Liszt, Franz (1811–1886)

Franz Liszt (Hungarian Liszt Ferencz; born on October 22, 1811 in Raiding, Ödenburg County, Austrian Empire; died on July 31, 1886 in Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire) was an Austro-Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, theater director, music teacher and writer with German as his mother tongue.

Liszt was a prominent and influential piano virtuoso and, with an oeuvre of over 1300 works and arrangements, one of the most productive composers of the 19th century. A large part of his entire work can be assigned to piano literature. With the development of the symphonic poem, Liszt also gave clear impulses to orchestral music. His concept of program music and the use of new harmonic and formal means made him – alongside Richard Wagner – the best known protagonist of the New German School.

He was a co-founder of the General German Music Association. In 1859 he was made a Knight of Liszt, the Austrian hereditary knighthood. At the age of 54 he was ordained minor priest in Rome and from then on bore the title of Abbé.