Posted by Jan on November 03, 19103 at 11:22:57:

In Reply to: Re: Liszt's personality posted by John Rasmussen on May 04, 19103 at 18:01:30:

From what do you conclude that Liszt was "thoughtless and arrogant"? True, his phenomenal talent and striking appearance put him high above the rest, and people all across Europe flocked to his concerts, ladies fainted and even collected strands of his hair! Now how could he possibly help being just a little arrogant? Look at the rock stars of today!

Liszt certainly lived his life to the ideal of the Romantic artist, and he had his share of affairs with women. However, I am not at all aware that he ever mistreated women in any way. His daughter Cosima was illegitimate because when Liszt was involved with the Countess d'Agoult, she was married but trying to get divorced, so the two had to live in separate apartments, and of course could not marry. Indeed some of his affairs ended on an unsavoury note (eg. he ended his affair with Lola Montez by locking her in a hotel room and running away!), but often the women were too demanding on him. However he was certainly not a libertine- look at the pion of his music!
I suppose it is the great complexity of his character that prevents us from understanding many things he did- as for his ambitions to become a priest (in fact he attained the minor order of Abbé), throughout his life he was deeply religious, he may have been far from a perfect Christian in his youth (he sought holy orders later in life), but religion played a large part in his very complex character. There is a page from Grove which sums up my point perfectly:

"Lizt's personality appears contradictory in its combination of romantic abstraction and other-wordliness 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"

Composers whom Liszt helped in this manner include, apart from Wagner; Borodin, Anton Rubinstein and MacDowell.
Perhaps we have become too rational and materialistic in our day and age to properly understand someone like Liszt, who makes modern rock stars look like wimps. First of all we should judge his character by the standards and ways of thinking of his era. (By the way, I've never heard of Berlioz actually being an opium addict, I thought that was just a programme for the Symphonie Fantastique, but I may be wrong). Remember, apart from Liszt there were also Paginini and Gottschalk who led similar (though perhaps not nearly as exciting!) lives, famed virtuosos who were very popular with the women.
Well, that's my 5 cents worth! In Liszt's own words: "we should live life to the full, loving and suffering in extremes!"

Follow Ups:

Post a Followup