Franz Liszt embodied all of the great ambitions of the Romantic era, and many of its contradictions. His life spanned three generations of Romantic composers. In his early life, he was an extravagant virtuoso, the darling of the ladies, and a creator of new and adventurous music. In his old age, he turned to the church, becoming a priest, writing sacred music, and championing the music of a new generation.

Liszt was born in Hungary, where his father was in the employ of a wealthy family. His early talent in music was rewarded by the support of a group of Hungarian nobles who subsidized his studies in Paris. There he became part of an important circle of artists, writers and musicians that included Frédéric Chopin. He studied composition and made his living as a performer and teacher. In his performances he followed the model of such virtuosos as the violinist Paganini, making his personality and physical presence as much a part of the performance as his dazzling technique and musicianship. His affect on the audience -- especially women -- is preserved (and sometimes satirized) in numerous drawings and paintings. Liszt's long-lasting relationships with two married women (the Countess Marie d'Agoult, by whom he had three children, and the Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein) were marked by both turbulent scenes and periods of great creativity.

In 1848, Liszt abandoned his concert career to concentrate more on his composing. He took the post of court conductor to the Duke of Weimar, and it was here that he wrote or revised many of his most well-known pieces. Late in life he moved to Rome, taking minor orders there in 1865. Much of the rest of his life was taken up with composing religious music, although he kept up his career as a teacher and performer, dividing his time between Rome, Weimar and Budapest.

Liszt stands out most for his new approach to large-scale form. Many of his symphonic works abandoned the four-movement structure of the symphony. Instead, these symphonic poems (as he called them) were huge single-movement works that relied on extra musical programs and the progressive transformation of a musical theme for their structural coherence. In these works, the themes are modified by changes in harmony, rhythm, or even melodic outline. These transformations are used to create a sense of narrative or psychological progression. Liszt also used the technique of thematic transformation in his non-programmatic works, such as his concertos. As a virtuoso pianist, Liszt filled his piano music with fantastic technical demands, and many represent the ultimate in nineteenth century virtuosity. He also expanded the repertory and possibilities of the piano with his many transcriptions and arrangements of symphonic and operatic works.