Claude Knepper, Daniel Ollivier (1862-1941), grandson and godson of Franz Liszt: A biographical sketch

The life of Daniel Ollivier begins with a tragic event: the death of his mother Blandine, the elder daughter of Franz Liszt, two months after his birth. He’s brought up and educated in Saint-Tropez by his grandfather Demosthènes Ollivier (1862-1877). There he meets his grandfather Franz Liszt (1864) and his grandmother Marie d’Agoult (1868). At her death (1876) he receives the bequest of her literary property but is still too young to publish anything. At the age of fifteen Daniel leaves St. Tropez for Paris, in order to complete his secondary studies (1877-1881). He meets there and in Bayreuth Franz Liszt (1878, 1884, 1886). After successful doctoral studies in law (1882-1889) he begins a career of business counsel. Between 1927 and 1941 (year of his death) Daniel publishes an important part of the papers and correspondence he inherited from his parents and grandparents: the end of the “Mémoires” of the Countess d’Agoult and nearly nine hundred letters. In the 1950s his widow bequeaths his papers to the French National Library.

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