Composer Profile - Activefolio

94 Chapter 8
Composer Profile
Franz Liszt, The Complete Virtuoso (1811–1886)
F ranz Liszt is sometimes referred to as “the greatest pianist who ever lived.”
That’s a pretty strong statement to make without evidence, especially considering
the caliber of pianists we’ve studied so far in this book. How could
anyone really be better than Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, or Chopin? Still,
the persona of Liszt persists—dazzling technique, consummate showmanship, and
dashing looks. He truly was an icon in the music world during his long, successful
career.
Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary, on October 22, 1811. His father worked
at the estate of the Esterhazy family near Vienna, and that is where young Franz
received his early musical training. At age eleven, he gave his first concert, met
Beethoven, and began to compose and publish music. Much of the music he
composed were piano arrangements of other people’s music, including Beethoven
symphonies, Schubert songs, and opera excerpts of Mozart. These pieces were
often incredibly difficult to play, adding to the reputation that young Liszt enjoyed
as a player of extraordinary technical skill. Add to that his charm, showmanship,
and unique looks, and Liszt quickly developed an international
reputation as a ladies’ man. He had dozens of documented love affairs with
women of nobility, and one special relationship with the Countess Marie d’Agoult.
They never married, yet she bore him three children. One of these, his daughter
Cosima, would one day become the wife of Richard Wagner.
Liszt made a fortune as a concert soloist. Yet, he made a change in his
career and began to devote more time to conducting and composing. In 1848,
he became the principal conductor at the Court of Weimar in Germany, a very
prestigious post. He did not really need to publish much music to survive financially.
In fact, his compositions were often criticized for being too bombastic, or
sacrificing emotional substance for technical fireworks. Still, there were important
features in his career as a composer. First and foremost was the sheer quantity
of his output. He composed or arranged over 1300 works, making him one
of the most prolific composers of all time. Liszt was loyal to his Hungarian heritage,
and composed a set of Hungarian Rhapsodies that used melodies and rhythms
in the Hungarian folk style. He also invented the symphonic poem, which is a
single-movement, free-form work for orchestra that centers on one program or
musical idea. His famous symphonic poem Les Preludes became a staple of the
orchestral repertoire and a template for later composers. Indeed, symphonic
poems would become a favorite form for many composers in the late Romantic
period, including Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss.
Ample success and complicated relationships with too many women made
Liszt yearn for a simpler life. In 1861, Liszt moved to Rome and five years later
became an unordained priest. He spent much of the rest of his life there, and
though he still taught and performed on occasion, he did not take money for
those services. Late in his life, he composed several large masses and other
works for the Church.
Liszt was always friendly and gracious, and was considered a “grand old
man” of the music world when he died on July 31, 1886. He remains one of the
most interesting and beloved personalities in the world of music.