Women in Franz Liszt's Circle in His Later Years

October 20–22, 2027, Weimar

Call for Papers

Goethe and Schiller Archive, Weimar

Franz Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Centre in Budapest

Department of Musicology at Heidelberg University

Women in Franz Liszt's Circle in His Later Years: Artistic Networks, Patronage, and Female Agency

Conveners Ulrike Roesler (Goethe and Schiller Archive, Weimar), Margret Scharrer (Department of Musicology, Heidelberg University), Máté Cselényi (Franz Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Centre, Budapest)

Thethree-part conference, a collaborative project between the Goethe and SchillerArchive in Weimar, the Franz Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Centre inBudapest, and the Department of Musicology at Heidelberg University, isdedicated to the late years of Franz Liszt. The second conference, to be held at the Goethe and Schiller Archive in Weimar from October 20–22, 2027, focuses on a topic that has attracted considerable attention in Liszt scholarship but has yet to be adequately defined: the complex networks of women surrounding the composer, which profoundly shaped his artistic activities, his public persona, and his private life.

The multifaceted nature of Liszt's relationships with women and his conceptions of femininity has so far been explored only in part and from a limited range of perspectives. Rather than treating the composer and his diverse relationships with female figures in isolation—or even as an exceptional case—the conference situates them within the broader context of contemporary gender discourses, social networks, and the artistic transformations of the late nineteenth century. On the one hand, Liszt adopted prevailing notions of femininity and masculinity, thereby reproducing dominant gender norms. On the other, his personal and artistic exchanges with companions, friends, students, colleagues, and biographers reveal relationships with intellectually independent women whom he regarded as equal interlocutors.

The conference explicitly examines female agency within the diverse artistic exchange processes surrounding Franz Liszt in his later years. Discussions willaddress teacher–student relationships, Liszt's dialogue with his female performers, collaborative artistic practices, and processes of mutual influence. At the same time, the works of Liszt's late period themselves comeinto focus. Women appear not only as biographical points of reference, but also as literary, spiritual, and symbolic figures. From a gender-historical perspective, themes such as religiosity, aging, memory, mourning, transcendence, and artistic identity can be reconsidered, as can the role ofwomen in the creation, mediation, and reception of Liszt's late compositions.The conference thus aims to provide a forum that connects research on Liszt's later years with current methodological approaches and, in particular, seeks to analyze and illuminate the role of women as co-creators and recipients within his artistic and intellectual environment.

Submission

We welcome contributions addressing the following thematic areas in Liszt’s later work:

● Family,artistic friendships and correspondence, and networks

● Femalestudents, performers, dedicatees, and patrons

● Exchangeswith women artists from a wide range of fields (music and other arts)

● Femalespirituality, religious practices, and representations of saint

● Female figures and constructions of gender in Liszt'slate compositions

The conference is aimed at scholars from the fields of musicology, cultural studies, literary studies, history, andrelated disciplines. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary contributions as well as submissions from early-career researchers.

The conference format will consist of 20-minute presentations followed by discussion. The conference languages are English and German. Please submit an abstract (maximum 300 words) and a brief biography (maximum 150 words) by 15 September 2026 via email to Ulrike Roesler.

Venue

Department of Musicology at Heidelberg University

PD Dr. Margret Scharrer, DFG-Projekt „Digitales Liszt Quellen- und Werkverzeichnis“ (LisztQWV), Musikwissenschaftliches Seminar, Universität Heidelberg, Augustinergasse 7, 69117 Heidelberg, E-Mail

Musicologie.org, 56 rue de la Fédération, 93100 Montreuil. 06 06 61 73 41.

ISSN 2269-9910.

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Mardi 25 Août, 2026