Franz Liszt

Classical music composer, pianist, conductor, music teacher, virtuoso, composer, priest and writer

22 October 1811

Piano and organ

Franz Liszt was born on October 22, 1811 and was the only child of Adam Liszt and Maria Anna Liszt (Langer, in his bachelorhood). His birthplace, the town of Raiding (Sopron County), once belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary. The local language of Raiding, now located in the Austrian state of Burgenland, was German. Thus, both in his family and in the school where Liszt went, only that language was spoken. Only a minority spoke Hungarian and Latin was used in official affairs. Liszt later learned some Hungarian in the 1870s, when the population was forced to learn it, but his level was very poor. However, he spoke fluent German, French and Italian and some English. Liszt's father, as a music lover and member of the Society of Dilettanti, played the piano, violin, cello and guitar. He worked in the service of Nicholas II of Esterházy and personally knew Joseph Haydn, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Ludwig van Beethoven, and even occasionally performed with the first two in the royal chapel. At the age of six, Franz Liszt began to listen carefully to his father playing the piano, while showing interest in sacred music and Romani music. Adam knew his son's musical ability and at the age of seven he gave him his first piano lesson. Franz began to compose in an elementary way when he was eight years old, in 1819, and to make improvisations. That same year he gave his first performance as a pianist. In October and November 1820, at the age of nine, he appeared in concerts in Sopron and Bratislava. His father arranged for Franz to be presented to the Court of the House of Esterházy as a child prodigy. </ p> <p> History