Franz Liszt in Nonnenwerth
The series about historical places of opera art classical music & culture. Get to know exciting excursion and travel ideas for opera lovers. This time: Franz Liszt in Nonnenwerth.
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Franz Liszt in Nonnenwerth
For three summers Franz Liszt visited Nonnenwerth with his mistress Marie d’Agoult. He was actually looking for the seclusion and idyll of the Rhine island. When the news got out that the piano god Liszt was on the island, a hurricane poured over the island. Whole choirs sang from ships and once even a delegation of over 300 people came to the island to accompany Liszt to his concert in Cologne. The quiet was over, but Liszt seems to have liked the hype around him, he came back twice.
The owner of the island, Margaretha von Cordier, gave an account of this time. Her leather-bound diary still bears witness to those days, and a small monastery-owned Liszt museum commemorates the visit. She had nothing flattering to report of a visit by George Sand, describing her as an “irritable theater hussy.” She asked Liszt to plant a plane tree on his 30th birthday, which he gladly did, and immediately doused it with champagne. The so-called “Liszt plane tree” can still be seen today on the west side of the monastery.
Destination Nonnenwerth
This enchanting island in the Rhine is two kilometers long and not even 200 meters wide at its widest point. It houses a school and the monastery complex. It served as a monastery until the Napoleonic wars, was operated as an inn in the following years, and then became a monastery again.
Island Nonnenwerth:
There is a ferry service to the island, the operating hours of which you can find on the website:
Concerts are also offered on the island during the winter months:
https://www.inselkonzerte.de/index.php/aktuelle-konzerte
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