Professional musicians were just as impressed with Liszt’s talent. At his first public concert in Vienna, the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung reported that some audience members had cried out “A miracle!”, while others suspected some sort of trickery, until the piano was turned around so that the audience could see that he was really playing himself. He could boast of extraordinary technique and immense powers of expression, and was already delighting audiences at the age of twelve. As one observer remarked in 1832 of Liszt, “when he appears, he will eclipse all other like a sun!”įranz Liszt was a musical genius, undoubtedly one of the greatest pianists of all time. His gripping performance style was an important influence for Franz Liszt, who attended one of his concerts in 1832, saying afterwards, “what a man, what a violin, what an artist! Heavens! What suffering, what misery, what tortures in those four strings!…As for his expression, his manner of phrasing – they are his very soul!” But Liszt’s meteoric rise would eclipse even Paganini’s bright star. Niccolo Paganini, an Italian violinist, was renowned for his outstanding talent. Beethoven could perhaps be credited with starting the cult of the musician, but it was not until Paganini appeared on the musical scene in the early decades of the 19th century that a performer achieved celebrity status. Even Mozart was unhappily dependent on patrons such as the Archbishop of Salzburg. Bach, for instance, was a mere Kapellmeister, and Haydn was not much more than a court servant. Previously, musicians were wholly dependent on aristocratic or ecclesiastical patrons, and their output was determined by the wishes of these sometimes despotic individuals. The 19th century witnessed the rise of the celebrity musician.
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