The epochal piano virtuoso Liszt made numerous transcriptions for his instrument of works by other composers – Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, a key nineteenth century work, naturally numbered amongst them. His congenial rendition of the famous closing scene (“Mild und leise, wie er lächelt”) for the piano is, incidentally, the source of the title that we are so familiar with today, “Isoldens Liebestod” (Isolde’s Love Death) – Wagner himself only spoke of Isolde’s “transfiguration”. We are now publishing Liszt’s sophisticated – but not impossibly difficult – piano setting in the finest Urtext quality, including the original fingerings by the master of the piano. The text of this final scene can be found in an appendix to our edition.
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Preface
The significance of Franz Liszt (1811– 86) in the life and work of Richard Wagner (1813–83) can hardly be emphasised enough. As a composer, Liszt’s pioneering use of harmony and motivic techniques (above all in his symphonic poems) had a major influence on Wagner’s compositional development in the 1850s. Above and beyond this, Liszt was tireless in promoting Wagner’s … more
Critical Commentary
About the composer

Franz Liszt
The most famous piano virtuoso of the nineteenth century is regarded as the most influential artist and composer (with Berlioz, Wagner) of the so-called New German School. His immense musical oeuvre comprises, above all else, works for solo piano, including numerous transcriptions; he also devised the symphonic poem. Important, too, are his sacred and secular choral works and songs.
1811 | Born in Doborján/Raiding (Sopron) on October 22, son of an official in the service of Prince Esterházy. First piano lessons from his father, early first attempts at composition, first public performance at age nine. |
1822 | Relocation of the family to Vienna, studies with Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri. |
1823 | Relocation of the family to Paris. Composition studies with Ferdinando Paër and Antonín Reicha (1826). Performances in salons, concerts. |
1824–27 | Concert tours through France, to England and Switzerland. Composition of opera paraphrases for piano. |
1830 | Acquaintance with Berlioz, self-study by reading. He becomes Parisian society’sfavourite pianist and piano teacher. |
1835 | He moves to Switzerland with Countess Marie d’Agoult: their first child together, Blandine-Rachel, is born here. He continues concertizing in Paris. |
from 1839 | Continuous concert tours throughout Europe. |
from 1847 | Symphonic poems, including No. 2, “Tasso: lamento e trionfo”; No. 1, “Ce qu‘on entend sur la montagne” (‘Bergsymphonie,’ ‘Mountain Symphony’); “A Faust Symphony in Three Character Pictures”; “A Symphony to Dante’s Divine Comedy” (‘Dante Symphony’); as well as [No. 11], “Hunnenschlacht” (“Battle of the Huns”). |
1848–61 | Kapellmeister in Weimar; he advocates for progressive music (Wagner, Schumann, Berlioz). |
1857–62 | Oratorio, “The Legend of St. Elisabeth.” |
1861–68 | Resident in Rome. |
1865 | Takes minor holy orders. |
1866–72 | Oratorio, “Christus.” |
1871 | Appointed Hungarian court councilor; he lives in Rome, Weimar, and Budapest. |
1886 | Death in Bayreuth on July 31. |
About the authors
De uitgave is prachtig vormgegeven. Liszts 'Augenmusik' doet niet alleen wonderen in de concertzaal maar ook in druk!