Musicology has frequently been roiled by claims and counter claims about Liszt’s national identity. Professor Alan Walker asserts that the issue should never have been raised. Liszt was Hungarian.

It seems strange today that Franz Liszt’s Hungarian nationality was ever questioned. German scholars said he was German, French scholars said he was French, while others claimed him for Austria. Liszt himself was obliged on more than one occasion to remind his interlocutors: “From the cradle to the grave, I am Magyar in thought and word and deed.”
Alan Walker takes Liszt’s powerful declaration as the starting point of his presentation and goes on to review the composer’s myriad connections to his native land. Among the topics presented in detail are Liszt’s birth in Doborján, his support for the victims of the Danube flood in 1838, his desire to see the Hungarian Uprising of 1848-49 succeed and the country’s independence from Austria secured, and his role in creating a national Academy of Music that today bears his name. Liszt composed a great deal of music that reflects these activities, and it is part of Dr. Walker’s argument that it is best be understood when placed within the historical framework from which it emerged. Among the works discussed are the Hungarian Rhapsodies, Funérailles, the symphonic poem Heroϊde funèbre, and the Hungarian Coronation Mass. The presentation ends with an account of Liszt’s death in Bayreuth and the struggle over possession of his remains.

00:00 Rhapsody no. 2 in C-sharp minor, arranged by Franz Doppler.

07:26 Rakoczy March, Solomon Cutner

16:05 The “Friska” from Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, in C-sharp minor, Marc-Andre Hamelin

19:59 Rhapsody no. 11, Valerie Tryon

23:18 Hungarian Rhapsody no. 8 in F-sharp minor, Vincenzo Maltempo

30:39 Funérailles, Alfred Brendel

33:10 Funérailles Coda, Alfred Brendel

36:42 Héroϊde Funèbre, London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink

40:54 Kyrie from the “Hungarian Coronation Mass”, Budapest Chorus and Symphony Orchestra conducted by Miklos Forrai

48:22 László Teleki, Jenő Jandó