Lyric discussion by mrdjman 

Hey,

I find it hard to believe nobody here has considered Franz Liszt love with Princess Carolyne.

I think this is simply a song of loving someone and not being able to be together because of the "WORLD" ways, in this situation because of society nobles not allowing a marriage of love. I think it is an uplifting song too, while we can't be together, we live, we move on, we grow, we burn the pictures, we know what happened- happened, WE DO IT! Let’s go slowly, discouraged but its not a song about one person leaving the other because the love was gone. Its a song about hope to those that can and can't live with the love of their life. For those that are in love, its a song of joy knowing that it could be done. And to those who can't marry its a song to grow. I don't think it s a song about breaking up.

I did some research and Franz was suppose to get married:

It was planned that the couple would marry in Rome, on October 22, 1861, Liszt's 50th birthday. Liszt having arrived in Rome on October 21, 1861, the Princess nevertheless declined, by the late evening, to marry him. It appears that both her previous husband and the Tsar of Russia had managed to quash permission for the marriage at the Vatican. The Russian government also impounded her several estates in the Polish Ukraine, which made her later marriage to anybody unfeasible.

Also- Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (February 8, 1819 — March 9, 1887[1]) was a Polish noblewoman who pursued a 40-year liaison/relationship with Franz Liszt.

This makes sense of the words...

*** "This love’s for gentlemen only, That’s with the fortunate only" So who can get divorced in those times "Gentlemen Only" he was blocked to marry his true love. I think that's what the lyrics mean.

***"Now I gotta be someone else" - Franz after not being able to marry went to the church. Liszt afterwards announced that he would retreat to a solitary living. He found it at the monastery He became increasingly plagued by feelings of desolation, despair and preoccupation with death–feelings which he expressed in his works from this period. As he told Lina Ramann, "I carry a deep sadness of the heart which must now and then break out in sound."

This must've been the most knowledgeable thing I've ever read in this website.

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