FRANZ LISZT · EIN EUROPÄER IN WEIMAR - Klassik Stiftung Weimar

Liszt in the concert hall, after a drawing by Theodor Hosemann, 1842
Liszt’s grand piano from the company “Boisselot & fils”, Marseille 1846
We had never heard anything like it in our lives,
never such a passionate, brilliant and demonic
temperament, one minute lashing like a whirlwind,
the next flowing in cascades of beauty and grace.
Liszt’s playing was absolutely overwhelming […]
W. Stasov, about a concert in St. Petersburg, 1842
The second part of the exhibition in the Palace Museum is titled
Piano Cosmos and traces the technical development, tonal aesthe tics
and cultural history of the piano in Liszt’s era. It deals with the role
of piano music in 19th century salons and concert halls, the interdependence
of piano making and compositional techniques, and
the instrument’s significance for the educational ideals of that time.
The Weimar instruments restored with the support of the Federal
Cultural Foundation will be seen and heard for the first time in this
context.
The exhibition focuses on the models by piano makers Graf
(Vienna), Streicher
(Vienna) and Erard (Paris/London), all played
by the composer himself. One key feature is the especially reconstructed
grand piano by the Marseille piano makers Boisselot & fils;
Liszt used it not only for composing but also as a travelling piano.