22 October—Today is Franz Liszt’s 212^th birthday. Well, it would be had he not died of pneumonia at the young age of 76. He was born Liszt Ferenc in Hungary, which was part of the Austrian Empire in 1811, in a town that’s now in Austria. He was a prodigy and virtuoso performer from his earliest days. He was the greatest piano virtuoso ever—until Vladimir Horowitz.

Liszt quite possibly had Marfan’s Syndrome, which gave him unusually large hands, inter alia, which would have been a godsend to a virtuoso pianist. Horowitz, however, had pretty average hands—size-wise, anyway.

While known mostly for his piano music, Liszt actually composed lots (and lots and lots) of ensemble, orchestral, vocal, and choral music, as well as piano reductions and transcriptions of other composers’ works. He composed quite a bit of sacred music even though he sensibly had problems with organized religion.

Hitler’s favorite composer Richard Wagner married Liszt’s illegitimate daughter, Cosima (who had earlier been married to conductor, pianist, and composer Hans von Bülow), who died in 1937.

All of Liszt’s music—even his sacred works—is worth listening to. For this birthday party, however, here are three ultra-popular virtuoso piano warhorses: