Oliver Hilmes, the author of several best-selling biographies, lives in Berlin, Germany. Stewart Spencer is an acclaimed translator whose work includes biographies of Gustav Mahler, Richard Wagner, Cosima Wagner, and W. A. Mozart.
". . . makes a significant contribution to our knowledge of Liszt
as a man and superstar. Hilmes shines a light into the shadows
behind a life lived in the spotlight, and he finds some surprising
and indeed entertaining details there."—Andrew Taylor, Times
"If this book has a once-over-lightly feel, that is because there
were many intertwined strands in Liszt’s extraordinary life, each
of which could merit a book in itself. . . . Hilmes is illuminating
on the emergence—and continuance into old age—of Liszt’s
preternatural gifts as a pianist. And by drawing on hitherto
unpublished documentary sources he provides a riveting chronicle of
the composer’s tangled relationships."—Economist
"[It] has the great virtue of objectivity, and with the help of
Stewart Spencer’s nicely fluent translation, Hilmes does a solid
and fair-minded job of charting the long career of one of the
dominant and iconic figures of 19th century culture—a romantic in
every sense of the word."—Rupert Christiansen, Literary Review
". . . Hilmes offers a riveting read, a vibrant story full of
cannily etched detail. In the end you feel you have been visiting
the characters at home, observing with forensic exactitude all
their foibles, neuroses and, sometimes, hideous cruelty."—Jessica
Duchen, Sunday Times Ireland
"As a well-told, readable, fluently translated story of a strangely
conflicted career that affected the lives of people as disparate as
Lola Montez and Pope Pius IX [Franz Liszt] would be hard to
beat."—Stephen Walsh, London Review of Books
"The sub-title of this remarkable book at once tells you where
Oliver Hilmes’ chief interest lies. Liszt was, indeed, all of these
things, bewilderingly multi-faceted and of super-human strength and
achievement. Yet he also paid a heavy price in his journey from 'Le
petit Litz’ to ‘Le Grand Liszt.'"—Susan Nickalls, Classical Music
"Editors Choice 2016"
"[A] new and vivid study of the great composer-pianist . . .
imparts a novelistic vibrancy and urgency of narrative to a life
that was undeniably of great intrinsic interest."—Andrew Thomson,
Musical Times
Won the 2017 Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title
"This is the book about Liszt I have been waiting for, vividly
evoking both him and his context to reveal him as one the central
figures—if not the central figure—of Western music in the
nineteenth century, a vital link between Beethoven and Bartók, and
a truly great and generous man. At last, we see him whole."—Simon
Callow
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