Person details

Franz Liszt

Ferencz

Liszt, Franz (1811-1886). Hungarian pianist, composer, teacher and conductor. His first training in music was gained from his father, and Liszt soon revealed himself to be a child prodigy as both a pianist and composer. Further education in Vienna was followed by his removal to Paris upon the death of his father. Here he continuously self-educated himself as a composer and in matters of aesthetics, and plunged into developing his technique and abilities as a pianist to heights exceeding any of his predecessors or contemporaries. From the early 1830s until his retirement from the concert platform as a solo virtuoso in 1847, Liszt accumulated a vast fortune from performing whilst simultaneously establishing himself as one of the most influential musicians and musical personalities of his era. His influence upon contemporaries of all aesthetic persuasions, whether conservative or radica, was far-reaching. Prolific as a composer, Liszt’s compositions extended from a multitude of solo piano works, through concertante and orchestral works (often programmatic in content), to songs and a corpus of sacred compositions. He visited Prague on a number of occasions, was well-received there by critics and audiences alike, and was on good terms with a number of leading local musicians.