1 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:06,479 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Here is an episode from our ten episode 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:10,119 Speaker 1: playlist that we're calling Offbeat History. Yeah, we're adding this 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: to our our regular publishing schedule as one kind of 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,279 Speaker 1: big drop all at the same time on March nineteen, 5 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:19,599 Speaker 1: and that is so that you have maybe have a 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: little bit of extra entertainment options available to you, particularly 7 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: if you are self quarantined or sheltering a place. Welcome 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: to stuff you missed in History Class A production of 9 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 10 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: Crazy b Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. I have a 11 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 1: confession to make of a long holding jealousy. It's been 12 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: with me quite a while. I have always been jealous 13 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: of Sarah and Bablina having already covered the right of 14 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: Spring Riots on our podcast. The whole story is just 15 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: so weird. They already covered it back in twenty eleven, 16 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: so I've had my eye out for some other kind 17 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: of weird musical story to cover as like a sad 18 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: consolation prize. This is not a sad consolation prize. This 19 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: is actually awesome. It is about a musical mass hysteria 20 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: that is from the mid nineteenth century, and that is 21 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 1: list omania. Yeah, uh, it's delightful. I mean, there's no 22 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: way around it. I feel kind of sorry for the guy, 23 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:32,119 Speaker 1: but at the same time it's pretty great. So before 24 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 1: we start, as as often happens, I need a little note. 25 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: So today, the word mania definitely has psychological connotations, right, 26 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,479 Speaker 1: It's used to describe this excessively elevated mood or really 27 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: hyperactive mental state, and that can also extend into like 28 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: physical hyperactivity and other behaviors. And usually it's used this 29 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: way in the context of like bipolar disorder, other mental 30 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: and emotional disorders. And there are definitely folks who would 31 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: really prefer that the word mania be used to describe 32 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: more generally just being really excited or busy. But at 33 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: the time when the word list domania was coined, the 34 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: word mania was really a physical description, it was not 35 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: a psychological one. And so list romania was considered to 36 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: be a frantic and dangerous physiological response to being around 37 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:23,080 Speaker 1: Franz List. And so when we use the word mania 38 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: in today's show, that is the context that we're talking about. 39 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: All I can think of was all those shots of 40 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: the women in the crowd as the Beatles landed in America, 41 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: because it's very similar. Well, and to be honest, I 42 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:42,639 Speaker 1: saw the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops specifically do uh 43 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,919 Speaker 1: a whole night of the Beatles, and um, it was amazing. 44 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: I was. I was really there to see John Hodgman 45 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: do what's it called the the Introduction to Orchestra for 46 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: young people? Yea that. Yeah, it was hilarious and there 47 00:02:57,360 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: was a there was a narration through the whole thing 48 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: that talked about a long other things Beatlemania and I 49 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: had this movement where I was like, what if we 50 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:09,360 Speaker 1: did a podcast on beatle Maia And I couldn't figure 51 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: out a way to make that feel legitimate. So this 52 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: feels a lot more legitimate and also very fun. So 53 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: to give you a little bit of background and set 54 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: this up, Franz List was born in de Boreon, Hungary, 55 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: which is now Raiding Austria, although it is still referred 56 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: to as Devoreon if you speak Hungarian on October eighteen 57 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: eleven and de Boreon at the time was rather small. 58 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: It was basically a market town and most of the 59 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: people who lived there were both German speaking and ethnically 60 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: Hungarian or MegaR. List was the only child of Adam 61 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: Liszt and Anna Maria Lager. Adam List worked as a 62 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: clerk for Prince Nicholas esther Hazy, who was a musical 63 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: patron and at lists father was also an amateur musician 64 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: who could play several different instruments, including the cello and 65 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: the piano. Franz lists father had also spent two years 66 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: in the Franciscan Order, so Franz grew into a religiously 67 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: pretty devoted child. Lizz already showed a really distinct love 68 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: of music by the age of six, and his father 69 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 1: started to give him music lessons. Franz was just enormously talented, 70 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 1: and he really progressed in his musical study extremely quickly. 71 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: By the time he was nine, he was giving public 72 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: performances as a concert pianist, and after his first performance, 73 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: local big wigs actually donated money to fund the next 74 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: several years of his musical education. Soon his prodigious ability 75 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 1: outstripped the resources that were available in de Boreon, so 76 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 1: liszts father asked for an extended leave of absence from 77 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: his employer and took Franz to Vienna. There he studied 78 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: piano with Carl Cherney, who himself had studied with Ludwig 79 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: von Beethoven. Liszt also studied composition with Antonio Salieri, who 80 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: was much more famous for his relationship with and rival 81 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: lory with Mozart. Both of these two teachers were so 82 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: impressed with Liszt's talent that they refused to be paid 83 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 1: for their work with him. Franz's first public performance in 84 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: Vienna was in eighteen twenty two, so he would have 85 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,599 Speaker 1: been about eleven years old at this time, and he 86 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: was described as quote a little Hercules fallen from the clouds. 87 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 1: He started writing his own compositions that same year. The 88 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: next year, Franz met Ludwig von Beethoven for the first time, 89 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: and according to one possibly apocryphal account, Beethoven was so 90 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: charmed but he kissed him on the forehead. E three 91 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: was also the year that Lizt moved to Paris. This 92 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,839 Speaker 1: move was another one that was made so that he 93 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: could continue his studies with other musical masters, and while 94 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: the Paris Conservatory declined to admit him on the grounds 95 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:54,160 Speaker 1: that he was not French, check composer anton Russia and 96 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: Italian composer Fernando Pier taught him privately In addition to 97 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: his studies, he put on extensive public performances, and he 98 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: really started to develop quite a following. However, in eighteen 99 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,719 Speaker 1: six when he was fifteen years old, Franz's father died 100 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: suddenly of typhoid. His father had really been his primary 101 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: source of support during all of this musical training and performing, 102 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: Plus the boy was only fifteen years old. He had 103 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: not always had good health up until this point, and 104 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: this whole series of touring and studying had been really fatiguing. 105 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: After his father's death, Franz had to share a one 106 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: bedroom apartment with his mother, and, grieving and exhausted, he 107 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: turned to teaching piano to try to make a living. 108 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: He actually fell in love with one of his students. 109 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:45,480 Speaker 1: She's going to set a trend for his later life. 110 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,479 Speaker 1: When her father forced him to end their relationship, he 111 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: became so ill that newspapers printed obituaries for him. Afterward, 112 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: he retreated from public performance for almost four years, and 113 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: he spent most of this time time reading and teaching music. 114 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: He started to compose music again in eighteen thirty, following 115 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: the July Revolution in which King Charles the tenth was 116 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: overthrown and succeeded by Louis Philippe. In his mother's words quote, 117 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: the cannons cured him, and afterward he met several more 118 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: famous names in the musical world, including Hector Berlioz, Niccolo 119 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: Paganini and Frederic Chopin. Liszt met the married Comtesse Marie 120 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: Dagou in eighteen thirty three, when he was twenty two 121 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: years old. In spite of her being married, he fell 122 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: in love with her and they were to be together 123 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: for twelve years. They eventually had three children together. To 124 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: avoid the scorn of Parisian society over this affair with 125 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: a married woman, they left and spent the next four 126 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:50,559 Speaker 1: years traveling through Europe, including Switzerland, Italy, and other non 127 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: Paris parts of France. His travels and his love for 128 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: her started to inspire him to compose, and he wrote 129 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: a set of sweets for solo piano became the highly 130 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: praised A ned de Pillery Nag. Over the next few years, 131 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: lists reputation as a musician grew just dramatically. He gave 132 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 1: tours and performances and really made a name for himself 133 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: as a virtuoso composer and pianist, and as well as 134 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: an extremely charismatic and very expressive performer. He also became 135 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: known for being quite generous with his music and his time. 136 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:30,239 Speaker 1: He often taught people and also accepted official posts for free, 137 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: so he dealt all this without pay, and then he 138 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: would donate the proceeds from his concerts to charity. He 139 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 1: also developed a different reputation thanks to his behavior off stage. 140 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,079 Speaker 1: James Honaker's nineteen eleven biography, in chapter two, which is 141 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: called Aspects of his Art and Character, begins Lists and 142 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: the Ladies. It's like this is like the heading, so 143 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:58,880 Speaker 1: it's like one list and the ladies. The feminine friendships 144 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:02,320 Speaker 1: of Franz List aimed for him as much notoriety as 145 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: his music making to the average public. He was a 146 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 1: compound of Casanova, Byron and Geta, and to this mixture 147 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 1: could have been added the name of stenthow Lists, love affairs, lists, 148 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: children lists, perilous escape from daggers, pistols and poisons were 149 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: the subjects of conversation in Europe three quarters of a 150 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: century ago. As earlier, Byron was both hero and black 151 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: sheep in the current gossip of his time. Let's just 152 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: add to the subjects of conversation right now. He was 153 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: also extremely attractive. Like I'm having trouble picking out which 154 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: extremely attractive picture of Franz List should accompany our blog post, 155 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: in our show notes and and the episode itself, because 156 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: there are many. And he looks like he looks like 157 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,079 Speaker 1: the boy at your high school who was very sensitive 158 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: and soulful and wrote terrible poetry and made all of 159 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: the girls think that he was just so tragically attractive 160 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: like that, that's what he looked like. Yeah, he looks 161 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 1: like every guy in every um movie about teenage forlornness 162 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: as well that like, he's so beautiful, no one will 163 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:15,760 Speaker 1: ever understand him. Yep, I'm not I'm not kidding. He 164 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: is a pretty thing. I mean, he's very beautiful. So 165 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 1: basically this all meant that Bronze List was a nineteenth 166 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: century virtuoso piano rock star, and that's where this mania 167 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: comes in. We're going to talk about after a brief 168 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:47,199 Speaker 1: word from a sponsor. So to understand this mania that 169 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: erupted around Bronze List, let's start by talking about what 170 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: he was like in concert. Here is a description written 171 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: by Hans Christian Anderson of all people as Lists sat 172 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: before the piano, the first impression and of his personality 173 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,320 Speaker 1: was derived from the appearance of strong passions in his 174 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: land face, so that he seems to me a demon 175 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,880 Speaker 1: nailed fast to the instrument. Whence his tones streamed forth. 176 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 1: They came from his blood, from his thoughts. He was 177 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: a demon who would liberate his soul from the thralldom. 178 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: He was on the rack. His blood flowed and his 179 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: nerves trembled. But as he continued to play, so the 180 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:29,439 Speaker 1: demon vanished. I saw that pale face assume a nobler 181 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: and brighter expression. The divine soul shone from his eyes, 182 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:38,319 Speaker 1: from every feature, he became as beauteous as only spirit 183 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: and enthusiasm can make their worshippers. Really, Liz had been 184 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: breaking new ground in his concert performances. It was not 185 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: at this point common for just a man and a 186 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: piano to have a whole stage to himself, But Liz 187 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: did basically invent this sort of recital as a performance format, 188 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,080 Speaker 1: and it definitely wasn't common for someone to play the 189 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: piano like a demon turned divine. The whole performance was 190 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: so enormously expressive and a motive, and the audience tended 191 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: to really just get caught up in it. On top 192 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,080 Speaker 1: of that, was played with the piano in profile so 193 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: that people could see his face while he played, and 194 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:20,560 Speaker 1: he would whip his kind of longish hair around as 195 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: he was playing, which was very striking. He also played 196 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 1: all of his music from memory, which a lot of 197 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: other musicians of the day thought was extremely rude, especially 198 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: when you were playing work that someone else had written, 199 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: which could make people think that you had actually written 200 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: it yourself. On December one, Franz Liszt played the first 201 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 1: concert in what would be a ten week tour of Germany, 202 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: and the audience was overcome. Women shrieked and swooned, and 203 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: there was a general atmosphere of rapturous chaos and from 204 00:12:55,520 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 1: the men jealousy. I got weirder from there. People started 205 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,079 Speaker 1: wearing lockets and brooches that had his face on them, 206 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: which is not that weird. I mean, it's not that 207 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:08,199 Speaker 1: much different from having a T shirt with your favorite 208 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:14,199 Speaker 1: boy band face on it. Women, however, started carrying vials 209 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,440 Speaker 1: with them in case From's list walked away from some 210 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: night not quite empty cup of coffee, so they could 211 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: like spirit away the unconsumed dregs of his coffee and 212 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 1: then carry it around with them in that vial. People 213 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: scavenged his old coffee grounds and cigar butts. Also, there's 214 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,520 Speaker 1: even one story of a lady in waiting having one 215 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: of his discarded cigar butts encased in a locket that 216 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: had his initials and jewels on the front. I love it. 217 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: I mean that one makes perfect sense to me. Do 218 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: you remember that Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton were 219 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: walking around with vials of one another's blood? Yes, it 220 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: was like that, I get it. Women would literally attack 221 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: list when this mania was going on, so they would 222 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:03,680 Speaker 1: tear off parts of his clothes, They would try to 223 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: snip pieces of his hair, and they would fight one 224 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: another for their spoils. He'd throw gloves and handkerchiefs into 225 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,720 Speaker 1: the audience after performances, and the scene would devolve into fisticuffs, 226 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: sometimes with the articles that people were fighting over being 227 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: torn to bits in the process. His manner of playing 228 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: the piano was also very prone to breaking strings, and 229 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 1: women would scavenge those broken springs also and then make 230 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 1: them into bracelets, which is one of the last weird 231 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: parts of all of them. I love that. I love 232 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: a little crafty fandom and yes, in case you're wondering, 233 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 1: there are reports of women throwing their garments onto the stage, 234 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: including their undergarments, although this is disputed as to whether 235 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: or not its factor fancy. So although most of the 236 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: list Domania behavior has attributed to women, men definitely did 237 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: get on the action too, some of them in their 238 00:14:57,320 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: own excitement and some of them in the form of 239 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 1: fighting one another in fits of jealousy. It was poet 240 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: and journalist Heinrich Heina who coined the word Liz dominy 241 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:11,600 Speaker 1: on April four, at which point Liz had actually moved 242 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 1: on to Paris. And at first Hina actually thought this 243 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: whole phenomenon was a result of social and legal expectations 244 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: in Germany. It was culturally more reserved than Paris, with 245 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: a more stringent law enforcement. So his supposition was that 246 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: people were taking this opportunity to legally blow off steam 247 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 1: where they could. But then Franzist came to Paris, where 248 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: people were a lot freer, there was a lot more 249 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: social wiggle room. The exact same thing happened, uh, and 250 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 1: he wrote quite a lot about it. We're not going 251 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: to read all of it, but we are going to 252 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: read kind of a lengthy bit of Heina's description, which 253 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:53,440 Speaker 1: goes strange. Thought, I these Parisians who have seen Napoleon, 254 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: who had to win one battle after another to hold 255 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: their attention, Now they're claiming our franz List, And what 256 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 1: in acclaim it was a veritable insanity, one unheard of 257 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,040 Speaker 1: in the annals of fur. Or what is the reason 258 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: of this phenomenon? The solution of this question belongs to 259 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:16,960 Speaker 1: the domain of pathology rather than that of esthetics. A 260 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: physician whose specialty is female diseases, and whom I asked 261 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: to explain the magic our list exerted upon his public, 262 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: smiled in the strangest manner, and at the same time 263 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: said all sorts of things about magnetism, galvinism, electricity, of 264 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: the contagion of a close haul filled with countless wax 265 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: lights and several hundred perfumed and perspiring human beings, of 266 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: historical epilepsy, of the phenomenon of tickling, of musical canthriades, 267 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: and other scabbarous things which I believe have reference to 268 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: the mysteries of the bonadilla. Perhaps the solution of the 269 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: question is not buried in such adventurous depths, but float 270 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 1: on a very prosaic surface. It seems to me at 271 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:06,800 Speaker 1: times that all this sorcery may be explained by the 272 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 1: fact that no one on earth knows, uh knows so 273 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: well how to organize his successes or raise their mais 274 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,680 Speaker 1: en as our franz List in this art he is 275 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:22,639 Speaker 1: a genius. As we said at the top of the show, 276 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 1: the medical establishment thought this was a contagious, dangerous physical 277 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,680 Speaker 1: syndrome that could actually be passed from one overwrought lady 278 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 1: to another. They feared an epidemic. So basically, people have 279 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: been pathologizing young women being really excited about music for 280 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: almost a hundred and seventy five years. That wasn't new 281 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:46,199 Speaker 1: with the Beatles, No, not new with any boy bands 282 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,200 Speaker 1: since then, all the way back to franz List, maybe 283 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:52,960 Speaker 1: even before. It's possible that there were similar stories and 284 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: other cultures. All of the resources I had in my 285 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 1: disposal were about like the Western musical tradition. Yeah, who knows, 286 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:04,120 Speaker 1: so actually this whole thing kind of plagued franz List. 287 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: Other musicians were absolutely appalled at the audience's behavior, including 288 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,959 Speaker 1: really famous names like Chopin and Schumann and Mendelssohn. A 289 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:16,359 Speaker 1: lot of people in the musical world really started to 290 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: dislike frands List based on what they saw is this vulgar, 291 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: needless hero worship that was undecorous and dangerous. And lists 292 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,960 Speaker 1: own correspondence sounds vaguely baffled at this pattern. I mean, 293 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: he was obviously doing some things to encourage it, like 294 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: on purpose throwing gloves and handkerchiefs into the audience, but 295 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:40,200 Speaker 1: he really still didn't seem to quite fathom the extent 296 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: of everybody's intensity. But just like Beatlemania, Spice Girlmania and 297 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:51,280 Speaker 1: beaber Fever, it eventually subsided. We're going to talk about 298 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:52,919 Speaker 1: that some more after we have a quick word from 299 00:18:52,960 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: one of our fabulous sponsors. So to get to the 300 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:06,399 Speaker 1: end of list Domania and the end of frons lest life, 301 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:12,119 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty seven, List met Princess Caroline's son, Wittgenstein, 302 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: and he met her in Kiev and they started a relationship, 303 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:20,439 Speaker 1: and she, like his previous long term love affair, was married. 304 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: The princess wanted him to stop touring and settle down 305 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: and focus on teaching and composing instead, and so while 306 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 1: he and the previous his previous love interest, the contests 307 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 1: had needed to escape Paris and Scandal. Instead, List was 308 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:41,000 Speaker 1: installed in the Princess's estates. His last paying concert was 309 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:44,119 Speaker 1: in September of that year and he was thirty five. 310 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,160 Speaker 1: At the age of thirty seven, he accepted the permanent 311 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,679 Speaker 1: post of Kappameister, basically the person in charge of music 312 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:54,879 Speaker 1: for the Grand Duke of Weimar. This position came with 313 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,640 Speaker 1: a royal benefactor, Carl Alexander, to be his patron, so 314 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: he had the financial and social backing to just continue 315 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,880 Speaker 1: his own work. Liz moved to Weimar and the Princess 316 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 1: later joined him there. In addition to his ongoing teaching 317 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 1: and composition, Lists started trying to create new musical forms, 318 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: the most famous of these with the symphonic poem, which 319 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,440 Speaker 1: is a musical piast that's meant to evoke or illustrate 320 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:23,120 Speaker 1: a story or a piece of visual art. These compositions 321 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: were really groundbreaking, and they attracted more music students who 322 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 1: wanted to learn from him. He dedicated most of his 323 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:33,440 Speaker 1: music around this time to the Princess Caroline, and while 324 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:36,440 Speaker 1: in Weimar, Lisz wrote what's considered to be his most 325 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: accomplished symphonic work in faul Symphony or Faus Symphony This 326 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:45,240 Speaker 1: is essentially a series of interconnected symphonic poems based on 327 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 1: Johann Wolfgang van gets tragic play. Faust Geta and Schiller 328 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:53,399 Speaker 1: had both lived in Weimar, and Liz drew musical inspiration 329 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: from their literary work. His post as Capitalmeister also meant 330 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: that Liz was responsible for can afacting the Vimar Orchestra, 331 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,360 Speaker 1: and in doing so he really revolutionized what it meant 332 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,680 Speaker 1: to conduct. Up until that point, the conductor was basically 333 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:10,520 Speaker 1: a human metronome. He made sure that all of the 334 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,200 Speaker 1: orchestra played in time with one another and that nobody 335 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 1: missed their cues, but List added gestures and expressions and 336 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: an emotive physical presence to guide what the orchestra should 337 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 1: sound like in the shape of the playing itself. And 338 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 1: this is pretty much taken for granted in the field 339 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: of conducting an orchestra today. That's how it works. At 340 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: the end of the eighteen fifties, life became more difficult 341 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: for Lizz. He resigned his post and romer in eighteen 342 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:38,760 Speaker 1: fifty nine, and at that point two of his children 343 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: also died, one in that same year that he resigned, 344 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 1: and then another a few years later in eighteen sixty two. 345 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: He also got caught up in a musical feud known 346 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 1: as the War of the Romantics, and this pitted the 347 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:55,440 Speaker 1: more romantically inclined musicians list in Richard Wagner against the 348 00:21:55,480 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: more conservative, classically inclined traditionalist faction of Rob Schumann, Felix Mendelsohn, 349 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,159 Speaker 1: and Johannes Brahms. This was basically a dispute between the 350 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:09,160 Speaker 1: more avant garde musical scene and the composers who drew 351 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: their influence from past masters like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. 352 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:18,679 Speaker 1: This association with Wagner also meant that Liz developed a 353 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: reputation for having anti Semitic views, but their significant dispute 354 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: about whether quotations that were attributed to him in this 355 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:31,120 Speaker 1: area of thought were accurate or they were not. Yeah, 356 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:35,400 Speaker 1: at this point, Wagner is kind of notoriously anti Semitic 357 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 1: in his views, but I had a hard time confirming 358 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 1: exactly what lists views were. So as this whole musical 359 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 1: schism was going on, Lists moved to Rome, where the 360 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: Princess Caroline had gone to try to get her previous 361 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:54,160 Speaker 1: marriage annulled by the Pope. She Enlist hopes to get 362 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,199 Speaker 1: married but her annulment did not go through, so they 363 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,720 Speaker 1: did not and at this point Liszt turned away from 364 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,199 Speaker 1: a lot of the world. In eighteen sixty three he 365 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,880 Speaker 1: moved to an apartment at a monastery outside of Rome, 366 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,200 Speaker 1: and two years later, in eighteen sixty five, he cut 367 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:11,679 Speaker 1: his hair in a tonsure, so that's the shaving of 368 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,000 Speaker 1: the middle part of the scalp that leaves a ring 369 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: of hair around it. At this point, he took holy 370 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,439 Speaker 1: orders that same year, and he pursued an extensive study 371 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,919 Speaker 1: of theology with the hope of joining the clergy, and 372 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,520 Speaker 1: although he was never ordained, he did become an abbot 373 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:29,680 Speaker 1: and he produced a number of religiously themed musical works. 374 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:34,040 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy, List returns to Hungary to visit, and 375 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:37,160 Speaker 1: while he was away from Rome, Victor Emmanuel the Second 376 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: attempted to unify all the Italian states and essentially laid 377 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: siege to Rome. Since he couldn't return, List remained in 378 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,880 Speaker 1: Hungary and accepted a post at the Royal National Hungarian 379 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 1: Academy of Music in Budapest and today this is the 380 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:54,480 Speaker 1: Franz List Academy of Music. For the last fifteen years 381 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: of his life, List divided his time among Budapest, Weimar 382 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: and Rome. He can need to teach extensively and cultivated 383 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,920 Speaker 1: the idea of a master class, and that's an idea 384 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,640 Speaker 1: that's continued to be part of musical and other artistic 385 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 1: education today. He taught these demonstration based classes, he being 386 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: the master, of course, for free. He struggled with depression 387 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: and failing health towards the end of his life, and 388 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,800 Speaker 1: he died in Germany on July thirty one, eight six. 389 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: By then, he had composed about fourteen hundred works. Although 390 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,680 Speaker 1: he's pretty universally recognized as a virtuos piano player as 391 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: well as for his contributions to the art of conducting 392 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,560 Speaker 1: and the idea of symphonic poems, there are still people 393 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:43,680 Speaker 1: that argue that his skill as a composer was all hype. Yeah. 394 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,639 Speaker 1: I found several articles that were like, fri list, Was 395 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,399 Speaker 1: he really any good? I don't think so. That's always 396 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: the case with avant garde folks though, right well, And 397 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,040 Speaker 1: it's also the case with excessively pretty, selful looking people 398 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: who acquire an overly excited base of fans that like 399 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,480 Speaker 1: to scream a lot, right. I mean, you could say 400 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: that of any person in the arts or anything really weird, 401 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: like if they have really rabid fans, there's always gonna 402 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: be a kickback of like, no, they're not worth all 403 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:20,160 Speaker 1: of that, even if they are super talented and amazing, right, 404 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: people say that about the Beatles, and there it's like, 405 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,320 Speaker 1: there are plenty of arguments you can make about the 406 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,920 Speaker 1: Beatles and what their influences are and whether this influence 407 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,239 Speaker 1: should have gotten more attention, and whether all of their 408 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,199 Speaker 1: work is really great. But really, seriously, you can't just 409 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 1: dismiss the entirety of the Beatles because ladies were screaming 410 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: about them. Yeah, so they're also this whole phenomenon spawned 411 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,439 Speaker 1: a weird rock opera about from List in the nineteen 412 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:49,240 Speaker 1: seventies that was called list Domania. And there's also a 413 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:51,640 Speaker 1: song and album by the band Phoenix that became very 414 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: popular more much more recently. Um, if you want to 415 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: read all kinds of primary sources about promp Fronz List, 416 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: the Library Congress has a whole bunch of them. A 417 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: bunch of them are on the web. Pretty awful. Thank 418 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: you so much for joining us today for this classic. 419 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: If you have heard any kind of email address or 420 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,399 Speaker 1: maybe a Facebook you are l during the course of 421 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 1: the episode. That might be obsolete. It might be doubly 422 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,439 Speaker 1: obsolete because we have changed our email address again. You 423 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,359 Speaker 1: can now reach us at History podcast at i heart 424 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:29,440 Speaker 1: radio dot com, and we're all over social media at 425 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 1: missed in History and you can subscribe to our show 426 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,879 Speaker 1: on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the I heart Radio app, 427 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:41,920 Speaker 1: and wherever else you listen to podcasts. 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