Liszt and Budapest

From March 18, 2011 to March 21, 2012

FranzLiszt Memorial Museum

Curator: Dr. Zsuzsanna Domokos, director – Franz Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Centre

Opening: March 18, 2011, 5 p.m.

The exhibition will be opened by: Dr. András Batta, rector – Franz Liszt University of Music

With performance by: pianist Péter Nagy, head of the piano department and students of the Franz Liszt University of Music 

The exhibition covers Liszt’s stays in Pest – Budapest from his first performance in 1823 to his farewell concert in 1886. The main events of Liszt’s stay in Budapest form the backbone of the exhibition. Behind these events we would like to show the cultural development of Pest – Budapest in Liszt’s time, and the major role Liszt played in the establishment and development of the cultural institutions of the Hungarian Reform Age, with special regard to the realisation of his vision of the Academy of Music as an institution of international standing.

The exhibition places special emphasis on the compositions associated in their origin with Budapest, such as the Coronation Mass, Ode to Saint Cecilia, A holt költő szerelme  Love of the Dead Poet melodrama (Jókai), Via Crucis, Hunnenschlacht.

We also mention his famous concerts in Pest and their critical response; the charity concerts in Pest and concerts given in the salons of friends form a separate group, such as concerts given in honour of Munkácsy, participation in the events of Jókai’s Society of Hungarian Writers and Poets, concerts in the salons of patrons and friends.

Liszt’s church connections in Hungary represent another section: events coming under this heading (his ties to the Franciscan Order, Mary Ward’s nuns, church music concerts conducted in the Inner City Church and Matthias Church, Liszt Society, etc.), and Liszt’s circle of students in Budapest.

At the opening of the exhibition pianist Péter Nagy will give a concert and as the final number students of the Academy will perform the trio version of Pester Karneval.

In addition to the opening, there will also be a gala concert at the museum’s Saturday morning matinee on March 19^th, where pianist Alessandra Pompili will perform Via Crucis, with projection of drawings of the stations of the cross by Overbeck from an album in the museum, then the Budapest Monteverdi Choir will sing extracts from oratorios performed in Pest and the Coronation Mass.

Further information: www.lisztmuseum.hu