2011 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Franz Liszt.
Liszt's music is recognizable by anyone who (like me) watched early cartoons, like this one:
[OOops -- removed from YouTube. Search for Hungarian Rhapsody #2 cartoon]
(Image credit.)
Beyond that, he is significant to me as is obvious from "BlackLiszt," as I briefly explained in the first post of the blog.
Liszt is one of the greatest, and most under-rated composers of music. This article says it well:
BBC Radio 3 is beginning Franz Liszt's bicentenary year with...wall-to-wall Mozart. Nothing could make clearer something that has bugged me for years: the critical, snobbish, misinformed and persistent denigration of a musician who was the very embodiment of Romanticism.
It is possible to admire Liszt simply because you like listening to his music. Here are some of the additional reasons I admire Liszt, with obvious parallels to computing:
- He had complete technical mastery of his instrument, which he achieved by hard work and relentless practice.
- He started with nothing and earned his way to fame and fortune. He was one of the most accomplished and generous teachers, helping countless talented younger people to make themselves better.
- He deeply appreciated the accomplishments of others. He showed the seriousness of his appreciation by promoting the people and works he admired. He showed the depth of his understanding by making transcriptions that are themselves works of art.
- He took the current standards of his day seriously and mastered them; and then smashed the conventions to make things better.
- He felt deeply and acted on his feelings. He felt and expressed the deep connections of music to the human spirit.
- In spite of his position and accomplishments, he spent his life learning and exploring.
Personally, I never need much of an excuse to bring Liszt into a conversation; but I'm glad it's his anniversary year, because it makes performances easier to find and I don't need to work quite as hard to bring the conversation around to one of the greatest performers, teachers, creators, appreciators and pioneers who ever existed, an inspiration to us all.
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