Carl Tausig was the supremely talented, though impish protégé of Franz Liszt. Some say that he was Liszt’s greatest pupil.

Tausig joined Liszt in Weimar at the age of 14. Energetic to a fault, he got up to all sorts of mischief, including sawing the ends off piano keys in order to make the instrument more challenging to play. He also hocked the original, unpublished manuscript of Liszt’s “A Faust Symphony,” an entire year’s labor, for a mere pittance. (Fortunately, Liszt was able to retrieve it.)

Tausig then joined Richard Wagner in his political exile in Switzerland, where the boy’s boisterous behavior caused the operatic master his own share of distress. There must have been something exceptionally endearing in his personality, since he was always quickly forgiven.

At a birthday celebration for the young pianist, Liszt predicted, with a twinkle in his eye, that Tausig would become either a great blockhead or a great master.

Regrettably, his career was cut short. He died of typhoid fever, aged only 29 years.

I’ll celebrate this mercurial pianist, born on this date in 1841, with recordings of some of his original music and transcriptions, this afternoon between 4 and 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Tausig, the merry prankster (left), and Wagner, looking vexed