Franz Liszt was in Bayreuth for the Wagner Festival where on 31 July 1886, at the age of
seventy-four, he died, somewhat unexpectedly, after a short illness. In his lifetime his
Sonata was accepted only within a small group of musical friends and he never lived to
experience its later widespread popularity as his supreme achievement for piano.
Performances subsequently became more common.
Vladimir de Pachmann (1848-1933) performed the Sonata on 21 April 1892 in New York
as part of an all-Liszt programme. (Source: Mark Mitchell 2001 – internet article)
Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), famous pianist, composer, and longtime colleague and
friend of Liszt, performed the Sonata at the beginning of the last concert (no. 32) of the
second series of the ‘Illustrated Lectures’ at the St Petersburg Conservatory during 1888-
1889.
Arthur Friedheim performed it in New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1891, again in New York
four times between 1893 and 1901, and often in Europe.
Russian-born pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) performed the
Sonata at the Chicago Conservatory of Music on 6 January and 11 March 1898.
Ignacy Paderewski (1860-1941), famous Polish pianist, performed it at Carnegie Hall, a
review being published in the New York Times of Sunday 24 November 1907.
Polish-born pianist and composer Ignaz Friedman (1882-1948) performed it in Berlin, a
review being published on 23 February 1909. He also performed it in Stockholm on 15
November 1909, Vienna on 3 December 1909, Budapest on 1 February 191 0 and
Copenhagen on 24 October 1910.
Liszt pupils Emil Sauer, Eugen d’Albert (1864-1932), Moriz Rosenthal (1862-1946),
Arthur Friedheim, Sophie Menter, Vera Timanoff (1855-1942) and Frederic Lamond
(1868-1948) attended the Liszt Festival in Budapest from 21 to 25 October 1911 at the
Liszt Academy of music. Friedheim played the Sonata, d’Albert the E major polonaise
and Lamond the Don Giovanni Fantasy.
Harold Bauer (1873-1951), famous English pianist and pupil of Paderewski, performed
the Sonata at Carnegie Hall on the afternoon of Tuesday 12 December 1911, a review
being published the next day in the New York Times.
The early twentieth century saw performances of the Sonata by Emil Sauer, Rafael
Joseffy (1853-1915), Moriz Rosenthal and Eugen d’Albert among the later Liszt pupils.
D’Albert had found the Sonata unattractive yet ten years after Liszt’s death he was
performing it with enthusiasm. Joseffy published one of the earliest editions of the
Sonata (now published by Schirmer).