Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, (1811-86). Hungarian composer, pianist, and conductor. Before he was 20 he had established an international reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He wrote many celebrated works for the piano, including two concertos and 20 Hungarian rhapsodies. Many of his compositions for the piano were of the utmost difficulty and were written both to expand the technique of the instrument and to display the composer’s phenomenal powers as a performer. His daughter, Cosima, married Richard Wagner. In 1865 Liszt took minor religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church. His later compositions include masses and a requiem.
