AUSSTELLUNGEN EXHIBITIONS - Lisztomania 2011

Museum of the Province of Burgenland
Lisztomania
The Wizard at the Piano
Museum of the Province of
Burgenland, outside view
© Landesmuseum Burgenland
6
exhibitions
The Museum of the Province of Burgenland
will develop the main theme of the
Liszt anniversary year. Heinrich Heine
coined the historical term “Lisztomania”
to describe the transports of enthusiasm
caused by Liszt’s concerts in Berlin in
1841/1842.
The exhibition will focus on Liszt’s great European concert tours
between 1840 and 1847 (Vienna, Budapest, Paris, Berlin, St.
Petersburg, Constantinople, etc.), the honours and fame they
brought him and the works he composed for them.
Lisztomania became the popular word for the excitement and
hysterical reactions of Liszt’s female fans. The fervour of Liszt’s
audiences during his appearances onstage is illustrated by a picture
of Liszt at the piano being showered with roses tossed by the
ladies attending one of his Berlin concerts.
A special highlight of the exhibition is a fan decorated with a
scene showing Liszt and some of his contemporaries at a picnic.
The ladies who fainted in droves at Liszt’s concerts used such
fans to cool themselves.
Portraits, Liszt’s virtuoso repertoire, press and promotion material,
the clothes he wore onstage and fan articles will be juxtaposed
with exhibits relating to Elvis, the Beatles and U2 to show the relation
to contemporary pop star myths. Liszt, too, used his entire
personality to enthrall his audiences until they succumbed to actual
hysteria.
Certificate of Honour of the
Order of Nichan Iftikhar
© GSA Weimar
Guitar belonging to Keith
Richards
© LF privat
“In the Concert Hall” – Franz
Liszt at the Berlin Singakademie,
1842 © bpk