The Liszt-Listmann incident

Abstract

Before ending his performance career by concerts in Odessa and Elizabethgrad in 1847, Franz Liszt visited Istanbul, gave a number of public concerts and performed twice for Sultan Abdul-Medgid in the Tcheragan Palace. A widely reported incident in relation to this trip concerns an impostor named Listmann, a historically unidentified character, who supposedly passed himself off as Liszt in Istanbul and who received valuable presents from the Sultan under this pretext. According to some accounts Listmann almost caused Liszt to be arrested upon his arrival. The purpose of this work is to present historical data on this folkloric Liszt-Listmann tale. We present primary sources that show that Herr Listmann of the Liszt-Listmann incident was in fact a German Tonkünstler and a man of letters named Eduard Litzmann who toured Spain and the orient, and who was apparently a pretty competent pianist. The sources indicate that notwithstanding Liszt’s own letter to his cousin Henriette, numerous colorful aspects of the incident as reported in the literature result from self-perpetuating transformations of fiction and cannot be substantiated.