"Ferenc Liszt - A Hungarian and European Genious" photo-documentary exhibition at Hungarian Centre, 1-A, Janpath > 1st-14th April 2011

Time : 10:00 am - 4:00 pm ( Weekdays Only ) - Exhibition on View

Entry : Free

Place : Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, 1-A, Janpath, New Delhi- 110 001

Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course'

Event Details : 'Ferenc Liszt - A Hungarian and European Genious' photo-documentary exhibition. 

This year we commemorate the 200th birth anniversary of one of the greatest pianists of the 19th century, a boldly innovative composer, conductor, influential teacher and author of literary works Ferenc Liszt. As a loyal native of Hungary, Liszt was also open to the culture of numerous other European countries that he came in contact with during his eventful life and brought significant developments to musical culture everywhere. The light streaks of an amazing comet appeared above the skies of Europe, when Liszt was born on 22 October 1811 in a small Western-Hungarian village. His parents saw this phenomenon as a sign from God and indeed the child did turn out to be an extraordinary musical talent. He started playing the piano under the supervision of his musical talented father, who did his best to develop his son’s abilities. Liszt lived in Paris from December 1823, where he spent his adolescence and youth. The vibrant intellectual and political life of the city, the company of numerous excellent artists, and French culture had a lasting effect on the personality of the versatile, open minded young musician. By 1835, Liszt played an important part in the Paris musical scene. However, he left the city with Countess Marie d’Agoult. Their years in Switzerland and Italy inspired two of Liszt’s important sets of piano pieces, which appeared- after several early versions- in their final form, as Annés de pélerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) in 1855 and 1858. The celebrated musician first returned to Hungary at the turn of 1839/40 where his concerts given in Pressburg (Bratislava), Pest-Buda, Győr and Sopron were greeted with great enthusiasm. “Everywhere else I perform for an audience, however in Hungary I address the nation!” – he wrote after his visit. He also began publishing a set of pieces entitled Magyar Dallok (Hungarian Songs). During his concert tours, Liszt visited almost every country in Europe, including such distant places as Cork, Gibraltar and Istanbul. The climax of his success were the twenty-one concerts he gave in Berlin between the end of December 1841 and early March 1842, which generated genuine “Lisztomania” and huge enthusiasm. In April 1846, Liszt returned to Pest where he was again greeted with enthusiasm. During the summer he visited the village where he was born and later played in Sopron and Kőszeg. In October he set off for nearly six months touring towns in Hungary and Transylvania, giving around twenty concerts and visiting many friends. Liszt ended his career as a virtuoso pianist with concerts in Odessa and Elizabethgrad in the early autumn of 1847. He settled in Weimar and devoted his life to composing. His new companion was Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, a fervent believer in his genius, who followed him to Weimar in the spring of 1848. Symphonic music  came to the forefront of Liszt’s work as a composer during his years as Kapellmeister at Weimar. Often it was literature and art that provided the intellectual background for his programme symphonies and symphonic poems, which were full of new formal ideas.
The exhibition takes us through a photo documentary journey of the life and works of this eminent musician.

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