Franz Liszt

Liszt, Franz (1811–86), Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist who revolutionized keyboard technique. Director of music in Weimar, Germany, 1843–61, he later moved to Rome and took minor holy orders in 1865. His music includes 13 symphonic poems (a form he invented), symphonies such as Faust (1854), the Sonata in B Minor for piano (1853), Transcendental Studies for piano (1852); and 20 Hungarian rhapsodies. His daughter, Cosima, married Richard Wagner.