Born on this day in Raiding, Hungary, composer and pianist Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was hailed as the greatest virtuoso of his time. A fiery innovator with dramatic stage presence, he helped invent the symphonic poem and elevated the very idea of the solo recital.

“Bach is the foundation of piano playing, Liszt the summit,” wrote pianist Ferruccio Busoni. “The two make Beethoven possible.” Felix Mendelssohn admired his “complete finger independence” paired with deep musical feeling.

A prodigy who studied in Vienna, Liszt moved in brilliant circles — reading Homer and the Bible, devouring Plato and Locke, befriending Victor Hugo. After hearing Niccolò Paganini at the Paris Opera House in 1831, he set his sights on technical perfection and artistic daring.

“My mind and fingers have worked like the damned,” he confessed in 1832, a blaze of study and passion that poured into the keyboard. Colorful and complicated, the celebrated artist later surprised the world by entering religious orders (1865), seeking a higher harmony of the spirit.