Franz Liszt

Profession: Composer and Pianist

Biography: Liszt was a child prodigy as a pianist and grew to be a virtuoso concert performer. One of his early teachers was Carl Czerny, who had been a pupil of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Liszt was also a prolific composer of the Romantic era, and one of the most prominent representatives of the "Neudeutsche Schule" or the New German School in German music.

In addition to his own piano compositions, he was a valued transcriber of other composer's symphonic works for solo piano. He also played and wrote for organ, composed opera and choral works, and championed the single movement symphonic poem. Among his famous works are "Transcendental Etudes", for piano; the symphonic poems "Les Préludes" and "Prometheus"; The Dante Symphony; Hungarian Rhapsodies; and his transcriptions for piano of all nine of Beethoven's symphonies.

Born: October 22, 1811
Birthplace: Raiding, Hungary
Star Sign: Libra

Died: July 31, 1886 (aged 74)
Cause of Death: Heart disease