Franz Liszt was a 19th-century Hungarian composer who was so popular with his audiences that he literally drove them crazy. While this phenomenon is rather well known at concerts these days, back then it was worrying enough that it got its own medical term: Lisztomania.
Liszt worked and lived primarily in Vienna but also toured elsewhere in Europe, putting on concerts in large venues across the continent. However, much of this changed in 1833 when he entered a relationship with the married Countess Marie d’Agoult. This caused such a scandal back then that the couple had to leave and in 1835 they settled down in Geneva, where Liszt taught at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève.
The affair damaged Liszt’s reputation, but his concerts remained quite popular. For a few years, Liszt’s performances were largely limited to Switzerland. But in the early 1940s, after the composer and the countess ended their relationship, he started touring Europe once again.
The plaque in Geneva commemorates Liszt and his wife as former residents of the house, showing the beautiful location where which the couple lived.
