Franz Liszt: Rock Star or Great Composer?

Hê?Ts been called the first rock star. He certainly had the love-affairs, the instincts for self-promotion, and the abundant hair to earn the title.

Franz Liszt was born to a poor family in a small town in Hungary in 1811. Normally a child in his circumstances could not expect much advancement in life, but at a young age Liszt showed astonishing talent for the piano. By age 12 he was such a local celebrity that wealthy neighbors arranged and paid for him to study with the best teachers in Vienna. Off he went to study, perform as a child prodigy -- sometimes billed as "child Hercules" -- and establish himself as a rising star.

He would achieve superstar status early. One story has the 19-year-old Liszt attending a concert by the violinist Niccolo Paganini. He was so impressed with Paganini?Ts virtuosic skill and his sway over women that he withdrew from performance and went to work. His goal: to become the greatest pianist of his day, and the total conquest of women. When he re-emerged, he was not only a virtuoso, but also one of the great seducers of his time. His performances featured brilliant technique, a soulful appearance, and a mane of blond hair that shimmered whenever he tossed his head. He dipped and swayed with the tender passages of the music. Women swooned. Occasionally Liszt did too. His page-turner sometimes had to carry him off the stage.

Liszt paid a price for his image. Rival pianists took potshots at his overblown stage presence. Critics still debate his status as one of the great composers. But consider his accomplishments. He revolutionized keyboard techniques, and to this day pianists use his innovations. In his performances he combined bravura technique with sensitive interpretation. Frederic Chopin complained to their mutual friends that Liszt played Chopin?Ts works better than he could himself.

One of the most literary of all composers, Liszt created a new genre of music, the "symphonic tone poem" -- a large piece for orchestra that express the spirit of a poem, a place or idea. Clues to what Liszt wanted his audience to think about are right there in the titles: "A Faust Symphony", "What One Hears on the Mountain", "St. Francis Preaching to the Birds", and his many piano works with evocative titles drawn from poetry and nature. Strauss, Dvorak, Sibelius, and a host of others after Liszt would also compose great works in this new form.

Liszt embodied the excesses and ideals of the Romantic Age. He reveled in the cult of personality, but gave voice to the aspirations of the individual. He demanded adulation from his students, but rewarded them with public recognition. He aspired to a spiritual life -- even taking minor orders in the Catholic Church -- but never foreswore love affairs. He lived his life almost entirely on stage, and he lived as outrageously as any rock star.



TRY MORE TO REACH YOUR OWN SUCCESS _ DANY

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TRY MORE TO REACH YOUR OWN SUCCESS _ DANY