In 1833, Liszt began his relationship with the Countess Marie d'Agoult.
In 1835 the countess left her husband and family to join Liszt in Geneva; their daughter Blandine was born there on December 18.
For the next four years, Liszt and the countess lived together, mainly in Switzerland and Italy, where their daughter, Cosima, was born in Como, with occasional visits to Paris. On May 9, 1839, Liszt's and the countess's only son, Daniel, was born, but that autumn relations between them became strained.
The countess returned to Paris with the children, while Liszt gave six concerts in Vienna, then toured Hungary.
For the next eight years Liszt continued to tour Europe, spending holidays with the countess and their children on the island of Nonnenwerth on the Rhine in summers 1841 and 1843. In spring 1844 the couple finally separated.