![]() Whilst Franz Liszt stole the hearts and minds of concert goers during his eight year tour that gave him legendary status as a live performer, his entire body of works, although well appreciated at the time, did not occupy the same level of adulation received during his concerts until the twentieth century. The conductor turned to religion for solace and received some minor ordinations into the catholic church and became an honorary canon of Albano just outside Rome. Liszt spent the remainder of his years between Budapest, Rome and Weimar, this was a sad period for him as he lost his son Daniel at age 20 and his daughter Blandine at the age of 26. Among Wagner's successes during this period under Liszt were the operas "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin" and the two great composers of this era formed a friendship that would last a lifetime. It was in Weimar that Richard Wagner was coming to prominence as Liszt raised the profile of Wagner by guiding and conducting his operas whilst he was in exile. His time in Weimar was very productive, up until this time conductors were very passive in their movements but Liszt took the baton and turned conducting into a performance art in its own right, for the first time the passion of the conductor could be seen and it was an inspiring sight. In 1848 Liszt took up the position of senior director of the court orchestra in Weimar, although a change of direction from a concert pianist the position gave the composer the time to create many new compositions. The second significant lady in Liszt's life was Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein whom he met in 1847 and she managed to convince him to stop touring as a virtuoso pianist and concentrate on expanding his existing body of work. The Countess bore him three children and they stayed together until 1844 when the pressure of Franz constantly touring became too much and they separated. There was a high price to pay for this liaison as they were forced to leave Paris to avoid a scandal, however this cost was nothing in comparison to the prolific musical output he achieved during this period. His first significant affair was with Countess Marie d'Agoult whom he met in 1833 and she wasted no time in leaving her husband for Liszt. There were many mistresses but two in particular had a major effect on him both personally and professionally. Liszt also had a passion for the ladies, he cut a dashing figure as tall, with dark long hair and extremely handsome, he oozed charisma as he charmed his way through the established aristocratic salons of Paris rubbing shoulders with the elite of French society. Paris was the cultural capital of the world and Franz mixed in well within the artistic and literary circles of the day meeting such luminaries as Victor Hugo, Frederic Chopin and Alphonse de Lamartine.Ī 1932 concert in Paris by the Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini had such an inspiring effect on Liszt he went away with both a dream and the determination to make the most of his talent and become a virtuoso pianist at the same level as the great Genoese violinist he had just witnessed. He had followed his mother to Paris and gave piano lessons to make ends meet. The death of his father in 1827 affected Liszt who was only 16 and he lost the motivation for live performance for a number of years. Liszt was a child prodigy who received piano lessons from an early age, his debut performance at the "Landständischer Saal" in Vienna in 1822 was well received in aristocratic circles and a bright future beckoned for the promising pianist. As an entertainer he had the magic to engross but as a pianist there were no equals in his generation. On stage Franz Liszt had a capacious charisma and a gripping intensity that both charmed and stirred up emotions in the crowd, it was as if he had a sixth sense that understood how to inspire and the larger the audience the bigger the performance. Screaming girls would fight over his handkerchief or gloves as they swarmed all over Franz Liszt trying to get a lock of hair or any memento in much the same way latter day fans would clamour over Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley in the 1950's or the Beatles in the 1960's. ![]() Advertise on Quoteikon, click image for details
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |