One of the seminal figures in the history of Western music, Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was born in Hungary to a musician known to the Austrian court. After receiving lessons from Carl Czerny, Liszt achieved fame at a young age as a virtuoso pianist whose public concerts would attract hordes of fans. As a composer, he wrote a great deal of showpieces designed to flaunt his own otherworldly technique, but he also penned a number of works for piano and orchestra that rank among the masterpieces of the form. He exerted great influence as a teacher, furthering the careers of many composers, including Chopin, Wagner, Berlioz, Schumann, and others. His last piano pieces were dismissed in their day as the works of an old crank, but they anticipated impressionism, modernism, and atonality.