The Museum of the Province of Burgenland will develop the main theme of the Liszt anniversary year. Heinrich Heine coined the historical term “Lisztomania” to describe the transports of enthusiasm caused by Liszt’s concerts in Berlin in 1841/1842.

The exhibition will focus on Liszt’s great European concert tours between 1840 and 1847 (Vienna, Budapest, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, etc.), the honours and fame they brought him and the works he composed for them.

Lisztomania became the popular word for the excitement and hysterical reactions of Liszt’s female fans. The fervour of Liszt’s audiences during his appearances onstage is illustrated by a picture of Liszt at the piano being showered with roses tossed by the ladies attending one of his Berlin concerts.

A special highlight of the exhibition is a fan decorated with a scene showing Liszt and some of his contemporaries at a picnic. The ladies who fainted in droves at Liszt’s concerts used such fans to cool themselves.

Portraits, Liszt’s virtuoso repertoire, press and promotion material, the clothes he wore onstage and fan articles will be juxtaposed with exhibits relating to Elvis, the Beatles and U2 to show the relation to contemporary pop star myths. Liszt, too, used his entire personality to enthrall his audiences until they succumbed to actual hysteria.