Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Lisztwas a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, organist, philosopher, philanthropist, author, nationalist and a Franciscan tertiary...
NationalityHungarian
ProfessionPianist
Date of Birth22 October 1811
gypsy found hungary
In the oldest chronicles of the times conserved in Hungary, reports will be found of Gypsy music, but never of any other, either Magyar, Slavic or Jewish.
suicide sacrifice long
Life is only a long and bitter suicide, and faith alone can transform this suicide into a sacrifice.
theatre firsts recognition
A theatre receives recognition through its initiative, which is indispensable for first-rate performances.
ambition wish instruction
It is my fervent wish and my greatest ambition to leave a work with a few useful instructions for the pianists after me.
trying misery companion
Companions, in misery and worse, that is what we all are, and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.
numbers firsts musician
The first impulse of a great number of civilized musicians... is to protest ourdeclaration that the music in Hungary belongs to the Gypsies.
pilots tasks disappear
The principal task of a conductor is not to put himself in evidence but to disappear behind his functions as much as possible. We are pilots, not servants.
cosmos spirituality harmony
The supreme harmony of the cosmos is selected in the harmony of the spirit.
tired greatness men
As for famous men who were not artists, I am beginning to be tired of them. Those poor little scoundrels who are called great men fill me with nothing but overwhelming horror.
littles function windmills
I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.
spheres gypsy improvisation
The music of the Gypsies belongs in the sphere of improvisation rather than in any other, without which it would have no power to exist.
destiny artist sorrowful
Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny.
musical tradition rooted
Oral musical traditions are rooted in assured and scrupulous faith.
opera needs wells
I conclude that the Wagnerian operas which are already in the repertoire, and other masterworks as well, stand in no further need of my services.