Franz Liszt - The Pilgrimage Years

This documentary attempts to recount the extraordinary, highly eventful life of the great Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886), with particular emphasis on his relation with Italy and with Italian art and culture. Although the whole of his life is covered, special attention is given to his first visit to Italy (1837-39), when Liszt conceived a great part of his most important compositions: the two Concertos for piano and orchestra, the Totentanz, the Transcendental Studies, the Dante Sonata. Furthermore, it was in Italy that Liszt invented the recital, and it was Italy that marked the beginning of his grand international tour that was to transform him into the first “rock-star” ante litteram.