Franz Liszt – Biography of Franz Liszt

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Character of mystical and carnal character, depressive and at the same time vital, Franz Liszt He was born in Doborjan (at the time of Raiding, in the Austrian Empire), Hungary, on October 22, 1811.

He began studying the piano with his father Adam, an official of Prince Esterházy, when he was still a child. At the age of eleven, he moved with his family to Vienna, where he was able to take composition lessons with Salieri and piano with Czerny, one of the most renowned virtuosos of the time. In 1823 he traveled to Paris to study theory and composition with Paer but was rejected at the Conservatory of the capital by Cherubini.

In 1825, when he was already known as a pianist, he played in London in the presence of King George IV. He himself composed his only opera “Don sanche“who made his debut in Paris. His fame grew as a performer and in 1826 he toured France and Switzerland, while continuing his studies with Reicha.

From 1828 he settled in Paris, where he lived by teaching music; There he found himself involved in an unfortunate affair with Caroline de Saint-Cricq that led him to a state of frustration and depression that he could overcome only with the help of reading and faith. In 1830 he was part of the public that attended the first performance of Hector Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony and at that time he met Felix Mendelssohn and Frederic Chopin.
In 1833 Liszt he met one of the women who would mark his life, Countess Marie d’Agoult, who would become George Sand the following year. In 1835 he fled to Switzerland with Marie d’Agoult who made him Blandine’s father.

Meanwhile he began to compose “Album d’un voyageur“. In 1836 he introduced George Sand and Chopin. The following year he wrote the”12 major studios“and had the famous musical duel against Thalberg, from which he emerged victorious.

In As meanwhile Cosima was born her second daughter and in 1839 her son, Daniel; Liszt began composing the Italian part of his “Annes de Pèlerinage“. The following year he met two key figures (for him and for the history of music): Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner.

While giving concerts around the world, in 1844 he broke up with Marie d’Agoult; in 1847 he met Princess Carolina von Sayn-Wittgenstein in Kiev with whom he moved to Poland. Established in Weimar in 1848, he began the composition of the symphonic poem “Les Préludes“and the Symphony”Berg“.

During the Dresden uprising in 1849, Liszt he helped Wagner, a known revolutionary, to flee to Switzerland. They were years of a feverish creative resurgence, in which he composed countless works (the symphonic poem “Mazeppa“, the Sonata, the two concerts for piano and orchestra No. 1, the”Totentanz“, and hundreds of pieces for piano) that, however, were marred by the death of his thirteen-year-old son Daniel.

In 1861, during a trip to Paris, he played for Napoleon III and met Georges Bizet. That same year in Rome, he tried to marry Caroline von Sayn-Wittgenstein, but failed to have his previous marriage annulled.
In 1862 he composed the beautiful “Cantico del sol de San Francisco de Asís“and had to endure the death of his eldest daughter Blandine. As a result, he suffered a mystical crisis that led him to the decision to enter the monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Rome. The relationship that in the meantime, had been established between his daughter Cosima and her student Richard Wagner undermined relations with the latter.

In 1864, in memory of Blandine, he wrote “The night“and in 1865 he was finally able to rejoice with the birth of Isolde, the result of the union of Cosima and Wagner. Also that year he received minor orders from the Vatican. His composer vein turned more and more towards sacred music;Missa choralis” Y “Christus“(1867).

In 1870 his daughter Cosima got a divorce from a previous marriage and was eventually able to marry Wagner, an event that led them to reconcile. Even these last years continued to be very fruitful: in addition to dozens of pages of extraordinary beauty, he also composed some versions of Romance oubliée, the orchestration of Second Waltz Mephisto, and the waltzes Oubliée 1, 2, 3 and 4.

In 1886 Liszt made a trip to London to receive some honors and met the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria; in Paris, he met the man destined to convulse, even more than himself, the concept of musical art: Claude Debussy.

In Germany, during the Bayeruth festival of the same year (festival created by Wagner) Franz Liszt fell seriously ill with pneumonia. He died on July 31, 1886.