{ "id": "epzt7g006y", "slug": "lisztomania-1975-film", "title": "Lisztomania (1975 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music", "label": "Musical and music films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s", "label": "Musical films of the 1970s and 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Lisztomania (1975) is Ken Russell's British rock-opera fantasy biopic of Franz Liszt, starring Roger Daltrey, with Paul Nicholas as Wagner and Ringo Starr as the Pope; a critical and commercial failure.", "snippet": "Lisztomania (1975) is Ken Russell's British rock-opera fantasy biopic of Franz Liszt, starring Roger Daltrey, with Paul Nicholas as Wagner and Ringo Starr as the Pope; a critical and commercial failure.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s", "markdown": "# Lisztomania (1975 film)\n\n**Lisztomania** is a 1975 British musical fantasy film, written and directed by [Ken Russell](https://www.edgepedia.org/ken-russell), that presents the life of the nineteenth-century piano virtuoso [Franz Liszt](https://www.edgepedia.org/franz-liszt) in the style of a rock opera, with [Roger Daltrey](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-daltrey), lead singer of The Who, starring as Liszt.[1](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/81493) The film takes its title from the word coined by the German poet Heinrich Heine to describe the frenzy surrounding Liszt's concerts in the 1840s.[2](https://www.classicfm.com/composers/liszt/history-lisztomania-phenomenon/) It followed Russell's *Tommy* (1975), his most financially successful film, and applies a similar rock-music treatment to a classical composer, this time centering on an imagined rivalry between Liszt and Richard Wagner.[1](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/81493) • [3](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/reviews/2012/03/01/lisztomania/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writer | Ken Russell, his tenth feature film, from his own screenplay[4](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-blast-from-the-past-russellmania/) • [5](https://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-article-lisztomania.html) |\n| Lead cast | Roger Daltrey as Franz Liszt; Paul Nicholas as Richard Wagner; Ringo Starr as the Pope; Rick Wakeman as Thor; Sara Kestelman as Princess Carolyn[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073298/fullcredits/) |\n| Release | United Kingdom, 1975; limited United States theatrical release October 10, 1975; runtime 1h 44m; rated R[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lisztomania) |\n| Production | Second film in a three-picture deal with Goodtimes Enterprises, after *Mahler* (1974); shot over 53 days in eleven weeks beginning 3 February 1975[8](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/7038117/JUSTIN_SMITH_Calculated_Risks_1.pdf) |\n| Financing | £420,000 from a Warner Bros. rights deal covering all territories except Italy, £66,500 pre-sold to RM Productions for Italy, and a £50,000 NFFC loan[8](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/7038117/JUSTIN_SMITH_Calculated_Risks_1.pdf) |\n| Music | Franz Liszt's music, arranged by Rick Wakeman[9](https://www.cinetecamilano.it/film/lisztomania/) |\n| Reception | 46% on the Tomatometer (13 reviews) and 60% on the Popcornmeter (500+ ratings); a commercial failure[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lisztomania) • [10](https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/458106/1/LIBRARY_COPY_W_Kitchen_Thesis.pdf) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise and cast\n\nThe film is a send-up of the bawdy life of Franz Liszt, treating the nineteenth-century pianist as if he were a modern rock star. It opens with Liszt giving piano performances to crowds of shrieking teenage fans while conducting affairs with his mistresses. He follows Princess Carolyn of St. Petersburg (Sara Kestelman) at her invitation, elopes with her, and after their marriage is forbidden by the Pope ([Ringo Starr](https://www.edgepedia.org/ringo-starr)) he embraces the monastic life as an abbé.[11](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073298/plotsummary/) A large share of the film is devoted to Liszt's \"friendship\" with [Richard Wagner](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-wagner) ([Paul Nicholas](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-nicholas)), and the story builds to a fantasy in which Wagner becomes a Hitler-like figure.[11](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073298/plotsummary/) • [4](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-blast-from-the-past-russellmania/)\n\nThe supporting cast draws on rock and film personalities. [Rick Wakeman](https://www.edgepedia.org/rick-wakeman), the progressive-rock keyboardist, plays Thor and arranged the Liszt music; Fiona Lewis plays Marie d'Agoult, Veronica Quilligan plays Cosima, Nell Campbell plays Olga Janina, Kenneth Colley plays [Frédéric Chopin](https://www.edgepedia.org/frederic-chopin), John Justin plays Count d'Agoult, and Andrew Reilly plays [Hans von Bülow](https://www.edgepedia.org/hans-von-bulow).[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073298/fullcredits/) • [9](https://www.cinetecamilano.it/film/lisztomania/) In the film's first major sequence, the \"Rienzi/Chopticks Fantasia,\" a chanting crowd of swooning women waits in the auditorium while Liszt rushes backstage through cigarette smoke and alcohol, then bursts through glitter curtains onto the stage to a standing ovation; the scene intercuts Liszt's Hungarian Fantasy with Wagner's *Rienzi* and the simple piano waltz \"Chopsticks.\"[12](https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59501/1/Naomi%20Farrell-Griffiths%20Student%20ID%204340433%20SPECIAL%20PROJECT.pdf)\n\n## Production\n\n*Lisztomania* was the second picture in a three-film agreement with Goodtimes Enterprises, which had produced and distributed *Mahler* (1974). The planned third subject in this trilogy of composer biopics was Gershwin, but the producer Sandy Lieberson later recalled that by the end of *Lisztomania* the parties knew they would not make *Gershwin* with Russell.[8](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/7038117/JUSTIN_SMITH_Calculated_Risks_1.pdf) Unlike the two British Lion films in the arrangement, it was largely a studio production, shot over 53 days in eleven weeks beginning on 3 February 1975.[8](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/7038117/JUSTIN_SMITH_Calculated_Risks_1.pdf)\n\nThe screenplay drew early reservations. John Croydon, reporting on the proposition, complained that it was \"extremely complicated and full of what I suppose one can only describe as 'Russellisms',\" and his concerns centered on the fantasy treatment and the special effects, which required further explanation from Russell and his art director Phillip Harrison.[8](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/7038117/JUSTIN_SMITH_Calculated_Risks_1.pdf) Russell worked from his own brief 57-page screenplay and, by his custom, shot mostly \"in the head,\" which one commentator compares to a composer transcribing music from one interpretive medium into another, as Liszt himself did with works by Wagner and Berlioz.[5](https://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-article-lisztomania.html) Peter Suschitzky was the cinematographer and Stuart Baird the editor.[9](https://www.cinetecamilano.it/film/lisztomania/)\n\n## Style and themes\n\n**Rock-star Liszt.** The film presents Liszt as a pop idol circa 1840, with fans storming the stage, wanting to touch him or bear his child, and a horse-drawn carriage waiting outside to whisk the performer away.[13](https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/lisztomania/umc.cmc.5xtzo9sbc6qfvrlm1c0025osm) A scholarly account notes that Russell was highlighting a well-established comparison between classical virtuosi and performers such as [The Beatles](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-beatles) and [Elvis Presley](https://www.edgepedia.org/elvis-presley), augmented in 1975 by new parallels, such as that between Liszt and Rick Wakeman, who both played multiple keyboards on stage.[10](https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/458106/1/LIBRARY_COPY_W_Kitchen_Thesis.pdf)\n\n**Nazism and Wagner.** Like Russell's long-banned television film about [Richard Strauss](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-strauss), *Dance of the Seven Veils* (1970), *Lisztomania* equates classical music with Nazism and contains no realistic scenes; it is, in effect, a comic strip in nine or ten episodes on the life of Liszt.[3](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/reviews/2012/03/01/lisztomania/) In the film the Pope, played by Ringo Starr, calls Wagner \"anti-Christ . . . the Prince of Darkness.\"[4](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-blast-from-the-past-russellmania/) Stephen Farber, writing in *Film Comment* in 1975, judged Russell's theory of a neat causal relationship between Wagner and Hitler a grotesque oversimplification of history that ignores the other complex factors behind the rise of Nazism.[4](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-blast-from-the-past-russellmania/) The film's ending is a fantasy in which Liszt and the women of his life look down from heaven at the results of the Nazi holocaust; his discarded mistress Marie announces, \"The best of us lives on in the music, for everyone to share,\" and Liszt and the women enter a rocket ship shaped like an organ, return to earth to destroy Wagner-Hitler, and put out the fires in Berlin, with Liszt singing \"Peace at last.\"[4](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-blast-from-the-past-russellmania/)\n\n## Reception\n\nContemporary public and critical reaction was not supportive. [John Walker](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-walker) may not be alone in considering *Lisztomania* Russell's \"worst film,\" and the critic Ross Care summed it up as a film trapped in a \"limbo\" between two audiences: *Tommy* audiences could not relate to the Liszt element, and Lisztian audiences could not relate to the rock element. Both may have been alienated further by the explicit sexual content, cartoonish intertextual references, and Nazi themes.[10](https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/458106/1/LIBRARY_COPY_W_Kitchen_Thesis.pdf) The film came almost at the end of Russell's run of fairly big-budget, successful 1970s movies, and the critical savaging it received may explain why he made very few interesting films thereafter.[3](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/reviews/2012/03/01/lisztomania/)\n\nOpinion has remained divided. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 46% Tomatometer from 13 critics and a 60% Popcornmeter from more than 500 user ratings.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lisztomania) Roger Ebert of the *Chicago Sun-Times* gave it three of four stars, calling it \"a berserk exercise of demented genius\" that \"functions and sometimes even works,\" while predicting that most people would probably despise it.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lisztomania) [Pauline Kael](https://www.edgepedia.org/pauline-kael) of *The New Yorker* wrote that Russell \"can't seem to pull the elements of filmmaking together.\"[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lisztomania) Farber identified the major problem as formal: the pop-art style suits Liszt's vulgar showmanship but limits the film's scope, so elements of Liszt's life that do not fit the cartoon pageant, such as his long-term relationship with Princess Carolyn or his entry into the priesthood, must be rushed over, and Roger Daltrey is too inexperienced an actor to give the character complexity.[4](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-blast-from-the-past-russellmania/) A 2012 retrospective defense argued that the film makes more sense read alongside *Dance of the Seven Veils*, and that its merits extend beyond knockabout comedy.[3](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/reviews/2012/03/01/lisztomania/)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film was slow to reach home video; it appeared on DVD in 2009, years into the format's lifespan.[3](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/reviews/2012/03/01/lisztomania/) Its title has had an afterlife independent of the film: the French band Phoenix named a 2009 song \"Lisztomania\" after the Heine-coined term, a track that opened their album *Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix*.[14](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11198-lizstomania/) The Los Angeles Times has described *Lisztomania* as the culmination of Russell's three 1970s composer feature films, alongside *The Music Lovers* (with [Richard Chamberlain](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-chamberlain) as Tchaikovsky) and *Mahler*.[15](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/culture-monster-blog/story/2010-08-19/a-music-critics-pick-lisztomania-at-the-egyptian)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Lisztomania, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/81493)\n2. [What was Lisztomania? The wild phenomenon that gripped 19th-century crowds, Classic FM](https://www.classicfm.com/composers/liszt/history-lisztomania-phenomenon/)\n3. [In Defence of Lisztomania, Electric Sheep (2012)](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/reviews/2012/03/01/lisztomania/)\n4. [Russellmania: Ken Russell, by Stephen Farber, Film Comment (Nov-Dec 1975)](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/a-blast-from-the-past-russellmania/)\n5. [Ken Russell article on Lisztomania, iainfisher.com](https://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-article-lisztomania.html)\n6. [Lisztomania (1975) full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073298/fullcredits/)\n7. [Lisztomania, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lisztomania)\n8. [Justin Smith, Calculated Risks: Film Finances and British Independents in the 1970s, University of Portsmouth](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/7038117/JUSTIN_SMITH_Calculated_Risks_1.pdf)\n9. [Lisztomania, Cineteca Milano](https://www.cinetecamilano.it/film/lisztomania/)\n10. [W. Kitchen, PhD thesis, University of Southampton](https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/458106/1/LIBRARY_COPY_W_Kitchen_Thesis.pdf)\n11. [Lisztomania (1975) plot summaries, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073298/plotsummary/)\n12. [Naomi Farrell-Griffiths, special project, University of Nottingham](https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59501/1/Naomi%20Farrell-Griffiths%20Student%20ID%204340433%20SPECIAL%20PROJECT.pdf)\n13. [Lisztomania, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/lisztomania/umc.cmc.5xtzo9sbc6qfvrlm1c0025osm)\n14. [\"Lisztomania\" track review, Pitchfork (2009)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11198-lizstomania/)\n15. [A music critic's pick: 'Lisztomania' at the Egyptian, Los Angeles Times (2010)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/culture-monster-blog/story/2010-08-19/a-music-critics-pick-lisztomania-at-the-egyptian)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Musical and music films (individual works) › Musical films of the 1970s and 1980s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lisztomania-1975-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lisztomania-1975-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Lisztomania (1975 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lisztomania-1975-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Lisztomania (1975 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/lisztomania-1975-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/lisztomania-1975-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/lisztomania-1975-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Lisztomania (1975 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lisztomania-1975-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Lisztomania is Ken Russell's British rock-opera fantasy biopic of Franz Liszt, starring Roger Daltrey, with Paul Nicholas as Wagner and Ringo Starr as the Pope; a critical and commercial failure." }