Franz Liszt Bicentennial

October 22, 2011 will be the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hungarian pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor Franz Liszt (1811-1886). To celebrate his birthday, the Music Library has mounted an exhibit featuring materials from our special collections. On the second floor of the Music Library, you can see early editions of Liszt's compositions and arrangements, as well as a 19th-Century biography and an "artistic portrait" that imagines his daily life.

Additionally, there is a mini-exhibit of a recently-published graphic novel, Late Romantics, that features Lizst in historical fiction, along with vignettes about Saint-Saëns, Wagner, Berlioz, and Mussorgsky. Late Romantics was written and illustrated by Jack Phinney, Latham Luepke, and Ryan Duderstadt, who comprise Bearskunk Productions in Minneapolis. You can read the whole graphic novel here: http://bearskunk.com/comics/late-romantics/cover/.

Finally, the Library of Congress is celebrating Liszt's 200th birthday in a big way. Check out their Liszt site to look at some of his music manuscripts and listen to performances of his works in the National Jukebox: http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200187413/default.html.