Previews

Judging from our travels and discussions over the past seven years, this film is highly anticipated among scholarly, educational, and music-lover communities. Why? The knowledge base regarding Franz Liszt has been so fractured and sensationalized that there has never been a serious scholarly or “publicly accessible” statement about his life and music. Ken Russell and […]

Judging from our travels and discussions over the past seven years, this film is highly anticipated among scholarly, educational, and music-lover communities. Why? The knowledge base regarding Franz Liszt has been so fractured and sensationalized that there has never been a serious scholarly or “publicly accessible” statement about his life and music. Ken Russell and Roger Daltry certainly don’t count!

During our research on Franz Liszt over the past five years, we have been told and encouraged in this effort by many people. Our Europeans friends, in particular, are anxious to have what they keep calling “the American point of view” on Liszt. Quite frankly, their interest in this composer tends to be somewhat provincial and territorial. The Germans only know and study the works Liszt composed during the 20+ years he lived in Germany. The French are only concerned with his childhood Parisian compositions and his philosophy. The Hungarians, well, they are only interested in his more patriotic sacred works and those prescient late works that he composed while he lived in Budapest. The rest of Europe falls into one basket or another with regards to national orientation on Liszt. No one has ever been truly interested in Liszt as a lifelong phenomena without preference to national origin and mindset. As David Zsoldos says toward the end of the film, “The EU still has a long way to go.”

We have arranged for four preview showings in the next month or so:

Brown University — Monday, October 17th at 4:00 PM (click here for more information). This showing is part of the Brown U. Liszt Festival that runs throughout the month of October. Our evening should be made up of regional faculty and students in attendance.

Weimar, Germany
— This is the premiere international conference (Congress) of Liszt scholars and takes place over the weekend of the Franz Liszt bicentenary; “everyone who is anyone” in the field (as well as many of our interviewees) will be there and we should get good feedback.

Budapest, Hungary — David Zsoldos (editor of FidelioMedia.HU – the weekly Hungarian TimeOut Magazine – and one of our interviewees) has arranged a preview evening (Monday, October 24th) at the Palace of the Arts (their Carnegie Hall) in Budapest. It is an invited audience of academics and subscribers to the Palace of the Arts. More good feedback, hopefully.

UCSD
— A UCSD preview is being planned for January 2012 at The Loft. The preview will be an informal coffee & dessert event followed by discussion. We plan to invite the film’s donors, principals in the music department and at Thurgood Marshall College, and our friends and the many people who have contributed in so many different ways to this film.

Faculty Club Dinner Party

If you can’t wait until the January preview, join me at the fall quarter Faculty Club Dinner Party on Saturday, October 29th, at 6:00pm. The evening is entitled Mephisto Waltz in homage to Franz Liszt’s bicententary and Halloween weekend. Apparently, there will be a costume contest. Chef Ed promises a Hungarian-themed dinner with desserts appropriate […]

If you can’t wait until the January preview, join me at the fall quarter Faculty Club Dinner Party on Saturday, October 29th, at 6:00pm. The evening is entitled Mephisto Waltz in homage to Franz Liszt’s bicententary and Halloween weekend. Apparently, there will be a costume contest. Chef Ed promises a Hungarian-themed dinner with desserts appropriate for the Halloween weekend.

For reservations please contact Lilia at lhuato@ucsd.edu or 858-534-0876.

Production Update: Weimar & Budapest

Cecil Lytle and Betty McManus recently visited Weimar and Budapest to interview experts and delve deeper into the life and work of Franz Liszt. Follow along with their travels below. Cecil Lytle arriving by train in Weimar, Germany to interview Dr. Detlef Altenburg. An interview with Dr. Detlef Altenburg in his apartment at the Altenburg […]

Cecil Lytle and Betty McManus recently visited Weimar and Budapest to interview experts and delve deeper into the life and work of Franz Liszt. Follow along with their travels below.


Cecil Lytle arriving by train in Weimar, Germany to interview Dr. Detlef Altenburg.


An interview with Dr. Detlef Altenburg in his apartment at the Altenburg Castle. Franz Liszt lived in the castle from 1848 to 1861.


Lorant Leel-Ossy setting up lighting for the interview with Maria Eckhardt in the Franz Liszt Museum in Budapest.


Maria Eckhardt showing Cecil Lytle a newly discovered score of an oratorio by Franz Liszt (in the Franz Liszt Museum, Budapest, Hungary).


Dr. Csorba Laszlo being interviewed (in Hungarian) by David Zsoldos, Director of Fidelio Media in Hungary. By the way, David Zsoldos has strong UC ties. He was an exchange student at UC Santa Barbara.


Cecil Lytle seated at one of Franz Liszt’s pianos (a Chickering that was a gift to the Maestro in the 1880s) interviewing Dr. Zsusanna Domokos inside the Liszt Museum in Budapest.


Lorant setting up for the second part of the Domokos interview inside Liszt’s apartment at the Liszt Museum.

Light, Camera, Action!

Well, it’s begun! After more than twelve years of planning, we began shooting “talking head” interviews with scholars in January and commenced filming the major segments of Liszt in the World last week. Happening concurrently, Betty and I slip away to shoot several long scenes and interviews in Weimar, Germany and Budapest, Hungary. These two […]

Well, it’s begun!

After more than twelve years of planning, we began shooting “talking head” interviews with scholars in January and commenced filming the major segments of Liszt in the World last week. Happening concurrently, Betty and I slip away to shoot several long scenes and interviews in Weimar, Germany and Budapest, Hungary. These two cities, along with Rome and Paris, were the chief homestead for Franz Liszt during his “Glanzzeit” years, years of splendor.

After achieving international fame as the greatest living pianist, Liszt settled in Weimar with his second mistress, Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, to take up the baton. As Kapellmeister, Liszt championed the orchestral and operatic works of many then-unknown composers such as Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, and many others. We will shoot scenes at The Altenburg, Liszt’s principal residence at the time. He had been appointed by Grand Duke Carl Alexander to reclaim the intellectual mantle of Weimar made famous by Johann Goethe and Anton Schiller a generation earlier. We will conduct interviews with Dr. Detlef Altenburg, Head of musicology at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Weimar.

A few days later, we fly–for the fifth time–back to Budapest for the shooting of important scenes with Dr. Maria Eckhardt, at the Franz Liszt Museum and Research Center. The Museum has recreated the living quarters of Liszt and holds a number of original scores and important documents for perusal.

At the end of September, we’ll bring all of these segments together in the editing room–interviews, studio shots, concert performances, narration, (even a Bugs Bunny cartoon strip) to tell the story of the remarkable musician, author, entrepreneur, philanthropist, Abbe of the Catholic Church, father, conductor, composer–lover! In truth, Franz Liszt was the first truly “international musician.” Some claim he was the first “rock star.” We go as far as to suggest that Franz Liszt was the “first European.”

Stay tuned to this blog and for the film’s premiere later this year when we attempt to tell the story of the most famous artist of the 19th century, Franz Liszt (1811-86)

Cecil Lytle
Betty McManus

The Naked Liszt Premieres March 11th

Late in 2010, we finished the scripts for our documentary film, Liszt In The World. We were astounded by the wealth of materials we had gathered over the dozen years of research and travels in search of the interior life and music of Franz Liszt. While continuing to develop the script, fund raising, grant writing, […]

Late in 2010, we finished the scripts for our documentary film, Liszt In The World. We were astounded by the wealth of materials we had gathered over the dozen years of research and travels in search of the interior life and music of Franz Liszt. While continuing to develop the script, fund raising, grant writing, and the shooting schedule, Betty came up with the brilliant idea to combine musical initiatives.

Rather quickly during the month of December, we reviewed our materials to develop a stage adaptation of the three-hour documentary film. That stage performance evolved along the lines of a musical program I have presented on-and-off for the past twenty years. The Naked Gershwin is a concert performance where I am joined by two musicians (a drummer and bassist) to form a jazz trio. We perform with a narrator who reads a script based on letters to, from, or about the fabulous Gershwins.

Staring at the script for Liszt In The World, it dawned on Betty that we could present a similar stage performance of the film as a teaser for the longer more extensive film project. Hence, The Naked Liszt was born! This stage adaptation of the film was first presented in the Conrad Prebys Concert Hall in La Jolla, California on Sunday, January 30, 2011 (click here to download the event program). It’s airing in March on UCSD-TV and UCTV and audiences around the world can view The Naked Liszt by clicking here.

But don’t confuse the genre. The Naked Liszt is only but a small sampler of the rich music, interviews, and narrative to be presented in the documentary film, Liszt In The World. We expect to premiere the film in late 2011. Keep checking this site for the latest information and progress reports.