![]() And the Salvation Army was founded in England. The Matterhorn was summated for the first time. The Civil War ended in America but President Lincoln was assassinated just days later. Berlioz had already used the theme in his Symphonie Fantastique and Rachmaninoff would employ it often years later. Liszt claimed a place among good company with the choice. ![]() The thematic basis for the music of Totentanz is the plainchant “Dies irae,” upon which several intense variations are set. Whatever the case, Mediaeval Europe was obsessed with everything related to death and Romantic Era Europe was obsessed with everything related to Mediaeval Europe so macabre source material like Holbein’s work and the Pisa fresco would have been abundant and of timely interest during Liszt’s day. It has also been posited that the he met his muse in a series of illustrations by Hans Holbein with the more pertinent title of The Dance of Death (or Totentanz). Some, including at least one biographer, claim that Liszt was motivated by a 14th century fresco he saw while visiting the city of Pisa, a work known as The Triumph of Death. There are contrasting versions of the story concerning Liszt’s inspiration for Totentanz. This long gestation period was not abnormal for Liszt and his two piano concerti endured a similarly drawn out process. Liszt had begun work on Totentanz as far back as 1838 and did not consider it “completed” until 1849, a date that lost some of its significance after at least two revisions by the composer in the late 1850s. THE MUSIC – The close timing of the premiere and the tonsure, though historically fascinating, was incidental. Intriguingly, his death-obsessed showpiece for piano and orchestra Totentanz had premiered just ten days earlier at The Hague. Though he never became a priest, he did officially enter the clergy’s lower orders on Apand was known as “Abbot” Liszt for the rest of his days. ![]() THE COMPOSER – FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886) – In the early 1860s, the crushing disappointments of Liszt’s personal life forced him to seriously consider the solace and rigor of monastic life. It also baked in a reminder that, for all his swagger and fame, Liszt was an artist of incredible intellectual depth, and one willing to remind you of such if you forgot.Instrumentation: 3 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam, strings According to the lore, Liszt and his son-in-law Hans von Bülow put secret words to the notes which (translated) say “None of you understand this, haha!” That dismissal, if true, seemed to predict and then casually wave away the opinion of critics and colleagues that Concerto No. In fact, a wonderful legend about the concerto’s opening theme plays neatly into the notion of Liszt as a man fully aware, and perhaps a bit protective, of his place in the vanguard. He well knew this about himself and cultivated it carefully. Other composers certainly noticed and, as with so much of what Liszt did throughout his composing life, they saw glimpses of the future in his intrepid, boisterous spirit. 1 is a simple dazzler for any “keyboard athlete.” We should be careful, however, not to let assessments of this music’s showy nature (which are common and fair) blind us to its truly novel formal accomplishments. 2 which, according to the previously quoted essayist Michael Steinberg is “for poet’s only”, No. Compared to the nearly contemporaneous Concerto No. Liszt, ever preoccupied with structural innovation and recalling an 1836 admonishment by Robert Schumann to “invent a new form”, chose to set his concerto as a continuous flow of ideas rather than a standard three-movement work with breaks in between. 1 was apparent in sketches from the early 1830s (possibly even before) and, though ostensibly “complete” by the end of that decade, it was revised repeatedly over the next two and not premiered in its final form until 1855. THE HISTORY – Both of Liszt’s piano concertos had long incubation periods. With Grand Duke Carl Alexander, Liszt hoped he might co-found an intellectual “Athens of the North” and in the Princess Carolyne he saw nothing less than his future wife. In addition to continuing his duties under the fabulous title of Kapellmeister Extraordinare, the composer had officially relocated to Weimar in 1848 (perhaps seen then an odd choice for someone of his stature) because of two important people, his employer and his second great love. THE COMPOSER – FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886) – Liszt spent the 1850s in Weimar and created some of his finest works there, including the two piano concertos, Totentanz, the Faust Symphony as well as various etudes, rhapsodies and other sundry exercises. Duration: 19 minutes in four movements (played without pause).
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