How Liszt, or for that matter, Bülow would have played the Sonata, we do not know. The juxtaposition of good and evil, about the divine and the diabolical, Allegory set in the garden of Eden (biblical context). University of Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. An example for the latter is Liszt’s relationship with the Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, his mistress for thirteen years at Weimar and close friend for the better part of half of a century (with themes and motifs of Liszt and Carolyne). Liszt: Surmounting The Ultimate Piano Sonata Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor demands the utmost from the performer in musical as well as technical terms. The two of them grew even closer in the same year, when Bülow married Liszt’s daughter, Cosima. But the things are dreadful! This blog entry makes extensive use of the content found over at Musica Kaleidoskopea. 2 in B minor, S. 171, is a piano composition by Franz Liszt, written in 1853.Liszt plied one of his favorite genres—the programmatic one movement tone poem designed to provide both the variety and unity of a sonata or symphony. My teacher suggest me to learn this piece. The surviving manuscript of the Sonata reveals that Liszt originally composed a mighty, almost pretentious finish to it. Clara Schumann, the wife of the great composer Robert Schumann, wrote in her diary on 25 May 1854: Liszt sent Robert today a sonata dedicated to him and several other things with a friendly letter to me. I feel difficult playing rapid octaves (I've small hands). The Ballade No. Vous pouvez modifier vos choix à tout moment dans vos paramètres de vie privée. The sonata unfolds in approximately 30 minutes of unbroken music. The sonata was published in the spring of 1854 (performed ’57) and dedicated to Robert Schumann. Others propose that it is about the divine and the diabolical, as depicted in the Bible and, specifically, in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, or that it is merely an allegory, set in the Garden of Eden, dealing with the Fall of Man and contains individual themes for “God”, “Lucifer”, “Serpent”, “Adam” and “Eve”. Liszt as painted by Henri Lehmann in 1839. The main theme is scattered across the first page (of the Emil von Sauer edition of the Score), which functions as a prologue. While its four distinct movements are rolled into one, the entire work is encompassed within the traditional Classical sonata scheme — exposition, development, and recapitulation. Others admire it, and often for the very same reasons! F major and B major are located as far as possible form each other in the circle of fifth. This fugato has a very ironic and diabolic character. Robert Schumann’s own Fantasie in C major, was also written to be played through, more or less hiding its three individual movements. A “sonata” in the 19th-century sense would generally refer to a three or four movement composition. In absolute contrast to that, the Croatian enfant terrible of piano stars, Ivo Pogorelich, played the same work a few years ago at a bewilderingly slow speed, taking almost exactly twice as long – an astonishing feat. Fortunately, at a later stage, he changed his mind and after a triumphant climax in B major, he returned to the melody of the “slow movement” and the Sonata not so much finishes but seems to evaporate through the last three ethereal chords. How hard is Liszt Sonata in B minor? The content is purely for educational purpose, I do not claim any copyright. Probably not. One of the most moving performances of this final section (called a “coda”) was recorded by the Russian pianist, Sviatoslav Richter: Nowadays, it is possible to follow the music of Liszt’s Sonata in B minor with the score, for example, on the following recording with Alfred Brendel as the pianist. The next example shows the same segment already heard on Hoffmann’s recording: Whatever our opinion, time seems to stand still at times in this recording, while Pogorelich’s extreme attention to minutiae brings out harmonic clashes, hidden internal melodies and many other particulars seldom audible in other recordings. Zoltan Szabo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The fugato is in B flat minor using motif the 2nd and 3rd motif from the prologue. It's a … The sonata was published in the spring of 1854 (performed ’57) and dedicated to Robert Schumann. Source: [Liszt: Sonata in B minor - Sviatoslav Richter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1438&v=Wc4hJtKm278), Liszt ~ Piano Sonata in B Minor ~ Premier recording by Arthur Friedheim ~ Leipzig 1905, FRANZ LISZT - SONATA IN B MINOR - LUDWIG HOFFMANN, Ivo Pogorelich plays Liszt Sonata - live 2012, Liszt: Sonata in B minor - Sviatoslav Richter. Viewed from one angle, it can be explained as one giant movement in traditional “sonata form”, containing the three traditional sections of exposition, development and return (or recapitulation) of the themes. Last but not least I would like to end with the epilogue. Furthermore, there is a chance that not all information is correct (depends somewhat on your definition of ‘correct’), so you have been warned. Please someone tell me how hard this piece and what techniques I should develop before learning it. Some might call this performance a parody. The intriguing problem of a two-dimensional form surfaces in other compositions of the Romantic period (lasting for most of the 19th century) and it is symptomatic with that era’s growing fascination with ambiguity in musical form. The beginning and end are the usual movements of a sonata, which bookend a conventional slow movement and a scherzo - a fast, light movement. The first passage is the Recitativo (from Bar 297). Posted on November 23, 2015 by Norbert Müllemann. Before I begin with the analysis I would like to make clear that my view towards this Sonata is very biased as, having played this piece myself, I am a huge fan of this Sonata (it is one of my favourite pieces ever composed for piano). This will also provide a chance to listen to the whole Sonata without interruption. I've passed grade 8 ABRSM. Next, I would like to show some passages, which are very interesting (macro analysis). On a simpler scale, it has also been said that the Sonata has no programmatic allusions at all and it is a piece of “expressive form” with no meaning beyond itself. After the first Recitativo comes a similar passage (Bar 302): F minor » D flat major » D flat augmented and G flat augmented. [Johannes] Brahms played them for me, but they made me utterly wretched … This is nothing but sheer racket – not a single healthy idea, everything confused, no longer a clear harmonic sequence to be detected there! This chord progression has a very special effect and is, probably, one of the most amazing chord progressions in romantic music. A “sonata” in the 19th-century sense would generally refer to a three or four movement composition. Also, just as in the Liszt Sonata, the four movements are played without a break. Liszt knew Austrian composer Franz Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasie in C major well. Nor could Schumann play the Sonata as, by 1854, he was rather tragically committed to an asylum for the insane. Link here. Update: I've been playing for 12 years. Calling upon every intellectual resource and fully exploiting the pianist’s technical arsenal, it is at this point where a performer’s concentration might flag. Upon hearing it for the first time, the enormously influential Viennese critic, Eduard Hanslick, opined. Personally, I think the fact that Liszt never mentioned any programmatic context, makes this sonata even more special. Unlike most traditional piano sonatas, Liszt’s work consists of one giant arch of a single movement, lasting almost half an hour. Although Schubert’s themes in the Wanderer Fantasy run through four movements in varied forms, these four movements are played without a break – the parallels with Liszt’s later Sonata are obvious. Découvrez comment nous utilisons vos informations dans notre Politique relative à la vie privée et notre Politique relative aux cookies. One of the most fascinating aspects of Liszt’s Sonata is that, depending on how we look at the score (and more importantly, listen to the music), it can be convincingly argued that it abides by two completely different structures – and does so simultaneously! This Recitativo can be seen as the transition from the 1st movement into the 2nd mov. Proof of this is that, despite its mammoth technical difficulties, there are over 50 recordings of the Sonata listed in the catalogues. In my opinion, this music isn’t meant to be nice music in a narrow sense, but it tells a story. Pour autoriser Verizon Media et nos partenaires à traiter vos données personnelles, sélectionnez 'J'accepte' ou 'Gérer les paramètres' pour obtenir plus d’informations et pour gérer vos choix. It’s up to the performer and the listener to understand it. To help make myself clear, here is an overview of the themes and the keys. One of the most vehement of them was recorded by the German Ludwig Hoffmann in 1977. Whatever its meaning, the Sonata is an incredibly powerful work, inspiring some performers to excessively emotional performances. It was completed in 1853 and published in 1854 with a dedication to Robert Schumann in return for his dedication of his Fantasie in C major, Op. But this final section has only just begun, and a pianist needs to have reserved fuel in his tank if he is to turn in a successful performance of the sonata. Fortunately, such sentiments did not prevail for long. Friedheim’s 1905 recording is the first complete one of the Sonata; his deeply musical, if often unusual playing of the first few minutes of this work is well worth listening to: Still, like Clara Schumann, others also had difficulties comprehending the astonishing musical journey of Liszt’s Sonata. (The main themes of a sonata movement are elaborated in various ways and keys in its middle section, called “development”). After the fugal entries the fugato modulates enharmonically and moves from a polyphonic to a more homophone texture where the recapitulation is started.

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