Search Results for: liszt
Liszt’s monster instrument
In September 1854 Liszt wrote to the cellist Bernhard Cossmann “My monster instrument with three keyboards arrived about a fortnight ago and seems to be a great success.” The 3000-pound instrument, a seven-octave grand piano plus two five-octave harmonium keyboards, … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Instruments, Romantic era
Liszt and Litzmann
Before ending his performance career with concerts in Odessa and Elizavetgrad in 1847, Franz Liszt visited Istanbul, gave a number of public concerts, and performed twice for Sultan Abdülmecit I in the Çırağan Palace. A widely reported incident in … Continue reading
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Filed under Curiosities, Romantic era
Liszt’s Totentanz
The medieval Dance of Death and variation form always belonged together, and Franz Liszt’s Totentanz is a splendid example. In the European cultural tradition, the Dies irae is closely bound up with the experience of death. Liszt’s use of motive … Continue reading
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Filed under Romantic era, Visual art
Liszt in Paris
Liszt and his parents first arrived in Paris on 11 December 1823, 190 years ago today. He was refused admittance to the Conservatoire because he was a foreigner, but within a few months the 12-year-old prodigy was the darling of … Continue reading
Filed under Romantic era
Jenő Jandó, prolific pianist and Naxos Records founder
The British newspaper The Independent once described Jenő Jandó as “the most prolific recording pianist alive”. Born in Pécs, southern Hungary in 1952, he founded the Naxos record label in 1987 and became the label’s house pianist over the next … Continue reading
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Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, Europe, Performers
Citizen Kane and the Isle of the Dead
A five-note motive in Rahmaninov’s Ostrov mërtvyh (The isle of the dead, op. 29), which evokes the opening of the Dies irae melody used by Berlioz and Liszt, is strikingly similar to what Bernard Herrmann referred to as the motive … Continue reading
Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, Curiosities, Film music, Visual art
Pauline Viardot’s legacy
Pauline Viardot was one of the most influential women in nineteenth century European classical music. As a singer, her prodigious talent and charisma on the stage inspired dedications, premieres, and roles written specifically for her. Her music salon hosted many … Continue reading
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Filed under Performers, Romantic era
The Siena piano
A legendary instrument whose sonorities reputedly have no equal anywhere, praised by musicians such as Liszt and Saint-Saëns, the Siena piano is surrounded by an aura of mystery due to its astonishing history. Its soundboard was supposedly made of … Continue reading
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Filed under Curiosities, Instruments, Romantic era
