LISZT, FRANZ. - Musician, b. at Raiding (Hungary) on 22 Oct. 1811, d. at Bayreuth on 31 July 1886. He showed very precocious aptitudes for the piano, in the study of which he had as his teacher, in Vienna, Carl Czerny; having moved to Paris in 1823, his career as a virtuoso began and developed rapidly, soon bringing him triumphant successes.
The stay in Weimar (1847-61) is especially marked by the production of the major symphonic works which, together with the piano and instrumental ones, have achieved the widest renown: the two symphonies Faust and Dante, numerous symphonic poems (Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne from V. Hugo, Tasso, Les préludes from Lamartine, Orpheus, Prometheus, Mazeppa, etc.), the twelve
Transcendental Études, the collections entitled Années de pèlerinage, six studies after Paganini, two concertos for piano and orchestra, a sonata, rhapsodies, etc. The last creative period coincides with the stay in Rome (1861-70), during which most of the religious works were written; in 1866 L. received from Pius IX the dignity and title of abbot. Besides compositions of lesser importance, mention should be made of the Missa solemnis for the consecration of the Church of Gran (1855), the Hungarian Coronation Mass (1866-67), the Missa choralis for 4 voices (1862), the Regium (1868) and the six Psalms. The two religious works of greatest significance are perhaps the two oratorios: The Legend of St. Elizabeth (1861-62) and the Christus (1859-66), both for soloists, chorus and orchestra (a third oratorio, Stanislaus (1872-83), is unfinished).
As is natural, even in the music of religious inspiration, L.'s personality manifests itself in its most typical aspects: the exuberance and grandiosity of his temperament prevail in the body of the various works, even in those of a liturgical character. The interpretation of the sacred texts is strongly individualistic, but at certain moments it succeeds in original and intense expressions, as, for example, in the Hosanna of the Hungarian Mass. The pathos typical of the artist is perceptible in the two oratorios, in which the descriptive element is largely developed. In the Legend of St. Elizabeth the dramatic character seemed so evident as to justify a staged realization; but the structure of the oratorio is not unified. Even more complex appears the Christus, a work of ample proportions, in which the Lisztian personality shows a greater deepening of religious feeling, without renouncing the richest unfolding of all the vocal and instrumental elements.
Bibliography
Luigi Ronga