Great Composer Quiz – April 23, 2020
At age nine, this young Great Composer-to-be performed for the first time in public concerts. Look in his eyes and tell me, who is this Great Composer?
Answer
Time’s up, pencils down. The answer is Franz Liszt. See a resemblance? Born in the medieval town of Doborján, Hungary (now Raiding, Austria), Franz was the only child of Adám Liszt, a clerk for the aristocratic Esterházy family, and an amateur musician, and Anna Maria Läger, the daughter of a poor family. Doborján was a German-speaking market town.
Liszt’s first language was German. At six, Franz received his first music lessons from his father. By nine, the boy was taking part in public concerts. At eleven, Liszt gave his first concerts in the music capital Vienna and was celebrated as “a little Hercules fallen from the clouds.” During his Viennese visit he met Beethoven who gave him a kiss on his forehead.