Franz Liszt was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher.
Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age, and in the 1840s he was considered by some to be perhaps the greatest pianist of all time. Liszt was also a well-known and influential composer, piano teacher and conductor. He was a benefactor to other composers, including Wagner, Berlioz, Grieg and Borodin.
Liszt was a prolific composer. He is best known for his piano music, but he wrote extensively for many media. Because of his background as a technical piano virtuoso, Liszt's piano works are often marked by their difficulty.
As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the ‘Neudeutsche Schule’ (‘New German School’). He left behind an extensive and diverse body of work in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated some 20th-century ideas and trends.