Older Liszt

Peter G. Coleman is a psychologist and gerontologist specialising in the interplay between ageing, spirituality and mental health. He is Emeritus Professor of Psycho-Gerontology at the University of Southampton, and is the co-author of numerous books including Belief and Ageing: Spiritual Pathways in Later Life and Self and Meaning in the Lives of Older People. Love of Liszt's music led him to join the Liszt Society while still a teenager and he has continued to study Liszt's life extensively.

• List of IllustrationsPreface1. Understanding Liszt through His Correspondence 2. Psychological and Spiritual Crises in Liszt's Earlier Life3. Liszt and His Correspondents in His Fiftieth Year (1860-61)4. Returning to His Religious Vocation (1861-65)5. Disappointment and Conflict (1865-71)6. Pursuing Divergent Goals (1871-76)7. Bearing a Heavy Burden (1876-80)8. Through Triumph and Disaster (1881-86)9. Seeing Liszt Whole: Music, World and SpiritEditions of Liszt's Correspondence ConsultedOther References CitedIndex

Franz Liszt emerges from this scholarly, elegantly written book as a nineteenth century prototype popular superstar. Although supremely talented as a composer and adored as a concert pianist, at the end of a long life he was preoccupied by perceived failures in relationships with women and having fallen below his religious values. Peter Coleman's account of his spiritual and biographical pain is moving and carefully empathetic. The study rests on thorough research methods and its conclusions are illumined by theories of ageing, although these aspects of the work are only briefly mentioned in the text. It is Coleman's evident love of the music and the man that shines through.