Franz Liszt, the most intriguing of the 19th century composers?

Pianist Louis Lortie has spent a lot of time immersed the works of Chopin, Wagner, Beethoven and other formidable figures. But he sees Franz Liszt — whose enormous, nearly three-hour-long “Annees de Pelerinage” Lortie will peform Saturday — as “maybe the most intriguing of the 19th century composers.”

Liszt, sometimes dismissed as a mere showman, is so interesting in part, Lortie says, “because he was the least confined by a national school. In the 19th century it was very important to say that you were French or German or whatever.

“And he was brought up in Hungary and spoke an Austrian dialect of the German language. And when he was young he left for Paris, to make it even more confusing. So from the start he does not belong to any culture totally.”

Liszt’s exposure to a variety of musical traditions gave him a broader pianistic language, Lortie says. But it turned other composers and critics against him, especially those who saw him as impure. “German composers especially resented him because they defended the German musical heritage.”

Ironically, Liszt was to prove a huge influence on one of the defining figures of German music — Richard Wagner. Their connection has rarely been discussed by scholars, Lortie says, because the antagonism from German critics runs deep and because Wagner spread the myth that he was entirely self-created. “And to this day,” the pianist says, “its still very much a black hole.”

Lortie’s performance of the Liszt’s “Années de Pèlerinag” in full takes place Saturday — with a break for dinner — at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa and is presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County.

Click here to read about Lortie and the unique program.

— Scott Timberg

Above: Liszt. Credit: Philhamonic Society. Below: Lortie: Credit: Elias

Comments

[EnigMaa]

I Enjoy his Works as well as Wagners.

[EnigMaa]

my familia has a germanic/african/west indian/American background
so I have a collective consiousness fondness for wagner, mozart, beethoven, mahler etc.
It's gemutlikiet I guess!

[mediocre]

In the 1960's I was attending college and took in a double feature movie(s). One of them was "Song Without End" about Franz Liszt. The organ and piano music were captivating. His music is fabulous.

[Carole-Terese Naser]

Franz Liszt was the most sought after musical composer, teacher and most certainly - performer - in Bismarkian Germany. I learned a great deal about Liszt while working on my undergraduate thesis, which was drawn from the letters of Amy Fay, housed at the Schlessinger Library of Women's Holdings (formerly Radcliffe, now part of Harvard U.) As Fay would have put it, Franz Liszt was all the rage in Europe, much sought after by an entire litany of other composers, students and the public. Amy Fay was an American pianist from Cambridge, MA who spent six years studying pianoforte in Germany under Liszt. Many of Fay's voluminous and minutely detailed letters were published in The Atlantic, 1871-75 and eventually published as a volume entitled Music-Study in Germany. Other letters were never published while Fay was alive. However, working as research assistant to the late Sister Margaret William McCarthy, Chair of the Regis College music department, I transcribed many of the unpublished letters for S. Margaret William's volumes, Amy Fay, Notable Woman of Music, and More Letters of Amy Fay, the American Years, 1879-1916. All of these letters are a remarkable insight into the world of Franz Liszt over time. Fay was a great sociological chronicler of the era, and here we see that Liszt had a profound influence on the music world during his time. History may have relegated Liszt to lesser prominance in that his powerful performances overshadowed all else, but make no mistake about it - Franz Liszt was a major musical influence in his day. Not only was he THE composer to study under - he was the rock star in Europe for classical music. If recordings had been available in his day, I have no doubt that Franz Liszt would be held in highest esteem in the 21st century. I am so pleased Lortie is highlighting this Liszt composition. I believe that other German composers also resented Liszt, indeed were jealous of him, because he resided in Germany, because his school was most popular with international students, and he cast a very big shadow. Really, he was the Elvis of his day.