Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) is a nineteenth-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher.

Liszt becomes renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist.

He is said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age (though Liszt vehemently denies this, stating that Charles-Valentin Alkan undoubtedly haa superior technical facility), and in the 1840s he is considered by some to be perhaps the greatest pianist of all time.

Liszt is also a well-known and influential composer, piano teacher and conductor.

He is a benefactor to other composers, including Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg and Alexander Borodin.

As a composer, Liszt is one of the most prominent representatives of the "Neudeutsche Schule" ("New German School").

He leaves behind an extensive and diverse body of work in which he influences his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipates some twentieth-century ideas and trends.

Some of his most notable contributions are the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form and making radical departures in harmony.

He also plays an important role in popularizing a wide array of music by transcribing it for piano.