 |
| Franz Liszt @ Musee Carnavalet |
Franz Liszt (1811-1886).
Hungarian virtuoso pianist, composer & arranger.
Son of: Adam Liszt, Hungarian musician
Liszt's physical appearance.
". . . In his youth, Liszt---slim, blond, aristocratic, volatile---was breathtakingly good-looking, and physically he was made of iron. His entrance on stage wafs enough to turn all the ladies' heads. . . ." (Great Pianists:168)
". . . In his youth, Liszt---slim, blond, aristocratic, volatile---was breathtakingly good-looking, and physically he was made of iron. His entrance on stage wafs enough to turn all the ladies' heads. . . ." (Great Pianists:168)
"Franz Liszt was quite tall in his generation, standing 6 feet 2 inches tall, long blonde hair, piercing sharp eyes, pianist's long narrow and delicate hands and fingers. His body build was very slend-wier." (Franz Liszt's Dangerous Love)
Liszt had many feminine friendships, but was not a vulgar gallant.
The feminine friendships of Franz Liszt gained for him as much notoriety as his music making. To the average public he was a compound of Casanova, Byron and Goethe, and to this mixture could have been added the name of Stendhal. Liszt's love affairs, Liszt's children, Liszt's perilous escapes from daggers, pistols and poisons were the subjects of conversation in Europe three-quarters of a century ago, as earlier Byron was both hero and black-sheep in the current gossip of his time. And as Liszt was in the public eye and ubiquitous — he travelled rapidly over Europe in a post-chaise, often giving two concerts in one day at different places — he became a sort of legendary figure, a musical Don Juan. He was not unmindful of the value of advertisement, so the legend grew with the years. That his reputation for gallantry was hugely exaggerated it is hardly necessary to add; a man who, accomplished as much as he, whether author, pianoforte virtuoso or composer, could have hardly had much idle time on his hands for the devil to dip into; and then his correspondence. He wrote or dictated literally thousands of letters. He was an ideal letter- writer. No one went unanswered, and a fairly good biography might be evolved from the many volumes of his correspondence. Nevertheless he did find time for much philandering, and for the cultivation of numerous platonic friendships. But the witty characterisation of Madame Plater holds good of Liszt. She said one day to Chopin: "If I were young and pretty, my little Chopin, I would take thee for husband, Ferdinand Hiller for friend, and Liszt for lover." This was in 1833, when Liszt was twenty-two years of age and the witticism definitely places Liszt in the sentimental hierarchy. La Mara, an indefatigable and enthusiastic collector of anecdotes about unusual folk, has just published a book, Liszt und die Frauen. It deals with twenty-six friends of Liszt and does not lean heavily on scandal as an attractive adjunct; indeed La Mara (Marie Lipsius) sees musical life through rose-coloured spectacles, and Liszt is one of her gods. For her he is more sinned against than sinning, more pursued than pursuer; his angelic wings grow in size on his shoulders while you watch. Only a few of the
ladies, titled and otherwise, mentioned in this book enjoyed the fleeting affection of the pianist-composer. Whatever else he might have been, Liszt was not a vulgar gallant. Over his swiftest passing intrigues he contrived to throw an air of mystery. In sooth, he was an idealist and romanticist. No one ever heard him boast his conquests. " (Franz Liszt: 34-35)
Liszt's lovers in chronological order.
". . . [A]ll Europe was agog over his love affairs. More or less in chronological order, there were Caroline de Saint-Criq, the Countess Adele Laprunarede, Marie d'Agoult, Marie Duplessis (the Lady of the Camellias, Marguerite Gautier, immortalized by Dumas and through him by Verdi in La Traviata), Lola Montez, Marie Pleyel, Maria Pawlowna (the Grand Duchess of Saxony)---but why go on? His last permanent liaison was with the Polish-born, cigar-smoking Princess Carolyn Sayn-Wittgenstein. . . ." (Great Pianists:168)
Liszt had many feminine friendships, but was not a vulgar gallant.
The feminine friendships of Franz Liszt gained for him as much notoriety as his music making. To the average public he was a compound of Casanova, Byron and Goethe, and to this mixture could have been added the name of Stendhal. Liszt's love affairs, Liszt's children, Liszt's perilous escapes from daggers, pistols and poisons were the subjects of conversation in Europe three-quarters of a century ago, as earlier Byron was both hero and black-sheep in the current gossip of his time. And as Liszt was in the public eye and ubiquitous — he travelled rapidly over Europe in a post-chaise, often giving two concerts in one day at different places — he became a sort of legendary figure, a musical Don Juan. He was not unmindful of the value of advertisement, so the legend grew with the years. That his reputation for gallantry was hugely exaggerated it is hardly necessary to add; a man who, accomplished as much as he, whether author, pianoforte virtuoso or composer, could have hardly had much idle time on his hands for the devil to dip into; and then his correspondence. He wrote or dictated literally thousands of letters. He was an ideal letter- writer. No one went unanswered, and a fairly good biography might be evolved from the many volumes of his correspondence. Nevertheless he did find time for much philandering, and for the cultivation of numerous platonic friendships. But the witty characterisation of Madame Plater holds good of Liszt. She said one day to Chopin: "If I were young and pretty, my little Chopin, I would take thee for husband, Ferdinand Hiller for friend, and Liszt for lover." This was in 1833, when Liszt was twenty-two years of age and the witticism definitely places Liszt in the sentimental hierarchy. La Mara, an indefatigable and enthusiastic collector of anecdotes about unusual folk, has just published a book, Liszt und die Frauen. It deals with twenty-six friends of Liszt and does not lean heavily on scandal as an attractive adjunct; indeed La Mara (Marie Lipsius) sees musical life through rose-coloured spectacles, and Liszt is one of her gods. For her he is more sinned against than sinning, more pursued than pursuer; his angelic wings grow in size on his shoulders while you watch. Only a few of the
ladies, titled and otherwise, mentioned in this book enjoyed the fleeting affection of the pianist-composer. Whatever else he might have been, Liszt was not a vulgar gallant. Over his swiftest passing intrigues he contrived to throw an air of mystery. In sooth, he was an idealist and romanticist. No one ever heard him boast his conquests. " (Franz Liszt: 34-35)
Liszt's lovers in chronological order.
". . . [A]ll Europe was agog over his love affairs. More or less in chronological order, there were Caroline de Saint-Criq, the Countess Adele Laprunarede, Marie d'Agoult, Marie Duplessis (the Lady of the Camellias, Marguerite Gautier, immortalized by Dumas and through him by Verdi in La Traviata), Lola Montez, Marie Pleyel, Maria Pawlowna (the Grand Duchess of Saxony)---but why go on? His last permanent liaison was with the Polish-born, cigar-smoking Princess Carolyn Sayn-Wittgenstein. . . ." (Great Pianists:168)
Liszt's romantic record.
"He seems to have had a lot of affairs in his life, someone found out that he had at least 26 serious relationships in his life (besides countless other affairs) but the only ladies he thought about marriage (sic) was with these two princesses, Marie D'Agoult (sic) and Carolyne Sayn Wittgenstein." (Franz Liszt's Dangerous Love)
Liszt, or the art of running after women.
"Friedrich Nietzsche's famous sobriquet, 'Liszt, or the art of running after women' is not entirely accurate. For one, Liszt never had the need to run after women because women were constantly running after him. In addition, virtuosity on the keyboard and in the sack became indispensable parts of his performance persona. . . . " (Liszt, or the Art of Running after Women!)
"He seems to have had a lot of affairs in his life, someone found out that he had at least 26 serious relationships in his life (besides countless other affairs) but the only ladies he thought about marriage (sic) was with these two princesses, Marie D'Agoult (sic) and Carolyne Sayn Wittgenstein." (Franz Liszt's Dangerous Love)
Liszt, or the art of running after women.
"Friedrich Nietzsche's famous sobriquet, 'Liszt, or the art of running after women' is not entirely accurate. For one, Liszt never had the need to run after women because women were constantly running after him. In addition, virtuosity on the keyboard and in the sack became indispensable parts of his performance persona. . . . " (Liszt, or the Art of Running after Women!)
Franz Liszt's "groupie".
"Mick Jagger was not the first musician to attract groupies. The lovers of Franz Liszt included Marie Duplessis, the high-class courtesan immortalized by Alexandre Dumas in La Dame aus Camelias; the outrageous Lola Montez, who danced naked at the unveiling of the Beethoven Memorial; Princess Cristina Belgiojoso; the poet Bettina von Arnim; the singer Karoline Unger; Princess Caroline Sayn-Wittgenstein; the actress Charlotte Hagn, who Liszt boasted was also mistress of two kings; the pianist and nymphomaniac Marie Pleyel; Countess Marie d'Agoult, his long-term and long-suffering maitresse en titre, and many, many more." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals:n.p,)
Portraits of Liszt and twenty-six ladies.
"La Mara shows to us twenty-six portraits in her Liszt and the Ladies; they include Princess Cristina Belgiojoso, Pauline Viardot-Garcia, Caroline Unger-Sabatier, Marie Camille Pleyel, Charlotte von Hagn, Bettina von Arnim, Marie von Mouchanoff-Kalergis, Rosalie, Countess Sauerma, a niece of Spohr and an accomplished harp player; the Grand Duchess of Saxony, Maria Pawlowna, and her successor, Sophie, Grand Duchess of Weimar, both patronesses of Liszt; the Princess Wittgenstein, Emilie Merian-Genast, Agnes Street Klindworth, Jessie Hillebrand Laussot, Sofie Menter, the greatest of his women pupils; the Countess Wolkenstein and Blilow, Elpis Melena, Fanny, the Princess Rospigliosi, the Baroness Olga Meyendorff (this lady enjoyed to an extraordinary degree the confidence of Liszt. At Weimar she was held in high esteem by him — and hated by his pupils), and Nadine Helbig — Princess Nadine Schahawskoy. Madame Helbig was born in 1847 and went to Rome the first time in 1865. She became a Liszt pupil and a fervent propagandist. Her crayon sketch drawing of the venerable master is excellent. In her possession is a drawing by Ingres, who met Liszt in Rome, 1839, when the pianist was twenty-eight years of age. We learn that Liszt never attempted "poetry" with the exception of a couplet which he sent to the egregious Bettina von Arnim. It runs thus, and it consoles us with its crackling consonants for the discontinuance of further poetic flights on the part of its creator: "Ich kraxele auf der Leiter Und komme doch nicht weiter." (Franz Liszt: 41-42)
 |
| Franz Liszt, 1856 @ Liszt Ferenc National Museum |
His lovers were:
1) Adele de Laprunarede, Duchesse de Fleury.
Lover in 1831-1833.
So young, so beautiful, so full of life & gaiety, so richly gifted.
"One of them, however, hung more firmly than the others. It came from the sparkling, witty, coquettish Comtesse Adele Laprunarede (nee de Chelerd), afterwards Duchesse de Fleury, who sought in the elegant circles of the Faubourg St. Germain to indemnify herself for the ennui she suffered in the country by the side of an already very elderly count, her husband; and she was still so young, so beautiful, so full of life and gaiety, so richly gifted!" (Franz Liszt, Artist and Man, 1811-1840, Volume2: 81-82)
"One of them, however, hung more firmly than the others. It came from the sparkling, witty, coquettish Comtesse Adele Laprunarede (nee de Chelerd), afterwards Duchesse de Fleury, who sought in the elegant circles of the Faubourg St. Germain to indemnify herself for the ennui she suffered in the country by the side of an already very elderly count, her husband; and she was still so young, so beautiful, so full of life and gaiety, so richly gifted!" (Franz Liszt, Artist and Man, 1811-1840, Volume2: 81-82)
"It was in the salons of the Faubourg St.-Germain that the young Liszt, hungry for whatever experiences life proffered, met the Countess Adele Laprunarede, who later became the Duchess de Fleury. She was young and beautiful and, like many women for her social station, was married to an aging and neglectful husband. Adele awoke a passion in Liszt, and he enjoyed his first extended love-affair with her. . . ." (Franz Liszt, Volume I: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847:n.p.)
"Before the affair began with the Countess d'Agoult, afterward the mother of his three children, Liszt enjoyed an interlude with the Countess Adele Laprunarede. It was the year of the revolution, 1830, and the profound despondency into which he had been cast by his unhappy love for Caroline was cured, as his mother sagely remarked, by the sound of cannon. He became a fast friend of Countess Adele and followed her to her home in the Alps, there, as he jestingly said, to pursue their studies in style in the French language. It must not be forgotten that the Count, her husband, was their companion. . . ." (Franz Liszt: 36)
 |
| Chateau Marlioz |
"Nor was young Liszt an innocent in carnal matters. Granting that his youthful passion for Caroline de Saint-Cricq was purity itself, his involvement with Adele de Laprunarede early in 1831 was a totally different matter. Their lengthy idyll at her Chateau Marlioz is all the more significant when one stops to realize that Franz was only nineteen at the time, while Countess Adele (1796-1886) was then thirty-four years old. A classic instance of the older married woman and the young stud, it was a part of Franz that Marie, herself six years his senior, could never forgive nor forget." (Liszt and His World: Proceedings of the International Liszt Conference. . .:21)
Husband cuckolded by the invited guest.
"The elderly Comte Laprunarede made the mistake of having the hot-blooded Hungarian as a house guest. They were snowed in and Liszt passed the time with the comte's 'sparkling, witty, young, beautiful' wife Adele. When he fled to Paris, he continued writing to her, something he would live to regret." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals:n.p,).
Husband's costly mistake.
". . . When the unsuspecting count announced that he and his wife were leaving for Paris on a long trip to their castle at Marlioz in the Swiss Alps, Liszt was invited to accompany them there. Surrounded by snow and ice, with the mountain roads impassable, Liszt and Adele were marooned in the Castle Marlioz for the whole of the winter of 1832-33, with the count's elderly sister as chaperone. So secret was this attachment that no one in Paris seems to have known about it until much later. . . ." (Franz Liszt, Volume I: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847:n.p.)
2) Adelheid von Schorn 1841-1916)
German writer.
Daughter of: Ludwig Schorn, German art historian & Henriette von Schorn, Freiin Stein zu Nord- und Ostheim. German writer
"The most recent contributions to Liszt literature are the letters between Franz Liszt and Carl Alexander, Archduke of Weimar; Aus der Glanzzeit der Weimarer Altenburg, by the fecund La Mara; and Franz Liszt, by August Gollerich, a former pupil of the master. To this we might add the little-known bundle of letters by Adelheid von Schorn, Franz Liszt et la Princesse de Sayn- Wittgenstein, (translated into French), a perfect mine of gossip. Miss von Schorn remained in Weimar after the princess left the Athens-on-the-Ilm for Rome and corresponded with her, telling of Liszt's doings, never failing to record new flirtations and making herself generally useful to the venerable composer. When attacked by his last illness at Colpach, where he had gone to visit Munkacszy, the painter, Miss von Schorn went to Bayreuth to look after him. There, at the door of his bed-chamber, she was refused admittance, Madame Cosima Wagner, through a servant, telling her that the daughter and grand-daughters of Franz Liszt would care for him. The truth is that Madame Wagner had always detested the Princess Wittgenstein and saw in the Weimar lady one of her emissaries. Miss Von Schorn left Bayreuth deeply aggrieved. After Liszt's death her correspondence with the princess abruptly ceased. She tells all this in her book. Even Liszt had shown her his door at Weimar several years before he died. He detested gossips and geese, he often declared." (Franz Liszt: 43)
3) Agnes Street-Klindworth.
4) Aurore Dupin, Baronne Dudevant (1804-1876)
4) Aurore Dupin, Baronne Dudevant (1804-1876)
French author.
With the Madame d'Agoult and Princess Wittgenstein episodes we are not concerned just now. So much has been written in this two- voiced fugue in the symphony of Liszt's life that it is difficult to disentangle the truth from the fable. La Mara is sympathetic, though not particularly enlightening. Of more interest, because of the comparative mystery of the affair, is the friendship between George Sand and Liszt. Naturally La Mara, sentimentalist that she is, denies a liaison. She errs. There was a brief love passage. But Liszt escaped the fate of De Musset and Chopin. Balzac speaks of the matter in his novel Beatrix, in which George Sand is depicted as Camille Maupin, the Countess d'Agoult as Beatrix, Gustave Planche as Claude Vignon, and Liszt as Conti. Furthermore, the D'Agoult was jealous of Madame Sand, doubly jealous of her as a friend of Liszt and as a writer of genius. Read the D'Agoult's novel, written after her parting with Liszt, and see how in this Nelida she imitates the Elle et Lui. That she hated George Sand, after a pretended friendship, cannot be doubted; we have her own words as witnesses. In My Literary Life, by Madame Edmond Adam (Juliette Lamber), she said of George Sand to the author : " Her lovers are to her a piece of chalk, with which she scratches on the blackboard. When she has finished she crushes the chalk under her foot, and there remains but the dust, which is quickly blown away." "How is it, my esteemed and beloved friend, you have never forgiven ?" sadly asked Madame Adam. " Because the wound has not healed yet. Conscious that I had put my whole life and soul into my love for Liszt she tried to take him away from me." One would suppose from the above that Liszt was faithful to Madame d'Agoult or that George Sand had separated the runaway couple, whereas in reality Liszt knew George Sand before he met the D'Agoult. What Madame Sand said of Liszt as a gallant can hardly be paraphrased in English. She was not very flattering. Perhaps George Sand was a reason why the relations between Chopin and Liszt cooled; the latter said: 11 Our lady loves had quarrelled, and as good cavaliers we were in duty bound to side with them." Chopin said: " We are friends, we were comrades." Liszt told Dr. Niecks: "There was a cessation of intimacy, but no enmity. I left Paris soon after, and never saw him again." It was at the beginning of 1840 that Liszt went to Chopin's apartment accompanied by a companion. Chopin was absent. On his return he became furious on learning of the visit. No wonder. Who was the lady in the case? It could have been Marie, it might have been George Sand, and probably it was some new fancy." (Franz Liszt: 38-39)
German writer, novelist & poet.
". . . Liszt's other friendship was with the formidable Bettina von Arnim, who had known both Goethe and Beethoven. Bettina was now fifty-seven years old and reflecting on her past life. Liszt had many conversations with her about these two men of genius and treasured her recollections of them." (Franz Liszt, Volume I: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847)
 |
| Caroline de Saint-Cricq |
6) Caroline de Saint-Cricq (1812-1872)
Lover in 1828.
Daughter of: Comte Pierre de Saint-Cricq & Jeanne-Clemence Lenain de Tillemont
Wife of: Bertrand d'Artigaux, mar 1830.
"Did Liszt ever love? It has been questioned by some of his biographers. His first passion, however, seems to have been genuine, as genuine as his love for his mother and for his children; he proved more admirable as a father than he would have been as a husband. In 1823 as "le petit Litz" he had set all musical Paris wondering. When his father died in 1827 he gave lessons there like any everyday pianoforte pedagogue because he needed money for the support of his mother. Among his aristocratic pupils was Caroline de Saint-Criq, the daughter of the Minister of Commerce, Count de Saint-Criq. It must have been truly a love in the clouds. Caroline was motherless. She was, as Liszt later declared, " a woman ideally good." Her father did not enjoy the prospect of a son-in-law who gave music lessons, and the intimacy suddenly snapped. But Liszt never forgot her; she became his mystic Beatrice, for her and to her he composed and dedicated a song; and even meeting her at Pau in 1844, just sixteen years after their rupture, did not create the disenchantment usual in such cases. Berlioz, too, sought an early love when old, and in his eyes she was as she always had been; Stendhal burst into tears on seeing again Angela Pietagrua after eleven years absence. Verily art is a sentimental antiseptic. Caroline de Saint-Criq had married like the dutiful daughter she was, and Liszt's heart by 1844 was not only battle-scarred but a cemetery of memories. She died in 1874. They had corresponded for years, and at the moment of their youthful parting, caused by a cruel and extremely sensible father, they made a promise to recall each other's names at the hour of the daily angelus. Liszt averred that he kept his promise. The name of the lyric he wrote for her is: "Je voudrais m'evanouir comme la pourpre du soir" ("Ich mochte hingehn wie das Abendrot")." (Franz Liszt: 34-35)
"As an integral part of the usual Liszt biography, a love affair with his pupil Caroline de Saint-Cricq must be mentioned, although documented evidence for this is less than meager. Traditionally Caroline has been described as nothing short of an angel come down to earth, without worldly desires of whatsoever kind. Besides, she was very beautiful and very rich. Liszt, who had not the least interest in those qualities, became her piano teacher in spring 1828 when he was 16 and she was 17. While talking exclusively of holy things, they quickly fell in love. Supported by Caroline's mother, they wanted to marry. Shortly afterwards, on June 30 or July 1, 1828, the mother died. Caroline's father, French Minister of Commerce in the government of Charles X, then acted as antagonist, showing Liszt the door. Caroline fell ill, and Liszt suffered a nervous breakdown. At age 19, i.e., in 1830, Caroline married one Bertrand d'Artigaux. Together with her husband, she moved to Pau in southern France. Unfortunately, no matter how touching the story is, until this day not a single author has given contemporary sources supporting it." (Wikipedia)
" . . . Caroline de Saint-Cricq was sixteen . . . when she met Liszt. He became her piano teacher, and the two quickly fell in love." (The Franz Liszt Compendium).
"Born in Hungary in 1811, Liszt planned to become a priest -- until he met the blue-eyed Caroline Saint-Cricq, the daughter of the Comte de Saint-Cricq. They were both sixteen, but he was a child prodigy and had taken her on as a pupil. However, when the comte found Liszt creeping out of his house at night, he married his daughter off to a nobleman." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals:n.p.)
"It was in Pau, near the Spanish frontier, that Liszt had a nostalgic reunion with Caroline de Saint-Cricq, the first love of his youth. . . He and Caroline had last seen one another in 1828, before her forced marriage to Bertrand Dartigaux. . . ." (Franz Liszt, Volume I: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847:n.p.)
Physical appearance & personal qualities: " . . . More ambiguity appears if we try to find out what this angelic young girl looked like. Some described her as a plain young girl with brown hair, a pale complexion and mauve eyes (e.g. Leon-Berard). Others (e.g. Pourtales, Haraszti, and Dumesni) describe her eyes as 'violet et tristes' and her figure as 'of slender frame and angelic beauty'. In 1855, Marie de Sayn-Wittgenstein, daughter of Liszt's partner Princess Carolyne, wrote the following: 'She was slender with a distinguished appearance, fine features but a face without vitality. She had dark eyes and black hair [...] the whole of her person was filled with the rigidity of someone who was covering up a deeply felt pain.' In his "letter from a traveler' to George Sand published in February 1837, Liszt compared her to alabaster. We shall probably never know, although a pale complexion and brown hair appear to be true according to the painting depicted in Burger's biography." (Meet Caroline de Saint-Cricq and her family)
7) Caroline Ungher.
Austro-Hungarian contralto.
" . . . In October 1893, they (Marie d'Agoult and Franz Liszt) officially dissolved their relationship and Franz went to the coastal town of Trieste for a sizzling reunion with an old idolized flame. The flame in question was the Austro-Hungarian contralto Caroline Unger, and their relationship dated back all the way to 1 December 1822. On that day, Franz gave his debut performance in the city of Vienna, sharing the stage with the then nineteen-year-old singer. Unger warbled an aria from Rossini's opera 'Demetrio e Polibio,' while Franz contributed the Hummer Converto in A minor and a free fantasy. . . . " (Resistance is Futile! Franz Liszt and Caroline and Eveline)
 |
| Charlotte von Hagn |
8) Charlotte von Hagn (1809-1891)
German actress
Daughter of: Karl von Hagn, German businessman & Josepha Schwab
Wife of: Alexander von Oven, German landowner, mar 1848, div 1851
"Twenty-one-year-old actress Charlotte von Hagn seduced him with a love poem. After she married, she wrote him saying, 'You have spoiled all others for me. No one can stand the comparison.' It did not matter to her that, at the time, she was sharing him with Bettina von Arnim, an intimate of both Beethoven and Goethe." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals:n.p.)
"Liszt's sojourn in Berlin was marked by close friendships with two women of distinction. One of them was Charlotte von Hagn, the finest actress in Germany and one of the great beauties of her time. A typical Bavarian, with blond hair and blue eyes, Charlotte was twenty-one years old. She spoke excellent French, and Liszt found in her a warm and delightful companion. Vulnerable to Liszt's chivalrous attentions, Charlotte scribbled a love-poem on the corner of her fan for him. Liszt carried it off and set the words to music. Seven years after their brief encounter, Charlotte, who was now married, wrote to Liszt, 'You have spoiled all other people for me. Nobody can stand the comparison.'. . . ." (Franz Liszt, Volume 1: The Virtuoso Years: 1811-1847: n.p.)
9) Charlotte Laborie.
10) Comtesse Wolkenstein and Bulow
11) Cristina Belgiojoso, Princessa Belgiojoso (1808-1871)
Italian aristocrat, patriot, writer & journalist.
Daughter of: Gerolamo Trivulzio & Vittoria Gherardini.
Wife of: Emilio Barbiano, Principe Belgiojoso.
"An Italian woman from an aristocratic Italian family, Cristina Trivulzio of Belgiojoso was also well-educated. She learned Latin, French, English and studied music and the arts. She even made a living by teaching music at one stage. Unlike Fuller, however, she was raised in the world of revolutionary politics. Her stepfather may have introduced her to the Italian struggle: he even went to jail for his politics." (Two Women of the Italian Risorgimento @ lifeiitaly)
Her other lovers were:
1. Francois Mignet
2. Pietro Bolognini.
"Cristina, born, Cristina Trivulzio, married prince Belgiojoso at only 16. The marriage was not happy because of his gambling and womanising. Although the prince eventually left his wife for another woman, they remained good friends and wrote to each other." (Two Women of the Italian Risorgimento @ lifeiitaly)
"Several years passed, and with the money sent by her mother and those recovered from her possessions, she finally resumed comfort in her life. She gradually organized a 'salon' where she reunited Italian exiles, writers, philosophers and musicians of the finest European upper class. In her salon someone just passed through and someone came more often. Among these, the German poet Heine, the Hungarian composer Liszt, the French poet De Musset. The Parisian elite began to know her. In the rumours around her, she practically divided men and women. The first loved her, the latter envied her. Few were the exceptions. The only true female friend she had in Paris was Mme Caroline Jaubert. Many men fell in love with her. She had black long hair, and a very fair complexion. The malicious used to say that she was so pale she could be a ghost. She took advantage of this, presenting herself in soft light clothes and in dark rooms and learned fast how to shock and amaze her guests. Caroline Jaubert presented to Cristina the famous French poet Alfred de Musset, which, as expected, fell madly in love with her. He certainly was not her kind of man. He was too close to her ex husband: too libertine and so not trustworthy. She had already learned the lesson ten years earlier with Emilio. De Musset, hopeless, published an unkind poem against her in the Revue de deux mondes. She didn't even considered (sic) it." (Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso: An Italian Princess in the 19th c. Turkish Countryside: 11)
9) Charlotte Laborie.
10) Comtesse Wolkenstein and Bulow
11) Cristina Belgiojoso, Princessa Belgiojoso (1808-1871)
Italian aristocrat, patriot, writer & journalist.
Daughter of: Gerolamo Trivulzio & Vittoria Gherardini.
Wife of: Emilio Barbiano, Principe Belgiojoso.
"An Italian woman from an aristocratic Italian family, Cristina Trivulzio of Belgiojoso was also well-educated. She learned Latin, French, English and studied music and the arts. She even made a living by teaching music at one stage. Unlike Fuller, however, she was raised in the world of revolutionary politics. Her stepfather may have introduced her to the Italian struggle: he even went to jail for his politics." (Two Women of the Italian Risorgimento @ lifeiitaly)
Her other lovers were:
1. Francois Mignet
2. Pietro Bolognini.
"Cristina, born, Cristina Trivulzio, married prince Belgiojoso at only 16. The marriage was not happy because of his gambling and womanising. Although the prince eventually left his wife for another woman, they remained good friends and wrote to each other." (Two Women of the Italian Risorgimento @ lifeiitaly)
"Several years passed, and with the money sent by her mother and those recovered from her possessions, she finally resumed comfort in her life. She gradually organized a 'salon' where she reunited Italian exiles, writers, philosophers and musicians of the finest European upper class. In her salon someone just passed through and someone came more often. Among these, the German poet Heine, the Hungarian composer Liszt, the French poet De Musset. The Parisian elite began to know her. In the rumours around her, she practically divided men and women. The first loved her, the latter envied her. Few were the exceptions. The only true female friend she had in Paris was Mme Caroline Jaubert. Many men fell in love with her. She had black long hair, and a very fair complexion. The malicious used to say that she was so pale she could be a ghost. She took advantage of this, presenting herself in soft light clothes and in dark rooms and learned fast how to shock and amaze her guests. Caroline Jaubert presented to Cristina the famous French poet Alfred de Musset, which, as expected, fell madly in love with her. He certainly was not her kind of man. He was too close to her ex husband: too libertine and so not trustworthy. She had already learned the lesson ten years earlier with Emilio. De Musset, hopeless, published an unkind poem against her in the Revue de deux mondes. She didn't even considered (sic) it." (Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso: An Italian Princess in the 19th c. Turkish Countryside: 11)
12) Elpis Melena
13) Emilie Genast (1833-1905)
14) Fanny, Princess Rospigliosi
15) Jessie Hillebrand Laussot
16) Lina Schmallhausen
17) Karoline von Sayn-Wittgenstein (1819-1887)
 |
| Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein & daughter Mary |
Wife of: Nikolaus zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Ludwigsburg, German author & amateur journalist
Lover in 1847.
First Encounter: "But in 1841, she was struggling with the demise of her marriage. And then she met Liszt---a man completely different from any she had known. Carolyne became the 'victim' . . . of what the French call coup de foudre, the thunderclap announcing love at first sight. Liszt must have appeared to her as the beau ideal out of every childhood novel she had ever read. She invited him to her estate at Woronice, the kind of invitation he was not inclined to refuse. He stayed for a few days. He told her they would meet again in Odessa. When they did so, in July of 1847, she curiously arrived with her estranged husband who appeared not displeased that Carolyne had found a 'friend.' . . ." (Franz Liszt, His Circle, and His Elusive Oratorio:101)
"Liszt reached a turning point in 1848. Already in 1842 the grand duke of Saxe-Weimar had invited him to become Kapellmeister Extraordinary at the Weimar court, and now (February 1848) Liszt settled down with his new mistress, the Polish princess Carolyne zu Sayne-Wittgenstein (1819-1887), to help turn the already distinguished city . . . into an 'Athens of the North.'" (Historical Dictionary of Romantic Music:339)
Karoline's personal & family background: "Carolyne was the only child of Pauline Podoska and Peter Iwanowski, a wealthy Polish landowner in the Ukrainian province of Podolia. Her parents separated while she was a child, and her mother, celebrated for her flamboyant beauty and charm, was given to traveling extensively through the courts of Europe and frequently took her daughter on these trips. Carolyne's father, by contrast, was an intellectual lover who spent his nights reading and writing, chain-smoking cigars in the vast library of his estate." (Franz Lisct, His Circle, and His Elusive Oratorio:100)
"Liszt reached a turning point in 1848. Already in 1842 the grand duke of Saxe-Weimar had invited him to become Kapellmeister Extraordinary at the Weimar court, and now (February 1848) Liszt settled down with his new mistress, the Polish princess Carolyne zu Sayne-Wittgenstein (1819-1887), to help turn the already distinguished city . . . into an 'Athens of the North.'" (Historical Dictionary of Romantic Music:339)
Karoline's personal & family background: "Carolyne was the only child of Pauline Podoska and Peter Iwanowski, a wealthy Polish landowner in the Ukrainian province of Podolia. Her parents separated while she was a child, and her mother, celebrated for her flamboyant beauty and charm, was given to traveling extensively through the courts of Europe and frequently took her daughter on these trips. Carolyne's father, by contrast, was an intellectual lover who spent his nights reading and writing, chain-smoking cigars in the vast library of his estate." (Franz Lisct, His Circle, and His Elusive Oratorio:100)
18) Lola Montez (1821-1861)
Irish dancer, actress & courtesan
Lover in 1844.
First Encounter: " . . . In 1844, she met and had an indiscreet affair with Franz Liszt, the Hungarian composer. When the affair died out, she decided to go to Paris." (Ozmore & Abernethy)
First Encounter: " . . . In 1844, she met and had an indiscreet affair with Franz Liszt, the Hungarian composer. When the affair died out, she decided to go to Paris." (Ozmore & Abernethy)
"More adventurous were Liszt's affairs with Marguerite Gautier, the lady of the camellias, the consumptive heroine of the Dumas play, as related by Jules Janin, and with the more notorious Lola Montez, who had to leave Munich to escape the wrath of the honest burghers. The king had humoured too much the lady's extravagant habits. She fell in love with Liszt, who had parted with his Marie in 1844, and went with him to Constantinople. Where they separated no one knows. It was not destined to be other than a fickle passion on both sides, not without its romantic aspects for romantically inclined persons. . . ." (Franz Liszt: 39-40)
Affair's end & aftermath: "At last Liszt (who had a reputation as the great lover of the age) was so completely worn out by Lola, that as she slept, he locked her in their hotel room and fled. At the front desk he left a generous sum of money for the furniture he knew she would smash when she awoke." (Abacom)
19) Mademoiselle de Barre
20) Madame F.
21) Maria Kalergis (1822-1874)
Polish noblewoman, pianist & patron of the arts.
22) Maria Pavlovna of Russia, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1786-1859)
Wife of: Karl Friedrich von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1783-1853), mar 1804.
23) Marie-Clotilde-Elisabeth-Louise de Riquet, Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau (1837-1890)
Daughter of: Michel-Gabriel-Alphonse-Ferdinand de Riquet, Prince de Chimay and Rosalie de Riquet de Caraman.
Wife of: Eugene-Arnould-Henri-Charles-Francois-Marie, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, mar 1860.
24) Marie Duplessis
French courtesan
Lover in 1845.
"Far from languishing in grief over either Dumas fils or Perregaux, Duplessis took one more lover still before she died, the composes and pianist Franz Liszt. What was to be the last was probably also her most passionate affair. . . And since she had already experienced what Liszt like to do with her at night and indeed seems to have liked it very much, what seems a generous offer is in reality a graceful expression of her own desire. " (Griffin, 2002, p. 218)
25) Marie d'Agoult (1805-1876)
Vicomtesse de Flavigny, Comtesse d'Agoult.
Lover in 1833-1844.
Daughter of: Alexander Victor Francois de Flavigny, an emigre French aristocrat & Maria Elisabeth Bethmann, a German banker's daughter.
Wife of: Charles Louis Constant d'Agoult, Comte d'Agoult (1790-1875), mar 1827, div 1835.
Natural offspring: Francesca Gaetana Cosima Liszt.
First encounter: "It was at a party in Chopin's apartment in early 1833 which Liszt attended with Berlioz that he fell in love with Countess Marie d'Agoult. It resulted in a relationship that would last more than ten years. They had met on earlier occasions . . . but for Liszt the spark of love only ignited in 1833. Being of a noble descent, Marie d'Agoult had less of a problem regarding the moral side of the aristocracy than Count Pierre de Saint-Cricq. She divorced her husband in August 1835 and joined Liszt on his famous Annees de Pelerinage travels through Europe. Their daughter Blandine was born in December 1835 in Geneva." (Meet Caroline de Saint-Cricq and her family)
Erotic affair: "As for their early years together in Paris, we need only recall a few aspects of them here. For one thing, even though we cannot be sure just when Franz and Marie first became physical lovers, we know that they had rented an apartment---the 'rat's hole'---for their private moments together. For another, their liaison was clandestine and far from a constant. It proceeded erratically by fits and starts. Months would pass without seeing each other. At times they felt guilty about their adulterous passion; at others, Marie became violently jealous of Liszt's past involvements, notably with Countess Adele, and humiliated him for them. Both, in fact, seemed to thrive on the emotional turbulence each other could stir within each other." (Liszt and His World: Proceedings of the International Liszt Conference. . .:22)
Affair's end & aftermath: "For Madame d'Agoult, the Lola Montes affair was the last straw: 'I am willing to be your mistress, but not one of your mistresses.' Having already hear too many stories of Liszt's adventures on tour, she asked that he spare her any more 'vulgar publicity.'" (Franz Liszt, His Circle, and His Elusive Oratorio:88)
Erotic affair: "As for their early years together in Paris, we need only recall a few aspects of them here. For one thing, even though we cannot be sure just when Franz and Marie first became physical lovers, we know that they had rented an apartment---the 'rat's hole'---for their private moments together. For another, their liaison was clandestine and far from a constant. It proceeded erratically by fits and starts. Months would pass without seeing each other. At times they felt guilty about their adulterous passion; at others, Marie became violently jealous of Liszt's past involvements, notably with Countess Adele, and humiliated him for them. Both, in fact, seemed to thrive on the emotional turbulence each other could stir within each other." (Liszt and His World: Proceedings of the International Liszt Conference. . .:22)
Affair's end & aftermath: "For Madame d'Agoult, the Lola Montes affair was the last straw: 'I am willing to be your mistress, but not one of your mistresses.' Having already hear too many stories of Liszt's adventures on tour, she asked that he spare her any more 'vulgar publicity.'" (Franz Liszt, His Circle, and His Elusive Oratorio:88)
Personal & family background: "The comtesse was born Marie Flavigny in Frankfurt-am-Main, daughter of a family known for its scandalous affairs. Seething with emotions, the young Marie was described as 'six inches of snow covering twenty feet of lave.' After completing her education at the Convent of the Sacre-Coeur in Paris, she plunged into a torrid love affair with the poet Alfred de Vigny. . . ." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals:n.p.)
Liszt's natural offspring with Marie d'Agoult: " . . . As to the children by Marie d'Agoult, since under nineteenth-century laws the male parent had absolute custodial rights, after the break, they were raised by Liszt's mother." (Franz Liszt, His Circle, and His Elusive Oratorio:88)
". . . Nevertheless, she produced three illegitimate children with Liszt. One daughter, Blandine, married the French politician Emile Ollivier, who took France into the catastrophic war with Prussia in 1870, and another, Cosima, married first Hans von Bulow and then Richard Wagner. . . ." (The Triumph of Music: Composers, Musicians and their Audiences, 1700 to the Present:n.p.)
26) Marie Pleyel (1811-1875)
Belgian pianist & nymphomaniac.
"Heinrich Heine ranked Pleyel among the mightiest piano virtuosos of the early nineteenth century. . . Since Pleyel was socially well connected . . . she was in all respects, on an equal footing with Franz Liszt. Apparently, the battle of supremacy was fought on a mattress in Chopin's apartment, who vigorously objected to this kind of athletic intrusion. In the end, Marie Pleyel outperformed Franz Liszt in this department as well, as he could only describe her as 'insatiable.' . . . . " (Liszt, or the Art of Running after Women!)
27) Nadejda Schakowskoy, Madame Helbig (1847-1922)
Russian princess, pianist, music patron & benefactor
" . . . A Russian princess, Madame Helbig moved to Rome in 1865, where she married the eminent German archaeologist Wolfgang Helbig and made friends with Liszt's mistress Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein. Liszt himself enjoyed her well-educated company during his numerous Roman stays, and offered her his precious teaching as well as the dedication of his transcription of Dargomyzkij's Tarantelle (R148)." (Istituto Liszt)
28) Olga Janina.
Lover in 1869.
28) Olga Janina.
Lover in 1869.
Olga's physical appearance & personal qualities: \"From the start Olga stood out from the others because of her dress and her bizarre behaviour. She wore a jacket and trousers, smoked cigars, and cut her hair short like a man. Contemporary photographs show that she was not endowed with good looks; indeed, she was downright plain, her face hard and masculine. . . ." (Franz Liszt: The Final Years, 1861-1866:11)
Personal & family background: "Olga's family name was Zielinski, and she was born around 1845, in Lemberg. Her parents were Ludwik Zielinski and Lopuszanska Sabina, and Olga had an older brother named Wladislaw. The family was reasonably wealthy, since her father had taken out a patent on the manufacture of an improved boot polish from which he had made money. . . ." (Franz Liszt: The Final Years, 1861-1866:172))
Spouses & children: ". . . In 1863, when she was in her eighteenth year, Olga married her first husband, Karol Janina Piasecki. The match was unhappy and she left him shortly afterwards, adopting his second name as her professional one because she thought it might project a better image. There was one child of the marriage, a daughter named Helene. . . . " (Franz Liszt: The Final Years, 1861-1866:172)
" . . . Probably the closest graze with hatred and revenge ever experienced by Liszt was the Olga Janina episode. Polish and high born, rich, it is said, she adored Liszt, studied with him, followed him from Weimar to Rome, from Rome to Budapest, bored him, shocked him as an abb£ and scandalised ecclesiastical Rome by her mad behaviour; finally she attempted to stab him, and, failing, took a dose of poison. She didn't die, but lived to compose a malicious and
clever book, Souvenirs d'une Cosaque (written at Paris and Karentec, March to September, published by the Libraire Internationale, 1875, now out of print), and signed "Robert Franz." Poor old Liszt is mercilessly dissected, and his admiring circle at Weimar slashed by a vigourous pen. In truth, despite the falsity of the picture, Olga Janina wrote much more incisively, with more personal colour and temperament, than did Countess d'Agoult, who also caricatured Liszt in her Nelida (as "Guermann"), and the good Liszt wrote to his princess: "Janina was not evil, only exalted." [I have heard it whis-
pered that the attempt on Liszt's life at Rome was a melodramatic affair, concocted by his princess, who was jealous of the Janina girl, with the
aid of the pianist's valet.] (Franz Liszt: 41)
Affair's end & aftermath: "Another cigar-smoking proto-feminist, the so-called 'Cossack Countess' Olga Janina fell for him in 1869. In fact, she was the daughter of a boot-polish manufacturer in Lemburg. When he dropped her, she achieved notoriety by publishing three highly fictionalized accounts of the affair. . . ." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals:n.p,)
29) Olga von Meyendorff (1838-1926)
Lover in 1863.
"But who was the Baroness Olga von Meyendorff and when did Liszt first become acquainted with her? Writing to Agnes Street-Klindworth on September 19, 1863 . . ., Liszt said: 'Among my few contacts whom I see less rarely that others I can mention . . . Baron Felix Meyendorff . . . (nephew of the [Russian] ambassador tp Berlin and Vienna [who] came to Rome from Stuttgart as first secretary of the embassy). He has, I believe, all the qualities necessary for an excellent career. His wife (one of the daughters of Prince Gortschakoff of Warsaw) joins to many other attractions a most original pianistic talent.' By 1867 Meyendorff had been appointed ambassador to the court of Weimar, and Liszt saw the couple in Germany that year (August 28) when his Elisabeth was performed at the Wartburg. Transferred to Karlsruhe in 1870, Meyendorff seemed to fulfilling the career Liszt had predicted, but he died suddenly, very early in 1871 (he was born in 1834), and his widow, with four sons, was left in a town that offered more novelty than comfort. She returned to Weimar where she had many friends and high social standing, and where Liszt was now returning every year to coach his group of 'first-class pianists.'" (The Letters of Franz Liszgt to Olga von Metendordd, 1871-1886: xiv-xv)
Personal & family background: "Olga's family name was Zielinski, and she was born around 1845, in Lemberg. Her parents were Ludwik Zielinski and Lopuszanska Sabina, and Olga had an older brother named Wladislaw. The family was reasonably wealthy, since her father had taken out a patent on the manufacture of an improved boot polish from which he had made money. . . ." (Franz Liszt: The Final Years, 1861-1866:172))
Spouses & children: ". . . In 1863, when she was in her eighteenth year, Olga married her first husband, Karol Janina Piasecki. The match was unhappy and she left him shortly afterwards, adopting his second name as her professional one because she thought it might project a better image. There was one child of the marriage, a daughter named Helene. . . . " (Franz Liszt: The Final Years, 1861-1866:172)
" . . . Probably the closest graze with hatred and revenge ever experienced by Liszt was the Olga Janina episode. Polish and high born, rich, it is said, she adored Liszt, studied with him, followed him from Weimar to Rome, from Rome to Budapest, bored him, shocked him as an abb£ and scandalised ecclesiastical Rome by her mad behaviour; finally she attempted to stab him, and, failing, took a dose of poison. She didn't die, but lived to compose a malicious and
clever book, Souvenirs d'une Cosaque (written at Paris and Karentec, March to September, published by the Libraire Internationale, 1875, now out of print), and signed "Robert Franz." Poor old Liszt is mercilessly dissected, and his admiring circle at Weimar slashed by a vigourous pen. In truth, despite the falsity of the picture, Olga Janina wrote much more incisively, with more personal colour and temperament, than did Countess d'Agoult, who also caricatured Liszt in her Nelida (as "Guermann"), and the good Liszt wrote to his princess: "Janina was not evil, only exalted." [I have heard it whis-
pered that the attempt on Liszt's life at Rome was a melodramatic affair, concocted by his princess, who was jealous of the Janina girl, with the
aid of the pianist's valet.] (Franz Liszt: 41)
Affair's end & aftermath: "Another cigar-smoking proto-feminist, the so-called 'Cossack Countess' Olga Janina fell for him in 1869. In fact, she was the daughter of a boot-polish manufacturer in Lemburg. When he dropped her, she achieved notoriety by publishing three highly fictionalized accounts of the affair. . . ." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals:n.p,)
29) Olga von Meyendorff (1838-1926)
Lover in 1863.
"But who was the Baroness Olga von Meyendorff and when did Liszt first become acquainted with her? Writing to Agnes Street-Klindworth on September 19, 1863 . . ., Liszt said: 'Among my few contacts whom I see less rarely that others I can mention . . . Baron Felix Meyendorff . . . (nephew of the [Russian] ambassador tp Berlin and Vienna [who] came to Rome from Stuttgart as first secretary of the embassy). He has, I believe, all the qualities necessary for an excellent career. His wife (one of the daughters of Prince Gortschakoff of Warsaw) joins to many other attractions a most original pianistic talent.' By 1867 Meyendorff had been appointed ambassador to the court of Weimar, and Liszt saw the couple in Germany that year (August 28) when his Elisabeth was performed at the Wartburg. Transferred to Karlsruhe in 1870, Meyendorff seemed to fulfilling the career Liszt had predicted, but he died suddenly, very early in 1871 (he was born in 1834), and his widow, with four sons, was left in a town that offered more novelty than comfort. She returned to Weimar where she had many friends and high social standing, and where Liszt was now returning every year to coach his group of 'first-class pianists.'" (The Letters of Franz Liszgt to Olga von Metendordd, 1871-1886: xiv-xv)
"In Weimar, Liszt spent time in the company of the Baroness Olga von Meyendorff, nee Gorchakova, a Polish woman whose husband had recently died, leaving her with four children in need of a surrogate father. The baroness, in her thirties, was in many ways similar to the younger Carolyne and, like Carolyne, became a confidante to whom Liszt constantly wrote letters." (Franz Liszt, His Circle, and His Elusive Oratorio:132)
"One of the most striking friendships of Liszt's later years was formed at this time, and we must say a few words about it here because of its special importance to the composer's private life. Baroness Olga von Meyendorff was the wife of Felix von Meyendorff, who had been appointed Russian ambassador to the court of Weimar in 1867. That was the year in which Liszt had become re-acquainted with the young couple, at the performance of his St. Elisabeth in the Wartburg, and he had predicted a brilliant career for the thirty-three-year-old diplomat. Not long afterwards, Meyendorff was transferred to Karlsruhe, where he died in January 1871, leaving behind his thirty-two-year-old widow and four small sons. Unable to bear the loneliness of her new situation, in a city that held little attraction for her, Olga moved back to Weimar with her family, primarily to be near Liszt, with whom she had meanwhile struck up a correspondence. Olga and Liszt remained intimate friends for the rest of his life. She often accompanied him on his travels on order to provide him the material comforts that his bachelor existence lacked. . . ." (Franz Liszt: The Final Years, 1861-1886:199)
30) Pauline Plater
". . . Among his early conquests was . . . Countess Pauline Plater. When (she) was asked to rank the three great pianists who had performed in her salon---Hiller, Chopin, and Liszt---she replied that Hiller would make the best friend, Chopin the best husband, and Liszt the best lover. The relative merit of their piano playing does not seem to have been her main concern." (The Triumph of Music: Composers, Musicians and their Audiences, 1700 to the Present:n.p.)
31) Pauline Viardot
French mezzo-soprano, pedagoue & composer.
32) Rosalie, Countess Sauerma
33) Sophie Menter
German pianist & composer
34) Sophie of the Netherlands, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar
35) Vera-Euphemie Didier.
