INTERVIEW #23

 Good news everyone!

Today is Franz Liszt's birthday* He is 212 years old.

To celebrate we've asked The Music Curmudgeon to talk with Franz to see how he's going.

THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON: Hello Franz and happy birthday.

FRANZ LISZT: Thanks The Music Curmudgeon. It's not really my birthday today but I like having parties so I'll take another ha, ha. By the way, can I call you TMC? You can call me Franz - it saves all that typing.

TMC: Sure thing Franz. I've heard that you're a bit of a party animal. You sort of set the bar high for later musicians.

FRANZ: Mmmm, what goes on tour stays on tour TMC.

TMC: Well, given that you spent 12 years touring Europe, the first four with Countess Marie d'Agoult, I'm sure that you have a lot of stories to tell - especially those about your romping with Maria ....

FRANZ: Now hold it right there TMC, Maria was a love of mine and we had three children together.

TMC: Sorry Franz, I didn't mean to be disrespectful.

FRANZ: That's OK - she was pretty hot you know.

TMC: Hubba hubba ... I found this pic of her on the internet:

FRANZ: Yeah, I took that photo. She was a great looking woman even though she was a bit older than me.

TMC: I've heard Franz, that older women took a fancy to you as you were no slouch in the hot looks department yourself.

FRANZ: Well, I couldn't possibly say.

TMC: You couldn't? Oh well ....

FRANZ: ..... umm, but you're right. I was smoking back in the day.

TMC: Whooee! Rockstar!

FRANZ: Yes, I did have a certain popularity with the ladies.

TMC: C'mon Franz - you were the original groupie magnet. You were the original megastar who women threw their knickers at. Jerry Lee Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, The Beatles and the rest weren't in the same league as you.

FRANZ: Well, it is true that I used to have to travel with many extra luggage trunks to hold all the ...er, women's undergarments in. The customs guys must have wondered what was going on.

TMC: Hans Christian Anderson, at the time described you as " a "slim young man with dark hair hung around his pale face". He saw you as handsome as did Heinrich Heine, the German poet who wrote:  "How powerful, how shattering was his mere physical appearance".

FRANZ: Ha ha - yes, it wasn't only the women who threw their knickers at me but I didn't keep those old ponces' underpants.

TMC: My research shows me that you often appeared three or four times a week in concert and that you might have appeared in public well over a thousand times during this  later eight-year period. 

FRANZ: Yeah, it was exhausting.

TMC: Ha, ha - I'm sure. And all that concert playing must have ben hard as well.

FRANZ: You are a very naughty fellow TMC, but yes the lifestyle was draining. Being a youngish single bloke I did kind of spread the old oats about a bit and so retired from touring at a relatively early age.

TMC:  You're being modest Franz. I'm led to believe that the reception that you enjoyed, can be described only as hysterical. Women fought over your silk handkerchiefs and velvet gloves, which they ripped to shreds as souvenirs. This atmosphere was fuelled in great part by your mesmeric personality and stage presence. Many witnesses later testified that your playing raised the mood of audiences to a level of mystical ecstasy.

FRANZ: Well, they did get a bit carried away.

TMC: Carried away? Heinrich Heine called it Lisztomania! Not this: 

FRANZ: Yeah, that was pretty horrible, as was that godawful Ken Russell film: 

TMC: The cost of being famous eh?

FRANZ: Yeah. I got sick of it after a while and, as I said, settled down in my late 30s. I even flirted with religion - Catholicism for a while but then just concentrated on my music.

TMC: I've heard that you had a few nice tunes.

FRANZ: Um thanks .... I think. Yes I did bang out the odd good one.

TMC: Like this?

FRANZ: That's nice but I was more banging out stuff like this:

TMC: Oh, OK .... (he does go on a bit) ... That's good but that's all we've got time for.

FRANZ: That's a shame. I was hoping to tell you about my other compositions - my 12 symphonic poems, two (completed) piano concerti, several sacred choral works, and a great variety of solo piano pieces. ..... umm .... ..

..... what's this TMC?

TMC: My underpants. Enjoy!

FRANZ: Eeeew!

* Well, almost. He was born on 22 October 1811