Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary, on October 22, 1811. A prodigy
pianist who made an impressive debut in Hungary when he was nine, Liszt
was financed by several Hungarian noblemen to study the piano with
Czerny in Vienna. In 1822, Liszt made a sensational debut in that city,
and in 1824, after a period of additional study in Paris, an equally
momentous appearance in the French capital. For the next three years
Liszt concertized throughout Europe, becoming an idol of music audiences
everywhere. Then, in 1827, he decided to abandon music for what he
regarded as nobler pursuits. He devoted himself in turn to religion,
politics, literature, and philosophy without finding the satisfaction he
sought. Then, in 1830, he went back to music. For about two years he
worked industriously on his piano technique, reassuming an imperial
position among the virtuosos of his generation beginning with 1833. He
combined profound musicianship and a phenomenal technique with such a
flair for showmanship and self-aggrandizement, that it can be said that
the modern piano virtuoso (both in the best and worst sense of that
term) was born with him.
In 1848, Liszt came to Weimar to fulfill duties as Kapellmeister to the
Grand Duke. The eleven-year period of this office represented
music-making of the highest order, as Liszt devoted himself to
presenting the foremost operatic and symphonic music in the best
possible performances. He was indefatigable in propagandizing the music
of the avant-garde composers of his day, reviving Wagner’s _Tannhaeuser_
and presenting the world première of that master’s _Lohengrin_ at a time
when Wagner was in disrepute in Germany because of his revolutionary
activities.
Finding himself incapable of maintaining the high standards he had set,
and disturbed by the prevailing antagonism to his espousal of new music,
Liszt left Weimar in 1859. Once again he sought refuge in a career
outside music. In 1865 he submitted to the tonsure and entered the Third
Order of St. Francis of Assisi as abbé. But music was not abandoned. He
taught the piano to gifted pupils who came to him from all parts of the
world; and he wrote an abundant amount of music, mainly for the piano.
He died in Bayreuth, Bavaria, on July 31, 1886, still at the height of
his powers and fame as composer, pianist and teacher.
Liszt left a vast repertory of music, including tone poems, symphonies,
piano concertos, songs, and a library of works for the piano. At his
best he was a great innovator, and a creator of vast dramatic and poetic
concepts. At worst, he was a showman shamelessly wooing his public with
superficial effects and trivial material. Most of his works belong to
the concert hall, but some of it has enormous popular appeal as salon
music.
The most famous of the latter is the _Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2_ in
C-sharp minor (1847), originally for piano solo but subsequently
orchestrated by the composer himself. This was one of nineteen
compositions in which Liszt developed the form of the rhapsody and
helped to make it popular; which he filled with strong national feelings
and the individual traits of Hungarian folk music. One of the features
of all these rhapsodies is their dynamic alternation of slow and sensual
music (called _lassan_) with fast, dramatic, exciting passages (called
_friskan_). The second _Hungarian Rhapsody_ opens with a _lassan_, a
slow, stately declamation. Then, after a clarinet cadenza, the _friskan_
appears, a spirited melody for violins and woodwind. After that fast and
slow passages, soft and loud dynamics, and rapidly changing meters and
rhythm help to generate excitement and create drama. The drama and the
excitement of this music never seem to lose their impact however many
times this rhapsody is listened to.
Of Liszt’s twelve tone poems for orchestra the most famous is _Les
Préludes_ (1850). The tone poem, or symphonic poem, is Liszt’s creation
in an attempt to bring to orchestral music the pictorial, dramatic and
programmatic qualities of Wagner’s music dramas. Thus Liszt conceived a
one-movement composition, flexible in form, in which a story is told,
picture described, or poem interpreted. The inspiration for _Les
Préludes_ is the _Méditations poétiques_ of Lamartine, from which
several lines are quoted in the published score to provide the music
with its program:
“What is life but a series of Preludes to that unknown song of which
death strikes the first solemn note? Love is the magic dawn of every
existence; but where is the life in which the first enjoyment of bliss
is not dispelled by some tempest; its illusions scattered by some fatal
breath; its altar consumed as by a thunderbolt? What soul, this cruelly
hurt, but seeks to repose with its memories in the sweet calm of
pastoral life? Yet no man is content to resign himself for long to the
mild, beneficent charms of Nature, and when the trumpet gives the alarm
he hastens to the post of danger, on whatever field he may be called to
fight, so that once more he may find in action full consciousness of
himself and the possession of all his powers.”
_Les Préludes_ opens with a dignified subject in the basses which is
subjected to considerable change and amplification before the main
melody is introduced. This melody is an elegiac song expressing the
happiness of love; its first entrance comes in four horns, strings, and
harp. The music is carried to a climactic point, after which a frenetic
mood is projected. Plaintively the oboe recalls the main melody; a
country dance tune is offered by the horn; and the main melody reappears
with opulent treatment. Another section of storm and stress follows
before the final majestic statement of the main melody.
Of Liszt’s voluminous writings for the piano, one composition above all
others has won favor throughout the music world as a tender, and
sentimental expression of love. It is the _Liebestraum_, “Love’s Dream.”
Liszt actually wrote three _Liebesträume_, but it is the third of this
set—in A-flat major (1850)—which is considered when we speak or hear of
the _Liebestraum_. All of these three piano compositions are adaptations
of songs by the same composer; the third _Liebestraum_ originated as “_O
Lieb’, so lang du lieben kannst_,” words by Freiligrath.