Liszt, Franz (actually, Ferenc; baptized Franciscus)

Liszt, Franz(actually, Ferenc; baptized Franciscus), greatly celebrated Hungarian pianist and composer; b. Raiding, near Odenburg, Oct. 22,1811; d. Bayreuth, July 31, 1886. His father was an amateur musician who devoted his energies to the education of his son; at the age of 9, young Liszt was able to play a difficult piano concerto by Ries. A group of Hungarian music-lovers provided sufficient funds to finance Liszt’s musical education. In 1822 the family traveled to Vienna. Beethoven was still living, and Liszt’s father bent every effort to persuade Beethoven to come to young Liszt’s Vienna concert on April 13, 1823. Legend has it that Beethoven did come and was so impressed that he ascended the podium and kissed the boy on the brow. There is even in existence a lithograph that portrays the scene, but it was made many years after the event by an unknown lithographer and its documentary value is dubious. Liszt himself perpetuated the legend, and often showed the spot on his forehead where Beethoven was supposed to have implanted the famous kiss. However that might be, Liszt’s appearance in Vienna created a sensation; he was hailed by the press as “child Hercules.” The link with Beethoven was maintained through Liszt’s own teachers: Czerny, who was Beethoven’s student and friend and with whom Liszt took piano lessons, and the great Salieri, who was Beethoven’s early teacher and who at the end of his life became Liszt’s teacher in composition.

On May 1, 1823, Liszt gave a concert in Pest. Salieri appealed to Prince Esterházy for financial help so as to enable Liszt to move to Vienna, where Salieri made his residence. Apparently Esterházy was sufficiently impressed with Salieri’s plea to contribute support.

Under the guidance of his ambitious father, Liszt applied for an entrance examination at the Paris Cons., but its director, Cherubini, declined to accept him, ostensibly because he was a foreigner (Cherubini himself was a foreigner, but was naturalized). Liszt then settled for private lessons in counterpoint from Antoine Reicha, a Parisianized Czech musician who instilled in Liszt the importance of folklore. Liszt’s father died in 1837; Liszt remained in Paris, where he soon joined the brilliant company of men and women of the arts. Paganini’s spectacular performances of the violin in particular inspired Liszt to emulate him in creating a piano technique of transcendental difficulty and brilliance, utilizing all possible sonorities of the instrument. To emphasize the narrative Romantic quality of his musical ideas, he accepted the suggestion of his London manager, Frederick Beale, to use the word “recital” to describe his concerts, and in time the term was widely accepted by other pianists.

In his own compositions, Liszt was a convinced propagandist of program music. He liked to attach descriptive titles to his works, such as Fantasy, Reminiscence, and Illustrations.The musical form of Rhapsody was also made popular by Liszt, but he was not its originator; it was used for the first time in piano pieces by Tomaschek. A true Romantic, Liszt conceived himself as an actor playing the part of his own life, in which he was a child of the Muses. He was fascinated by a popular contemporary novel that depicted a fictional traveler named Oberman, and he wrote a suite of piano compositions under the general title Années de pèlerinage, in which he followed in music the imaginary progressions of Oberman.

Handsome, artistic, a brilliant conversationalist, Liszt was sought after in society. His first lasting attachment was with an aristocratic married woman, the Comtesse Marie d’Agoult; they had 3 daughters, one of whom, Cosima, married Liszt’s friend Hans von Bülow before abandoning him for Richard Wagner. D’Agoult was fluent in several European languages and had considerable literary talents, which she exercised under the nom de plume of Daniel Stern. Liszt was 22 when he entered his concubinage with her; she was 28. The growing intimacy between Liszt and d’Agoult soon became the gossip of Paris. Berlioz warned Liszt not to let himself become too deeply involved with her. D’Agoult rapidly established herself as a salon hostess in Paris; she was a constant intermediary between Liszt and his close contemporary Chopin. Indeed, the book on Chopin publ, under Liszt’s name after Chopin’s early death was largely written by d’Agoult, whose literary French was much superior to Liszt’s. His second and final attachment was with another married woman, Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, who was separated from her husband. Her devotion to Liszt exceeded all limits, even in a Romantic age.

Liszt held a clerical title of Abbé, conferred upon him by Pope Pius IX, but his religious affiliations were not limited to the Catholic church. He was also a member of the order of Freemasons and served as a tertiary of the Order of St. Francis. In 1879 he received the tonsure and 4 minor orders (ostuary, lector, exorcist, and acolyte) and an honorary canonry. But he was never ordained a priest, and thus was free to marry if he so wished.

Liszt fully intended to marry Sayn-Wittgenstein, but he encountered resistance from the Catholic church, to which they both belonged and which forbade marriage to a divorced woman. His own position as a secular cleric further militated against it. Thus, Liszt, the great lover of women, never married. (The legend of Liszt as a man of fantastic sexual powers persisted even after his death. It found its most exaggerated expression in a film directed by Ken Russell under the title Lisztomania.In one scene, Liszt is portrayed with a grotesquely extended male organ on which a bevy of scantily dressed maidens obscenely disported themselves.)

Liszt’s romantic infatuations did not interfere with his brilliant virtuoso career. One of his greatest successes was his triumphant tour in Russia in 1842. Russian musicians and music critics exhausted their flowery vocabulary to praise Liszt as the miracle of the age. Czar Nicholas I himself attended a concert given by Liszt in St. Petersburg, and expressed his appreciation by sending him a pair of trained Russian bears. Liszt acknowledged the imperial honor, but did not venture to take the animals with him on his European tour; they remained in Russia.

Liszt was a consummate showman. In Russia, as elsewhere, he had 2 grand pianos installed on the stage at right angles, so that the keyboards were visible from the right and the left respectively and he could alternate his playing on both. He appeared on the stage wearing a long cloak and white gloves, discarding both with a spectacular gesture. Normally he needed eyeglasses, but he was too vain to wear them in public.

It is not clear why, after all his triumphs in Russia and elsewhere in Europe, Liszt decided to abandon his career as a piano virtuoso and devote his entire efforts to composition. He became associated with Wagner, his son-in-law, as a prophet of “music of the future/’ Indeed, Liszt anticipated Wagner’s chromatic harmony in his works. A remarkable instance of such anticipation is illustrated in his song Ich möchte hingehen, which prefigures, note for note, Wagner’s theme from the prelude to Tristan und Isolde.Inevitably, Liszt and Wagner became objects of derision on the part of conservative music critics. A pictorial example of such an attack was an extraordinary caricature entitled “Music of the Future/’ distributed by G. Schirmer in N.Y. in 1867. It represented Liszt with arms and legs flailing symmetrically over a huge orch. that comprised not only human players but also goats, donkeys, and a cat placed in a cage with an operator pulling its tail. At Liszt’s feet there was placed a score marked “Wagner, not to be played much till 1995.”

In 1848 Liszt accepted the position of Court Kapellmeister in Weimar. When Wagner was exiled from Saxony, Liszt arranged for the production of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin in Weimar on Aug. 28, 1850; he was also instrumental in supervising performances in Weimar of Wagner’s operas Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser, as well as music by Berlioz and a number of operas by other composers.

Liszt never wrote a full-fledged opera, but he composed several sacred oratorios that were operatic in substance. In his secular works he was deeply conscious of his Hungarian heritage, but he gathered his material mainly from Gypsy dances that he heard in public places in Budapest. In a strange show of negligence, he borrowed a theme for one of the most famous of his Hungarian Rhapsodies from an unpubl. work by an obscure Austrian musician named Heinrich Ehrlich, who had sent him a MS for possible inclusion in one of Liszt’s recitals. He explained this faux pas as an oversight.

As a composer, Liszt made every effort to expand the technical possibilities of piano technique; in his piano concertos, and particularly in his Études d’exécution transcendante, he made use of the grand piano, which expanded the keyboard in both the bass and the extreme treble. He also extended the field of piano literature with his brilliant transcriptions of operas, among them those by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Donizetti, Gounod, Rossini, and Beethoven. These transcriptions were particularly useful at the time when the piano was the basic musical instrument at home.

Although Liszt is universally acknowledged to be a great Hungarian composer, he was actually brought up in the atmosphere of German culture. He spoke German at home, with French as a second language. His women companions conversed with him in French, and most of Liszt’s own correspondence was in that language. It was not until his middle age that he decided to take lessons in Hungarian, but he never acquired fluency. His knowledge of Hungarian folk songs came through the medium of the popular Gypsy dance bands that played in Budapest. He used to refer to himself jocularly as “half Gypsy and half Franciscan monk.” This self-identification pursued him through his life, and beyond; when the question was raised after his death in Bayreuth regarding the transfer of his body to Budapest, the prime minister of Hungary voiced objection, since Liszt never regarded himself as a purely Hungarian musician.

Liszt was an eager correspondent; his letters, written in longhand, in French and in German, passed upon his death into the possession of Sayn-Wittgenstein; after her death in 1887, they were inherited by her daughter, Marie Hohenlohe- Schillingsfürst. She, in turn, left these materials to the Weimar court; eventually they became part of the Liszt Museum in Weimar.

Liszt was a great musical technician. He organized his compositions with deliberate intent to create music that is essentially new. Thus he abandons the traditional succession of two principal themes in sonata form. In his symphonic poem Les Préludes, the governing melody dominates the entire work. In his popular 3^rdLie-bestraum for Piano, the passionate melody modulates by thirds rather than by Classically anointed fifths and fourths. The great Faust sym. is more of a literary essay on Goethe’s great poem than a didactic composition. His piano concertos are free from the dialectical contrasts of the established Classical school. The chromatic opening of the first Concerto led Hans von Bülow to improvise an insulting line to accompany the theme, “Sie sind alle ganz verrückt!,” and the introduction of the triangle solo aroused derisive whoops from the press. Liszt was indifferent to such outbursts. He was the master of his musical fate in the ocean of sounds.

Works

dramatic: Opera: Don Sanche, ou Le Château d’amour (1824–25; Paris, Oct. 17, 1825; in collaboration with Paër). orch.: 2 syms.: Eine Faust-Symphonie in drei Charakterbildern for Tenor, Men’s Voices, and Orch. (1854–57; Weimar, Sept. 5, 1857) and Eine Symphonie zu Dantes Divina commedia (1855–56; Dresden, Nov. 7, 1857); 13 symphonic poems: Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne or Bergsymphonie (1848–49; orchestrated by Raff; Weimar, Feb. 1850; rev. 1850 and 1854), Tasso: Lamento e trionfo (1841–45; orchestrated by Conradi; Weimar, Aug. 28, 1849; rev. 1850–51 and 1854), Les Préludes (1848; Weimar, Feb. 23, 1854), Orpheus (1853–54; Weimar, Feb. 16, 1854), Prometheus (1850; orchestrated by Raff; Weimar, Aug. 24, 1850; rev. 1855), Mazeppa (1851; orchestrated by Raff; Weimar, April 16, 1854), Festklänge (1853; Weimar, Nov. 9, 1854), Héroide funèbre (1849–50; orchestrated by Raff; rev. c. 1854; Breslau, Nov. 10,1857), Hungaria (1854; Budapest, Sept. 8,1856), Hamlet (1858; Sondershausen, July 2, 1876), Hunnenschlacht (1857; Weimar, Dec. 29, 1857), Die Ideale (1857; Weimar, Sept. 5, 1857), and Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe—Du berceau jusqu’à la tombe (1881–82); 4 piano concertos: No. 1, in E- flat major (1832; rev. 1849 and 1853; Weimar, Feb. 17,1855; rev. 1856), No. 2, in A major (1839; various revisions; Weimar, Jan. 7, 1857), E-flat major (c. 1839; Chicago, May 3, 1990), and Piano Concerto in the Hungarian Style (1885); Malédiction for Piano and Strings (1833); Grande fantaisie symphonique on themes from Berlioz’s Lélio for Piano and Orch. (1834; Paris, April 1835); Fantasie über Motive aus Beethovens Ruinen von Athen for Piano and Orch. (c. 1837; rev. 1849; Budapest, June 1,1853); Totentanz for Piano and Orch. (1849; rev. 1853 and 1859; The Hague, April 15,1865); Festmarsch zur Goethejubiläumsfeier (1849; orchestrated by Conradi; Weimar, Nov. 8, 1860); Fantasie über ungarische Volksmelodien for Piano and Orch. (Budapest, June 1, 1853); Künstlerfestzug zur Schillerfeier 1859 (1857; Weimar, Nov. 8, 1860); Festmarsch nach Motiven von E.H. zu S.-C- G.on themes from Duke Ernst of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha’s Diana von Solange (c. 1860); 2 episodes from Lenau’s Faust (1860–61; No. 2, Weimar, March 8, 1861); Salve Polonia (1863; Weimar, 1884); Rákóczy March (1865; rev. 1867; Budapest, Aug. 17, 1875); Trois odes funèbres: No. 1 (1860–66; Weimar, May 21, 1912), No. 2 (1863–64; Weimar, Dec. 6, 1912), and No. 3 (1866; N.Y., March 1877); Ungarischer Marsch zur Krönungsfeier in Ofen-Pest am 8. Juni 1867 (1870); Ungarischer Sturmmarsch (1875); Second Mephisto Waltz (1880–81; Budapest, March 9, 1881). piano:Variation über einen Walzer von Dia-belli (1822); Huit variations (c. 1824); Sept variations brillantes sur un thème de Rossini (c. 1824); Impromptu brillant sur des thèmes de Rossini et Spontini (1824); Allegro di bravura (1824); Rondo di bravura (1824); Étude en douze exercices (1826); Scherzo in G minor (1827); Grandes études de Paganini (1831); Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1833; rev. 1835); Apparitions (1834); Fantaisie romantique sur deux mélodies suisses (1836); Vingt-quatre grandes études (1837); Album d’un voyageur (3 vols., 1835–38); Études d’exécution transcendante d’après Paganini (1838–39); Mazeppa (1840); Morceau de salon, étude de perfectionnement (1840); Venezia e Napoli (c. 1840; rev. 1859); Albumblatt in E major (c. 1841); Feuilles d’album in A-flat major (1841); Albumblatt in Walzerform in A major (1841); Feuille d’album in A minor (1842); Élégie sur des motifs du Prince Louis Ferdinand de Prusse (1842; rev. c. 1851); Madrigal (1844); Tre sonetti del Petrarca (1844–45); 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies: No. 1, in C-sharp minor (1846), No. 2, in C-sharp minor (1847), No. 3, in B-flat major (1853), No. 4, in E-flat major (1853), No. 5, in E minor (1853), No. 6, in D-flat major (1853), No. 7, in D minor (1853), No. 8, in F-sharp minor (1853), No. 9, in E-flat major (1848), No. 10, in E major (1853), No. 11, in A minor (1853), No. 12, in C-sharp minor (1853), No. 13, in A minor (1853), No. 14, in F minor (1853), No. 15, in A minor, Rákóczy March (1851; rev. 1871), No. 16, in A minor (1882), No. 17, in D minor (1886), No. 18, in C-sharp minor (1885), and No. 19, in D minor (1885); 6 Consolations (1844–48); Ballade No. 1, in D-flat major (1845; rev. 1848); Hymne de la nuit; Hymne du matin (1847); Trois études de concert (c. 1848); Romance (1848); Années de pèlerinage: Deuxième année, Italie (1837–39); Grosses Konzertsolo (c. 1849); Études d’exécution transcendante (1851); Scherzo und Marsch (1851); Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1840–52); Ab irato (1852); Ballade No. 2, in B minor (1853); Sonata in B minor (1851–53); Années de pèlerinage: Première année, Suisse (1848–52); Berceuse (1854; rev. 1862); Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, Präludium (1859); Klavierstück in F-sharp minor (c. 1861); Zwei Konzertetüden: No. 1, Waldersrauschen, and No. 2, Gnomenreigen (1862–63); Variationen über das Motiv von Bach (1862); Ave Maria (1862); Alleluja et Ave Maria (1862); Légendes (1863); Urbi et orbi, bénédiction papale (1864); Vexilla régis prodeunt (1864); Weihnachtsbaum—Arbre de Noël (1866; rev. 1876); La Marquise de Blocqueville, portrait en musique (1868); Mosonyi gyázmenete—Mosonyis Grabgeleit (1870); Impromptu (1872); Elegie (1874); Années de pèlerinage, troisième année (1867–77); Sancta Dorothea (1877); Resignazione (1877); Petofi szellemenek—Dem Andenken Petofis (1877); Zweite Elegie (1877); Fünf kleine Klavierstücke (1865–79); Technische Studien (12 vols., 1868–80); In festo trans-figurationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi (1880); Wiegenlied—Chant du berceau (1880); Toccata (1879–81); Nuages gris (1881); La Lugubre gondola (1882; rev. 1885); R.W.—Venezia (1883); Am Grabe Richard Wagners (1883); Schlaflos, Frage und Antwort (1883); Historische ungarische Bildnisse—Magyar törtenelmi arcképek (1870–85); Trauervorspiel und Trauermarsch (1885); En rêve (1885); Ruhig (1883–86); Recueillement (1887); also numerous arrangements and transcriptions. choral: sacred:Pater noster for Men’s Voices (1846; also for 4 Equal Voices and Organ, c. 1848); Ave Maria for Chorus and Organ (1846; also for 4 Voices and Organ, c. 1852); Hymne de l’enfant à son réveil for Women’s Voices, Harmonium or Piano, and Harp ad libitum (1847; rev. 1862, 1865, and 1874; Weimar, June 17,1875); Mass for 4 Men’s Voices and Organ (1848; Weimar, Aug. 15, 1852; rev. 1859; Second version, 1869; Jena, June 1872); Pater noster for Mixed Voices and Organ (1850); Te Deum for Men’s Voices and Organ (c. 1853); Domine salvum fac regem for Tenor, Men’s Voices, and Organ or Orch. (1853; orchestrated by Raff); Missa solemnis zur Einweihung der Basilika in Gran for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Chorus, and Orch. (1855; Gran, Aug. 31, 1856; rev. 1857–58); Psalm XIII for Tenor, Chorus, and Orch. (Berlin, Dec. 6,1855; rev. 1858 and 1862); Festgesang zur Eröffnung der zehnten allgemeinen deutschen Lehrerversammlung for Men’s Voices and Organ (Weimar, May 27, 1858); Die Seligkeiten for Baritone, Mixed Voices, and Organ (1855–59; Weimar, Oct. 2,1859); Christus, oratorio for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass, Chorus, Organ, and Orch. (1855; 1859; rev. 1862–66; Weimar, May 29, 1873); Psalm XXIII for Tenor or Soprano, Men’s Voices, and Instrumental Accompaniment (1859; rev. 1862); Psalm CXXXVII for Soprano, Women’s Voices, Violin, Harp, and Organ (1859; rev. 1862); An den heiligen Franziskus von Paula for Solo Men’s Voices, Men’s Chorus, Harmonium or Organ, 3 Trombones, and Timpani ad libitum (c. 1860; rev. c. 1874); Pater noster for 4 Voices and Organ (c. 1860; Dessau, May 25, 1865); Psalm XVIII for Men’s Voices and Instrumental Accompaniment (1860; Weimar, June 25, 1861); Responses and antiphons for 4 Voices (1860); Cantico del sol di S. Francesco d’Assisi for Baritone, Men’s Chorus, Orch., and Organ (1862; rev. 1880–81); Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth, oratorio for Soprano, Alto, 3 Baritones, Bass, Chorus, Orch., and Organ (1857–62; Budapest, Aug. 15,1865); Christus ist geboren (5 versions, c. 1863); Slavimo slavno slaveni! for Men’s Voices and Organ (Rome, July 3, 1863; rev. 1866); Missa choralis for Chorus and Organ (1865; Lemberg, 1869); Crux! for Men’s Voices Unaccompanied, or Women’s or Children’s Voices and Piano (1865); Ave maris stella for Mixed Voices and Organ (1865–66; also for Men’s Voices and Organ or Harmonium, 1868); Dall’alma Roma for 2 Voices and Organ (1866); Hungarian Coronation Mass for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Chorus, and Orch. (Budapest, June 8, 1867); Te Deum for Mixed Voices, Organ, Brass, and Drums ad libitum (1867); MM autem adhaerere for Men’s Voices and Organ (1868); Requiem for 2 Tenors, 2 Basses, Men’s Voices, Organ, and Brass ad libitum (1867–68; Lemberg, 1869); Psalm CXVI for Men’s Voices and Piano (1869); Ave Maria for Mixed Voices and Organ (1869); Inno a Maria Vergine for Mixed Voices, Harp, and Organ (1869); O salutaris hóstia for Women’s Voices and Organ (1869); Pater noster for Mixed Voices, and Organ or Piano (1869; also for Men’s Voices and Organ); Tantum ergo for Men’s Voices and Organ (1869; also for Women’s Voices and Organ); O salutaris hóstia for Mixed Voices and Organ (c. 1870); Libera me for Men’s Voices and Organ (1870); Ave verum corpus for Mixed Voices and Organ ad libitum (1871); Anima Christi sanctifica me for Men’s Voices and Organ (1874); Die heilige Cäcilia, legend for Mezzo-soprano, Chorus ad libitum, and Orch. or Piano (1874; Wiemar, June 17, 1875); Die Glocken des Strassburger Münsters for Mezzo-soprano, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (1874; Budapest, March 10, 1875); Der Herr bewahret die Seelen seiner Heiligen, Festgesang zur Enthüllung des Carl-August-Denkmals in Weimar (Weimar, Sept. 3, 1875); O heilige Nacht, Christmas carol for Tenor, Women’s Chorus, and Organ or Harmonium (c. 1877; Rome, Dec. 25, 1881); Septum sacramenta, responsories for Mezzo-soprano, Baritone, Mixed Voices, and Organ (1878); Gott sei uns gnädig und barmherzig for Mixed Voices and Organ (1878); O Roma nobilis for Mixed Voices and Organ ad libitum (1879); Ossa arida for Unison Men’s Voices and Organ, 4- hands, or Piano, 4-hands (1879); Rosario (1879); Cantantibus organis, antiphon for the feast of St. Cecilia for Solo Voices, Chorus, and Orch. (1879); Zwölf alte deutsche geistliche Weisen (1878–79); Via Crucis, Les 14 Stations de la croix for Solo Voices, Chorus, and Organ or Piano (1878–79); Psalm CXXIX for Baritone, Men’s Voices, and Organ, or Baritone or Alto and Piano or Organ (1880–81); Sankt Christoph, legend for Baritone, Women’s Voices, Piano, Harmonium, and Harp ad libitum (1881); In domum Domini ibimus for Mixed Voices, Organ, Brass, and Drums (c. 1881); O sacrum convivium for Alto, Women’s Voices ad libitum, and Organ or Harmonium (c. 1881); Pro Papa (c. 1881); Nun danket alle Gott (1883); Mariengarten for Chorus and Organ (c. 1884); Qui semblant in lacrimis for Mixed Voices and Organ (1884); Pax vobiscum! for Men’s Voices and Organ (1885); Qui Mariam absolvisti for Baritone, Unison Mixed Voices, and Organ or Harmonium (1885); Salve regina for Mixed Voices (1885). secular:Das deutsche Vaterland for 4 Men’s Voices (1839; Leipzig, Dec. 1841); Vierstimmige Männergesänge (1841–42); Das düstre Meer umrauscht mich for Men’s Voices and Piano (1842); Über allen gipfeln ist Ruh for Men’s Voices (1842; also for Men’s Voices and 2 Horns, 1849); Titan for Baritone, Men’s Voices, and Piano (1842; rev. 1845 and 1847); Trinkspruch for Men’s Voices and Piano (1843); Festkantate zur Enthüllung des Beethoven-Denkmals in Bonn for 2 Sopranos, 2 Tenors, 2 Basses, Chorus, and Orch. (Bonn, Aug. 13, 1845); Le Forgeron for Men’s Voices, and Piano or Orch. (1845); Les Quatre Élémens for Men’s Voices, and Piano or Orch. (1839–45); Die lustige Legion for Men’s Voices and Piano ad libitum (1846); A patakhoz (To the Brook) for Men’s Voices (1846); Arbeiterchor for Bass, 4 Men’s Voices, Men’s Chorus, and Piano (c. 1848); Hungaria 1848, cantata for Soprano, Tenor, Bass, Men’s Voices, and Piano or Orch. (1848; orch. version, Weimar, May 21,1912); Es war einmal ein König for Bass, Men’s Voices, and Piano (1849); Licht, mehr Licht for Men’s Voices and Brass (1849); Chor der Engel for Mixed Voices, and Harp or Piano (1849); Festchor zur Enthüllungs des Herder-Denkmals in Weimar for Men’s Voices, and Piano or Orch. (orchestrated by Raff; Weimar, Aug. 25, 1850); Chöre zu Herders Entfesseltem Prometheus for Soprano, Alto, 2 Tenors, 2 Basses, Double Chorus, and Orch. (orchestrated by Raff; Weimar, Aug. 24,1850; rev. 1855); An die Künstler for 2 Tenors, 2 Basses, Men’s Chorus, and Orch. (1853; orchestrated by Raff; Karlsruhe, June 1853; rev. 1856); Weimars Volkslied (Weimar, Sept. 3, 1857); Morgenlied for Women’s Voices (1859); Mit klingendem Spiel for Children’s Voices (c. 1859); Für Männergesang (1842–49); Gaudeamus igitur for Solo Voices ad libitum, Men’s or Mixed Voices, and Orch. (1869); Zur Säkularfeier Beethovens, cantata for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Double Chorus, and Orch. (1869–70; Weimar, May 29, 1870); A lelkesedés dala—Das Lied der Ber geisterung (1871; rev. 1874); Carl August weilt mit uns, Festgesang zur Enthüllung des Carl-August- Denkmals in Weimar for Men’s Voices, Brass, Drums, and Organ ad libitum (Weimar, Sept. 3, 1875); Magyar király dal—Ungarisches Königslied (1883); Grüss for Men’s Voices (c. 1885). He also wrote numerous solo songs and some chamber music. For his works, see F. Busoni, P. Raabe et al., eds., Franz Liszt: Musikalische Werke (Leipzig, 1907–36), and Franz Liszt: Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke/New Edition of the Complete Works (Kassel and Budapest, 1970 et seq.).

Writings

De la fondation Goethe à Weimar (Leipzig, 1851); Lohengrin et Tannhäuser de R. Wagner (Leipzig, 1851); F. Chopin (Paris, 1852); Des bohémiens et de leur musique en Hongrie (Paris, 1859); Über John Fields Nocturne (Leipzig, 1859); R. Schumanns musikalische Haus-und Lebensregeln (Leipzig, 1860). L. Ramann edited his Gesammelte Schriften (Leipzig, 1880–83); a new critical ed. of his writings, under the general editorship of D. Alten-burg, began to appear in 1987.

Bibliography

source material: F. Liszt, Thematisches Verzeichnis der Werke von F. L.(Leipzig, 1855); idema, Thematisches Verzeichnis der Werke, Bearbeitungen und Transkriptionen von F. L.(Leipzig, 1877); E. Waters, L. Holographs in the Library of Congress (Washington, D.C., 1979); M. Saffe, F.L; A Guide to Research (N.Y., 1991). iconographies: D. Bartha, F. L, 1811–1886: Sein Leben in Bildern (Leipzig, 1936); R. Bory, La vie de L. par l’image (Paris, 1936); W. Füssmann and B. Mátéka, F. L: Ein Künstlerleben in Wort und Bild (Langensalza, 1936); Z. László and B. Mátéka, F. L; Sein Leben in zeitgenossischen Bildern (Budapest, 1967; Eng. tr., 1968). correspondence F. Hueffer, ed., Briefwechsel zwischen Wagner und L.(Leipzig, 1887; fourth ed., 1919; Eng. tr., 1888); La Mara, ed., F. L.’s Briefe (Leipzig, 1893–1902); C. Bache, ed., Letters of F. L.(London, 1894); La Mara, ed., Briefe hervorragender Zeitgenossen an F. L.(Leipzig, 1895–1904); idem, ed., Briefwechsel zwischen F. L. und Hans von Bülow (Leipzig, 1898); A. Stern, ed., L.s Briefe an Carl Gille (Leipzig, 1903); La Mara, ed., Briefwechsel zwischen F. L. und Carl Alexander, Grossherzog von Sachsen (Leipzig, 1909); V. Csapó, ed., L. F. levelei barò Augusz A.(F. L.’s Letters to the Baron Augusz; Budapest, 1911; Ger. tr., 1911); N. de Gutmansthal, Souvenirs de F. L: Lettres inédites (Paris, 1913); La Mara, ed., F. L; Briefe an seine Mutter (Leipzig, 1918); D. Ollivier, ed., Correspondance de L. et de la comtesse d’Agoult 1833–1840 (Paris, 1933–34); idem, ed., Correspondance de L. et de safille Mme. Emile Ollivier (Paris, 1936); H. Hugo, ed., The Letters of F. L. to Marie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (Cambridge, Mass., 1953); M. Prahacs, ed., F. L: Briefe aus ungarischen Sammlungen 1835–1886 (Kassel, 1969); W Tyler and E. Waters, eds., Letters of F. L. to Olga von Meyendorff (Washington, D.C., 1979); D. Legány, F. L: Unbekannte Presse und Briefe aus Wien (1822–1886) (Budapest, 1984). biographical: J. Christern, F. L., nach seinem Leben und Werke, aus authentischen Berichten dargestellt (Hamburg, 1841); L. Rellstab, F. L: Beurteilungen-Bericht-Lebensskizze (Berlin, 1842; Second ed., 1861); G. Schilling, F. L: Sein Leben und Werken aus nächster Beschauung (Stuttgart, 1844); R. de Beaufort, F. L: The Story of His Life (Boston and London, 1866; Second ed., 1910); J. Schubert, F. L.s Biographie (Leipzig, 1871); L. Ramann, F. L. als Künstler und Mensch (3 vols., Leipzig, 1880–94; Eng. tr. of vol. I, 1882); O. Lessmann, F. L: Eine Charakterstudie (Berlin, 1881); L. Nohl, F. L. (Leipzig, 1882–88); R. Pohl, F. L. (Leipzig, 1883); B. Vogel, F. L: Abriss seines Lebens und Würdigung seiner Werke (Leipzig, 1898); O. Lüning, F. L.: Ein Apostel der Ideale (Zürich, 1896); E. Reuss, F. L. (Dresden, 1898); R. Louis, F. L.(Berlin, 1900); A. von Pozsony, L. und Hans von Bülow (Munich, 1900); M.-D. Calvocoressi, F. L. (Paris, 1905; Eng. tr. in the Musical Observer, N.Y., 1910–11); A. Göllerich, F. L. (Berlin, 1908); J. Kapp, F. L. (Berlin, 1909; 20^th ed., 1924); idem, L- Brevier (Leipzig, 1910); idem, R. Wagner und F. L.: Eine Freundschaft F. L.(Berlin, 1910); J. Chantavoine, L. (Paris, 1911; 6^th ed., 1950); A. Hervey, F. L. and His Music (London, 1911); J. Huneker, F. L. (N.Y. and London, 1911); J. Kapp, F. L. und die Frauen (Leipzig, 1911); La Mara, L. und die Frauen (Leipzig, 1911; Second ed., 1919); H. Thode, F. L. (Heidelberg, 1911); P Bekker, F. L (Bielefeld, 1912); B. Schrade, F. L. (Berlin, 1914); P. Raabe, Grossherzog Karl Alexander und L.(Leipzig, 1918); R. Bory, Une Retraite romantique en Suisse: L. et la Comtesse d’Agoult (Geneva, 1923; Second ed., 1930); K. Grunsky, F. L. (Leipzig, 1924); F. Corder, L. (London, 1925; Second ed., 1933); R. Wetz, F. L. (Leipzig, 1925); G. de Pourtalès, La Vie de F. L.(Paris, 1926; Second ed., 1950; Eng. tr., 1926); W. Wallace, L, Wagner and the Princess (London, 1927); C. van Wessem, F. L.(The Hague, 1927); M. d’Agoult, Erinnerungen an F. L.(ed. by S. Wagner; 1928); G. de Pourtalès, L. et Chopin (Paris, 1929); M. Herwegh, Au banquet des dieux: F. L., Richard Wagner et leurs amis (Paris, 1931); R. Raabe, F. L. (Stuttgart, 1931; Second ed., rev., 1968); E. Newman, The Man L.(London, 1934; Second ed., 1970); S. Sitwell, L. (London, 1934; 3^rd ed., rev., 1966); R. Bory, L. et ses enfants: Blandine, Cosima et Daniel (Paris, 1936); H. Engel, F. L. (Potsdam, 1936); Z. Harsányi, Magyar Rapszódia: F. L. (Budapest, 1936; Eng. tr., London, 1936, as Hungarian Melody, and N.Y., 1937, as Immortal Franz); A. Hevesy, L, ou Le Roi Lear de la musique (Paris, 1936); R. Hill, L. (London, 1936; Second ed., 1949); L. Nowak, F L. (Innsbruck, 1936); B. Ollivier, L, le musicien passionné (Paris, 1936); E. von Liszt, F. L. (Vienna, 1937); M. Tibaldi Chiesa, Vita romantica di L.(Milan, 1937; Second ed., 1941); P. Raabe, Wege zu L.(Regensburg, 1944); A. Pols, F. L.(Bloemendaal, 1951); J. Vier, La Comtesse d’Agoult et son temps (Paris, 1955–63); B. Voelcker, F. L., der grosse Mensch (Weimar, 1955); W. Beckett, L. (London, 1956; Second ed., 1963); Y. Milstein, F. L. (Moscow, 1956; Second ed., rev., 1971); B. Sz-abolcsi, L. F estéje (The Twilight of F. L.; Budapest, 1956; Eng. tr., 1959); C. Rostand, L. (Paris, 1960; Eng. tr., 1972); J. Rousselot, F. L.(London, 1960); W. Armando, F. L: Eine Biographie (Hamburg, 1961); M. Bagby, L/s Weimar (N.Y., 1961); J. Hankiss, Wenn L. ein Tagebuch geführt hätte (Budapest, 1961); P. Rehberg and G. Nestler, F. L.(Zürich, 1961); K. Hamburger, L. F. (Budapest, 1966); E. Haraszti, F. L (Paris, 1967); A. Leroy, F. L (Lausanne, 1967); A. Walker, ed., F. L: The Man and His Music (London, 1970; Second ed., 1976); idem, L. (London, 1971); E. Perényi, L: The Artist as Romantic Hero (Boston, 1974); F. Légany, L.F. Magyaronszagon 1869–1873 (F. L. and His Country 1869–1873; Budapest, 1976; Eng. tr., 1983); idem, L. F. Magyaronszagon 1874–1886 (F. L. and His Country 1874–1886; Budapest, 1986; Eng. tr., 1992); K. Hamburger, ed., F. L.: Beiträge von ungarischen Autoren (Leipzig, 1978); E. Horvath, F. L: vol. I, Kindheit, 1811–27 (Eisenstadt, 1978), and vol. II, Jugend (Eisenstadt, 1982); R. Rehberg, L: Die Geschichte seines Lebens, Schaffens und Wirkens (Munich, 1978); B. Gavoty, L: Le Virtuose, 1811–1848 (Paris, 1980); A. Walker, F. L: Vol. I, The Virtuoso Years, 1811–1847 (London, 1983; rev. ed., 1987); idem, F. L: Vol. II, The Weimar Years, 1848–1861 (London, 1989); W. Dömling, F. L. und seine Zeit (Laaber, 1986); E. Burger, F. L: Eine Lebenschronik in Bildern und Dokumenten (Munich, 1986; Eng. tr., 1989); R. Taylor, F L: The Man and the Musician (London, 1986); K. Hamburger, L.(Budapest, 1987); L. Chiappari, L. a Firenze, Pisa e Lucca (Pisa, 1989); S. Gut, F. L. (1989); D. Watson, L. (London, 1989); A. Williams, Portrait of L.: By Himself and His Contemporaries (Oxford, 1990); G. Erasmi and A. Walker, L., Carolyne, and the Vatican: The Story of a Thwarted Marriage (Stuyvesant, N.Y., 1991); M. Saffle, L. in Germany, 1840–1845: A Study in Sources, Documents, and the History of Reception (Stuyvesant, N.Y., 1994); M. Haine, Franz Servais et F. L.: Une amitié filiale (Liège, 1996); P. Autexier, La lyre maçonne: Haydn, Mozart, Spohr, L.(Paris, 1997); F. Bastet, Heise liefde: Biografisch essay over Marie d’Agoult, Frédéric Chopin, F. L, George Sand (Amsterdam, 1997); C. Rueger, F. L.: Des Lebens Widerspruch: Die Biographie (Munich, 1997); M. Saffle and J. Deaville, eds., New Light on L. and His Music: Essays in Honor of Alan Walker’s 65^th Birthday (Stuyvesant, N.Y., 1997); I. and P. Zaluski, Young L.(Chester Springs, Pa., 1997); R. de Candé, La vie selon F L: Biographie (Paris, 1998). critical, analytical: R. Wagner, Ein Brief über L.s symphonische Dichtungen (Leipzig, 1857); E. Segnitz, F. L.s Kirchenmusik (Langensalza, 1911); P. Roberts, Études sur Boieldieu, Chopin et L.(Rouen, 1913); P. Raabe, Die Entstehungsgeschichte der ersten Orchesterwerke F. L.s (diss., Univ. of Jena, 1916); J. Wenz, F L. als Liederkomponist (diss., Univ. of Frankfurt am Main, 1921); G. Galston, Studienbuch: F. L.(Munich, 1926); J. Weber, Die symphonischen Dichtungen F. L.s (diss., Univ. of Vienna, 1928); H. Arminski, Die ungarischen Phantasien von F. L.s (diss., Univ. of Vienna, 1929); J. Heinrichs, Über den Sinn der L.schen Programmusik (diss., Univ. of Bonn, 1929); J. Bergfeld, Die formale Struktur der “Symphonischen Dichtungen” F. L.s (diss., Univ. of Berlin, 1931); Z. Gárdonyi, Die ungarischen Stileigentümlichkeiten in den musikalischen Werken F. L.s (diss., Univ. of Berlin, 1931); H. Dobiey, Die Klaviertechnik des jungen F. L.s (diss., Univ. of Berlin, 1932); I. Philipp, La Technique de L.(Paris, 1932); B. Bartók, L. problémák (Budapest, 1936); Z. Gárdonyi, L. F. magyar stilusa/Le Style hongrois de F. L.(Budapest, 1936); D. Presser, Studien zu den Opern-und Liedbearbeitungen F. L.s (diss., Univ. of Cologne, 1953); H. Searle, The Music of L.(London, 1954; Second ed., rev., 1966); B. Hansen, Variationen und Varianten in den musikalischen Werken F. L.s (diss., Univ. of Hamburg, 1959); L. Bardos, L. F. a jövö zenésze (F. L. the Innovator; Budapest, 1976); E. Heinemann, F. L.s Auseinandersetzung mit der geistlichen Musik (Munich, 1978); B. Ott, L. et la pédagogie du piano (Issy-les-Moulineaux, 1978; Eng. tr., 1993); D. Torkewitz, Harmonisches Denken im Frühwerk F. L.s (Munich, 1978); S. Winklhofer, L.’s Sonata in B Minor: A Study of Autograph Sources and Documents (diss., Univ. of Mich., 1980); P. Merrick, Revolution and Religion in the Music of L.(Cambridge and N.Y., 1987); A. Hartmann, Kunst und Kirche: Studien zum Messenschaffen von F. L.(Regensburg, 1991); K. Johns, The Symphonie Poems of F. L.(Stuyvesant, N.Y, 1995); K. Hamilton, L: Sonata in B minor (Cambridge, 1996); D. Altenburg, L. und die Weimarer Klassik (Laaber, 1997); M. Saffle, ed., International L. Conference (1993: Va. Polytechnic Inst, and State Univ.) (Stuyvesant, N.Y, 1998).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire