Franz Liszt, Volume 1: The Virtuoso Years: 1811-1847
Product ID: 114310813
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Franz Liszt--child prodigy, virtuoso pianist, co-founder with Chopin and Schumann of the Romantic movement in music--has been the subject of literally hundreds of biographies, but it is only in the last few decades that the importance of Liszt the composer, as opposed to Liszt the Romantic hero, has been recognized. This new perspective has created the need for a fresh, full-scale approach, biographical and critical, to the evaluation of the man and his music. For more than ten years Alan Walker, a leading authority on nineteenth-century music and the author of important studies of Chopin and Schumann, has traveled throughout Europe discovering unpublished material in museums and private collections, in the parish registries of tiny villages in Austria and Hungary, and in major archives in Weimar and Budapest, seeking out new information and corroborating or correcting the old. He has left virtually no source unexamined--from the hundreds of contemporary biographies (many of them more fiction than fact) to the scores of memoirs, reminisces, and diaries of his pupils and disciples (the list of his students from his Weimar masterclasses reads like a Burke's Peerage of pianists). Dr. Walker's efforts have culminated in a study that will stand as definitive for years to come. A feat of impeccable scholarship, it also displays a strong and compelling narrative impulse and a profound understanding of the complicated man Liszt was. In this, the first of three volumes, Dr. Walker examines in greater detail than has ever before been amassed Liszt's family background and his early years. We see "Franzi," a deeply religious and mystical child, whose extraordinary musical gifts lead to studies with the great Carl Czerny in Vienna and propel him into overnight fame in Paris--his youthful opera, Don Sanche , performed when he is fourteen--and in a disorderly and impulsive way of life by the time he is sixteen . . . We see Liszt drifting into obscurity after a nervous breakdown at the age of seventeen, then hearing Paganini for the first time and being so fired by the violinist's amazing technique that he sets for himself a titanic program of work, his aim no less than to create an entirely new repertoire for the piano....We see him, after years if successful touring, returning triumphantly to Hungary, his homeland, and publishing in the same year his "Transcendental" and "Paganini" studies. the signposts of his astonishing technical breakthrough....Finally, we see Liszt at the height of his artistic powers, giving well over a thousand concerts across Europe and Russia during the years 1839-47: "inventing" the modern piano recital, playing entire programs from memory, performing the complete contemporary piano repertoire, breaking down the barriers that had traditionally separated performing artists from their "social superiors," fostering the Romantic view of the artist as superior bring, because divinely gifted . . . until--his colossal career virtually impossible to sustain--he gives his last paid performance at the age of thirty-five . . . Unparalleled in its completeness, its soundness of documentation, and in the quality of its writing, The Virtuoso Years is the first volume of what will unquestionably be the most important biography of Franz Liszt in English or any other language. Review: Great book - Fascinating, exhaustively researched, don't need to be a pianist to appreciate this book. One of the best books I have ever read. I bought volumes I and II because they were available used. Review: Alan Walker spoils you for any other biography. - The other reviews here will give you the details of why Walker is so good. I’ll just add, as a musician and artist, Walker can integrate musical knowledge, detail of environment and incredibly accurate factual information and come out with a feeling you’ve just seen the best movie ever. I found myself sharing story after story in his Chopin biography with friends. I never read “all” the books of one author....I’ve read three Walker books so far, starting with Chopin...can’t get enough. AND, each bio integrates with others....just amazing. So grateful for this quality of writing. I feel like I’m getting a fabulous musical education as well as a good historical context. If you are not a musician...all the better....you are in for a treat. And the scholars will be challenged as well. Walker can make the esoteric completely accessible. READ THE NOTES at the end of chapters; fabulous gossip in them.
| Best Sellers Rank | #480,080 in Kindle Store ( See Top 100 in Kindle Store ) #273 in Music History & Criticism (Kindle Store) #364 in Biographies of Composers & Musicians #864 in Musical Genres eBooks |
D**N
Great book
Fascinating, exhaustively researched, don't need to be a pianist to appreciate this book. One of the best books I have ever read. I bought volumes I and II because they were available used.
R**S
Alan Walker spoils you for any other biography.
The other reviews here will give you the details of why Walker is so good. I’ll just add, as a musician and artist, Walker can integrate musical knowledge, detail of environment and incredibly accurate factual information and come out with a feeling you’ve just seen the best movie ever. I found myself sharing story after story in his Chopin biography with friends. I never read “all” the books of one author....I’ve read three Walker books so far, starting with Chopin...can’t get enough. AND, each bio integrates with others....just amazing. So grateful for this quality of writing. I feel like I’m getting a fabulous musical education as well as a good historical context. If you are not a musician...all the better....you are in for a treat. And the scholars will be challenged as well. Walker can make the esoteric completely accessible. READ THE NOTES at the end of chapters; fabulous gossip in them.
G**A
Four Stars
Great book, too much facts.
M**T
Hub of European Romanticism
Liszt lived such a rich life that this book (the first of three volumes) reads like a novel, thanks also to the wonderful writing of Alan Walker. It’s extraordinary how Liszt managed to initiate or at least embody so many of the traits that came to define Romanticism and rub shoulders with all the major players. This book really lets the imagination wander!
A**E
Fascinating book, on Liszt life it is full of surprises
This is a fascinating book on the composer and pianist , but you can also read it as a novel it will be very interesting!
C**S
Brilliant Liszt Biography
Alan Walker is a fine writer who tells the gripping tale of a remarkable pianist and composer, Franz Liszt, with not only details of his life but musical examples showing how Liszt revolutionized piano technique that modern pianist are indebted to. A must read interested in classical music and performance.
J**O
Five Stars
Extremely well researched and fun to read.
R**Z
Five Stars
Excellent service
A**N
A biografia definitiva de Liszt
A trilogia realmente é uma obra soberba, é a biografia definitiva de Liszt. O autor, entre pesquisar e escrever se dedicou 25 anos ao trabalho, uma dedicação e abnegação de respeito. Pra quem gosta de biografias detalhadas a trilogia é fortemente indicada. Como brasileiro que lê em inglês e que nesta língua leu nesta língua o volume 1, pois não existe tradução pro português deste do trabalho de Allan Walker pra minha língua, não posso deixar de registrar que o autor usa um vocabulário mais rebuscado que encontramos em outros bons livros sobre Música, a necessidade em precisar do auxílio de um dicionário no meu caso foi mais frequente que para outros livros para entender tudo. Mas essa questão é pessoal, aqueles que tiverem um domínio maior da língua não terão esse problema; e, na verdade, no meu caso, não se constituiu um 'problema', uma vez o Kindle vem com bons dicionários embutidos que agilizam o processo. O livro é 100% perfeito? Não, e eu cito a passagem descrita do Walker do encontro de Liszt, com 12 ou 13 anos, com o já idoso e totalmente surdo Beethoven. Segundo Walker, Liszt sentou ao piano e tocou algumas peças de exigência técnica elevada para Beethoven. Beethoven o questionou, " e Bach, toque algo de Bach." Liszt tocou um prelúdio e fuga do volume 1 do Cravo Bem Temperado. Beethoven então fez uma exigência maior, "toque esta fuga em outra tonalidade", o que exige transposição de tonalidade automática, algo bem mais difícil de se fazer. Liszt tocou a fuga em outra tonalidade sem maiores problemas. Então o exigente Beethoven se rendeu, dizendo que ele era bom mesmo. Segundo Walker, essa história foi contada pelo próprio Liszt várias décadas depois para uma de suas alunas e esta transmitiu a história. Ora, Beethoven já estava completamente surdo naquela época, como ele teria condições de saber se Liszt tocou bem a fuga em transposição de tonalidade? Vendo os dedos dele se mexer no teclado? Não faz sentido, isso tem um jeito de causo, de 'estória'. Walker, tão zeloso quanto às fontes de tudo o que registra no livro, aceitou uma história contada por uma aluna de Liszt a partir de um relato deste sem questionar? Liszt pode ter enfeitado a história ele mesmo. Se não ele, a sua aluna (provável fã do seu professor), aliás bastante provável que tenha sido ela para engrandecer o feito do seu mestre. É bem possível que Liszt tivesse essa habilidade de transpor uma fuga ' di prima' já nessa época, a questão é que é uma história contada verbalmente, não diretamente do próprio Liszt, mas por uma aluna dele, que envolve um compositor totalmente surdo avalizando a interpretação de um pianista que toca à sua frente. Não faz sentido. Acredito que a grande admiração de Walker por Liszt falou mais alto que uma análise racional da situação. Ele aceitou essa estranha história sem questionar. Mas bem, isso diminui o livro ou a trilogia biográfica? Absolutamente não, é um excelente trabalho, merece 5 estrelas mesmo.
R**H
Beautifully written and with depth
The author is a model of clarity and psychological and historical depth. Breathtaking, really, and I very rarely am so moved by a secondary source written after 1980. He has that rare ability for absolute precision—which gets you to the core issues in both psychology and history, and how they inform each other. I would also recommend it to a young person and one with only a basic knowledge of music. I never fully understood how Liszt is the origin of the “piano recital” a name he coined. Before him the piano was seen as only a parlor instrument but his playing was so phenomenal that he created the archetype type of the bravura performer. He is sometimes described as the first “rock star” at least for the piano (but certainly not for opera!), and the author’s historical descriptions make this perfectly clear. The author is also to be thanked for demystifying Listzt’s love affairs and not creating more from these than necessary. A model of biography and music history, and required reading for anyone with a serious interest in music. I deeply regret putting off so long in my reading. I will get to volume two immediately, and his book on Hans von Bulow is also highly recommended for general music history and Wagner.
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