Editing Franz Liszt (section)

=== Final years ===
[[File:Franz Liszt by Nadar, March 1886.png|thumb|upright|left|Liszt in March 1886, four months before his death, photographed by [[Nadar]] ]]

Liszt fell down a flight of stairs at the Hofgärtnerei in July 1881, and remained bedridden for several weeks after this accident.{{sfn|Baker|2005|p=87}} He had been in good health up to that point,{{sfn|Walker|1973|p=94}} but a number of ailments subsequently manifested, such as a [[cataract]] in the left eye, dental issues and fatigue.{{sfn|Schmalhausen|2002|pp=14,16}}{{sfn|Walker|1973|p=94}} Since around 1877 he had become increasingly plagued by feelings of desolation, despair and preoccupation with death—feelings that he expressed in his [[Late works of Franz Liszt|works from this period]].{{sfn|Baker|2005|pp=87,90}} As he told [[Lina Ramann]], "I carry a deep sadness of the heart which must now and then break out in sound."{{sfn|Eckhardt|Mueller|Walker|2001|loc=§25}}

On 13 January 1886, while [[Claude Debussy]] was staying at the [[Villa Medici]] in Rome, Liszt met him there with [[Paul Vidal]] and [[Ernest Hébert]], director of the French Academy. Liszt played "[[Au bord d'une source]]" from ''[[Années de pèlerinage]]'', as well as his arrangement of [[Ave Maria (Schubert)|Schubert's ''Ave Maria'']] for the musicians. Debussy in later years described Liszt's pedalling as "like a form of breathing."{{sfn|Walker|1997|pp=475–476}}

Liszt travelled to [[Bayreuth]] in the summer of 1886. This was in order to support his daughter Cosima, who was running the [[Bayreuth Festival|festival]] but struggling to generate sufficient interest.{{sfn|Schmalhausen|2002|pp=2,192}} The festival was dedicated to the works of her husband Richard Wagner, and had opened ten years previously; Wagner had died in 1883.{{sfn|Millington|Deathridge|Dahlhaus|Bailey|2009|loc=§6, §8}} Already frail, in his final week of life Liszt's health deteriorated further, as he experienced a fever, cough and delirium.{{sfn|Walker|1973|pp=96-97}} 

He died during the festival, near midnight on 31 July 1886, at the age of 74{{mdash}}officially as a result of [[pneumonia]], which he had contracted prior to arriving in Bayreuth, although the true cause of death may have been a [[heart attack]].{{sfn|Schmalhausen|2002|pp=1,15}}{{sfn|Eckhardt|Mueller|Walker|2001|loc=§27}} He was buried on 3 August 1886, in the {{ill|municipal cemetery of Bayreuth|de|Stadtfriedhof Bayreuth}}, according to Cosima's wishes; despite controversy over this as his final resting place, Liszt's body was never moved.{{sfn|Schmalhausen|2002|pp=151,166,181}}