Franz Liszt’s Contacts with Croatian Musicians and Dignitaries

Abstract

One of the stops on Liszt’s »small European tour« was the concert in Zagreb, which Franz Liszt gave on 27 July 1846. His sojourn was remembered mostly after the interpretation of the Croatian musicologist Franjo Ksaver Kuhač (1834−1911) in his article Reminiscences of Dr Franz Liszt, published in 1908, where he insisted on a strong political implication of the Croatian situation at that time. Here some corrections have been presented concerning Liszt’s sojourn and the programme of the concert. However, Croatian musicians and members of the nobility used to travel throughout Europe, so their paths crossed with Liszt’s routes. Other encounters of Franz Liszt with Croatian musicians occurred in Aachen, with the pianist, composer and conductor Carl von Turányi (1805-1873) from Osijek in 1857, and in Rome with the 14-year-old violin virtuoso Franjo Krežma (1862-1881) from Osijek in 1876. One of his pupils was, allegedly, Kuhač himself. Liszt was also acquainted with Croatian aristocratic families Sermage, Vranyczany and Buratti in Zagreb and Rome, and the contacts of Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815-1905; also from Osijek) were more intense, not linked only to Liszt, but also to Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Keywords

• Franz Liszt
• Franjo Ksaver Kuhač
• Dragutin/Carl von Turányi
• Franjo Krežma
• Sermage
• Vranyczany