Liszt’s Heroes: An investigation into the Artistic Interdependence of Franz Liszt and his Contemporaries

Liszt’s published writings are extensive, and are for the most part not readily available in print. A fully exhaustive investigation into this fascinating material would be the area of further and more extensive research. The texts chosen here include Liszt’s biography of Chopin, his essay on John Field, his essay on the future of artists and their place in society, and Liszt's personal letters. The four composers featured in this study (Chopin. Wagner. Berlioz and Schumann) were chosen because of their importance as seminal figures in the musical life of the nineteenth century, as well as their importance in Liszt’s own life, both personal and artistic. He wrote extensively in letters and essays about all four of these composers. No other Romantic composer had the friendship or acquaintance of so many other great contemporaries. Other subjects for his admiration (dealt with in less detail here) were the virtuoso violinist Niccolo Paganini, and the Irish composer-pianist John Field. Liszt helped to popularise the music of all these composers. His musical heroes were composers rather than performers. Liszt's musical achievement seems on many levels to be predicated on the influence of other people