Franz Liszt

In 1850, after five years of planning, Liszt began composing music for his Italian opera, _Sardanapalo_, after Byron. It was central to his ambition to attain status as a European composer, but he abandoned the project halfway through. La Mara (1911), Humphrey Searle (1954) and others declared the manuscript fragmentary and partially illegible, but in 2016 this verdict was categorically overturned when work began on an edition of what Liszt notated: almost the entirety of Act 1. This article draws on an array of sources – published and unpublished – significantly to update our knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Liszt’s composition and abandonment of _Sardanapalo_. In light of his inconsistently Italianate music and idiosyncratic treatment of the libretto, it also reinterprets Liszt’s mid-century aesthetic orientation, as a confidant of Wagner and would-be pillar of Franz Brendel’s future neudeutsche Schule. By contextualizing key aspects of the uncovered musical score and libretto within Liszt’s mid-century writings on aesthetics, it posits character, declamatory melody and the visuality of the stage as (initially) critical criteria in the communication of a literary narrative, and suggests that Liszt’s impulse towards symphonic poetry may first have been kindled within the aesthetic potential of opera.

Colloque international "Lumière et musique : Appropriations, métaphores et analogies"
19-21 Novembre 2018, Paris, Fondation Singer Polignac
Programme et inscription : https://www.singer-polignac.org/fr/missions/sciences/colloques/1626-lumiere-et-musique-appropriations-metaphores-analogies

Since 2003 the three most famous international Liszt-piano-competitions Budapest "Liszt Ferenc International Piano Competition", Utrecht "International Franz Liszt Piano Competition" and Weimar "Internationaler FRANZ LISZT Klavierwettbewerb Weimar-Bayreuth" are organising every 3 years an Europe-wide tour with three of their winners: the European Liszt Night Tour (ELNT).

The international locations of the concerts are distinguished by their special relationship with both or the life or the oeuvre of Franz Liszt. In 2018 the ELNT will come for the first time in Italy, on lake Como, vis-à-vis to  Bellagio, where Liszt passed a few month in 1837 together with his lady-love, the countess Marie d’Agoult. In those days he dedicated himself to the study of  Dante’s Divina Commedia source of inspiration for the homonymous symphonic poem; furthermore in decembre ‘37 there was born on lake Como their daughter Cosima Francesca Gaetana (later on wife of Richard Wagner).

The three pianists of the ELNT for the piano-recital at Villa Vigoni are:
Alexander Ullmann, Great Britain (1. price, Utrecht 2017 and 1. price, Budapest 2011)
Tomoki Sakata, Japan(1. price, Budapest 2016)
Alexey Sychev, Russia (1. price, Weimar 2015)

https://www.villavigoni.eu/event/european-liszt-night-tour/?lang=en

Lisztian experimentation with cyclic form and techniques of thematic metamorphosis is generally associated with the masterpieces of the Weimar period (the B minor Sonata, the Grosses Konzertsolo, the final version of the two Concertos). Few know that those solutions had already been employed twenty years earlier in Paris, in an unpublished work: the De profundis for piano and orchestra, ‘instrumental psalm’ of no less than 900 bars, which is articulated in several seamless movements. The paper focuses on this work by the young Liszt, which has long been neglected by musicological enquiry, identifying possible models and the semantics of compositional strategies. The context in which the genesis of the work took place is reconstructed, with particular regard to the influences of the dedicatee, Abbot Lamennais. A reading in programmatic key is then proposed, which interprets the De profundis as a ‘symphonic poem’ ante litteram, on the basis of two contemporary sources: the Lamennaisian pamphlet Paroles d’un croyant, in which Psalm 129 was declined in terms of a social and political eschatology, and Liszt’s 1834 essay on the sacred music of the future. The analysis of the score, together with an in-depth study of the historical and cultural background, brings out the multiple values of Liszt’s project, deciphering aspects that commentators had so far considered incomprehensible, such as the meaning of the Polish intermezzo, which bursts like a foreign body into the work, or the apparent contrast between the dimension of the sacred and the ‘worldly’ theatricality of certain passages. In the De profundis the results of the mature Liszt are already contained, with surprising foresight, and, in this sense, the study proposed here can’t but help to better define the composer’s universe and the continuity of his creative path.

A pianist’s interpretation of a work is the result of long and complex process. During this process he may consult many different sources. This research evaluates the different types of sources on their relevance and added value in forming this interpretation. The object of this case study is Liszt’s Sonata in B minor.
The case study unfolds in three stages. The 0irst chapter discusses how I formed a 0irst interpretation based on the score, the manuscript and the lessons with Prof. Cervino. I recorded this interpretation as a reference recording. In the second chapter I discuss the different types of sources relevant to the research question categorising them. Thereafter, I show which sources contributed to forming my interpretation and performance of the work, and how. This third chapter is a re0lection on the process as the sources are consulted. I made a second recording after this process in order to compare it with the original one. In this same chapter I compare the two recordings while discussing the relevance of each source on my interpretation. Finally, I re0lect as a pianist on how my interpretation and performance evolved during this process.
This research discusses how different sources can contribute to forming an artistic interpretation of a work, in this case the Liszt Sonata. How can a pianist develop an informed interpretation and performance? I was able to draw different conclusions from this research and appreciate the richness of different sources realising their relevance when forming a personal, informed interpretation. The result being what I call a vivid, alive performance.

Franz Liszt has all too often been discarded as the virtuosic showman, despite the fact that his orchestral works have often gained great praise and attracted scholarly engagement. However, one also finds striking development of formal design and tonal harmony in many of the works for his principal composition medium, the piano. This thesis seeks to explore the genesis of Liszt’s magnum opus for the instrument, the Sonata in B Minor, to uncover the time-frame in which the work was composed and from where its inspiration was derived.
Considering the historical analyses placed upon the work that deal with structural design, as it pertains to the paradigm of Classical sonata form, I wish to utilise a practical application of James A. Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s Sonata Theory in order to survey the Sonata in B Minor’s landscape in a new light. In particular, I offer new perspectives on the validity of the double-function form, insight into the rhetorical layout of a rotational discourse, and propose a nuanced analysis befitting of this striking work.
Finally, I shall explore the implications of a hermeneutical reading of the Sonata to engage with the discursive meanings contained within the work as a whole. The composer’s literary influences and the evidence uncovered within the body of this thesis help to support a possible narrative that may have been a significant influence upon Liszt’s composition of this great work.

Despite the fact that the tools of narratology have been used to explore a wide range of musical genres, the nineteenth-century lied has never been the subject of sustained narratological inquiry. This article proposes an application of narrative theory to the analysis and interpretation of the Romantic lied, illustrated with analyses of works by Schubert, Robert and Clara Schumann, Liszt, and Brahms. Drawing upon recent scholarship on narrative in lyric poetry and the narratological theories of Mieke Bal, the article focuses on selected aspects of narratology: the events of lyric poetry and the ways music can create new ‘discourse events’, and how music affects issues of mediacy, in particular voice and focalization (perspective). Music provides much more than mere accompaniment; rather, it can become an integral component of the narrative discourse, bringing new potential meanings to the original poem and opening up for the music analyst new interpretative angles.

RESUMEN: La cuestión de si la Sonata de Liszt es o no es narrativa todavía aqueja a los analistas. Sin necesidad de un argumento externo, sin programa, Liszt demuestra que la música contiene poder narrativo en sí misma, siendo sus actores los temas musicales. La Sonata también refleja arquetipos muy antiguos de la conciencia humana: la batalla contra el monstruo interior, la redención del alma, la Arcadia espiritual...

ABSTRACT: The search of narrative identity in Liszt's Sonate is still an ancient and unresolved matter between analysts. On one hand, Liszt demonstrates that the music contains enough narrative power itself in spite of using neither an external argument nor a program but considering the musical themes as actors. On the other hand, this Sonate also reflects some old human conscious archetypes such as the fight against the monster inside each person, the redemption of the soul and the spiritual Arcadia.

The chapter focuses on the materiality of emotions from the perspective of the rise of musical celebrities in the early nineteenth-century Europe. It concentrates on Franz Liszt and his affective gravitation, especially on his relationship with the active, often fanatic audience who participated in the performances and was ready to express openly its emotions. Heinrich Heine coined the term “Lisztomania” to describe the hysterical relationship of the audience towards the famous virtuoso. In many contemporary reviews Liszt’s emotional contagiousness and those mysterious powers that drew people towards him were intensively discussed. The chapter analyzes the materiality of emotions both from the perspective of the emotionality of the audience but also by focusing on how Liszt was interpreted as a generator of emotionality, as an assemblage of human and non-human forces. The chapter draws on a wide array of contemporary sources, newspapers and journals, images, letters and memoirs.

In this essay, I explore historical and theoretical issues germane to an understanding of an 1885 piano composition with an intriguing title: Liszt’s Bagatelle ohne Tonart—a bagatelle “without tonality” or “without a key.” After briefly describing the work’s history and musical associations with other compositions by Liszt, I survey two present-day approaches that reveal ways in which the work defies tonality: octatonic interpretations via set-class examinations, and Schenker-influenced prolongational models. I then turn to focus instead on how the Bagatelle fit within the framework of nineteenth-century musical thought; how its processes were supported by contemporaneously evolving theories of chromaticism. Partly through an analysis based on the practice of Gottfried Weber (1779–1839), I demonstrate that the Bagatelle is not a piece “without tonality” as much as it is one “without the fulfillment of the tonic.” It maintains harmonic tension by avoiding anticipated resolutions, as well as by preserving a sense of ambiguity as to what the actual “missing” key is. Next, I consider why Liszt was prompted to write a piece in such a manner. We know that he was a proponent of musical progress—of Zukunftsmusik (“music of the future”)—but for this fact to be relevant we must confirm, first, that Liszt had definite ideas about a Zukunftsharmoniesystem; and second, that such a system is reflected in the processes exhibited by the Bagatelle. I argue that the Bagatelle’s traits are indeed in accordance with theoretical views about music’s future direction, to which Liszt subscribed. Relevant theories of Karl Friedrich Weitzmann (1808–80) and François-Joseph Fétis (1784–1871) are assessed. Lastly, in a “Schoenbergian epilogue” I explore connections between Liszt’s operations and Schoenberg’s ideas, addressing historical associations that conjoin their views of composing “ohne Tonart.” I conclude that the 1885 Bagatelle’s attenuation of tonality was part of a tradition that extended from the mid-nineteenth into the early twentieth century—one that stretched from Liszt and his contemporaries through Schoenberg and his pupils and beyond, embracing along the way the theoretical prescriptions of Weitzmann, Fétis, and Schoenberg himself. The various threads of theory and analysis explored in this essay contribute to an understanding of the same strand of musical evolution: the increasing circumvention of tonality to the point that a piece could be written “ohne Tonart.”  (NB: For this article, the author was awarded the  2006 “Emerging Scholar Award” by the Society for Music Theory.)

El presente trabajo intenta desentrañar el lenguaje musical empleado en las últimas composiciones de Franz Liszt con el fin de encontrar diversos elementos creativos que hayan contribuido en la creación de un estilo musical propio en compositores posteriores, estableciendo parámetros y brindando numerosas herramientas que fueron decisivas para el desarrollo de gran parte de la música de la primera mitad del siglo XX. Para ello, se procede al análisis detallado de cuatro de las últimas piezas que Liszt escribió en memoria de su amigo Richard Wagner.

Like Franz Joseph Gall and George Sand, the contemporaries of Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) could have found that the physiognomy (physical appearance) and genius of the musician disclose those "capabilities with which they end up their elected ones". This light, intensely projected by Franz Liszt, compels us to examine the details of his face, and the moldings of his bust that comes from the historical collections produced in the tradition of the time.

A könyv az érzékenység és a romantika magyar irodalmáról, a boldog
együgyűség elvesztéséről és a művészetek élvezetének „veszedelmes”
következményeiről szól. Kazinczy rögeszmés szépségkultuszáról, Ányos
„identikus” boldogtalanságáról, Csokonai saját ellentétébe forduló boldogságfilozófiájáról, Pálóczi Horváth „hátrahőköléséről”, Ungvárnémeti bűntudattal teli „nárcizmusáról”, az esztétikum és a boldogtalanság közé egyenlőségjelet állító Kisfaludy testvérekről, a katasztrófák művészet- és gazdaságfilozófiai értelmét kereső Lisztről és Jókairól. Ha tetszik, arról a bátorságról, amely a 18. század közepétől kezdve nemcsak esztétikai természetű, de egyfajta morális bátorság is volt: olvasásra csábítani a korábban nem olvasó rétegeket, programokat írni a társadalmi elitek kulturális elitté alakításáról, könyvet adni a nők kezébe, a szépirodalom retorikai-poétikai mutatványain keresztül mintát adni a személyiség autonóm létformáihoz. A felvilágosodás szenvedélytanai (Le Brun, Hume); dialógusai a csiszoltság (politeness) fogalmai körül (Shaftesbury, Burke), ízlés-meghatározásai (Hume, Voltaire); az összefoglaló esztétikai rendszerek (Batteux, Baumgarten, Hegel); a szép esztétikai – esztétikai ideológiai! – és morális megragadhatóságának filozófiai-hermeneutikai tételei (Rousseau-tól, Gottschedtől Kantig és Schleiermacherig), vagyis az egykorú európai esztétikai gondolkodás teljessége első látásra talán nem áll ott a szentimentalizmus és a romantika magyar irodalma mögött,
mégis alig van olyan műve a korszak magyar szépirodalmi kánonjának,
amelyen ne lehetne ennek a (pre)modern esztétikai rendszernek valamiféle – nálunk főleg német közvetítéssel megjelenő – lenyomatát felismerni.
A 18–19. századi magyar szépirodalom – a boldogtalanság iskolája.

TARTALOM

Előszó 7
I.
Mikes Mulatságos napokjáról 13
Violák - Ráday Gedeon Mezei dala, Szentjóbi Szabó László Poëtája
és német előzményeik 20
Ányosról és a Gráciákról 34
„Itt állani, lépni veszedelmes…” - Kazinczy jegyzései Horváth Ádám
A lélek halhatatlansága felől való gondolatairól 52

II.
Ipiapacs - Pszeudonímia, anonímia, anímia és onímia
a szentimentális irodalomban 67
Kétnyelvű irodalom? 77

III.
„Béjárom a sok kertet…” - Tájképek és képtájak a Bácsmegyeyben 87
„…az élet nem Román és a’ Román nem élet…”, avagy Vitéz Mihály
gyötrelmei 107
„A’ kietlen magánosság Elyziom lelkemnek…” - Kisfaludy Sándor és a Himfy’ szerelmei 125
A Himfy-strófa műfaji határai 138
„Magyarentod” - Adalékok a Dobozy-témához 154
A drámaíró Kisfaludy Sándor 167
„Abstract vulgárizmus?” - Kisfaludy Károly népdalairól 179
Horváth János: Petőfi Sándor 189

IV.
Meta-pásztor - Weöres Endymionjáról 199
A romantikus Nárcisz 210

V.
Nyolc és fél - Liszt Ferenc árvízi hangversenyei Bécsben (1838) 233
Az 1838-as pesti árvíz és a Kárpáthy Zoltán tizedik fejezete 252
Szatíra az 1840-es évek irodalmi életéről - Politikai divatok (1863) 268
A kálvinista Jókai - Az elátkozott család és A barátfalvi lévita 286

Despite its popularity with pianists, Liszt’s first
Mephisto Waltz (pub. 1862) has been largely glossed
over in musicological studies. In this article, I reconsider
the relationship between the piano piece and
the excerpt from Lenau’s Faust (pub. 1836) that inspired
it, and I explore potential programmatic interpretations
of the rhetorical features and idiosyncratic
structure of the music, informed by knowledge of
Liszt’s aesthetic stance around this period. This
hermeneutic approach is framed in terms of certain
important sociocultural concerns of the time, including
the widespread fascination with the virtuoso
as a daemonic agent. The poetic excerpt tells of a
crowd being roused to frenzy by the playing of a
diabolical instrumentalist, a process that the piece
both depicts and (in the act of performance) reenacts.
This also links back to Liszt’s mercurial career
as a performer, during which period such scenes
were commonplace. Written long after he had ceased
his tours as a virtuoso to concentrate on composition,
the Waltz may use Liszt’s own remembered
experiences, but more importantly it is part of the
legacy whereby he hoped to ensure his own lasting
place in the cultural memory.

As Franz Liszt saw the painting "Sposalizio" painting in 1837, an impulse to compose emerged, resulting in the piano piece of the same title. Lizst represents with the piano-compositions “Sposalizio” and “Il Penseroso” (after Michelangelo) the first known examples of  programmatic translation of figurative art into music .
It is charcteristic, that the musical terminology, and that of figurative art, borrow phrases from each other: In music we talk about expanse of sound, altitude, figures and centeres of gravity – all indicating extend in space; within musical terminology, tone painting is an actual term. In reverse, one can talk about rhythm, movement in a picture, the tone of a colour – all asuming a time dimension. In the musical reference to figurative art, time and space  relate in so many fascinating ways.
In the following it will be examined, what the translation, the re-shaping, the sublimation from figurativ art into music has implied in the two special cases Sposalizio and Il Penseroso. How are the spiritual qualities reflected? The first edition of the two Liszt-compositions was after request from the composer supplied with engravings by Albert Kretschmer representing the figurative sources. Therefore it seems more than legitimate to bring the material together in the analysis as well as in the concert hall. With this writing I hope to prove, that it is fruitfull too.

Çoksesli müziğimizin gelişmesinde önemli rol oynayan yabancı sanatçılar içinde şüphesiz en ünlüsü Macar piyanist ve besteci  Franz Liszt'tir. Çalışmada Liszt'in 1847 yılında çıktığı İstanbul seyahati ve verdiği konserler araştırılmıştır. Liszt, İstanbul'a Sultan Abdülmecid'in davetiyle gelmiş; Çırağan Sarayı, Franchini Köşkü, Rusya Sefareti ve Fethi Ahmed Paşa Yalısı'nda konserler vermiştir. Araştırmada bu konserlerle ilgili bilgiler verilmiştir. Ayrıca bestecinin İstanbul'a geldiği gün başına gelen "sözde" tutuklanma olayına ilişkin bilgiler de sunulmuştur.

This study examines the genesis of memorization as a piano performance practice, contextualizing it within the major technological, political, aesthetic, and philosophical movements of the nineteenth century. Its significance becomes apparent when considered with several other notable changes that coincided with the development of performance practice. These include the rise and fall of virtuosos, the emergence of non-composing performers and non-performing composers, the establishment of the musical canon, the ritualization of concerts and the disappearance of the art of improvisation. The first chapter "Innate Memory" considers memory as an inherent aspect of any musical experience, and surveys the general shift from oral culture (based on memory) to literal culture (based on writing). Next, "Virtuosic Memory" considers memorization as an enhancement to virtuosic acts as superhuman and sublime. Finally, "Transcendental Memory" examines memorization as an ultimate manifestation of the Werktreue (true-to-work) spirit-a veneration of the canonized work reflecting the performer's scrupulous study and internalization of the score. Traditional piano pedagogy has associated memorization with the notion of absolute music: entirely self-referential instrumental music with no extra-musical association. The piano was promoted as a "one-man orchestra." The expectation that

Cette thèse examine le rôle structurant du timbre à partir du répertoire pianistique de la première moitié du dix-neuvième siècle, période exploratoire où le timbre, composé multidimensionnel, occupe une place centrale. Fondée sur une conception architectonique et organique de la forme, elle convoque l’acoustique et la psychologie, dans une perspective transdisciplinaire. Le rapport entre timbre et langage se fonde sur les ressources timbriques de l’écriture. Ce matériau aux fortes potentialités structurales est modélisé par des facteurs pianistiques et texturaux en interaction. Les unités timbriques de niveau inférieur, délimitées par différents types d’articulations, trouvent leur cohésion dans des groupements timbriques aux propriétés émergentes. Les structures orientées résultantes convergent ou divergent avec les autres dimensions musicales. Le déploiement formel du timbre met en jeu des associations timbriques, donnant lieu à des espaces orientés et polarisés et à des structures en réseaux. Les prolongations timbriques, impliquant l’extension temporelle, la générativité et la récursivité de la forme, concernent les dimensions spectrale et temporelle du timbre et interrogent la notion de structure fondamentale. Les hiérarchies timbriques, envisagées sous l’angle de la subordination et de la réduction, mettent en jeu des structures fractales et arborescentes. Le rapport entre timbre et plan formel global implique l’examen des unités timbriques de niveau supérieur, résultant de groupements statistiques et syntaxiques, et dont les articulations présentent maintes similarités avec le niveau inférieur. La typologie des formes rend compte de la diversité des structures résultantes et met en évidence les notions de point culminant, symétrie, progression, anticipation et retour. Le timbre, structuré en niveaux interreliés, constitue ainsi une dimension essentielle à la compréhension de la nature et de l’évolution des formes pianistiques.

This thesis examines the structuring role of timbre through the pianistic repertory of the first half of the nineteenth century, an exploratory period in which timbre, as multidimensional compound, occupies a central place. Based on an architectonic and organic conception of form, it conveys acoustics and psychology, in a transdisciplinary perspective. Relationship between timbre and language is based on the timbral resources of writing. This material, provided with strong structural potentialities, is modelled by pianistic and textural factors in interaction. Low-level timbral units, delimited by different types of articulations, find their cohesion in timbral groupings provided with emerging properties. The resulting orientated structures converge or diverge with the other musical dimensions. Formal deployment of timbre involves timbral associations, giving rise to orientated and polarized spaces and to network structures. Timbral prolongations, implying temporal extension, generativity and recursion of form, concern the spectral and temporal dimensions of timbre and question the notion of fundamental structure. Timbral hierarchies, considered in terms of subordination and reduction, involve fractal and treelike structures. Relationship between timbre and overall formal plan implies the examination of high-level timbral units, resulting from statistical and syntactic groupings, and whose articulations present many similarities with low level. The typology of forms renders the resulting structures’ diversity and brings to light the notions of climax, symmetry, progression, anticipation and return. Timbre, structured in interrelated levels, thus constitutes a dimension essential to the comprehension of nature and evolution of pianistic forms.

Read at the International Musicological Society Congress in Zürich, 2007; subsequently published in German translation (by Juliane Dorsch) in Passagen. Theorien des Übergangs in Musik und anderen Kunstformen, ed. Christian Utz und Martin Zenck, 2009

The majority of the second section of Liszt's essay on _Lohengrin_ (1851) is presented here in an edited translation, taken originally from the _Monthly Musical Record_'s translation of 1876. It is prefaced with an introduction placing the essay in the context of Liszt's ambitions for the Hoftheater in Weimar, the milieu of music publishing and criticism in 1850s Saxony, and of Liszt's changing relation to Wagner's music.

The European press of the late 1830s indicates a glaring disparity between Liszt's questionable status as a composer and his eminence as a virtuoso performer. The staggered compositional history of one particular piano work, Après une lecture du Dante—Fantasie quasi Sonata (1839–58), straddles this schism uniquely in that it bridged two distinct periods of Liszt's life: the Glanzzeit of immensely successful European concert tours, and the predominantly compositional span as Kapellmeister in Weimar. As such, it documents the mise-en-scène of Liszt's self-fashioned metamorphosis from virtuoso to composer. As a work borne expressly of improvisational acts, the “Dante” Sonata exhibits paradoxical traits that bind it to both performance and compositional traditions. Through a study of Carl Czerny's influence on Liszt, and the latter's own improvisational practices, I take a medium-sensitive approach to the “Dante” Sonata by interrogating the historical concept of Phantasieren as part of a rereading of the compositional technique of thematic transformation. Based on the excised material from the extant manuscripts, I reconstruct the genesis of the “Dante” Sonata and chart its compositional history and generic evolution. A comparative presentation of selected revisions, alternatives, and variants from the work illustrates the problematic juncture between improvisation and composition, the extent to which self-borrowing and the interchangeability of texts raise questions about our modern work-concept, the notion of a musical text, and the functions of performance within a text.