Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was born in Raiding, Hungary (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). He came from a family of musicians, and at the age of 6 he began to learn piano at the local church organ school. After receiving his musical education in Vienna (1831–36), he studied composition with Leopold von Lederers at the Vienna Conservatory (1836–39). By 1839, Franz entered the service of Prince Felix Lichnowsky
Read more
From 1840 to 1847 he devoted himself to composition, but did not achieve any major success. He wrote many piano compositions, but it was not until 1848 that he became successful both as a pianist and composer. His first concert was presented in that year.
By then he had already composed more than 300 works, including symphonies, concertos for violin, flute, clarinet, and violin, operas and song cycles, masses and motets. His style was marked by his admiration for Beethoven and Schubert. He was one of the first composers to use musical sketches to prepare his own scores for performance.