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Franz Liszt #3
Franz Liszt: The Final Years, 1861-1886
The last quarter-century of Liszt's life was filled with dramatic turns, contrasts and emotional storms, like the Hungarian composer's romantic music. The buoyant man of the world retreated into a monastery near Rome (1863-1865), emerging as a Roman Catholic cleric. His elder daughter, Blandine, died from a breast operation, and Liszt tried his best to break up the adulterous relationship of his younger daughter, Cosima, with composer Richard Wagner, whom she married after concealing the out-of-wedlock births of three children by Wagner from her first husband, pianist and Wagner-worshiper Hans von Bulow. Shuttling endlessly between Rome, Weimar, Budapest, Paris, Vienna, overworked, overdrinking Liszt suffered a nervous breakdown in 1877 and struggled with suicidal impulses. Polish princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, whose wedding to Liszt was canceled at the last minute in 1861 because of her family's meddling, betrayed him in 1881 by inserting an anti-Semitic chapter into Liszt's revised book on Bohemian music. In this final volume of an extraordinary biography, Walker, a professor of music in Ontario, shows how Liszt's universal despair gave rise to the pathbreaking, proto-modernist music of his later years. A rarity among composers' biographies, this full-bodied portrait combines lively writing and impeccable scholarship.
624 pages, Paperback
First published June 11, 1996
13 people are currently reading
373 people want to read
About the author
Alan Walker
217 books34 followersAlan Walker’s definitive three-volume biography of Liszt, Franz Liszt, received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in Biography and the Royal Philharmonic Society Book Award, among others. His writing has appeared in journals such as The Musical Quarterly, The Times Literary Supplement, and Times Educational Supplement. A professor emeritus at McMaster University, Walker was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1986 and was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 5, 2020
Stunning piece of scholarship, that many of Walker's paragraphs in this book made it to wikipedia's entry on Franz Liszt (I'm like "I swear this passage sounds familiar"). This book is the final volume of Walker's 3 volume work, detailing Liszt's relationship with his famous world-conquering students, with Wagner and his music, his family tragedies, his mature compositions, his religious preoccupation and so on. This book made me realize that his compositions are severely underrated. His harmonic language in the symphonic poem made it to Wagner masterpieces, his later experiments are bordering on 20th century madness (he's foreseen Schoenberg and microtones), and his religious music deserves more attention.
August 10, 2022
And so the story ends. Mournful and yet grand really is the destiny of the artist! Thank you Franz Liszt!
May 27, 2025
What a life. Looking forward to reading Walker's follow-up volume as a sort of aftercare. Then I'll read the Hans von Bülow bio. Then I'll read any other scraps of Walker I can possibly dig up. (I've already read Chopin.)
Cosima was a piece of work.
Cosima was a piece of work.
September 29, 2020
Magnificent
By the time you finish volume 3 of this magnificent biography, you’ll feel as if you’ve lost an old friend. Walker’s portrait of Liszt is both comprehensive and compelling, and deservedly loving. The best biography of anyone I’ve ever read!
By the time you finish volume 3 of this magnificent biography, you’ll feel as if you’ve lost an old friend. Walker’s portrait of Liszt is both comprehensive and compelling, and deservedly loving. The best biography of anyone I’ve ever read!
December 3, 2019
The third volume on Liszt by Alan Walker is just a thoroughly researched as the first two. Following his years at Weimar and his failed attempts at marrying Princess Carolyne Sayn -Wittgenstein, Liszt takes the minor orders and begins a life of travel across Europe as a celebrity composer, teacher and pianist until his death in 1886.
I really appreciated the detailed research that went into this biography. I learned a lot about Liszt’s later music, much of it can be found on YouTube and on Apple Music. Believe me, you likely have never heard it and you will be stunned.
At the same time, I had some issues with certain aspects of this book.
Firstly, many reviewers have mentioned the hero worship of Liszt by Walker. I think it reaches an extreme level in this volume. For example, at the end of his life, Liszt who had always been a heavy drinker is now going through 2 bottles of cognac and 2 or 3 bottles of wine per day. And Walker questions whether that is alcoholism. Well... it is.
Also, the whole question of Liszt and the ladies is completely glossed over. Granted, Walker wanted to stick to whatever was documented, and affairs typically are not. Except that some of the letters he quotes are difficult to explain outside of an intimate relationship. He even quotes a letter from Princess Carolyne who knew Liszt well where she rants at the numerous affairs he has had. And Mr. Walker puts that aside as the raving of a jealous ex-partner. Really? Liszt was good looking, famous, by all accounts charming and charismatic. That is the recipe for a “babe magnet”. There were many women around him, students, collaborators, companions and groupies who would have been honoured to be won over by the Abbe. There is a mention of how physical Liszt was with his female students, kissing their forehead, their cheek, stroking their hair... Just saying...
To that point, Countess Olga is made out to be a raving lunatic because she accuses Liszt to have been, let’s say frisky with her. How many women have been accused of being crazy, delusional and/or attention getters when they disclosed abuse? I don’t think the ladies around Liszt were unwilling participants. But there are reasons to believe that if there was a relationship here, the break up did not go well.
Finally, a bit of a sexist view: Princess Carolyne’s magnum opus, the External Weaknesses- Internal Causes is described with contempt with Walker saying that she became “obsessed” with canon law, poring “incessantly” over theological books, was “unrepentant” about the controversy she was creating. (Considering that Liszt and his contemporaries were creating controversial music, why is Walker not mentioning that any of them should feel repentant?) Liszt himself said that he just could not counter the points she made so he wrote to her that as a woman, she should keep quiet, a very 19th century opinion. However, I sense that Walker shares his opinion. But really, why can’t Princess Carolyne research canon law and publish her well informed perspective? She definitely had to learn a lot about it to defend her annulment and carried on studying it. It attracted praise from both a contemporary Cardinal and a famous theologian before it was put to the Index. It cannot have been that bad then. It is interesting to me that in Walker’s view, men could create, perform and publish to their heart’s content and be viewed as visionary but when the progressive views came from women, they are not afforded the same admiration.
I really appreciated the detailed research that went into this biography. I learned a lot about Liszt’s later music, much of it can be found on YouTube and on Apple Music. Believe me, you likely have never heard it and you will be stunned.
At the same time, I had some issues with certain aspects of this book.
Firstly, many reviewers have mentioned the hero worship of Liszt by Walker. I think it reaches an extreme level in this volume. For example, at the end of his life, Liszt who had always been a heavy drinker is now going through 2 bottles of cognac and 2 or 3 bottles of wine per day. And Walker questions whether that is alcoholism. Well... it is.
Also, the whole question of Liszt and the ladies is completely glossed over. Granted, Walker wanted to stick to whatever was documented, and affairs typically are not. Except that some of the letters he quotes are difficult to explain outside of an intimate relationship. He even quotes a letter from Princess Carolyne who knew Liszt well where she rants at the numerous affairs he has had. And Mr. Walker puts that aside as the raving of a jealous ex-partner. Really? Liszt was good looking, famous, by all accounts charming and charismatic. That is the recipe for a “babe magnet”. There were many women around him, students, collaborators, companions and groupies who would have been honoured to be won over by the Abbe. There is a mention of how physical Liszt was with his female students, kissing their forehead, their cheek, stroking their hair... Just saying...
To that point, Countess Olga is made out to be a raving lunatic because she accuses Liszt to have been, let’s say frisky with her. How many women have been accused of being crazy, delusional and/or attention getters when they disclosed abuse? I don’t think the ladies around Liszt were unwilling participants. But there are reasons to believe that if there was a relationship here, the break up did not go well.
Finally, a bit of a sexist view: Princess Carolyne’s magnum opus, the External Weaknesses- Internal Causes is described with contempt with Walker saying that she became “obsessed” with canon law, poring “incessantly” over theological books, was “unrepentant” about the controversy she was creating. (Considering that Liszt and his contemporaries were creating controversial music, why is Walker not mentioning that any of them should feel repentant?) Liszt himself said that he just could not counter the points she made so he wrote to her that as a woman, she should keep quiet, a very 19th century opinion. However, I sense that Walker shares his opinion. But really, why can’t Princess Carolyne research canon law and publish her well informed perspective? She definitely had to learn a lot about it to defend her annulment and carried on studying it. It attracted praise from both a contemporary Cardinal and a famous theologian before it was put to the Index. It cannot have been that bad then. It is interesting to me that in Walker’s view, men could create, perform and publish to their heart’s content and be viewed as visionary but when the progressive views came from women, they are not afforded the same admiration.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2024
The final chapter of the 3 part Caro-esque epic biography of composer and legendary pianist Franz Liszt I did not find as exciting as the earlier 2 given Liszt's advancing age and decisions to slow down a bit. However, there is still a decent amount of drama. The classic story of boy meets girl, girl meets boy. Boy and girl decide to get married but unfortunately girl's husband won't divorce her and enlists the Tsar of Russia, the Vatican and others to prevent a divorce from happening so that girl's husband's family and a Cardinal at the Vatican (whose relative was marrying girl's daughter and thus also wanted to keep control of her wealth where it was) can continue to control her vast wealth is concluded. Unfortunately Princess Carolyne and Liszt are unable to marry so both retreat to separate dwellings in the Rome area and remain platonic close friends for the rest of their lives.
Liszt lives as a monk for a time but eventually leads a tripartite existence traveling regularly from (a) Rome where he composes some of his ahead of their time late impressionistic and/or atonal works (in the Villa D'Este which i now really want to visit) to (b) Budapest (to run the Franz Liszt music school with his legendary master classes...including to a manipulative student who tries to shake him down) and finally to (c) Weimar where he lived in the previous volume. As mentioned, he composes many interesting late works that were ignored in his lifetime but that he had faith would someday be respected generations down the road. He was proven right, though it took until the 2nd half of the 20th century for this to be the case.
His friendship with Wagner has its ups and downs as his daughter's affair with the great German composer eventually turns into marriage and they are estranged from Liszt for a time. But they eventually all make up and Liszt is saddened by his friend's death. Liszt gets more depressed as he ages and slows down his breakneck traveling pace and starts to drink more absinthe. A fall down the stairs leads to the end ironically at the Bayreuth Festival honoring Wagner. Despite reading upwards of 1500 pages over the 3 volumes, I found the volumes to be somewhat breezy and a fascinating look at a great life living in 19th Century Europe. Given this, I thought i'd read the author's one volume on Chopin which also garnered high critical praise.
Liszt lives as a monk for a time but eventually leads a tripartite existence traveling regularly from (a) Rome where he composes some of his ahead of their time late impressionistic and/or atonal works (in the Villa D'Este which i now really want to visit) to (b) Budapest (to run the Franz Liszt music school with his legendary master classes...including to a manipulative student who tries to shake him down) and finally to (c) Weimar where he lived in the previous volume. As mentioned, he composes many interesting late works that were ignored in his lifetime but that he had faith would someday be respected generations down the road. He was proven right, though it took until the 2nd half of the 20th century for this to be the case.
His friendship with Wagner has its ups and downs as his daughter's affair with the great German composer eventually turns into marriage and they are estranged from Liszt for a time. But they eventually all make up and Liszt is saddened by his friend's death. Liszt gets more depressed as he ages and slows down his breakneck traveling pace and starts to drink more absinthe. A fall down the stairs leads to the end ironically at the Bayreuth Festival honoring Wagner. Despite reading upwards of 1500 pages over the 3 volumes, I found the volumes to be somewhat breezy and a fascinating look at a great life living in 19th Century Europe. Given this, I thought i'd read the author's one volume on Chopin which also garnered high critical praise.
September 6, 2019
Ótima biografia do compositor. Sua extensão, dividida em três volumes, se justifica pelo autor entrar em diversos debates que permearam a vida do compositor. A assim chamada "Guerra dos românticos", em que duas percepções sobre o significado da arte se opõem é uma delas. Para Liszt, Berlioz, Chopin e outros, a música traz um significado que transcenderia ela própria, e criando uma correspondência com outras artes porque toca seus domínios. O outro lado do front teria Brahms e, talvez mais importante, o crítico Eduard Hanslick, autor do livro Do Belo Musical", leitura quase obrigatória em cursos de música erudita romântica. O papel do virtuoso (além de Liszt, Paganini também é outro 'super-herói' bastante mencionado) em assuntos que ultrapassam o palco - política, ajuda humanitária etc - mostram como o artista começa a ser importante na vida das pessoas e não apenas alguém para divertir nobres e clero. Sendo sogro de Richard Wagner, não é à toa que a biografia fala longamente dele também. Esses são temas que me interessaram em maior conta, mas há muito o que aprender sobre a época e a música de então. Walker sempre comenta outros textos ou histórias ditas sobre Liszt e como outras biografias têm desenhado esse personagem. E, por mais que esse texto pareça ser mais que suficiente, o autor tem a clareza de mostrar como as biografias são também construções, feitas em função do que se conhece e do que é sensível ao leitor do nosso tempo. Muito bom.
January 6, 2026
Un llibre magnífic, ben escrit i ben informat i molt emocionant. Els fanàtics del compositor, com jo, ja ho sabem: Liszt és una de les figures més importants i fascinants de tota la història de la música.
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August 12, 2023I’m kinda sad this is over
November 29, 2023
Whew! Done! Very well, written biography, but three volumes is a lot!
May 28, 2013
Again, biographies simply do not get much better than Allen Walker's three volume set on Liszt. Impeccably researched, supplemented by analysis of relevant musical scores, and inclusion of the history of the times, it is nonetheless a fluid and engaging read. My only reservation is that Walker's obvious admiration for the man almost amounts to a canonization. Plan to revisit these volumes again and again.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews