Published on Franz Liszt Group, on May 5, 2021. If you want to know how the Story Behind series started, I give details in “Story Behind” Series #1″.
Background and original post:
A group member wanted to share a colorized picture of Liszt he worked on. I asked him if he would like me to give the story behind the picture. He said yes.
I wanted to share with you this photograph of Liszt (ca. 1880), which I colorized myself 🙂
Story behind:
Thank you [name of the group member], that’s great 🙂
Story time for those who are interested. Here is the background behind this picture. This picture was taken by the photographer Friedrich Hertel in Weimar in July 1876. It comes from a series, and Liszt is smiling on almost all of them, which is worth noting, knowing that this is rare 🙂
At the period it was taken, Liszt was doing his usual trips between Rome (actually the Villa d’Este, but he didn’t compose his Jeux d’Eaux until the following year, 1877), Budapest (where he opened the new Academy of Music earlier the same year, in February 1876) and Weimar. Just after the picture was taken, he left for Bayreuth to join the Wagners. This is also the year where Wagner praised Liszt during a banquet in Bayreuth, saying that nobody would have heard of him if Liszt didn’t promote his music. 1876 is the year he started to draft his Via Crucis.