Editing Franz Liszt (section)

==== Affair with Countess Marie d'Agoult ====
[[File:Marie d’Agoult by Henri Lehmann.jpg|thumb|upright|Marie d'Agoult (1843)]]

In 1833, Liszt began a relationship with the Countess [[Marie d'Agoult]], who was married to a French cavalry officer but living independently.{{sfn|Eckhardt|Mueller|Walker|2001|loc=§6}} In order to escape scandal they moved to [[Geneva]] in 1835;{{sfn|Eckhardt|Mueller|Walker|2001|loc=§7}} their daughter Blandine was born there on 18 December.{{sfn|Hilmes|2016|pp=54-55}} Liszt taught at the newly founded [[Conservatoire de Musique de Genève|Geneva Conservatoire]] and contributed essays for ''[[L'Artiste]]'' and the ''[[Revue et gazette musicale de Paris]]''.{{sfn|Celenza|2021}}{{sfn|Eckhardt|Mueller|Walker|2001|loc=§7}}

For the next four years, Liszt and the countess lived together. In 1835 and 1836 they travelled around Switzerland, and from August 1837 until November 1839 they toured Italy. It was these travels that later inspired the composer to write his cycle of piano collections entitled ''[[Années de pèlerinage]]'' (''Years of Pilgrimage'').{{sfn|Jost|2021}}{{sfn|Jost|2020}} Their daughter, [[Cosima Wagner|Cosima]], was born in [[Como]] on 24 December 1837, and their son Daniel on 9 May 1839 in [[Rome]].{{sfn|Hilmes|2016|pp=65,59}}

That autumn relations between them became strained. Liszt heard that plans for a [[Beethoven Monument]] in Bonn were in danger of collapse for lack of funds and pledged his support, raising funds through concerts.{{sfn|Eckhardt|Mueller|Walker|2001|loc=§7}} The countess returned to Paris with the children, while Liszt gave six concerts in Vienna, then toured Hungary.{{sfn|Searle|1995|p=30}} Liszt would later spend holidays with Marie and their children on the island of [[Nonnenwerth]] on the Rhine in the summers of 1841 and 1843. In May 1844, the couple finally separated.{{sfn|Hilmes|2016|pp=73,85}}