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
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.
anyone assistance certain dared founded means perform scanty school works
Without any assistance whatever, I founded a school in Weimar in 10 years. Only I could perform certain works with the scanty means that I dared not ask anyone else to work with.
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.
musical tradition rooted
Oral musical traditions are rooted in assured and scrupulous faith.
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.
variation composer brahms
Brahms' Variations are better than mine, but mine were written before his.
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.
sacrifice affection sorrowful
I foster a sorrowful conception of affection. Make no sacrifices.
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.
trying misery companion
Companions, in misery and worse, that is what we all are, and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.
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.
play style needs
We need improvement in the style of performance. There is no more advantage in a musician who plays and conducts than in one who is only a beater of rhythm.
song inspiration expression
Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.
theatre firsts recognition
A theatre receives recognition through its initiative, which is indispensable for first-rate performances.