THE life and music of the renowned composer Franz Liszt is being celebrated in a special performance at Salisbury Playhouse on Friday, January 16.

Odyssey of Love – Liszt and His Women combines some of Liszt’s most expressive piano music with readings of his colourful and prolific letters to the women in his life.

Pianist Lucy Parham will perform a wide variety of Liszt’s work from his virtuosic pieces to music inspired by religion and love. Actors Martin Jarvis and Joanna David will read extracts from the letters sent between the composer and the two women who changed his life.

Hailed as a ‘new Mozart’ at the age of six, Liszt was a child prodigy who was supporting his family from his earnings as a pianist and composer by the age of 11. He wrote his first opera when he was barely a teenager, and glamorous, aristocratic women flocked to enjoy his company after his performances.

But, of all the women in Liszt’s colourful love life, two stand out. Marie d’Agoult was a married aristocrat who left her family to run away to Switzerland with Liszt. She was mother to his three children and inspired many of his most celebrated piano pieces.

Eventually she tired of Liszt’s needy ego and in later life he met the cigar-smoking Polish intellectual Princess Carolyne Wittgenstein who persuaded Liszt to give up performing and concentrate on composing, leading to some of his most beautiful compositions.

“When people think of Franz Liszt the word ‘virtuoso’ first comes to mind but his music was also inspired by religion and love showing his constant battle to balance these two elements of his life,” said Lucy. “His is a wonderful story, he was quite the Lothario which makes for a fair few laughs, but these two beautiful, intelligent women had a great bearing on his life and music.

“Their letters have only recently been translated and make fascinating reading. Although Liszt’s music is famous all over the world, his story is less well known and his music and letters are a great way to tell it. He was a very generous man, he never charged his pupils, and he inspired and worked with many other great composers.”

Odyssey of Love – Liszt and His Women will be performed in the Main House at Salisbury Playhouse on Friday, January 16 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available on 01722 320333 or salisbury playhouse.com.