Liszt's 1st Recital

The first time that the term “recital” was used, as far as the art of music is concerned, was on 9/6/1840, during Liszt’s European tour. He has planned to give two concerts in London, UK. The first of the two, which was promoted as ‘Liszt’s Pianoforte Recitals’, took place at the Hanover Square Rooms in Mayfair. That was the point in time when the musical recital began to write its history. Up to that time, the only purpose that the word ‘recital’ had was to describe dramatic readings, which is perhaps why Liszt found interest in the particular word.

Liszt decided to tour around Europe as a pianist, in the middle of the 19th century, in order to assist in gathering money for a statue of Beethoven in Bonn. He had just finished a stressed period during which he composed many of his works and was displeased to find out that the building of the statue could be postponed or cancelled due to lack of financial resources. For his London appearance, he made a programme that was the mix of his own works with transcriptions of well-known masterpieces, including his own arrangements of Beethoven symphonies and Schubert songs.

After the time he spent in London, Liszt took some time off before returning to England in order to start a tour across the world. He had to perform 50 concerts in six weeks. That process continued for approximately eight years. Completing this long-lasting experience, Liszt had performed 1,000 concerts across Europe.

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