Originally posted by: kogase
I suppose (I've read about him, and like you're saying) he was most important as piano virtuoso. His transcriptions are really great.
Yeah. He and Chopin were good friends (for a while) and there's an interesting anecdote about how they envied each other. Chopin was weak and fragile, ill with tuberculosis, and, while a great player on his own, nowhere near Liszt's sheer technique. He was however a far superior composer and musician.
Liszt on the other hand was the best living pianist of his time, and on top of that he was tall and strong, with long, red flowing hair. He was quite the ladies man too. But he was also well aware that he was not as gifted as a composer as Chopin.
So once, at Chopin's house, Liszt started playing a score lying on the piano, which had just been written by Chopin...and they were both filled with utter envy for each other...Chopin at Liszt uncanny ability to play Chopin's music better than he himself ever could; Liszt at Chopin's mind boggling compositional skills.