![]() According to the concert pianist Stephen Hough, “Before Liszt, a conductor was someone who just facilitated the performance, who would keep people together or beat the time, indicate the entries … After Liszt, that was no longer the case a conductor was someone who shaped the music in an intense musical way, who played the orchestra as an instrument.” ![]() When he added conducting to his playbook, he revolutionized that art as well. Unlike most modern artists, Liszt was responsible for the principal aspects of the tours, from venues to advertising. From 1839 to 1847 he crisscrossed Europe as a concert pianist, foreshadowing today’s worldwide tours. His compositions featured revolutionary keyboard techniques and musical ideas that are utilized by pianists to this day.īorn in 1811, Liszt began studying piano at seven and performed his first solo concert at the age of nine in Bratislava. Sometimes he performed before as many as three thousand people, placing the piano at right angles to the platform so the audience could see his profile and keeping the lid open to amplify the sound. He first used the term to advertise two 1840 concerts in London as “Liszt’s Pianoforte Recitals.” Prior to that, he referred to his performances as “musical soliloquys.” The first solo pianist to play entire programs from memory, he drew upon the full range of the keyboard repertory from Bach to Chopin in addition to his own compositions. The audiences became disappointed if he did not break any strings, which they fought over and turned into bracelets. Eventually he placed an additional instrument on stage as a backup, and once had three pianos on stage. The pianos Liszt played were not as strongly constructed as those of today, and Liszt played the instruments so aggressively that he often broke strings or damaged a piano to the point of cracking the case. To keep up with the demand for his hair, Liszt purchased a dog, which did not seem to bother his fans. Even the dregs of his coffee were preserved in vials as if they were holy water. Cameo portraits of Liszt were a popular item of jewelry, as were glass brooches containing a lock of his hair or the aforementioned cigar butts. They fought for his handkerchiefs, the silk gloves from his enormous hands, even the discarded butts of his cigars. Like the groupies of Tom Jones, they tossed underwear and flowers. His fans often rushed the stage or passed out in their seats. By 1844, Liszt fever, or “Lisztomania,” a term coined by the poet Heinrich Heine in his reviews of Liszt’s performances, had flooded Europe. ![]() Crowds of screaming women were thrilled by his long locks, Roman profile, and breathtaking body language. It did not hurt that Liszt was strikingly handsome, that he strode out onto the stage, seated himself dramatically, tossed his thick mane of hair, and swayed his body as he played. But before the Beatles, before Elvis, before Frank, there was Franz Liszt, whose 1844 concert in Berlin shocked the musical world and generated the term and medical condition of “Lisztomania.” ![]() Much has been written about the hysteria accompanying Beatlemania, and before that, the frenzies generated by Elvis, Sinatra, and similar artists, primarily musicians. In Heresies of Music: An A-Z Diagnostic Guide. 1842 print from Stadtarchiv Weimar, the archives of the city of Weimar, Germany. “In the Concert Hall” during a performance of Franz Liszt. Franz Liszt and Lisztomania: “Le concert, c’est moi” July 25, 2022 ![]()
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