Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MARTIN LISTER (c. 1638-1712)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 780 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

MARTIN See also:LISTER (c. 1638-1712)  , See also:English naturalist and physician, was See also:born at Radclive, near See also:Buckingham . He was See also:nephew of See also:Sir See also:Matthew See also:Lister, physician to See also:Anne, See also:queen of See also:James I., and to See also:Charles I . He was educated at St See also:John's See also:College, See also:Cambridge, 1655, graduated in 168/9, and was elected a See also:fellow in 1660 . He became F.R.S. in 1671 . He practised See also:medicine at See also:York until 1683, when he removed to See also:London . In 1684 he received the degree of M.D. at See also:Oxford, and in 1687 became F.R.C.P . He contributed numerous articles on natural See also:history, medicine and antiquities to the Philosophical Transactions . His See also:principal See also:works were Historiae animalium and See also:Beethoven came to his second See also:concert in See also:April 1823, During the three years following he played in See also:Paris, the See also:French provinces and See also:Switzerland, and paid three visits to See also:England . In Paris he had See also:composition lessons from See also:Paer, and a six months' course of lessons in See also:counterpoint from See also:Reicha . In the autumn of 1825 the handsome and fascinating enfant gdte of the salons and ateliers —"La Neuvieme Merveille du monde "—had the See also:luck to get an operetta (See also:Don Sancho) performed three times at the Academie Royale . The See also:score was accidentally destroyed by See also:fire, but a set of studies a la See also:Czerny and See also:Cramer, belonging to 1826 and published at See also:Marseilles as 12 Etudes, op. i., is extant, and shows remarkable precocity . After the See also:death of his See also:father in 1828 See also:young See also:Liszt led the See also:life of a teacher of the See also:pianoforte in Paris, got through a See also:good See also:deal of See also:miscellaneous See also:reading, and See also:felt the See also:influence of the religious, See also:literary and See also:political aspirations of the See also:time .

He attended the meetings of the See also:

Saint-Simonists, See also:lent an See also:ear to the romantic See also:mysticism of Pere See also:Enfantin and later to the teaching of See also:Abbe See also:Lamennais . He also played Beethoven and See also:Weber in public—a very courageous thing in those days . The See also:appearance of the violinist See also:Paganini in Paris, 1831, marks the starting-point of the supreme See also:eminence Liszt ultimately attained as a virtuoso . Paganini's marvellous technique inspired him to practise as no pianist had ever practised before . He tried to find equivalents for Paganini's effects, transcribed his See also:violin caprices for the piano, and perfected his own technique to an extraordinary degree . After Paganini he received a fresh impulse from the playing and the compositions of See also:Chopin, who arrived in 1831, and yet another impulse of equal force from a performance of See also:Berlioz's " Symphonic Fantastique, See also:episode de la See also:vie d'un artiste," in 1832 . Liszt transcribed this See also:work, and its influence ultimately led him to the composition of his " Poemes symphoniques " and other examples of orchestral See also:programme-See also:music . From 1833 to 1848—when he gave up playing -in public—he was greeted with frantic See also:applause as the See also:prince of pianists . Five years (1835-1840) were spent in Switzerland and See also:Italy, in semi-retirement in the See also:company of Madame la comtesse d'See also:Agoult (See also:George See also:Sand's friend and would-be See also:rival, known in literary circles as " See also:Daniel Stern," by whom Liszt had three See also:children, one of them afterwards Frau Cosima See also:Wagner): these years were devoted to further study in playing and composition, and were interrupted only by occasional appearances at See also:Geneva, See also:Milan, See also:Florence and See also:Rome, and by See also:annual visits to Paris, when a famous contest with See also:Thalberg took See also:place in 1837 . The See also:enthusiasm aroused by Liszt's playing and his See also:personality—the two are inseparable—reached a See also:climax at See also:Vienna and See also:Budapest in 1839-184o, when he received a patent of See also:nobility from the See also:emperor of See also:Austria, and a See also:sword of See also:honour from the magnates of See also:Hungary in the name of the nation . During the eight years following he was heard at all the principal centres—including London, See also:Leipzig, See also:Berlin, See also:Copenhagen, St See also:Petersburg, See also:Moscow, See also:Warsaw, See also:Constantinople, See also:Lisbon and See also:Madrid . He gained much See also:money, and gave large sums in charity .

His munificence with regard to the Beethoven statue at See also:

Bonn made a See also:great stir . The subscriptions having come in but sparsely, Liszt took the See also:matter in See also:hand, and the See also:monument was completed at his expense, and unveiled at a musical festival conducted by See also:Spohr and himself in 1845 . In 1848 he settled at See also:Weimar with Princess Sayn-See also:Wittgenstein (d . 1887), and remained there till 1861 . During this See also:period he acted as conductor at See also:court concerts and on See also:special occasions at the See also:theatre, gave lessons to a number of pianists, wrote articles of permanent value on certain works of Berlioz and the See also:early operas of Wagner, and produced those orchestral and choral pieces upon which his reputation as a composer mainly depends . His ambition to found a school of composers as well as a school of pianists met with See also:complete success on the one hand and partial failure on the other . His efforts on behalf of Wagner, who was then an See also:exile in Switzerland, culminated in the first performance of See also:Lohengrin on the 28th of See also:August 185o, before a special See also:audience assembled from far and near . Among the works produced for the first time or rehearsed with a view to the furtherance of musical See also:art were Angliae tres tractatus (1678); Historiae Conchyliorum (1685-1692), and Conchyliorum Bivalvium (1696) . As a conchologist he was held in high esteem, but while he recognized the similarity of fossil See also:mollusca to living forms, he regarded them as inorganic imitations produced in the rocks . In 1683 he communicated to the Royal Society (Phil . Trans., 1684), An ingenious proposal for a new sort of maps of countries; together with tables of sands and See also:clays, such as are chiefly found in the See also:north parts of England . In this See also:essay he suggested the preparation of a See also:soil or See also:mineral See also:map of the See also:country, and thereby is justly credited with being the first to realize the importance of a See also:geological survey .

He died at See also:

Epsom on the 2nd of See also:February 1712 .

End of Article: MARTIN LISTER (c. 1638-1712)
[back]
JOSEPH LISTER LISTER
[next]
JOHN LISTON (c. 1776-1846)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.