Lisztomania hits Berlin

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1841, Franz Liszt performed a solo piano recital at the Academy of Song in Berlin. Liszt was already considered one of the greatest composer-performers of his time, and so, when he arrived in Berlin, was greeted by three of his distinguished composer-colleagues: Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, and Spontini.

For his Berlin recital, Liszt played, among other works, his own solo piano arrangements of the overture to Rossini’s opera “William Tell,” a medley of tunes he’d arranged from Meyerbeer’s opera “Robert, the Devil,” and this virtuoso arrangement of the Schubert song “The Erl King.”

Now, Liszt had played these same pieces in England the previous year, but they hadn’t really gone over very well with the reserved British audiences. But in Berlin, for some inexplicable reason, the audience just went nuts. No one had ever seen anything like it, in fact.

The German poet Heinrich Heine even coined a special term for it: “Lisztomania.” Women began wearing Liszt’s portrait on brooches and cameos. The composer was attacked by fans desperate for clippings of his hair; his cast-off cigar butts and coffee-dregs were collected as precious souvenirs; piano strings that Liszt broke at concerts were retrieved and made into bracelets for his fans.

The madness swept Europe, and so, long before the Beatles and Michael Jackson, Franz Liszt, composer and pianist had become “Franz Liszt—Superstar!”

Music Played in Today's Program

Franz Schubert (arr. Franz Liszt) Erlkönig Murray Perahia, piano Sony 66511

On This Day

Births

• 1906 - American composer, pianist and entertainer Oscar Levant, in Pittsburgh, Pa.;

Deaths

• 1944 - American composer and pianist Amy Marcey Cheney (Mrs. H.H.A.) Beach, age 77, in New York;

• 1992 - American composer Stephen Albert, age 51, in a car accident in Truro, Mass.;

Premieres

• 1723 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 64 ("Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget") performed on the 3rd Day of Christmas as part of Bach's first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24);

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 133 ("Ich freue mich in dir") performed on the 3rd Day of Christmas as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25);

• 1725 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 151 ("Süsser Trost, mein Jesus kömmt"") performed on the 3rd Day of Christmas as part of Bach's third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27);

• 1734 - Bach: Part 3 ("Herrscher der Himmels, erhöre das Lallen") of the 6-part "Christmas Oratorio," S. 248, in Leipzig;

• 1896 - Chausson: "Poéme," Op. 25, in Nancy, with Guy Ropartz conducting and Eugène Ysayë as soloist;

• 1901 - American premiere of Bruckner: Symphony No. 5, by the Boston Symphony, Wilhelm Gericke conducting;

• 1906 - Florent Schmitt: "Psalm XLVII," in Paris;

• 1954 - Menotti: "The Saint of Bleecker Street," in New York City; This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1955;

Others

• 1841 - Franz Liszt performs at the Singakademie in Berlin; Women swooned and the general audience reacts with such uncontrolled enthusiasm that Heinrich Heine coins the term "Lisztomania" to describe their fanatical devotion to the performer, which soon swept through most of Europe;