Franz Liszt was born in 1811 in the Hungarian part of the Austrian Empire. His father was working for prince Nikolaus II Esterházy, and both his parents were into music. Already at an early age he was discovered to have unusual talents at the piano, and got lessons from renowned teachers in both piano and composition.
This all ended when his father died in 1827. The family was living in Paris at the time, and they continued to live there. Franz had to get some income for his family by playing local concerts. His biggest fame was to come around 1840, when the so called Lisztomania (a term coined by Heinrich Heine in 1844) gripped Europe. Liszt was touring and giving concerts all over the place. His concerts were like the Beatles later, with women fighting over his gloves, cigarettebuds or used coffeemugs. Liszt was a rockstar. It was all a combination of good looks and a magnetic stage presence.
For years I mixed up Liszt and Chopin. They were both prolific writers for the piano, an instrument that I took my time to warm up to. I now think Liszt is the more interesting of the two, but unfortunately I don’t own too much of his music. I would like to, but somehow it is still not in my system to look for it.