Aaron Copeland
"An Abbe, honorary canon of Albano, a sincere mystic and at the same time one of history's most publicized lovers, incredible showman, hypnotic virtuoso, astonishing amalgam of magician, zealot and philanthropist, Liszt is easily the most colorful personality in the history of music" (Lieberson 256.) From his dazzling beginning in the musical circles of Vienna as a child prodigy of eleven years old, Ferenc (Franz) Liszt would establish himself as the leading piano virtuoso and one of the foremost progressive forces in music of his day. Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary (now part of Austria) about thirty miles from Vienna, Austria (Longyear 105.) His Father was steward to the family of Esterhazy and a good amateur musician; consequently, he was also Liszt's first piano teacher. Young Liszt's extraordinary abilities were recognized without delay and he was soon taken to Vienna to study piano under Czerny and composition under Salieri (the former teacher of Schubert, an acquaintance of Liszt's.) His phenomenal aptitude for the piano at the age of eleven was greeted with a kiss from Beethoven, and praised endlessly by the musical circles of the day. In 1823, Liszt went to Paris, where he studied music theory and compos
He received a minor order in the Catholic Church and became an Abbe, focusing his attention on religious works and more specifically choral music. He had once wanted to become a priest, but inspired by the success of Niccolo Paganini, he then worked to become as much a master of the piano as Paganini was of the violin. " Such developments in his music establish him in history, not Berlioz or Wagner, as THE true seminal figure for the Twentieth century musical tradition. (Longyear 113) Conversely, his later Missa choralis was a much more austere work for chorus and light organ accompaniment without any of the fanfares, cymbal crashes and rich harmonies of the Eszetergom Mass. The structure of the Liszt symphonic poem coordinated to his B minor Sonata, Les Preludes being his most famous of the genre and Orpheus as his Masterpiece. (Longyear 108)" Among his other important works are his compositions for piano orchestra including the E-flat Piano Concerto, the A major Piano concerto and the Totentanz, a set of free variations of the "Dies Irae" chant of the Requiem Mass; "the finest example of Liszt's 'satanic' compositions, which had so much influence on Stravinsky and Prokofiev" (Longyear 109). ) He spent much of his time as a touring virtuoso and thus had little time for composition, although he did begin to write songs and sketches of several works to be completed in Weimer after retiring from performing. The Weimar Years (1848-1860) which followed his touring years produced some of his best known works. Yet in spite of all this, he still managed to write many beautiful and important works, including the first two books of Annees de pelerinage, the Transcendental Etudes, and Grand Galop chromatique, his only major work not revised (Longyear 105. He also met the Countess Marie d'Agoult, the writer known as Daniel Stern, who was his mistress from 1835 until 1844 and the mother of his daughter Cosima (the future wife of Wagner) (Scholes 576).
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