Liszt House VIRTUOSO AND PEDANT

Liszt House VIRTUOSO AND PEDANT

The view of the music salon of the Liszt-Haus in Marienstraße is fascinating, as the original interior has been preserved - including the legendary Bechstein grand piano. One feels Franz Liszt would come just around the corner to take a seat on this instrument and to perform one of his virtuoso pieces.

In this salon, the famous Weimar composer had his regular Sunday matinees performed between 1869 and 1886. And here he received his international student crowd for piano lessons - but only during the summer months, the rest of the time he commuted between Rome and Budapest.

He was not only a demanding teacher, he also led a highly organized life with a tightly regulated daily routine. While living and working rooms were preserved, bedrooms and dining rooms were later reconstructed. The servants' room of Liszt's valet Fortunato can also be visited.

The historic rooms are complemented by a permanent exhibition on the ground floor of the life and work of the Weimar musician. And it is not only in Liszt's time that music was played in this house, even today music is in the air when you enter the venerable building - especially from April to July and September to October.

Then, on the first Mondays at 12 noon and at 1pm, concerts take place on the original Bechstein grand piano, presented by students of the Hochschule für Musik (College of music). There is also an auditorium containing a changing music program with piano pieces and organ works by Liszt twice a day.

By the way: until 1918 Weimar court gardeners lived in the ground floor, because the building was originally built as a grand ducal Court gardener house in the park on the Ilm. In 2005, the International FRANZ LISZT Piano Competition for Young Pianists was launched, which takes place annually between Bayreuth and Weimar.

Would you like to get to know more original locations of the Weimar Classic? Then take a look around in these museums: Goethe's residence with the National Museum, the home of Friedrich Schiller, Castle Museum, Duchess Anna Amalia Library and the sites of the Bauhaus. They are all part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Thuringia.