The Mystery of Franz Liszt - a lecture-recital by Michael Walsh

In the latter part of of his life, the great Hungarian-born pianist and composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886) abandoned his flashy virtuosity and relentless pursuit of women and entered a period of intense contemplation. Casting off his scandalous Byronic lifestyle, Liszt became obsessed with religiosity, took several of the minor Holy Orders of the Catholic Church and, as an Abbe, habitually wore a cassock.

Similarly, his music left behind the showy keyboard wizardry of the Hungarian Rhapsodies and the B Minor piano sonata and became ever more stripped-down, gnomic, and even atonal, pointing the way toward Debussy and even Schoenberg. He once said that his ambition as a musician was to "throw a lance as far as possible into the boundless realm of the future."

This short program is drawn mostly from his very last works, those enigmatic but oft-neglected pieces so closely intertwined with the death of his son-in-law, Richard Wagner, and Liszt's own sense of mortality. Spare, sparse, and spartan, full of unanswered questions, they usher the listener into a new realm of musical thought.

Programme:

• Wiegenlied 1881
• Nuages Gris 1881
• La lugubre gondola I
• La lugubre gondola II 1882
• Richard Wagner – Venezia 1883
• Abschied – 1885

Language: English

Date: Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 17.30 PM
Venue: Lónyay-Hatvany Villa - 1. Csónak str., 1015 Budapest
(Entrance: Aranybástya Restaurant)

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