Essay on Frank Liszt - 701 Words

amp;#9;Franz Liszt was born on October 22, 1811 and lived until July 31, 1886. He was taught the piano by his father and then Czerny (Vienna, 1822-1823), making himself known as a remarkable concert artist by the age of 12. In Paris he studied theory and composition with Reicha and Paer; he wrote an opera and bravura piano pieces and went on tours in France, Switzerland and England before his bad health and religious doubt made him rethink his career. Intellectual growth came through literature, and the urge to create through hearing opera and especially Paganini, whose influence effected Liszt. He eagerly transferred to the piano in original works and operatic fantasias. Meanwhile he gave lessons and began his stormy relationship†¦show more content†¦He remained active as a teacher and performer to the end of his life. Liszts personality appears contradictory in its combination of romantic abstraction and otherworldliness with a cynical diabolism and elegant, worldly manners. But though he had a restless intellect, he also was ceaselessly creative, seeking the new in music. He helped others generously, as conductor, arranger, pianist or writer, and took artistic and personal risks in doing so. The greatest pianist of his time, he composed some of the most difficult piano music ever written (e.g. the Transcendental Studies) and had an extraordinarily broad repertory, from Scarlatti onwards; he invented the modern piano recital. Liszt had two personal touches to all of his compositions, experiment with large-scale structures, and thematic transformation. His transcendental piano technique was imaginative in the same way, coming from his desire to make the piano sound like an orchestra or as rich in scope as one. In harmony he ventured well beyond the use of augmented and diminished chords and the whole-tone scale; the late piano and choral works especially contain tonal dashes arising from independent contrapuntal strands, chords built from 4ths or 5ths, and a strikingly advanced chromatics, in non harmonic tones. Piano works naturally make up the greater part of LisztsShow MoreRelated HISTORY AND ORIGINATORS OF KEYBOARD Essay2138 Words   |  9 Pageshistorical instruments. Stimulated by the German-English builder Arnold Dolmetsch and exemplified by Martin Skowroneck, a German, this school relied on light stringing in a highly resonant case. American builders in this style include William Hyman, Frank Hubbard, and William Dowd. American instrument maker John Challis employed a different, more modern approach to construction of the instrument. Though he based the decorative scheme of his designs on Dolmetschs works, Challis experimented with new