Liszt has been a very industrious and prolific writer, his works
numbering thirty-one compositions for the orchestra; seven for the
piano-forte and orchestra; two for piano and violin; nine for the organ;
thirteen masses, psalms, and other sacred music; two oratorios;
fifteen cantatas and chorals; sixty-three songs; and one hundred
and seventy-nine works for the piano-forte proper. The bulk of these
compositions, the most important of them at least, were produced in
the first forty years of his life, and testify to enormous energy and
capacity for work, as they came into being during his active period as
a virtuoso. In addition to his musical works, Liszt has shown
distinguished talent in letters, and his articles and pamphlets, notably
the monographs on Robert Franz, Chopin, and the Music of the Gypsies,
indicate that, had he not chosen to devote himself to music, he might
have made himself an enviable name in literature.
Perhaps no better characterization of Liszt could be made than to call
him the musical Victor Hugo of his age. In both these great men we find
the same restless and burning imagination, a quickness of sensibility
easily aroused to vehemence, a continual reaching forward toward the new
and untried and impatience of the old, the same great versatility, the
same unequaled command of all the resources of their respective crafts,
and, until within the last twenty years, the same ceaseless fecundity.
Of Liszt as a player it is not necessary to speak further. Suffice it
that he is acknowledged to have been, while pursuing the path of the
virtuoso, not only great, but the greatest in the records of art, with
the possible exception of Paganini. To the possession of a technique
which united all the best qualities of other players, carrying each
a step further, he added a powerful and passionate imagination which
illuminated the work before him. Wagner wrote of him: "He who has had
frequent opportunities, particularly in a friendly circle, of hearing
Liszt play, for instance, Beethoven, must have understood that this
was not mere reproduction, but production. The actual point of division
between these two things is not so easily determined as most people
believe, but so much I have ascertained without a doubt, that, in order
to reproduce Beethoven, one must produce with him." It was this quality
which made Liszt such a vital interpreter of other composers, as well as
such a brilliant performer of his own works. As a composer for the piano
Franz Liszt has been accused of sacrificing substantial charm of motive
for the creation of the most gigantic technical difficulties, designed
for the display of his own skill. This charge is best answered by a
study of his transcriptions of songs and symphonies, which, difficult in
an extreme degree, are yet rich in no less excess with musical thought
and fullness of musical color. He transcribed the "Etudes" of Pa-ganini,
it is true, as a sort of "tour deforce", and no one has dared to attempt
them in the concert room but himself; but for the most part Liszt's
piano-forte writings are full of substance in their being as well as
splendid elaboration in their form. This holds good no less of the
purely original compositions, like the concertos and "Rhapsodies
Hongroises," than of the transcriptions and paraphrases of the _Lied_,
the opera, and symphony.
As a composer for the orchestra Liszt has spent the ripest period of his
life, and attained a deservedly high rank. His symphonies belong to what
has been called, for want of a better name, "programme music," or music
which needs the key of the story or legend to explain and justify the
composition. This classification may yet be very misleading. Liszt does
not, like Berlioz, refer every feature of the music to a distinct event,
emotion, or dramatic situation, but concerns himself chiefly with
the pictorial and symbolic bearings of his subject. For example, the
"Mazeppa" symphony, based on Victor Hugo's poem, gets its significance,
not in view of its description of Mazeppa's peril and rescue, but
because this famous ride becomes the symbol of man: "_Lie vivant sur
la croupe fatale, Genie, ardent Coursier_." The spiritual life of this
thought burns with subtile suggestions throughout the whole symphony.
Liszt has not been merely a devoted adherent of the "Music of the
Future" as expressed in operatic form, but he has embodied his belief
in the close alliance of poetry and music in his symphonies and
transcriptions of songs. Anything more pictorial, vivid, descriptive,
and passionate can not easily be fancied. It is proper also to say in
passing that the composer shows a command over the resources of the
orchestra similar to his mastery of the piano, though at times a
tendency to violent and strident effects offends the ear. Franz Liszt,
take him for all in all, must be regarded as one of the most remarkable
men of the last half century, a personality so stalwart, picturesque,
and massive as to be not only a landmark in music, but an imposing
figure to those not specially characterized by their musical sympathies.
His influence on his art has been deep and widespread; his connection
with some of the most important movements of the last two generations
well marked; and his individuality a fact of commanding force in the
art circles of nearly every country of Europe, where art bears any vital
connection with social and public life.