The Anonymous North American Tour of Franz Liszt

P. T. Barnum's agent, Henry Feder, offers pianist Franz Liszt three hundred thousand dollars to give a concert tour of North America, but for puzzling reasons, Liszt vacillates. He eventually travels incognito to North America in October of 1856 with his manservant, Henrik, and agent Feder, where it becomes obvious that a very fine tour can be accomplished along the western rivers by steamboat. As Liszt prepares to start his tour, he encounters amazingly violent resistance in the company of famous people such as the brilliant, but bizarre pianist, Alkan, and the beloved composer, Stephen Foster. Liszt further is distracted by a young lady of supernatural accomplishments, Elizabeth Marvel, a gypsy witch. A masked Liszt finally performs in Cincinnati, but just as they are about to tear off the mask and announce the tour, Liszt and Elizabeth are kidnapped by unknown opposition and rushed downriver. Liszt is tried by a ghostly kangaroo court in Cairo, Illinois, for composing his distressingly new music, and neither Henry Feder nor the talents of Henrik can extricate them from the outrageous death sentence to be carried out by the voodoo queen, Marie Laveau. Ultimately, the magical methods of Elizabeth Marvel overcome the voodooien, but Liszt cancels the tour anyway. Feder reveals why Liszt was satisfied and why Liszt gladly pays Barnum five hundred thousand dollars to make up for the failure. What to do about the appealing Elizabeth is the main problem since Liszt already has a princess in his life. Real people, places, and events abound in this story, but, as with many historical novels, the precise events of the story never happened. However, the real characters, given fictional words and actions within the story, are not intended to act in any way deleterious to their actual fame.