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Subject: [BURGENLAND-NEWSLETTER-L] BB News No. 93B dtd Feb. 28, 2001
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 10:24:18 EST

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS -No. 93B
DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY
(now issued monthly by )
February 28, 2001
(all rights reserved)

This third section of the 4 section newsletter contains:

* Notes On The Genealogy Of Franz Liszt (Ed. Note: this is the second in a
series which addresses the genealogy of composers with Burgenland roots. The
first, concerning Franz Josef Haydn, appeared in BB Newsletter No.89B. Due to
the length of this article, it will be serialized in two parts-the second
will appear in newsletters nos. 94B & C.)


NOTES ON THE GENEALOGY OF COMPOSER FRANZ LISZT (by Fritz Königshofer)

Franz Liszt, born on October 22, 1811 in Raiding, Burgenland as the son of
the overseer of an Esterházy sheep-farming estate, is one of the true giants
of music. He earned worldwide fame as the greatest virtuoso on the piano
ever. The term "recital" was coined by him. As a composer, he was the
inventor of the symphonic poem. As a conductor and "Kapellmeister" at the
court of Weimar, he taught many brilliant students and worked ceaselessly in
fostering the development and spread of new music. Nobody did more for
Richard Wagner. Liszt not only actively helped Wagner escape from Germany
when the latter was sought for his involvement on the side of the
revolutionaries in the 1848 uprising in Dresden and had to fear for his life,
but he provided financial support during Wagner's exile in Switzerland,
staged his operas in Weimar when Wagner was still defamed, including the
world premiere of Lohengrin in 1850, and worked behind the scenes to obtain a
pardon and the invitation of King Ludwig for Wagner to work in Bavaria which
assured Wagner's livelihood and status. Liszt did much for other composers
too. For instance, in 1877 in Weimar, he staged and conducted the world
premiere of the opera Samson and Delila by Camille Saint-Saëns (who had been
one of his students), while the first performance of this opera in Paris, in
Saint-Saëns' home country, had to wait till 1892. Liszt usually gets credit
as being one of the inventors of the Romantic era of music and was the leader
of the so-called "Neo-Germans" who, among others, included Berlioz, Wagner,
Cornelius, von Bülow and Goldmark. When Liszt died from pneumonia on July
31, 1886 in Bayreuth, Anton Bruckner played the organ at his memorial
service. Saint-Saëns dedicated his already premiered Organ Symphony to the
memory of Liszt.

As a child, Franz Liszt grew up in a simple country home, but his father,
Adam Liszt, had had a good education and was an accomplished amateur
musician. Adam had lived in Eisenstadt and had personally known Haydn (for
whom he played the cello in the summer orchestra and with whom, he later
claimed, he had often played cards). At his cottage in Raiding (Hungarian
name Doborján), today preserved as Liszt's birth house, Adam staged chamber
concerts in which, it is said, occasionally Kapellmeister Fuchs, one of the
later successors of Haydn in Eisenstadt, took part. While Franz was a weak
child who had his bouts with death, he avidly listened to the concerts,
showed an early uncanny ability to memorize the melodies, and expressed his
eagerness for playing the piano of his father at age 5. Adam then taught son
Franz with his reasonable, yet naturally limited, skills. After a
performance by the 8-years old child in Sopron (Oedenburg), young Franz was
given the opportunity to play, at age 9, in Bratislava (Pozsony, Pressburg,
then still the seat of the Hungarian Parliament) in front of Hungarian
magnates. The concert was such a success that the aristocrats decided to
finance a formal education for the boy in Vienna, where he was taught by Karl
Czerny, a famed pianist and composer who himself had been a student of Ludwig
van Beethoven. Czerny took no money for teaching the incredibly gifted young
Liszt.

>From Vienna, Liszt moved on to the Conservatoire of Paris and into a
spectacular career in Europe's concert halls. However, in 1847, at only age
35, he abruptly decided to give up his life as a concert pianist and from
then on never again performed on the piano for any personal compensation
(Liszt did occasionally return to the stage, but only for free or for
charity). Liszt had already accepted an offer by Prince (soon to be Grand
Duke) Karl Alexander of Saxony-Weimar to serve as director of music at the
court in Weimar. Liszt lived in Weimar for more then ten years. However, in
1860 Liszt left Weimar, and from then on divided his time between Rome,
Budapest and Germany. He was ennobled by the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef in
1859. Attempts to obtain a legal annulment of the first marriage of his
mistress since 1848, Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein (so that Liszt could legally
marry her) failed and he joined the Franciscan Order in Rome, receiving lower
ordainment in the 1860's, making Liszt an abbé.

Much of the detail in this article is owed to the three-volume biography
written by Prof. Alan Walker titled "Franz Liszt," and published by Alfred A.
Knopf, New York (first volume "The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847" was published
in 1983). Since it is hard to improve on Walker's work, I ask for
forgiveness in often staying with his text, occasionally too close for
comfort. However, interested readers will nevertheless find much additional
material in Walker's books, besides a truly captivating prose. My wife and I
were unable to stop reading Walker's biography of Liszt until we both were
through all three volumes. I am thankful to Burgenland Bunch member Edward
Drimmel for copies from Walker's first volume which came in handy for this
article. As a good source of material on the family's history, Walker refers
to a book by István Csekey published by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in
Budapest in 1937, titled "Liszt Ferenc származása és hazafisága" (The Descent
and National Identity of Franz Liszt), but it is evident from his book that
Walker also did his own research of original parish records.

Family history

The earliest known ancestor in the paternal line is the composer's
great-grandfather Sebastian List [sic]. Sebastian was a cotter ("Söllner"),
said to be born in Rajka, Moson county, in about 1703, where he died on
January 7, 1793. Rajka lies a few kilometers east of Deutsch Jahrndorf,
practically at today's intersection of Hungary, Slovakia and Austria. The
German name of this market town was Ragendorf. In the Hungarian census of
1910, the population declared itself as 2,200 ethnic Germans, 400 Magyars and
a few Slovaks, by religion about half/half Roman-catholic and Lutheran, with
a strong Jewish minority of 170. From all that is known, the List family was
catholic (other religions were suppressed until the tolerance edict of 1781).
Strangely, in his biography, Prof. Walker writes that Sebastian List had
come to Rajka/Ragendorf in, apparently, one of the Swabian settlement treks
under Empress Maria Theresia. In this case, he obviously could not have been
born in Rajka. Since the Salt Lake City Library of the LDS has copies of the
roman-catholic church records of Rajka for which baptisms go back to 1685, I
have decided to review these records myself and will let the readers of the
Burgenland Bunch newsletter know of the results.

Sebastian List first married Anna Maria Roth, born about 1713, who died
in Rajka, house no. 120, on October 17, 1786. On January 9, 1787, Sebastian
married a second time, a widow with name Christina Sándor, born in 1731.
(For the marriage date, I am indebted to Mr. Bruno List of Switzerland who,
while not related to the composer, has compiled his own family's history and,
in doing so, has kept an active interest in other List lines including a
special interest in the composer.) Christina List, born or widowed Sándor,
died in Rajka on March 9, 1791.

Children appear to exist only from Sebastian's first marriage. The Liszt
tree in Walker's book mentions an Ursula List, born on October 30, 1748 in
Rajka, who on January 25, 1767 married Franz Liebenwein. A brother of
Ursula, Johann Christoph List, was born in Rajka on August 26, 1851, but died
a few days later on September 2. The third and apparently last child of
Sebastian and Anna Maria List was Georg Adam List (Liszt), Franz Liszt's
grandfather.


Franz Liszt's paternal grandparents

As stated, Liszt's paternal grandfather was Georg Adam List/Liszt, born
on October 14, 1755 in Rajka. Georg was an exceptionally unbending,
controversial character with a checkered career. He served as cantor-teacher
and local notary in Edelstal (Hungarian name Nemesvölgy), Kittsee (Köpcsény),
Pottersdorf (see the discussion below), and Sankt Georgen (Lajtaszentgyörgy),
today almost a suburb of Eisenstadt. He must have made enemies of at least
part of the population of St. Georgen. After he had taught there for seven
years, the school's principal laid charges against him and Georg was
dismissed from his job. A reconciliation attempt by Superintendent Siess of
Eisenstadt ended in failure. In October 1801, at age 46 and after 25 years as
a teacher, Georg was forced to leave his profession, and never managed to
return to it.

Perhaps with the help of son Adam (Franz Liszt's father-to-be), who had
started to work for the Esterházys in Forchtenau, and may have pointed his
father to a job vacancy in Marz, the Eszterházy family now gave Georg an
administrative job at one of their lumberyards in Marz (Márczfalva). Soon
new suspicions, probably related to careless bookkeeping, fell on him. Son
Adam perhaps once again intervened behind the scenes, and is believed to have
helped secure yet another assignment for his father, this time at the
Esterházy lumberyards in Mattersdorf (today's Mattersburg, Hungarian name
Nagymárton). After his third marriage in 1807 with a wife 25 years his
junior, Georg engaged in diversions such as day-trips to Vienna's Prater
amusement park (at least 60 kilometers away) using his official coach,
exploits which tended to fatigue him for his duties. After two more
investigations by the authorities, Georg Adam finally lost his job with the
Esterházys for good. It was the year 1812, and his soon to be famous
grandson Franz had just been born. A poorly documented period of desperation
for Georg's family followed. Among others, it appears that he first (in
1812) moved in, together with wife and eight underage children, with son Adam
in Raiding in Adam's rather small cottage, and the family stayed there for at
least a full year. It must have been an unbearable situation. In about
1819, the family ended up in Pottendorf (Lower Austria), not far from
Eisenstadt, where Georg, already over 60, sought a job in a clothing factory.
The factory had been founded around 1801 and was partly owned by the
Esterházys (who had also acquired the estate/possession of Pottendorf).

Only after the stunning performance of his genius grandson Franz in Pressburg
in 1820, did Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy start to look more favorably at
Georg, and granted him an appointment as organist and choirmaster in
Pottendorf. Georg faced poverty once more in 1838 and Prince Paul Esterházy,
who by then had taken over as head of his family, stepped in and granted
Georg an appointment and salary for life. Georg died on August 8, 1844 in
Pottendorf. (I thank Burgenland Bunch member and co-editor Albert Schuch for
providing the time-line for the reign of Nikolaus II and the facts about the
foundation of the clothing factory in Pottendorf.)

Walker's research suggests that there is a question mark about the identity
of "Pottersdorf," the third station in Georg's career as a teacher. It may
have been the village of Pottendorf in Lower Austria, but other options might
be Podersdorf in the Lake Corner (Pátfalu), or Pöttelsdorf (near
Mattersburg, Hungarian Petõfalva). Indeed, as we shall see, the birthplace
of one of Georg's children, Theresia, born in about 1792/93, just between the
tenures in Kittsee and St. Georgen, appears to be still unidentified.

Georg List/Liszt first married at age 19. His wife was Barbara Schlesak,
born on November 28, 1753 in Rusovce, northwest of Rajka. The marriage of
the couple took place on January 17, 1775 in Rusovce. The Hungarian name of
Rusovce was Oroszvár, its German name Karlburg. In the census of 1910,
Rusovce's ethnic composition was about 1,250 Germans, 450 Magyars, and 30
Slovaks, of which 1,450 were Roman-catholic and 300 Lutheran. Today, Rusovce
is part of the Slovak Republic, located on the only tiny sliver of land of
Slovakia that is on the right bank of the Danube, to the south of Bratislava.
Barbara's parents were Johann Schlesak, a cotter ("Söllner"), born likely in
Rusovce at an unknown date, and Maria nee Düring, born on February 28, 1733
in Rusovce. Barbara's parents had married on September 16, 1749 in Rusovce.

Until her death on March 31, 1798 in St. Georgen, Barbara bore Georg 13
children (for details see next section). Her second child, Adam, was Franz
Liszt's father. Only six weeks after her death, Georg remarried, this time
Barbara Weniger, born April 29, 1778 in St. Georgen. With her, Georg had 5
more offspring. Soon after the birth of her fifth child, Barbara nee Weniger
died, on December 21, 1806 in Mattersburg. Barely seven weeks after her
death, Georg, at age 52, was married for the third time, in February 1807
with Magdalena Richter, born 1780. Magdalena bore Georg seven more children.
She died on March 17, 1856 in Vienna, probably under the care of her most
famous child, Eduard Liszt, the last of Georg's children, a half-brother of
Adam, who became K&K Public Prosecutor in Vienna.

There is an interesting anecdote connected with the third marriage of
Georg Adam List. He was severely reprimanded for not informing his superiors
about this marriage beforehand, and asked for an explanation. Georg replied
that he had 12 small children who were without proper care while he was at
work, and that these children needed a mother more than he needed another
wife. However, there might be a subliminal alternative reason for Georg's
action of telling nobody of the planned marriage. Since 1794, Nikolaus II
had been at the helm of the Esterházy family which, at these times, still
ruled as overlords over their possessions and subjects. Nicholas became one
of the most avid collectors of rare objects and art, and the collection of
excellent paintings he gathered together for his family by canvassing all of
Europe, later formed the basis of the collection of the Fine Arts Museum in
Budapest. However, Nikolaus II also became notorious for his ruthless
chasing of young women. He apparently had a team of scouts engaged who had
to tour his possessions on the lookout for young maidens. It is quite
possible, I believe, that considering his peculiar character, informing his
superiors about the planned marriage was quite an unpalatable thought for
Georg.

Finally, it is noteworthy in connection with Georg that he was the first
generation of his line who changed the writing of the family name from List
to the "Hungarian" spelling Liszt (which will be discussed later). However,
he may have taken a cue from his son Adam (Franz Liszt's father) who appears
to have been the first in time who had switched to the new spelling. Georg
used the new spelling only in his late years.(to be continued next issue).

Newsletter continues as no. 93C.

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