Young franz lizst8/10/2023 In 1869, the Russian critic Vladimir Stasov visited Liszt in Rome and recorded the following curious exchange: After the deaths of two of his children and the frustration of his plans to marry Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Liszt went through a period of bitter depression that likely influenced his decision. Liszt, however, excised this section in his final revision of 1864. Given the psalm’s message of mercy and redemption, the presence of De profundis seemed to offer hope at the end of Totentanz. The first version of Totentanz incorporates the De profundis plainchant near the end. In addition to these, the first version of Totentanz had a third section derived from an abandoned earlier work for piano and orchestra based on a setting of Psalm 130, De profundis. Franz Liszt, photographed around the time he completed Totentanz. Corresponding to Holbein, the first is a set of free variations on the Dies irae, a traditional plainchant describing the horrors of Judgment Day:Īfter a cadenza (an extended solo for the piano alone), the second section seems to correspond to the Camposanto fresco it is another set of variations based on the opening of Mozart’s Requiem. This first version of the piece seems to have combined the two sources of inspiration with two different sections. Ten years later, he sketched a piece for piano and orchestra titled Totentanz, completing it in 1853. In 1839, he possibly planned to write two piano pieces- The Comedy of Death (inspired by Holbein) and The Triumph of Death (inspired by the fresco)-but abandoned this idea. 1, Totentanz had a long and complex genesis. The fresco was badly damaged in World War II. In a letter, Liszt noted that the Camposanto reminded him of Mozart’s Requiem. In the center is a vision of the last judgment angels and demons fight over the naked bodies of the resurrected, and the figure of death swoops down on the living. On the right, finely dressed young men and women listen to music in a garden, enjoying the ephemeral pleasures of life. On the left, three noble men with their hunting retinue encounter a vision of death: three coffins containing bodies in varying states of decay. Holbein’s woodcuts have a sharp sense of satire, mocking the worldliness of spiritual and temporal authority figures.Īdditional inspiration came in 1838, when Liszt visited the Camposanto in Pisa and was awed by The Triumph of Death, a monumental fresco that contains several scenes. Liszt specifically seems to have been inspired by Hans Holbein the Younger’s Todtentanz, a series of woodcut prints that depict the age-old theme of equality before death: in Holbein’s series, Death, personified as a skeleton, comes for all, from the greatest of the great to the lowliest of the low. Totentanz literally translates as “Dance of Death” in German, and the term refers to a long tradition in the visual arts. It was perhaps this event that led to Liszt’s artistic preoccupation with death, which is exemplified by his imaginative masterpiece, Totentanz. Adam Liszt’s unexpected death from typhoid fever in 1827 devastated the 15-year-old composer. Much like Leopold Mozart, Adam Liszt served as his son’s agent and manager during Franz’s years as a touring child prodigy. Liszt seems to have taken inspiration from the instruments depicted in it when orchestrating the opening of Totentanz. In this post, discover how Renaissance art inspired Liszt’s macabre masterwork, Totentanz. 306a).On January 30 and February 1 and 2, the Houston Symphony presents Beethoven 7, a program featuring world-renowned pianist Kirill Gerstein in not one, but two virtuoso works by Franz Liszt. Three other relatively unknown songs are also investigated: "La tombe et la rose" (S. Two different versions of the four songs mentioned above are compared and Liszt's development as a song composer over a fifteen-year period is discussed. This treatise provides biographical information on Franz Liszt and Victor Hugo, and an examination of Liszt's settings of Hugo poems with regard to text, formal structure, rhythm, texture, melody, and harmony. 283), and "S'il est un charmant gazon" (S. Among the seven Liszt-Hugo songs, "Oh! quand je dors" (S. He also had close relationships with several great poets, especially Hugo. Throughout his life Liszt read French Romantic literature and was strongly inspired by it. Liszt-Hugo songs were composed between 18. Although most of his songs are set to German poems, the songs in French are among the most significant works, especially those set to poems by Victor Hugo. Franz Liszt composed over eighty songs in German, French, Italian, Hungarian, Russian, and English.
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