I started the “Story Behind” series on the Facebook group Franz Liszt Group, assembling a group of Liszt specialists and passionates, at the end of March 2021. On some occasions, a picture and a quote are posted without any details. As a musicologist enjoying contexts and stories, I commented with the source and the story behind both the quote and the picture, and started this series. I am reposting these stories here.
Original post:
I carry a deep sadness of the heart which must now and then break out in sound.
Liszt
Story behind:
This picture was taken in Paris in May 1861 by the sculptor ans photograph Salomon (Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon), who had his studio in rue de La Rochefoucauld in Paris. The photo was probably taken in this studio. The particularity of this picture is that Salomon asked all his models to pose drapped with a velvet cloth, which is the case here for Liszt. Interesting picture 🙂
(Note 1: For my first Story behind post I only commented the picture, not the quote. This is a sentence Liszt told Lina Ramann, his biographer. She reported it in Volume 2 of “Franz Liszt als Künstler und Mensch” – in English “Franz Liszt, Artist and Man”.)
(Note 2: The French translation of this post was published on the liszt-franz.com website)