Franz Liszt and His World (The Bard Music Festival Book 17)

No nineteenth-century composer had more diverse ties to his contemporary world than Franz Liszt (1811-1886). At various points in his life he made his home in Vienna, Paris, Weimar, Rome, and Budapest. In his roles as keyboard virtuoso, conductor, master teacher, and abbé, he reinvented the concert experience, advanced a progressive agenda for symphonic and dramatic music, rethought the possibilities of church music and the oratorio, and transmitted the foundations of modern pianism. The essays brought together in __Franz Liszt and His World__ advance our understanding of the composer with fresh perspectives and an emphasis on historical contexts. Rainer Kleinertz examines Wagner's enthusiasm for Liszt's symphonic poem __Orpheus__; Christopher Gibbs discusses Liszt's pathbreaking Viennese concerts of 1838; Dana Gooley assesses Liszt against the backdrop of antivirtuosity polemics; Ryan Minor investigates two cantatas written in honor of Beethoven; Anna Celenza offers new insights about Liszt's experience of Italy; Susan Youens shows how Liszt's songs engage with the modernity of Heinrich Heine's poems; James Deaville looks at how publishers sustained Liszt's popularity; and Leon Botstein explores Liszt's role in the transformation of nineteenth-century preoccupations regarding religion, the nation, and art. __Franz Liszt and His World__ also includes key biographical and critical documents from Liszt's lifetime, which open new windows on how Liszt was viewed by his contemporaries and how he wished to be viewed by posterity. Introductions to and commentaries on these documents are provided by Peter Bloom, José Bowen, James Deaville, Allan Keiler, Rainer Kleinertz, Ralph Locke, Rena Charnin Mueller, and Benjamin Walton. No nineteenth-century composer had more diverse ties to his contemporary world than Franz Liszt (1811-1886). At various points in his life he made his home in Vienna, Paris, Weimar, Rome, and Budapest. In his roles as keyboard virtuoso, conductor, master teacher, and abbe, he reinvented the concert experience, advanced a progressive agenda for symphonic and dramatic music, rethought the possibilities of church music and the oratorio, and transmitted the foundations of modern pianism. The essays brought together in Franz Liszt and His World advance our understanding of the composer with fresh perspectives and an emphasis on historical contexts. Rainer Kleinertz examines Wagner's enthusiasm for the symphonic poem Orpheus; Christopher Gibbs discusses Liszt's pathbreaking Viennese concerts of 1838; Dana Gooley assesses Liszt against the backdrop of antivirtuosity polemics; Ryan Minor investigates two cantatas written in honor of Beethoven; Anna Celenza offers new insights about Liszt's experience of Italy; Susan Youens shows how Liszt's songs engage with the modernity of Heinrich Heine's poems; James Deaville looks at how publishers sustained Liszt's popularity; and Leon Botstein explores Liszt's role in the transformation of nineteenth-century preoccupations regarding religion, the nation, and art. Franz Liszt and His World also includes key biographical and critical documents from Liszt's lifetime, which open new windows on how Liszt was viewed by his contemporaries and how he wished to be viewed by posterity. Introductions to and commentaries on these documents are provided by Peter Bloom, Jose Bowen, James Deaville, Allan Keiler, Rainer Kleinertz, Ralph Locke, Rena Charnin Mueller, and Benjamin Walton Contents Acknowledgments Permissions and Credits Preface PART I. ESSAYS Liszt, Italy, and the Republic of the Imagination Heine, Liszt, and the Song of the Future The Battle Against Instrumental Virtuosity in the Early Nineteenth Century Prophet and Populace in Liszt’s “Beethoven” Cantatas “Just Two Words. Enormous Success” Liszt’s 1838 Vienna Concerts Liszt, Wagner, and Unfolding Form: Orpheus and the Genesis of Tristan und Isolde Publishing Paraphrases and Creating Collectors PART II. BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTS Liszt on the Artist in Society The First Biography: Joseph d’Ortigue on Franz Liszt at Age Twenty-Three Ludwig Rellstab’s. Biographical Sketch of Liszt From the Biographer’s Workshop: Lina Ramann’s Questionnaires to Liszt PART III. CRITICISM AND RECEPTION Fétis’s Review of the Transcendental Etudes Heinrich Heine on Liszt “Even His Critics Must Concede”: Press Accounts of Liszt at the Bonn Beethoven Festival Defending Liszt: Felix Draeseke on the Symphonic Poems PART IV. REFLECTIONS ON FRANZ LISZT A Mirror to the Nineteenth Century Index Notes on the Contributors