Franz Liszt (1811, Doborján, Hungary - 1886, Bayreuth, Germany)(Hungarian: Ferencz Liszt, in modern usage Ferenc Liszt, from 1859 to 1865 officially Franz Ritter von Liszt) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher. He was also the father-in-law of Richard Wagner.Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer during the 1800s. He is said to have been the most technically advanced and perhaps greatest pianist of all time. He was also an important and influential composer, a notable piano teacher, a conductor who contributed significantly to the modern development of the art, and a benefactor to other composers and performers, notably Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz.As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the “neudeutsche schule” (“New German School”). He left behind a huge and diverse body of work, in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated some 20th-century ideas and trends. Some of his most notable contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form and making radical departures in harmony.
He eloped to Switzerland with Countess Marie dAgoult. Their idealistic relationship eventually disintegrated in 1844. Together, Liszt and dAgoult had three children: daughters Blandine (born 1835) and Cosima (born 1837), and son Daniel (born 1839). Daniel died in 1859 at the tender age of 21. Liszt would write "Two Episodes from Lenaus Faust" and "Les Morts" to honour his memory. In 1862, his daughter Blandine died in childbirth. His other daughter, Cosima, later left her husband to be with composer Richard Wagner , to whom she bore daughters Isolde in 1865 and Eva in 1867 and son Siegfried in 1869 before they finally married in 1870.
He was the subject of the 1960 biopic Song Without End starring Dirk Bogarde.
Music is the heart of life. " She speaks love; "without it, there is no possible good and with it everything is beautiful.
Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.
It is impossible to imagine a more complete fusion with nature than that of the Gypsy.
The character of instrumental music. . . lets the emotions radiate and shine in their own character without presuming to display them as real or imaginary representations.
The music of the Gypsies belongs in the sphere of improvisation rather than in any other, without which it would have no power to exist.
Beware of missing chances otherwise it may be altogether too late some day.
Truth is a great flirt.
Life is only a long and bitter suicide, and faith alone can transform this suicide into a sacrifice.
Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist. .
