Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1886-09-11
FRANZ LiSZT.
Sketch of the Recently Deceased Compos-
er's Life--Iiis Principal Works.


er's Life--His Principal Works.
Franz Lists death depriyes the
world of one OF the greatest pianists
the world has ever seen, and one of the
greatest composers, His early piano
forte works gained instantaneous suc-
cess, because when interpreted by him
their effect was irresistible; and no
doubt much of the power he had been
able to WELD during his life has been
due to his position as a pianist. In
this country he was never heard, but
| his praises have been echoed and re-
echoed so often that we have also come
to look upon him as the greatest pisn-
list, as though he had lived and won
bis fame among us.
Many of his compositions, both for
piano and orchestra, are well known
here. Indeed, as composer for or
chestra his popularity here is more
general than it is in Europe, for there
are cliqucs in Germany, which, while
acknowledging his supremacy as
pianist, have regarded him as a sort of
eHjdHt te1Yib{e among composers. His
on the programmes of such conScrva-
tive organizations as the Gewandhaus
orchestra of Leipsic. Here, however
his finest compositions have been fire.
quently played by the philharmonic
society and its rivals of other days and
to-day, and some of his works, like his
symphonic poems, "Tasso" and Lies
Preludes," are heard quite as frequent
ly as any other classic symphonies.
List himself often acknowledged the
welcome his works received in Ameri-
ca BY his gracious bearing toward the
Americans whom he had met, and fire.
quently expressed to them his gratitude
for the ready appreciation awarded his
works in this country, saying that he
could never forget that his orchestral
works were known and understood here
long before they were known and un-
derstood in his own country.
Personally Liszt was very charming.
He seemed to play upon human nature
with touch as light, yet as sure, as
that to which his instrumentresponded.
His manners were winning, his bearing
gracious, his conversation brilliant,
and he drew to himself Princes and
mobiles as easily as he did musicians.
He was q friend of the Grand Duke of
Weimar and of Pho Mono, and had re-
ceiyed tribute from Kings and Em-
perors yet he was always ready to help
along the humblest members of his
profession.
He was born at Raiding, in Hungary,
on October %, 1911 His father was a
10 Epct tpu a
tion. When he was nine years old
Hungarian noblcman who had heard
him perform expressed his qualification
by sending him to Vienna and later to
Paris to study. In 1928 he played in
small cities. and, returning to Paris in
1925, won instantaneous success. With
the exception of few years which he
devoted to religious studies, his life was
succession of artistic tliumphs, until !
his latter days, which he spent among
his friends in Weimar, Pesth and Rome. |
To musical literature he contributed a |
Life of Chopin, The Gypsies and
their Music" and articles for different |
musical periodicals.
A few months before his death he
visited Paris and London, where he re-
Dcatcu tne liluiilplS VI ms younger |
years. Society honized him, and he
received great ovations whenever he
appeared in public. A description of |
the great artist as he appeared during
his visit in London contained this;
"At seventy-iive Franz List has re-
tanned the noble, marked, severe fea-
lures that were SO characteristic. but
they are slightly pulled out with
age, which lends to his face
semi-monarchial expression. His
hair, which he wears long and |
tumblcd as of yore, is entirely |
white His eyes have lost neither their
piercing, falcon glance, nor the sudden
twinkle of irresistible humor He Is
tall and spare, with sinewy limbs,
wrists supple and firm as steel, inn
menst long fingers and powerful hands,
wearted by the incessant hammering of
the keys; but when he sits down before
the instrument, preluding by a few
chords, he can still evoke the impet-
nous, frenzed work of harmony which
ever obeyed his call in earlier days.
N. Y. SIN.