The surviving autograph of Franz Liszt’s b-minor Sonata is a fascinating document that illuminates the compositional process: many cuts and paste-overs show how Liszt refined the architecture of the work. These paste-overs have since been removed and in our new edition we can see for the first time what is hidden behind them. The knowledgeable introduction by the Liszt expert Mária Eckhardt provides an abundance of information and a unique look over the composer’s shoulder.
Video with facsimile: Claudius Tanski
Audio example: Krystian Zimerman
Deutsche Grammophon 028947796978GM2
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Preface
Not quite nine decades have gone by since Franz Liszt’s death in Bayreuth in 1886 at the age of 75. The picture of a musician endowed with genius, as it impressed itself upon the consciousness of his contemporaries, was accepted by future generations and has been passed on virtually unchanged. It was a picture which revealed the phenomenon of an incomparable pianist who … more
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
Iedereen die zich wil verdiepen in één van de mooiste scheppingen uit de gehele pianoliteratuur, hetzij als uitvoerder, hetzij vanuit (wetenschappelijke) interesse, kan nu voor het eerst doordringen tot de ultieme bron. Moge uit deze rijke bron steeds nieuwe inzichten en geïnspireerde uitvoeringen opwellen.