Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor, S.244/2 (1847)
The most famous of his 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies; a cartoon favourite
Recording: Unknown · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Music
Franz Liszt
1811–1886 · Hungarian
Romantic
Liszt was the supreme piano virtuoso of the 19th century, whose celebrity inspired the word "Lisztomania". As a composer he pushed piano technique to its limits, invented the symphonic poem, and in later life became an abbé writing strikingly experimental music.
How to spot them
- ▸Dazzling virtuoso piano writing: rapid octaves, leaps, glittering trills and cadenzas
- ▸Hungarian "gypsy" style: slow lassan followed by a wild, accelerating friska
- ▸Clues about Lisztomania, the symphonic poem, Paganini, Weimar, or his daughter Cosima marrying Wagner
Key works — listen
Liebesträume, S.541 (No. 3 in A-flat major) (1850)
"Dreams of Love"; No. 3 is the famous lyrical nocturne
Recording: Unknown · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
La campanella (Grandes études de Paganini No. 3), S.141 (1851)
Tinkling high "little bell" repeated notes, after Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 2
Recording: Franz Liszt · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178 (1853)
Single-movement sonata dedicated to Robert Schumann
Les Préludes, S.97 (1854)
The best-known of his symphonic poems
Années de pèlerinage, S.160, S.161, S.163 (1855–1883)
"Years of Pilgrimage": piano suites inspired by Switzerland and Italy
Quick-fire facts
- •He was born in Raiding (Doborján), then in the Kingdom of Hungary and now in Austria.
- •He studied with Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri in Vienna as a boy.
- •The poet Heinrich Heine coined the term "Lisztomania" in 1844 for the hysteria at his concerts.
- •He is credited with inventing the solo piano recital and with coining the term "symphonic poem".
- •His works are catalogued with S. numbers, after the English composer Humphrey Searle.
- •His daughter Cosima left Hans von Bülow for Richard Wagner, whom she married in 1870.
- •He took minor orders in the Catholic Church in 1865 and became known as the Abbé Liszt.
- •He died at Bayreuth in 1886 during the Wagner festival.
Drill it — 9 cards
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Sources
- Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press) — Liszt, Franz
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Franz Liszt