The native form of this personal name is Liszt Ferenc. This article uses the Western name order.
Portrait by Pierre Petit, circa 1860–1877Franz Liszt
(Hungarian: Liszt Ferencz, in modern use Liszt Ferenc, from 1859 to 1867 officially Franz Ritter von Liszt)
(October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a 19th century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher.
Liszt became renowned throughout Europe during the 19th century for his great skill as a performer. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age and perhaps the greatest pianist of all time. He was also an important and influential composer, a notable piano teacher, a conductor who contributed significantly to the modern development of the art, and a benefactor to other composers and performers, notably Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg and Alexander Borodin.
As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the "Neudeutsche Schule" ("New German School"). He left behind an extensive and diverse body of work, in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated some 20th-century ideas and trends. Some of his most notable contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form and making radical departures in harmony.