The “Valses oubliées” belong to Liszt’s late work, characterised by themes such as memory, sorrow and grief. They do not form a cycle but were written as separate pieces between 1881 and 1884. The title “Forgotten Waltzes” alludes to the fact that certain forms and genres were no longer fashionable. These four pieces are reminiscent of Liszt’s waltzes for piano from the 1830s, but embed typical melodic and rhythmic clichés from salon waltzes in new harmonic progressions. Up to now only the first of the “Valses oubliées” has found its way into concert repertoire. Our new edition affords pianists an opportunity to discover all four waltzes and their characteristic idiosyncrasies.
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Preface
In late 1880, the Hanover publisher Arnold Simon returned to Franz Liszt (1811–86) the manuscript of a piano romance which Simon had accidentally rediscovered. Liszt had written it in 1848, but the work had never been published and the composer had long since forgotten about it. The piece was an arrangement of a song written in 1843 and published the following year, Les … 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
Peter Jost (Editor)
Dr. Peter Jost, born in 1960 in Diefflen/Saar, read musicology, German and comparative studies at Saarland University in Saarbrücken. He did his PhD in 1988 with a thesis on Robert Schumann’s Waldszenen.
From November 1991 to April 2009 he was a research associate at the Richard Wagner Complete Edition in Munich, and since May 2009 has been an editor at G. Henle Publishers. His Urtext editions comprise predominantly French music of the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Lalo, Saint-Saëns and Ravel.
Rolf Koenen (Fingering)
As a pupil, Prof. Rolf Koenen, born in 1946 in Duisburg, had already had contact with Ewald Zimmermann, the first editor at the young publishing house. He studied the piano at the Folkwangschule in Essen with Detlef Kraus, with Ludwig Hoffmann in Munich and with Maria Tipo in Florence.
He gave concerts in a permanent duo partnership with Hansjörg Schellenberger, who was later to become the solo oboe player with the Berlin Philharmonic, and made several recordings with the Deutsche Grammophon-Gesellschaft, with Denon and Sony. Other chamber music partners included András Adorján, Stefan Dohr, Wolfgang Schulz, Claes H. Ahnsjö. Following a teaching position in Munich, Rolf Koenen was appointed as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts in 1982.
Mária Eckhardt (Preface)
Mária Eckhardt, born in 1943 in Budapest, studied at the Budapest Academy of Music (Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, today University of Music), and in 1966 she graduated with a diploma in choral conducting and teaching music. After holding different posts at the Hungarian National Library Széchényi and at the Institute for Musicology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences she worked at the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and Research Centre of the Liszt Academy of Music, of which she was Head between 1986 and 2009.
Eckhardt has been awarded numerous prizes for her Liszt research, in Hungary, and also in Europe and the US. Alongside Franz Liszt, her main research interests include the musical life of the 19th century and Hungary’s musical history.