Meet a classic --- Franz Liszt and the Liebestraum!

in #history6 years ago (edited)

Hey guys, so I got to know this song through a Nokia device I had a few years ago. It's called Liebestraume, by Franz Liszt. A section of the music was included in the device's ringtone and I was hooked upon hearing it for the first time. So much that when I had migrated to an even better device (it was an Android device this time) I had to look for it on the internet and I found it stashed somewhere on Youtube. It subtly rose up the ranks to become my favourite music at the time - given my new-found love for classical compositions-. But yeah, over time, life can make you forget some of the cool things you used to know, and if I were to get a dollar for everything awesome that I've forgotten, I probably would be a millionaire.

I don't know where the memory came from, but I woke up this morning to the melodies of this song playing in my head. So I plugged in my headphones and did a quick search through my music video gallery! There it was, tucked away in an old survivor SD card. 'Survivor' because I'd lost the phone that originally came with this SD to damages and the next phone after it to theft. But for some amusingly cool reason, each time tragedy struck, I always had the SD inserted into a card reader, forgotten from the last time I tried importing files from my computer. Call it luck if you will, but you don't get to see that every day.

Within a few minutes, I closed my eyes in pleasure as Liszt takes my mind on a rapture of very familiar melodic runs, lavishing arpeggiations and Chordic statements. This one knows what he's doing, I thought. The music appeals to one's emotions and brings with it nostalgic memories and I think that's a fantastic way to start your morning if you aren't in a hurry to get up.

Ever wondered if Pianists were humans? Check out this guy's fingers!

I must have looped this over 10 times before I decided to do a little digging around to know who this guy really was, and perhaps get to know the story behind the Liebestraum. I promise not to make it too long.

Ladies and gentlemen; Franz Liszt!

Meet Liszt!

If you're anything like me, the name 'Franz' would give you the idea that the man was French, and we'd be wrong. Liszt was Hungarian by descent, and he was born on 22 October 1811 to a family where music already had a hold on. His father, Adam Liszt was a multi-talent on more than one type of the stringed instruments. He played the Guitar, the Cello, the Violin and the piano to top it all. So, I figure you could see where all that genius stemmed from. As young Liszt grew up watching and listening to his father play, the tendency of becoming a musician himself grew and by the age of 9, he was already playing the piano in concerts around Hungary and was offered his first big musical sponsorship at this time.

Over time, young Liszt had received piano lessons from great names such as Carl Czemy, Ferdinando Paer and even met Beethoven himself. His first public debut happened at the ''Landstandischer Saal'' in Vienna on 1st December 1822, and it was a huge success, so much that he was regarded as a prodigy! (Being the youngest pianist at the time would do that to you).

Cold grip of depression.

By 1827, young Liszt had moved to Paris where he held personal piano tutorials to earn money. And with a love affair terminated closely following the news of his father's death, an extended depression that would leave him unproductive and ill for about 4 years struck. At age 15, he had taken to smoking an drinking which relegated him to the point of despising music in general. He took to reading religious books and questioning the essence of living. These books and teachings would reflect on his musical career years later when he joined the church.

Bouncing back.

However, during the French ''July revolution'' when King Charles X was overthrown, hope suddenly sprang up in Liszt and the musician in him came back to life. He went on to become acquainted with other French musicians such as Chopin and Hector Berlioz which had a lasting influence on his music and play style. Liszt wasn't your typical piano player that remains as calm as possible while playing. In fact, the Press at that time would always make fun of the weird gestures and faces he made while playing and connecting with his music. Liszt would stamp and nod and bow slowly or shake his head in elegance, wholly drunk and immersed into the music as he played, which always earned him the full attention of his audience. A style of play which has influenced many 21st century pianists.

Long story short, he went on to have a rather successful and philanthropic career as a pianist and performed all over Italy, France and Rome. He became so rich that he gave away a large number of his fortunes to building and funding musical schools in Hungary, donated to the erection of the Beethoven monument in Vienna, etc, amongst a lot of other projects. He got married to Countess Marie d'Agoult in 1833 and they had 3 children (2 daughters Blandine, Cosima and a son Daniel) before they separated 11 years after. I suppose love didn't like being on his side for too long. Franz died on July 31st, 1886, following a long spell of illnesses which were very much reflected as sadness in his music during that period. In his words:

I carry a deep sadness of the heart which must now and then break out into sound1. For further reading, click here...

As for today's music - the Liebestraum, there isn't much to be said about the back-story. (trust me, there's a whole bunch of music-related terms that I'm not letting you on here). However, it so happened that the death of Frederic Chopin in 1849 dealt a huge blow to Liszt, and the Liebestraum is one of the piano songs he composed as a tribute to his friend.

The name 'Liebestraum' is German for 'Dreams of love' and it is a connection of three poems by different poets into one theme song. They are the Hohe Liebe, in Ab which meant 'exalted love', the Seliger Tod which means 'blessed death', and the O Lieb in Ab which means 'unconditional love'. The first two were composed by Uhland and the last one was composed by Freiligrath, both friends of Liszt. It was published in 1850 as a piano solo and then as a voice/piano accompaniment. Today, it is categorized under the classical poem genre.

For further reading, staff sheet, and a thorough analysis of the music, Visit this page

There are only a handful of songs I would gladly tag as my favourites, and the Liebestraum stands out. What's more, I came across the first Liebestraum (the Hohe Liebe) on Youtube. It is the gentlest of the three. Grab your headsets, and enjoy!

Thank you for reading!

Reference websites:

1, 2, 3.

Sort:  

Really interesting to read... A lot of musicians and instrumentalists do it from the soul.

Thank you dear.

Well researched work, great music. Never heard of him before. Thanks for sharing

Hi! This is jlk.news intelligent bot. I just upvoted your post based on my criteria for quality. Keep on writing nice posts on Steemit and follow me @jlkreiss to get premium world news updates round the clock! If you like me, just upvote my comment! 🦄🦄🦄

Flagged for comment spam. @steemflagrewards

Steem Flag Rewards mention comment has been approved! Thank you for reporting this abuse,@anthonyadavisii categorized as comment spam. This post was submitted via our Discord Community channel. Check us out on the following link!
SFR Discord

Thank you.

It's comment spam. Would you do us a solid and remove your upvote? Also, you can earn rewards by flagging stuff like this. I'll show you how. ;)

🙂 Poof! Upvote turned to flag.

I'll get to you on discord.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70797.92
ETH 3553.00
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.76