held an enormous attraction for all kinds of artists, both visual artists and musicians and composers. In 1836 the young Liszt won a piano competition and this meant the start of a long and successful career.

Fame

For a very long time his fame as a pianist was greater than his fame as a composer.
Liszt toured across Europe until 1847. There were long line-ups at the entrance of the concert halls if Franz Liszt gave a concert. One of Liszt's specialties was transcribing melodies of other composers. For example, the piano virtuoso could play extremely difficult improvisations of opera melodies which were popular in those days.

Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein

From 1847 he received financial support and protection from Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, whom he had met during a Russian concert trip. She remained his closest and most influential companion for the rest of his life. Now Liszt could dedicate himself completely and without worries to composing. In Weimar Liszt started a training course for young pianists and composers. He was an idealist: many of his pupils were given free lessons.
In 1861 Liszt moved to Rome where he studied theology. Liszt dedicated himself to the Roman-Catholic faith: in 1865 he received holy orders, after which he was called Abbé Liszt.

Hungarian Rhapsodies

During his last years Liszt divided his time between Rome, Budapest and Weimar. In 1886 Franz Liszt died in Bayreuth, Germany during the Wagner Festival.
Among his most famous works are: "Les Préludes", "Hungarian Rhapsodies" and "Faust".

Death of Franz Liszt

After falling ill during a visit to Bayreuth, Franz Liszt uttered this melancholy refrain throughout his final days, which were spent in rented rooms in a house opposite Wahnfried, the home of his daughter Cosima and his deceased son-in-law Richard Wagner.
Attended by incompetent doctors and ignored and treated coldly by his daughter, the great composer endured needless pain and indignity, according to a knowledgeable eyewitness. Lina Schmalhausen, his student, caregiver, and close companion, recorded in her diary a graphic description of her teacher's illness and death. Alan Walker here presents this never-before-published account of Franz Liszt's demise in the summer of 1886. Walker, whose three-volume biography of Franz Liszt has been praised as "without rival" by Time, states that "no one who is remotely interested in the life and work of Franz Liszt can remain unaffected by the diary.
Lina Schmalhausen's tale of neglect, family indifference, and medical malpractice was considered so explosive at the time of its writing that it was kept from public view. The twenty-two-year-old Lina Schmalhausen was regarded with suspicion by many in the composer's inner circle, as well as by other confidants, and a sanitized and inaccurate depiction of Franz Liszt's death made its way into the history books.
For this volume, Alan Walker has overseen the translation and thoroughly annotated the eighty-one-page handwritten diary and added a selection of illustrations. A prologue contains important background information on Franz Liszt himself and on Lina Schmalhausen's diary. An epilogue discusses the funeral and ensuing controversies over disposition of the composer's remains.
Death of Franz Liszt: Based on the Unpublished Diary of His Pupil Lina Schmalhausen by Alan Walker
ISBN: 0801440769