Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811–1847

New
Paperback
1988
$26.73

The first volume in Alan Walker's magisterial biography of Franz Liszt.

You can't help but keep turning the pages, wondering how it will all turn out: and Walker's accumulated readings of Liszt's music have to be taken seriously indeed. -D. Kern Holoman, New York Review of Books

A conscientious scholar passionate about his subject. Mr. Walker makes the man and his age come to life. These three volumes will be the definitive work to which all subsequent Liszt biographies will aspire. -Harold C. Schonberg, Wall Street Journal

What distinguishes Walker from Liszt's dozens of earlier biographers is that he is equally strong on the music and the life. A formidable musicologist with a lively polemical style, he discusses the composer's works with greater understanding and clarity than any previous biographer. And whereas many have recycled the same erroneous, often damaging information, Walker has relied on his own prodigious, globe-trotting research, a project spanning twenty-five years. The result is a textured portrait of Liszt and his times without rival. -Elliot Ravetz, Time

The prose is so lively that the reader is often swept along by the narrative. . . . This three-part work . . . is now the definitive work on Liszt in English and belongs in all music collections. -Library Journal

Synopsis

The first volume in Alan Walker's magisterial biography of Franz Liszt.

You can't help but keep turning the pages, wondering how it will all turn out: and Walker's accumulated readings of Liszt's music have to be taken seriously indeed. -D. Kern Holoman, New York Review of Books

A conscientious scholar passionate about his subject. Mr. Walker makes the man and his age come to life. These three volumes will be the definitive work to which all subsequent Liszt biographies will aspire. -Harold C. Schonberg, Wall Street Journal

What distinguishes Walker from Liszt's dozens of earlier biographers is that he is equally strong on the music and the life. A formidable musicologist with a lively polemical style, he discusses the composer's works with greater understanding and clarity than any previous biographer. And whereas many have recycled the same erroneous, often damaging information, Walker has relied on his own prodigious, globe-trotting research, a project spanning twenty-five years. The result is a textured portrait of Liszt and his times without rival. -Elliot Ravetz, Time

The prose is so lively that the reader is often swept along by the narrative. . . . This three-part work . . . is now the definitive work on Liszt in English and belongs in all music collections. -Library Journal

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 512
Edition: Revised ed.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 16 Feb 1988
ISBN 10: 0801494214
ISBN 13: 9780801494215

Media Reviews

Alan Walker's biography of Liszt . . . has been widely hailed as a groundbreaking work of scholarship. . . . Not only did his dogged research correct numerous, mostly damaging preconceptions about Liszt, but his cogent musical analyses made the case for the importance of the music. . . . Love him or hate him as a saint or a sinner, Liszt still has the capacity to stir great passions . . . and Mr. Walker has done a great service in correcting many misconceptions and thus raising the question about the true character of Liszt. -Johanna Keller, The New York Times. January 14, 2001
You can't help but keep turning the pages, wondering how it will all turn out: and Walker's accumulated readings of Liszt's music have to be taken seriously indeed. -D. Kern Holoman, New York Review of Books
A conscientious scholar passionate about his subject. Mr. Walker makes the man and his age come to life. These three volumes will be the definitive work to which all subsequent Liszt biographies will aspire. -Harold C. Schonberg, Wall Street Journal
What distinguishes Walker from Liszt's dozens of earlier biographers is that he is equally strong on the music and the life. A formidable musicologist with a lively polemical style, he discusses the composer's works with greater understanding and clarity than any previous biographer. And whereas many have recycled the same erroneous, often damaging information, Walker has relied on his own prodigious, globe-trotting research, a project spanning twenty-five years. The result is a textured portrait of Liszt and his times without rival. -Elliot Ravetz, Time Magazine
The prose is so lively that the reader is often swept along by the narrative. . . . This three-part work . . . is now the definitive work on Liszt in English and belongs in all music collections. -Library Journal

Author Bio

Alan Walker is Professor Emeritus of Music at McMaster University, Canada, and author of numerous books, including The Death of Franz Liszt Based on the Unpublished Diary of His Pupil Lina Schmalhausen; Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847 (volume 1); The Weimar Years, 1848-1861 (volume 2); and The Final Years, 1861-1886 (volume 3), all from Cornell, and Hans Von Bulow: A Life and Times. He has been awarded the Music Teachers National Association 2010 Achievement Award, the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize, and the medal Pro Cultura Hungarica, presented by the President of Hungary.