Life of Franz Liszt - Origin

Origin

Franz Liszt was born on October 22, 1811, in the village of Raiding (Hungarian: Doborján) in the Kingdom of Hungary, then part of the Habsburg Empire (and since 1920 also part of Austria), in Sopron County (German: Ödenburg). Liszt was the only child of Adam Liszt and Anna Lager. Anna Lager was half Austrian and half Bavarian. Liszts god-parents were Magyars: Franciscus Zambothy and Julianna Szalay. Liszt was baptized Franciscus, the Latin version of the name Franz or Ferenc. The main language in that region was German, while only a small minority could speak and understand Hungarian. For official purposes Latin was used. Children had only had lessons in Hungarian since 1835. Liszt himself became fluent in German, French and Italian. He also had some knowledge of English, but his knowledge of Hungarian was very poor. In the early 1870s, when all people living in Hungary were forced to learn Hungarian, Liszt also tried to learn it, but after some lessons he gave up.

The issue of Liszt's nationality has triggered a few interpretations. The question is considered by some to be controversial to this day, since important sources are missing. According to the mainstream literature about Liszt, his great grandfather Sebastian List was a German who came to Hungary in the early 18th century. This is according to Walker, but other sources mention Sebestyén born in Rajka, Sopron county, Kingdom of Hungary, about 1703. Since in Hungary the nationality of a child was inherited from the father's side, Liszt's grandfather Georg List and Liszt's father Adam List would have been Germans too if Sebastian would have immigrated from Austria. On the other hand, the theory of Sebastian List's German origin is an assumption without sufficient proof in sources. During the 1930s, Ernő Békefi searched in Hungarian archives for Sebastian List's birth certificate. Since he could not find it, he presumed that Sebastian List must in his youth have come to Hungary. However, Sebastian List's birth certificate has not been found in German or Austrian archives either. Since during the 18th century many materials in Hungarian archives were destroyed by the Ottoman Turks, it can be imagined that this was the reason Békefi could not find Sebastian List's birth certificate – Sebastian List might therefore have been born in Hungary. According to Lina Ramann, Sebestyens father was an officer of lower rang at a Hussar-regiment and died at Rajka.

In the vast majority of Liszt literature he is regarded as either Hungarian or German. Many authors, among them Émile Haraszti and Béla Bartók, regarded the character of Liszt's music as mainly French. Liszt, since 1838 at least, insisted that he was Hungarian. Liszt and his father Adam only ever had Hungarian passports. Furthermore his children bore Hungarian citizenship as well. In a 1845 letter to the abbot Lamennais, Liszt wrote: "My children bear their father's nationality. Whether they like it or not they are Hungarians". One also has to note that the name "Liszt" means "flour" in Hungarian.

There might be a family connection to the baronial Listi family of László Liszti who lost all their fortunes but before had a castle at Köpcsény (Kittsee) in the area where the composer's family actually lived. Liszt himself tried to prove a relation to this family. Lina Ramann wrote about this probable family connection in her biography. The first known Liszt (Listi) was a certain Kristóf from Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary. He had three sons: Sebestyén, born in Nagyszeben (Sibiu or Herrmanstadt)), András and János. They were ennobled in 1554. János was baron of Köpcsény and died in Prague in 1577. He married Lucretia Oláh and became bishop of Győr. They had children: János, István and Ágnes. Ferenc Liszti (baron of Köpcsény was an advisor to Gabriel Bethlen. He had a son László Liszti (born 1628 in Nagyszeben, executed 1662 in Vienna) who was a poet. There was also one Sámuel List, born in Késmárk who became a medical doctor at the university of Nagyszombat in 1777. Other Liszts, with the spelling List are described by Hungarian author István Csekey in his Liszt biography. These lived in Sopron, western Hungary, and some are already from the beginning of the 15th century. List means treeleaf in Croatian and Slovakian, which is one of the reasons to Slavic claims. Croatia and what later became Slovakia was up to 1920 parts of the Hungarian Kingdom. Liszt means flour in Hungarian.

The earliest form of his name appears to be Listhius, which Kuhac claims with some plausibility as Slavonic (nase gore list). But as early as 1747 the Magyarised form appears in the person of Canon Johann Liszt; and there can be little doubt that by the time of the pianist's birth the family had become thoroughly Hungarian. There are, of course, many Hungarian families in which Magyar and Slavonic strains are united, and in the music of Liszt the Magyar element unquestionably predominates. The earliest spelling of "Liszt" was a Stephani (István) Liszt by Miklós Oláh (Nicolaus Olahus).

The German Lina Ramann, who wrote the first biography, credits Liszt as an ethnical Hungarian. Another biographer, the German national-socialist Peter Raabe, wrote that Liszts German origin could not be proved. Liszts compatriot composer Béla Bartók said that according to the prevailing documents it was impossible to tell if Liszt's origin was German, slav or magyar, The Croatian Kuhac claimed plausible Slavonic (i.e. Slavic from Slavonia, then in the Kingdom of Hungary) origin. Sir William Henry Hadow wrote that Liszt was an ethnical Hungarian. In Walker' s Liszt family-tree there are also Germanized Magyar names (Schandor instead of Sándor) as there are Germanized Slavic ones (Schlesak instead of Slezak) to add to the general confusion. The German-Magyar battle over Liszt started first after WW1, when Váralja/Burgenland became Austrian. During the national-socialist era (1933–1945) most German biographers claimed Liszt to be German. Liszt considered himself Magyar.Liszt wrote: "I too belong to that strong and ancient race, I too am a son of that original an undaunted nation..."