Portrait of the composer in colored wax. Artist unknown. 19th century
The composer is depicted head-and-shoulders in profile, turned left. He wears a black coat and yellow cravat.
Image size 95 x 65 mm; overall size 172 x 136 mm.
A Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and writer, "as a pianist in the first half of the century, Liszt dazzled audiences with his virtuosic displays that stretched the limits of pianistic technique. ... As a conductor in Weimar beginning in 1848, Liszt consciously endeavored to propel the tradition of German music to its next stage. ... In his own compositions, from the 1830s on, Liszt acknowledged a poetic impulse, often manifest in a work’s title or epigraph. He made a distinctive contribution to 19th-century repertory by creating the genre of symphonic poem: a one-movement orchestral work whose title refers to a literary or artistic source or a philosophical idea. Liszt’s musical language revealed a finely tuned approach to chromatic harmony that was innovative in its time and influenced many composers of the next generations. Finally, after Liszt took minor orders in the Church in 1865, he contributed significantly to a rejuvenation of sacred music, both for liturgical and extra-liturgical use, including Masses, psalms, hymns, and oratorios, fulfilling a pledge he had made in an 1835 essay to compose new sacred music that could play a regenerative social role." Dolores Pesce, Maria Eckhardt, and Rena Charnin Mueller in Grove Music Online.
Item #41451
Price: $175.00 other currencies