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Liszt, Franz
(292 total words in this text)
(1694 Reads) 
Born: October 22, 1811 in Raiding, Hungary
Died: July 31, 1886 in Bayreuth, Germany
Franz Liszt is considered to be one of the greatest pianists of the 19th Century and in musical history. He also composed many compositions in a wide range of styles, a large portion of which are for the piano. As a pianist, Liszt studied with Czerny and began a remarkably successful career at a young age. Liszt was widely popular throughout Europe, and people would flock to his concerts to watch him perform much as modern popular music stars are treated. There are stories of people (particularly women) trying to rip pieces of his clothing off wherever he went. This popularity is attributed to Liszt's charismatic personality in addition to his extraordinary piano technique. As a composer, Liszt created some of the piano repertoire's most difficult compositions. These include the Transcendental Etudes, the Hungarian Rhapsodies, and the two Piano Concertos. Even though these works featured the piano, they were greatly inspired by orchestral sounds. Liszt wrote a number of orchestral works, and is credited with the invention of the "Symphonic Poem" or "Tone Poem." These Symphonic Poems are music that does not fit into a standard Classical-style form (such as a symphony), but aim to present a musical description of literature or pictures. Liszt's first Symphonic Poem was Les préludes, which would set the standard for Liszt's other Poems and future works by many other composers. Liszt also composed two symphonies, the Dante and the Faust. Because many of Liszt's compositions are based on literature, tales, paintings, and other art forms, he was considered, along with Wagner and Strauss (at a later date), one of the leaders of the "New German" music revolution.
Links
http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/liszt.html
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/liszt.html
http://www.island-of-freedom.com/LISZT.HTM |
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