Portrait of Liszt

Franz Liszt has been described by one biographer as `one of the most wonderful human beings that ever lived, and one of the greatest and most original artists of the nineteenth century'. Born in Hungary in 1811, he rapidly achieved fame throughout Europe as a fabulously gifted pianist, and in the course of his long life - he died in 1886 - he visited almost every country in the continent, including three tours of the British Isles. The adulation bestowed upon him was so extraordinary that it gave rise to the term `Lisztomania'. In Portrait of Liszt Adrian Williams has put together a kaleidoscope of eyewitness accounts and anecdotes - many that are likely to be new even to Liszt specialists - extracted from the diaries, letters, and reminiscences of those who knew Liszt as man, pianist, and teacher. These appear side by side with newspaper reviews and passages from Liszt's own letters and writings. The linking narrative provides information about his activities, movements, and concerts, and gives more detail than any previous publication of Liszt's visits to England, Scotland, and Ireland. There emerges a uniquely comprehensive look at one of the most prodigiously gifted of all musicians as well as an absorbing view of European musical and artistic life in the nineteenth century. This book is intended for musicologists and students of ninteenth-century music, musicians, and music lovers.