Great Masters: Liszt - His Life & Music

by Robert Greenberg

Course Lecture Titles
1. Le Concert, C'est MoiThe Concert is Me
2. A Born Pianist
3. Revelation
4. Transcendence
5. Weimar
6. The Music at Weimar
7. Rome
8. A Life Well Lived

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook, History, Art, Biography Memoir

7 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Robert M. Greenberg is an American composer, pianist and musicologist. He has composed more than 50 works for a variety of instruments and voices, and has recorded a number of lecture series on music history and music appreciation for The Teaching Company.

Greenberg earned a B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on the faculties of UC Berkeley, Californiz State University, East Bay, and the San Franciso Conservatory of Music, where he was chairman of the Department of Music History and Literature as well as Director of the Adult Extension Division. Dr. Greenberg is currently Music Historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances.

Reviews

[Melindam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le Rock Star, C'Est Moi!



Liszt was "truly the 1st completely modern pianist, the pianist from whom virtually every school of 19th and early 20th century piano playing began". (Lecture 4)

He was a magnetic, virtuoso showman and his concerts had the same effect on the audiences of the 19th century as those of the The Beatles later. A thought I find as hilarious as it is fascinating, though apparently his contemporary fellow composers (Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn) were truly appalled by the so-called Lisztomania (an expression coined by Heinrich Heine). :)



Of course, there is much more to Liszt than that and trust Robert Greenberg to bring you a picture as full as possible, building him up from scratch, placing his character and his work in a historic and artistic setting with musical quotes from his most famous works. It is both highly entertaining as well as educating.

[Jonathan O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️

[Anne-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am totally in love with Greenberg's composer biographies now. He presents so vividly and really makes us feel we get to know the composers well. This one about Liszt also taught me a lot about the history of the piano and piano music. And what an impressive and fascinating man and composer Liszt was. Another thing I love about these biographies, is that we learn about the relationships between various composers as well, and how they inspired and learned from each other. I will begin the next composer biography right away.

[Jared Gillins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has probably been my favorite of the Great Masters series so far (I'm going in rough chronological order). I don't know if it's because Liszt's life was particularly interesting, or if it's some of Greenberg's best writing/delivery, or what. I just found myself enjoying these lectures a lot, and always anxious to start the next one.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listz in relation to changes in keyboards, a new virtuosity, and the rise of program music.

[Yaaresse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still can't say I'm a fan of Liszt's compositions, but Greenberg has convinced me that Liszt's life was utterly fascinating. Talk about drama and scandal!

[Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greenberg's story of Liszt's life is so touching and strange, as befits Liszt's life.

[Hlöðver Sigurðsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The biography of Franz Liszt. This rendering of Robert Greenberg's biography of Franz Liszt is superb, listening to these lectures was like watching fireworks, I was AMAZED!

[Gaili Schoen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story wonderfully told by Greenberg. He's the man when it comes to musical biographies! Funny, thorough and always interesting.

[Becky L Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lecture series w/ music excerpts. Lecturer is quite entertaining. Great overview of the "First Rockstar" and all the drama that goes along with it. I understand why I don't care for A LOT of what Liszt composed and absolutely love so much of it as well. Lecturer makes a point that Liszt didn't let any of his works "fall off the page" and now that we are 150 years down the road the good works have risen to the top but during his day EVERYTHING he wrote was put out there and performed including the limp dishrag pieces. Well worth the listen for anyone remotely interested in music history or piano.

[Hank Pharis · Rating 3 out of 5]

(NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).

The great news is that I can listen to a book a day at work. The bad news is that I can’t keep up with decent reviews. So I’m going to give up for now and just rate them. I hope to come back to some of the most significant things I listen to and read them and then post a review.

[Carl Palmateer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful course and sadly much is wasted on me. The good part is the biography is a major part of this and it is not all music. The bad part is while I can enjoy the music I cannot appreciate subtleties, variations, discern motifs and themes. So any shortcomings are mine and not the course.

[Dr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quality biography that does not slip in to salacious unnecessary details.

[MountainAshleah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this lecture series on one of my favorite composers. What a wonderful treasure to have access to this kind of resource.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greenberg is a G and I'm all in for his passion.

[Nancie Lafferty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Greenberg’s Great Masters series is a wonderful way to learn more about the lives and music various composers.

[Mary Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prof. Greenberg lectures are excellent, as usual -- however, note that with only 8 lectures to work with (each about 45 minutes), he can cover only so much. Gives a very good idea of Liszt's life and development, especially how his professional reputation was mixed. (And yes, there's a bit on his personal reputation as well). I wish there had been more music... but as mentioned earlier, it's only 8 lectures (and Greenberg, as per usual, plugs some of his other courses in which Liszt music features... indeed, if you want more about the music and less about the people, those courses, such as Concert Masterworks, are the ones you want to listen to.)

[Charles Dingman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Greenberg demonstrating again his inimitable, contagious good sense about and appreciation of music, gives us fairly long excerpts to let us hear the reason he applauds or critiques a piece, or both. He does not pick music to pan it, but passes by in silence that which does not merit a hearing. So, while he is never snarky or condescending, he does communicate a real sense of values and urges us to listen for ourselves.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. A view into the life of the first cultural "rock star". Found out that Liszt was the inventor of the solo recital. Interesting!

[Tamminh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like his other courses, this one is also instructive and entertaining at the same time.