Liszt, Franz 1811-86
Hungarian composer and pianist

Born in Raiding, he first played in public aged nine, then studied and played in Vienna and Paris, touring widely in Europe as a virtuoso pianist. In the late 1830s he lived with the Comtesse d'Agoult, by whom he had three children (Cosima married Richard Wagner), and in 1847 met Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein with whom he lived until his death. In 1848 he went to Weimar, where he directed opera and concerts, composed, and taught, making it the musical centre of Germany. He later received minor orders in the Catholic Church (1865) and was known as Abb�. His works include 12 symphonic poems, masses, two symphonies, and a large number of piano pieces. All his original compositions have a very distinct, sometimes a very strange, individuality. In his 12 Weimar symphonic poems he created a new form of orchestral music. As a teacher of a new generation of pianists and the mentor of many young composers he was generous. The vocal and piano works of his last years were experimental and prophetic of 20th-century developments. His literary works on music include monographs on his friends Fr�d�ric Chopin and Robert Franz (1815-92), and the music of the gypsies.