Franz Liszt, composer

Born: October 22, 1811, in Raiding, Hungary

Died: July 31, 1886, in Bayreuth, Germany

Acclaim: considered the greatest pianist of his time. His ‘transcendental’ piano technique was imaginative, springing from a desire to make the piano sound as rich in scope as an orchestra

Professional position: full-time conductor at the Weimar court

Major compositions: Faust-Symphonie, Transcendental Studies, Annees de pelerinage, B Minor Sonata, Missa solemnis, Christus, Totentanz, Elisabeth, Lyon, Simon Boccanegra, Malediction, Die Ideale, Dante sonata, and the symphonic poems Tasso, Les Préludes, Orpheus, Prometheus, Hamlet, Mazeppa, and Hungaria

Invented: the modern piano recital and was the first performer to play entirely from memory; the symphonic poem — a new and elastic single-movement form which many subsequent composers like Richard Strauss and Saint-Saëns embraced. It is at the core of most contemporary and popular music forms today.

Influenced by: Symphonie fantasique by Hector Berlioz, and violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini