LISZTOMANIA: The Fascinating Story of Franz Liszt, the World's First Rock Star

In the early 1800s, a young musical prodigy rose to fame throughout Europe. His name was Franz Liszt, and he would go onto become the first rock star in history. More than a century before Beatlemania, a feverous wave of obsession over this classical composer known as Lisztomania swept throughout the continent. Women threw themselves at feet of the tall, handsome pianist, viscously fighting over his broken piano strings and cigar butts. Men were left speechless and physically shaken by his revolutionary performances, while European royalty treated him as a fellow king. Join me for a musical journey into THE DATACOMBS as we explore the rise of the world’s first superstar, the beginnings of celebrity-worship as we know it, and the hysteria that followed. **************************************************************** SOURCES: “Find a Grave: Franz Liszt” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2... “Franz Liszt” Biography of the Library of Congress by Kevin LaVine https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200187503/   “Franz Liszt” Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/biography/...   “In Search of a Liszt to be Loved”  - Johanna Keller, Jan 2001 https://web.archive.org/web/201104200...   “Franz List: 10 Little Things You Might Not Know About the Composer” – France Musique, Feb 2019 https://www.francemusique.fr/en/franz...   “How Franz Liszt Became the World’s First Rockstar” – Oct 2011 https://www.npr.org/2011/10/22/141617...   “Franz List at 200: An Important, But Not Great, Composer” – Oct 2011 https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptiv...   “Forget the Beatles: Franz Liszt was Music’s First Superstar” – Clemency Burton-Hill, Aug 2016 https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/2...   “Music History Monday: The First Rock Star” – Robert Greenberg, Oct 22 2018 https://robertgreenbergmusic.com/musi...   “Disparate Genius: Franz Liszt” – Thomas May https://www.steinway.com/news/feature...   “Lisztomania: Franz Liszt, Sex and Celebrity” Caecilia Dance, Nov 2014 http://www.danceshistoricalmiscellany... “Lisztomania: How Franz Liszt Became Music’s First Panty-Dropper” – Maureen Holland, Jan 27 2015 ttps://www.cmuse.org/lisztomania-how-franz-liszt-became-musics-first-panty-dropper/ **************************************************************** YE OLD COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: I hereby swear that any images included in this video belong to their rightful owners, being hitherto included purely for scholarly purposes, and neither I nor THE DATACOMBS declare any right over them. Thus, their use falls under the domain of “fair use”, and as such, is permitted by the law of the land proclaimed in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1979.