Liebesträume n3 – Franz Liszt (1850)

Franz Liszt, born on 22 October 1811, is a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is one of the fathers of modern piano and Impressionism in musical compositions. With Frédéric Chopin, he is the origin of an offspring of composers such as Maurice Ravel, Sergueï Rachmaninov and Alexandre Scriabine.

Since his childhood, his father taught him piano through pieces by Haydn, Amadeus Mozart or Ludwig Von Beethoven. He quickly shows some capacities so he is sent to Vienna, when he is just 10 years old, to follow the lessons of Salieri and Czerny.

Unfortunately, his early works do not meet the success, which will affect him a lot.

His life is punctuated by several trips to Europe which leads him to finally settle in Paris. He met and became friend with many artists who have chosen the “vie de bohème” such as Berlioz, George Sand, de Musset and Balzac.

In 1861, he enter religion and settle in Rome to join the Franciscan order. From the year 1869 and until his death, he travels between three cities: Weimar, Budapest and Rome.

Six days before his death, on Sunday 25 July 1886, despite his weaknesses, he attends an opera of his friend Richard Wagner. Until the following Friday, the fall of this great master is happening. He is gradually losing his strength. Saturday, July 31, it is about 10 o’clock when his family asked him if he suffers, and in a last gasp he replied calmly: “Not anymore…”.

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Arthur Rubinstein plays Liszt on Youtube
Further information on Wikipedia [en]
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