Though he grew up in Vienna and Paris and spoke German as his native language, Ferenc Liszt's Hungarian patriotism was aroused by a natural disaster. ''Oh my wild and distant country! Your cry of pain has brought me back to you. I bow my head, ashamed that I have forgotten you for so long,'' he reacted to the news of the 1838 Danube floods that demolished much of Pest, and he announced a charity concert for the benefit of the victims. When he visited Hungary the following year, he was embraced b...