On 9 June 1840, a 12 months or so into his European tour, Liszt hosted the primary of two London concert events – marketed as ‘Liszt’s Pianoforte Recitals’ – on the Hanover Sq. Rooms in Mayfair. The musical recital was born…

You could find out extra about Liszt and his works right here

Who first used the time period musical recital?

This was the primary time the phrase recital had been used by way of music. Till then, the phrase ‘recital’ had solely been used to explain dramatic readings, which is maybe why Liszt was drawn to the phrase: up to now, his solo concert events bore the curious title ‘musical soliloquies’.

Liszt was again on the touring circuit as a pianist in 1839 to assist fundraise for a statue of Beethoven in Bonn. He had simply emerged from an intense interval of composition and was alarmed to listen to that plans for the statue have been beneath risk via lack of monetary help.

For his London look, Liszt put collectively a programme that mixed his personal works with transcriptions of well-known masterpieces, together with his personal preparations of Beethoven symphonies and Schubert songs. He additionally included Hexameron, a collaborative work pieced collectively from music by Chopin, Czerny, Thalberg, Pixis, Herz and Liszt himself.

Following his time in London, Liszt took a brief break earlier than returning to England in August to begin a nationwide tour. The schedule was punishing: 50 concert events in six weeks. ‘My travelling circus begins at the moment’, he wrote to his lover Marie d’Agoult from the primary cease on the tour, Chichester. The ‘circus’ continued for about eight years – by the point he’d completed, Liszt had given 1,000 concert events proper throughout Europe.

What have been these first musical recitals like?

Liszt turned the standard type of a live performance on its head, interacting with the viewers and talking to them in between items. He usually organized the viewers’s seats so he might transfer between them and chat to his followers.

The programmed works could be used as the premise for spontaneous improvisations too, which grew to become one thing of a celebration trick and had a bent to whip the the gang up right into a frenzy. And to present his viewers a greater view and sound, he positioned the piano sideways on stage.

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Not solely might he then be seen in profile, however with the lid up, the piano sound carried extra simply into the room.

Had been Liszt’s piano recitals widespread?

All of this turned Liszt right into a rockstar, and a brand new pattern started to brush throughout Europe. The time period ‘Lisztomania’ was coined by the author Heinrich Heine in 1844 in his report on the hysteria surrounding Liszt in live performance: ‘How convulsively his mere look affected them! How boisterous was the applause which rang to satisfy him! A veritable madness’.

If Paganini had blazed a path within the 1820s and ’30s, it was Liszt who was now thought-about the best residing virtuoso. Caricatures from the time depict him with lengthy, spindly fingers, enjoying with out music – one thing audiences weren’t used to seeing. However he wasn’t only a showman – he was additionally one thing of a intercourse image, with feminine admirers gathering his cigar butts, espresso grounds from his cups and locks of his hair.

Liszt’s impression on stay efficiency was everlasting – after his London efficiency, the idea of a musical ‘recital’ started for use to explain any solo live performance. Piano producers have been quickly sponsoring soloists, which helped give musicians an aura of movie star, and that in flip paved the way in which for the piano’s golden age.

Learn our critiques of the most recent Liszt recordings right here

Photos by Getty Photos

Pic: Getty Photos