Date post: | 01-Jun-2018 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | paularivero |
View: | 217 times |
Download: | 0 times |
of 21
8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
1/21
Liszt and the Mozart ConnectionAuthor(s): William WrightSource: Studia Musicologica, Vol. 48, No. 3/4 (Sep., 2007), pp. 299-318Published by: Akadmiai Kiad
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25598300.
Accessed: 26/01/2015 16:38
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Akadmiai Kiadis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Studia Musicologica.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=akhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/25598300?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/25598300?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ak8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
2/21
Liszt and
the
Mozart Connection*
William
Wright
24
Ayr
Road,
Giffnock
Glasgow
G46
6
RY,
Scotland
E-mail:
(Recieved:
February
2007;
accepted:
May
2007)
Abstract:
The
life
and
works
of
Mozart
are
central
to
a
due
understanding
of
Liszt's
development
as
pianist,
composer,
and
conductor.
Yet,
this fact receives
inadequate
attention
in
scholarly
studies. Liszt
readily
acknowledged
that
he
'owed
the
greater
part
ofwhat he
was as a
musician
to
Mozart' and
found
identity
nd
goal
as
he
sought,
as
pianist
and
composer,
to emulate the endeavors of the Viennese master. Like
Mozart,
he
was a
'pioneer
of
progress'
who
refused 'to
be
bound
by
accepted
modes
of
expression.'
Like
Mozart,
'he
pushed
virtuosity
to
utmost
limits.'
Like
Mozart,
he
was
seen
by
many
as
an
iconic
figure
of German
nationalism.
In
later
life,
iszt took
comfort
from
the fact that
Mozart,
his illustrious
role-model,
was
not
spared
bitter
experiences.
'As
with
every
great
genius,'
both
endured
'pain
and
suffering'
in
order
to
accomplish
their
task.
In
so
many
areas
of
musical
activity
and
experience,
Liszt
mirrored his
great
Viennese
master.
Throughout
Liszt's
life,
he
remained
devoted
to
the
scrupulous
study
and execution
of
Mozart's
music
and
played
an
important
part
in
promoting
a
better
understanding
of both
man
and
music
via
podium
and
press
before,
during,
and after theMozart Centenary Celebrations in Vienna in
January
1856.
Keywords:
Liszt,
Modulation du
Requiem
de
Mozart
While
the
significance
of
Beethoven's music for Liszt's
development
as
pianist,
composer,
and
conductor,
continues
to
be
widely
recognized,1
considerably
less
*
A
preliminary
version of this
essay
was
presented
at
the
Great
Romantics Festival inHamilton, Ontario,
on
6
October
2006.
1.
See for
example
Axel
Schroter,
"Der
Name Beethoven
ist
heilig
in
der
Kunst":
Studien
zu
Liszts
Beetho
ven-Rezeption,
2
Bde.
=
Musik
und
Musikanschauung
im 19.
Jahrhundert. Studien und
Quellen
6
(Sinzig:
Stu
dio,
1999).
For further
publications relating
to the
Beethoven
/ iszt
connection
see
Michael
Saffle,
Franz
Liszt:
A
Guide
to
Research
Second
Edition
(New
York-London:
Routledge,
2004),
298-299.
Studia
Musicologica
48/3-4,
2007,
pp.
299-318
DOI:
10.1556/SMus.48.2007.3-4.3
1788-6244/$
20.00 ?
2007 Akademiai
Kiado,
Budapest
This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
3/21
300 William
Wright
attention
is
given
in
scholarly
studies
to
the
signal
effect the life and works of
Mozart
had
on
similar Lisztian
activities.2
Although
Liszt
owed the
greater part
of what he
was
as a
musician
to
the
Viennese
master.3
The
present
article seeks
to
redress
the
balance
a little. Included in this
study
will
be
an assessment of
the
significant
part
Liszt
played
in
promoting
a
better
understanding
of
Mozart
and
his
music,
via
podium
and
press,
before,
during,
and
after the
Mozart
Centenary
Celebrations
in
Vienna
in
January
1856,4
and when
advocating, by
correspond
ence,
the
publication
of
a
complete
edition of
the
composer's
works.5
But
first,
consider
the
profound
effect the
life
and works
ofMozart had
on
the
early
development
of
Liszt
as
pianist.
When
Liszt
arrived
in
Vienna
in
the
spring
of
1822
to
commence
his
musical
studies with Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri,6 he had, already, uncommon know
ledge
ofMozart's
keyboard
works,
taught
to
him
by
his
father,
Adam.
Many
key
board works
of
Bach,
early
Beethoven,
Clementi,
Hummel,
and
Cramer,
were
also
in
his head
and
fingers.7
There
can
be little
doubt that
during
Liszt's
fourteen-month
stay
in
the
city,
while
under
Czerny
and
Salieri's
tutelage
or
at
Viennese
society
gatherings,
he
further
deepened
and
extended
his
understanding
of
Mozart
and his
music.8
All,
while
he
rapidly
grew
in
stature
as
an
important
musical
figure
following
rave
reports
of
prestigious private performances
and
two
public engagements.
It
was
the latter
events,
Liszt's
public
debut
on
1
December
1822
at
the
capital's
Univer
sity
Hall,
and
his
engagement
at
the
Vienna Redoutensaal
on
13
April
1823,
par
2.
Past
studies,
relative
to
the Liszt/Mozart
connection,
while
majoring
on
Liszt's
Reminiscenses
de Don
Juan
or
Ferruccio Busoni's
1912
adaptation
of
the
Mozart/Liszt Weimar material
(D-WRgs
60/1
45),
fail
to
stress
the relevance
and
importance
of
the
life
and works
of
Mozart for Liszt's
identity
and
development.
See
Saffle,
Franz
Liszt: A
Guide
to
Research,
96,
300
and 474-475.
3. 'What
musician does
not
wholeheartedly
endorse
the
triumph
of this
genius
to
whom
we
owe
the
greater
part
of
what
we
are as
musicians
-
this
master who
was
gifted
above all
others
with
the
greatest
abundance,
the
most
astonishing
richness,
the
most
wonderful
flexibility,
the
most
marvelous
blend
of
very
diverse,
often
mutu
ally
exclusive
qualities,
with
the
loveliest
harmony
of
nobility
and
grace,
of invention
and
combination,
of
pas
sion
and
control,
of
majesty
and tenderness?'
An
excerpt
from
part
one
of Liszt's
two-part
article:
"Bei
Gelegenheit
der
hundertjahrigen
Mozart-Feier,"
Blatter
fur
Musik,
Theater und
Kunst
(18.
Januar
1856),
21.
4.
The
Centenary
Celebrations
took
place
at
the
Vienna
Redoutensaal
on
27 and 28
January
1856.
5.
See Liszt
letter,
dated 9
February
1856,
to
his
cousin, Eduard,
in Liszts
Briefe,
hrsg.
von
La
Mara,
Bd.
1
(Leipzig:
Breitkopf
and
Hartel,
1893),
216.
6.
Adam
Liszt
put
into effect
his bold
plan;
he
gained
a
year's
leave of absence
from
Prince
Nicholas
Esterhazy
and
early
in
May
1822
Adam
set out with
his
son on
the
journey
to
Vienna. Klara
Hamburger,
Liszt
(Budapest:
Corvina,
1980),
12.
7. 'The fact
that
within
twenty-two
months
he
[Liszt]
has
easily
overcome
any
difficulty
in
the
works
of
Bach,
Mozart,
Beethoven,
Clementi,
Hummel,
Cramer,
etc.,
and
can
play
the hardest
piano pieces
at
sight,
in
strict
tempo,
correctly
and
without
any
mistakes,
represents
in
my
opinion giant progress.'
Letter
from
Adam
Liszt
to
Prince Nicholas
Esterhazy,
dated
13
April
1820.
See
Stephan [Istvan]
von
Csekey,
"Franz Liszts
Vater:
Nach
bisher
unverdffentlichten
Dokumenten
dargestellt,"
Die
Musik
29/9
(Juni 1937),
631-635.
See
also
Alan
Walker,
Franz
Liszt: The Virtuoso
Years 1811-1847
(London-Boston:
Faber
&
Faber,
1989),
66.
8.
Liszt
probably
listened
to
Mozart's
compositions,
conducted
by Hieronymus
Payer
at the
Theater
an
der
Wien,
in 1822
or
'23,
or
at
the
Paris
Opera
in
late 1831
or
early
'32. See
notes
35, 37,
and
39.
Studia
Musicologica
48,
2007
This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
4/21
Liszt and theMozart
Connection
301
ticularly
the
latter,
that
convinced his
father,Adam,
an
important
decision had
to
be made
concerning
his
son's future
career.9
Alan Walker records
in
volume
one
of
his
tripartite
Franz Liszt
biography:
After
Liszt's
appearance
in the
Redoutensaal
Adam could look back
on
their
stay
in
Vienna
with considerable satisfaction.
Every
one
of
his
objections
had
been
achieved.
His
son
was
now
the
center
of attention
in
the
capital.
He
had
played
before the
most
critical audiences
and had
brought
honor
to
his
family,
his
teachers,
and
his
country...
Above
all,
he had
grown
in
artistic
stature
and
stood
on
the
threshold
of
a
shining
career.
Adam
now
let his ambition
grow.
He
had
long
nurtured
a
dream
to
take Franzi
on
a
European
tour,
with
France
and
perhaps
England
as
theirultimate destination.
What could be done
in theRe
doutensaal
could be
done
elsewhere...
He
now
looked
westwards
-
to
Munich,
Stuttgart,
Augsburg
and
Paris...10
In
planning
Liszt's firstworld
tour,
dam
had
very
few
precedents
to
guide
him.
Uppermost
in
his mind
was
the
phenomenal
success
of the
Mozart
chil
dren,
Wolfgang
and
Nannerl, who,
sixty
years
earlier,
had been
taken
on
tour
by
their
father nd had
set
Europe
by
the
ears.
The fact that
dam
followed
a
similar
route
-
Munich,
Augsburg, Strasbourg,
Stuttgart
-
should
not
surprise
us.
People
were
beginning
to
compare
the
young
Liszt with Mozart
and
it
was
typical
of
Adam
to
symbolize
that
fact
publicly.11
It
is
important
to
emphasise
that Liszt's creative abilities
as
executant-virtuoso
were
being
compared
with Mozart's
similar
gifts.
Both refused
to
be
bound
by
the limitations of
accepted
modes
of
expression
as
they
pushed virtuosity
to
utmost
limits.
The
following
excerpt
from Liszt's
1856
article,
'Bei
Gelegenheit
der
hundertjahrigen
Mozart-Feier'
(On
the
Occasion of
the
Mozart
Centenary
Celebration),
that
appeared
in
Leopold
Zellner's
Vienna
journal,
Blatter
fur
Musik, Theater,
und
Kunst,12
sheds
more
light
on
thematter:
[Mozart's]
versatile
genius spanned every aspect
of
music,
not
excluding
the
virtuosity
which he raised
to
the
utmost
limits in
relation
to
the
techniques
of
his
day
-
an
achievement that
must not
be
silently
passed
over
when his
mem
ory
is
celebrated,
because,
even
if
we
can
no
longer
directly
appreciate
his vir
tuosity,
it
is
nonetheless the
source
of
part
of the
power
that Mozart
exercised
over
his
contemporaries
and
over
his
successors.
For
Beethoven,
Weber,
9. From the
Summer of 1823
increasing
interest
in the
extraordinary
abilities
of
young
Liszt
began
to
command the attention of the
musically
informed inLondon. See The
Quarterly
Musical
Magazine
and Review
5
(1823),
416,
and
The
Harmonicon
(1823),
88.
10.
Walker,
Franz Liszt:
The
Virtuoso
Years,
85-86.
11.
Walker,
Franz
Liszt:
The
Virtuoso
Years,
89.
12.
Leopold
Alexander
Zellner(
1823-1894),
editor of
Blatter
fur
Musik,
Theater und
Kunst
from
1859
to
1866.
Secretary
of
the
Gesellschaft
der
Musikfreunde
in Vienna
from
1868
and
Professor
at
Vienna
Con
servatory.
Studia
Musicologica
48,
2007
This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
5/21
302
William
Wright
Meyerbeer,
Mendelssohn,
Spohr,
etc.,
it
served
as
a
kind of
model
he found
in
Bach and
Handel.13
Clearly,
Liszt was well aware of the
huge
influence Mozart had exercised over
his
own
development
as
traveling keyboardist.
Nowhere
was
this
Mozartian influence
more
wonderfully
demonstrated than
when
Liszt,
'building,
[like
Mozart]
on
what
already
existed
yet
seeking
to
ad
vance
into
regions
as
yet
unexplored,'14
performed
a
free
fantasia
on
the
aria,
'Non
piu
andrai'
from
the
composer's
opera,
Le
Nozze
di
Figaro,
at
the Italian
Theatre
in Paris
on
7
March
1824,15
or
again
on
27
August
that
year
at
Windsor
Castle,
England,
when
he
improvised
on
the
minuet
from
Finale Act
1
of
Mozart's Opera, II Don Giovanni:16 events thatbestowed on Liszt themantle of
international
recognition
as
performing
artist of
genius
and introduced
him
to
the
most
desirable
clientele,
the
highest
echelon
of
society
in
European
cities.17
Wonderful demonstrations of
digital
dexterity
foreshadowing
his advance into
further
realms of
transcendental
pianism
in
Paris
in
1832,
when
he
was
engaged
in
lengthy
and
frenetic
practice
sessions and
an
equally
intense
scrutiny
of
works
of
Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Hummel,
and
Weber,
all
bearing
unmistakable fam
ily
likeness, all,
in
part,
vehicles
of
virtuosity.18
13.
Liszt,
"Bei
Gelegenheit
der
hundertjahrigen
Mozart-Feier,"
Blatter
fiir
Musik,
Theater und
Kunst
(18.
Januar
1856),
21. The
second
part
of
the article
appeared
three
days
later.
Zellner almost
certainly
'came
[to
Liszt
]
with
the
proofs
of
the article'
on
17
January
1856.
In
a
letter to
Princess
Carolyne
Sayn-Wittgenstein,
written
two
days
later,
Liszt comments: T
thought
it
better
not
to
put
him off
any
longer.
You
will
have
seen
that
he
[Zellner]
has
split
it
into
2
issues,
which suited him better. Since
no
essential
harm
was
done
to
it,
I
made
no
categorical objections.
Besides,
I
am
quite pleased
with
Zellner...'
Liszt made
no
mention
of the
proofs
in
his
note to
Carolyne,
dated
16
January
1856.
Liszts
Briefe,
hrsg.
von
La Mara
(Leipzig: Breitkopf
&
Hartel,
1900),
Bd.
4,
300.
14.
'...andere Gebiete als die schon
sattsam
ausgebeuteten
betreten,'
"Bei der
hundertjahrigen
Mozart-Feier,"
[Part
II]
(21.
Januar
1856),
26.
15. Two themes fromMozart's
Opera,
Le
Nozze di
Figaro,
'Non
piu
andrai'
and 'Voi che
sapete,'
included
and
freely
arranged by
Liszt
in his
fifty-page
untitled
Weimar
autograph
(D-WRgs
60/1
45),
also feature
in
Ferruccio Busoni's
1912
adaptation
of
the
same
Weimar Liszt
keyboard
material,
Busoni's
Franz
Liszt Fantasie
iiber
zwei
Motive
aus
W.A.
Mozart's
Die
Hochzeit des
Figaro.
16.
Sixteen
measures
of
paraphrased
material
from
this
Donna
Anna /
on Ottavio
minuet,
that
Liszt
in
corporated
into
the
above
Weimar
manuscript,
fail to
appear
in
Busoni's
1912
adaptation.
17. In
the
following
letter
to
young
Liszt,
dated
2
July
1824,
the celebrated
English
tenor,
John
Braham,
recognizes
in him
one
who
would
continue
to
find
identity
and
goal
in
Mozart:
'My
dear Master
Liszt,
/
Many
thanks for
your
exertions.
/
he talent
you
displayed
on
the
evening
of
my
Benefit
[at
Drury
Lane Theatre
on
29
June
'24]
can never
be
forgotten by
the British Public. The
delight they
manifested
was a
tribute
paid
to
your
wonderful
genius,
as
ardent
as
it
was
just.
May
you
proceed
in
your
career as
prosperously
as
you
have
com
menced,
-
and
that
you
will
emulate the
glory
of Mozart
and
master-spirit
of
music
is
not
doubted
by
/
ours
much
obliged,
/ John Braham.'
Francesco
Berger,
"Retrospects
(IV),"
The
Monthly
Musical
Record
(1
April
1930),
107.
18.
Briefe,
Bd.
1,
6-8.
A
question
remains. Liszt
played
his
improvisations
on
Mozart's
compositions
in
the
1820's,
and
during
the
1830's
and 1840's
gave
public
performances
of
his
own
piano
transcriptions
of
some
of the
Viennese
master's works.
Yet,
why
did Mozart
concertos,
sonatas,
or
his
other
keyboard
works,
fail to
feature
on
Liszt
concert
programs?
Charles Rosen
gives
an
excellent
reply:
'...almost
all of the
solo
keyboard
repertoire
for
two
hands without
pedal
keyboard
[written]
before
1800
was never
intended
for
public
per
formance,
certainly
not
for
an
audience
of
more
than
a
dozen
or
two...'
Rosen,
Piano
Notes:
The
Hidden
Studia
Musicologica
48,
2007
This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
6/21
Liszt and
the
ozart
Connection 303
Mozart's
Requiem
is central
to
a
due
understanding
of Liszt's
early
composition
al
development,
particularly
as
one
considers Lisztian
sketchbook
material,
rela
tive
to
motif
and
chromatic
material
from
the
Mozart
Dies Irae
sequence
that
Liszt
incorporated
into
his
1833
/ '34
masterpiece,
Harmonies
poetiques
et
reli
gieuses
(S.
154),
and its later
revision,
Pensee
des
Morts
(S.
173/4).19
When
one
recalls
that
Liszt
was
in Paris
during
the
city's
cholera
epidemic
in
the
spring
of
1832
and witnessed
the
seemingly
endless
procession
of
vehicles
bearing
dead
to
Notre
Dame,
it is
little
wonder
that the
experience
provoked
in
him
profound
musical
expression.
Walker
records
in Liszt
1:
Liszt's
obsession
with the
dead,
the
dying,
and
the damned
was
real
enough
and often
provoked
a
musical
response.
There is
a
whole branch of his
music
dealing
with death and
symbolized by
such titles s Totentanz
(S.
126),
Fune
railles
(S.
173/7),
a
Lugubre
Gondola
(S.
134),
and
Pensee
des
Morts.20
The
following
excerpt
from
the
Memoires
of
Countess
Dash
contains
a
vivid
account
of
similar
Lisztian
expression:
In
the
building
above
me,
lived
one
of
the
kings
of
celebrity,
itz
[sic].
He
was
no
longer
called little itz
but he
was
still
very
young
...
I
met
him often
and
see
before
me
his
long
pale
thin
face,
full
of
originality,
nd
that
was con
sidered very handsome. He came down the stairs as upright as a ghost and very
noisily
...
Liszt
was
the
most
disturbing neighbor
possible...
He
never
played
either
a
piece
or
an
improvisation.
He
gave
a
few
lessons
to
favored
people,
and
himself,
for
hours
on
end he
played
a
double
cadence
with
both hands
on
the
same
note
...
One
night,
it
was
the
beginning
of the Dies
Irae
and
he
never
left it.
It
was
enough
to
drive
one
mad,
I
assure
you.
And
so
the whole
build
ing oined
together
o
ask
for
his
eviction.
We
would
have
got
it,
ut
he did
not
put
us
to
that
trouble;
he
left
nstead.21
World
of
the
Pianist
(London:
Penguin
Books,
2002),
179.
Nevertheless,
it
is
important
to
note
thatwhenever
Liszt
gave
public performances
of
Hummel's
works,
he
was
embracing
the
Mozartian
style
of
playing
that
Hummel
had
'brought
to
such
exquisite
perfection.'
See
Reginald
R.
Gerig,
Famous
Pianists
and
Their
Technique
(Bridgeport
CT:
Robert B.
Luce, 1874),
116.
19.
See
Liszt's
so-called
'Lichnowsky'
sketchbook
(D-WRgs
60/N
8)
and
pages
60-65
and notes
27-30
of
present
article.
Liszt's
letter,
dated
30
October
1833,
to
Marie
d'Agoult,
confirms
that this
'petite
harmonie
Lamartienne
sans
ton
ni
mesure,'
that
is,
the
first
version of Liszt's
Harmonies
Poetiques
et
Religeuses
set
to
a
poem
by
Alphonse
de
Lamartine,
was
in
draft-form
at
that date.
See Franz
Liszt
Marie
d
'Agoult: Correspon
dance,
ed.
Serge
Gut
and
Jacqueline
Bellas
(Paris:
Fayard,
2001),
93-94.
While
it
is
not
known
when
Liszt
had
first
sight
of
Mozart's
Requiem,
it
may
well
have been
months
or
even
years
before
1833.
Liszt
heard
'Fragmens
du
Requiem
de Mozart'
at
theAcademie
de
Musique
on
12
April
1824.
See
Geraldine
Keeling,
"Liszt's
Appearances
in
Parisian
Concerts,
1824-1844
Part
1:
1824-1833,"
The
Liszt
Society
Journal
11
(1986),
23-24.
20.
Walker,
The
Virtuoso
Years,
151.
21.
Comtesse
Dash,
Memoires
des
autres
(Paris:
Calmann
Levy,
1898),
vol.
4,
149.
Comtesse
Dash,
the
pseudonym
of Ga
brie
lie
Anne de
Cisternes
de
Courtires,
viscomtesse
de
Saint-Marc,
French
writer
(1804
1872).
Studia
Musicologica
48,
2007
This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
7/21
304
William
Wright
Was Liszt
performing
a
keyboard
arrangement
of
Mozart Dies Irae material
on
this occasion?
The
following
facts,
considered
collectively,
tend
to
suggest
this
to
be
so:
1.
On
24
January
1832 Liszt told favored
pupil,
Valerie
Boissier,
that
he
judged
Mozart
to
be the foremost
of
composers,
and
performed
for
her
some
of
the
com
poser's
works.22
2.
On
2
May
the
same
year,
Liszt
informed Pierre
Wolff,
another
of
his
pupils:
'works
of
Beethoven,
Bach,
Hummel,
Mozart, Weber,
are
all around
me.
I
study
them,
meditate
on
them,
devour them
with
fury...'23
3. Sometime
during
late
1833
Liszt
incorporated
Mozartian
Dies Irae
mater
ial into
his
piano piece,
Harmonies
poetiques
et
religieuses.
More
of this later.
Michael Saffle records in 'Liszt and theTraditions of theKeyboard Fantasy,' an
insightful
essay
featured
in
Liszt
the
Progressive,
that
even
before
1833
Liszt
was
employing
harmonic
and melodic
devices
in his
keyboard
works
closely
linked
to
those
used
by
Mozart
and
Beethoven.24
4.
In
September
1836,
Liszt,
still
preoccupied
with Mozart's Dies
Irae
sequence,
improvised
on
motivic
material
from
the
latter
sequence
on
the
Saint Nicholas
Cathedral
organ
in
Fribourg,
Switzerland:
variations
on
Quantus
tremor
estfutu
rus.
George
Sand,
shortly
after
witnessing
the
event,
wrote:
it
was
only
when
Franz
ran
his
hands
freely
ver
the
keyboard
and
gave
us a
fragment
rom the
ies
Irae
by
Mozart,
that
we
understood the
superiority
f
the
Fribourg
organ
over
everything
that
we
knew
of this
type.
Franz's Floren
tine
profile
had
never
delineated
itself
so
purely
and
palely
against
a
darker
cloud
of
mystical
terrors
and
religious
sorrows.
There
was
an
harmonic
group
that
repeated
itself
continually
under
his
fingers,
ach
note
of
which
translated
in
my
imagination
by
theharsh
words
of the
funeral
hymn:
Quantus
tremor
st
futurus Quando
judex
est
venturus...25
There is certainly a strong feeling of lateMozart in the figure that repeats it
self
continually
in
Liszt's
1833
masterpiece,
Harmonies
poetiques
et
religi
euses.26
22.
Caroline
[Madame
Auguste]
Boissier,
Lecons de
piano
donnees
par
Liszt
a
Mademoiselle
Valerie
Boissier
a
Paris
en
1832
(Geneva:
Slatkine,
1976),
132,
i.e. from
a
reprint
of
the 1923
Paris
edition.
23.
Liszt,
Briefe,
Bd.
1,6.
24. Saffle writes: 'Between 1822 and 1828 Liszt employed
in his
earliest
compositions
an
harmonic
gram
mar,
a
melodic
syntax,
and
a
set
of
formal
paradigms
closely
related
to
those
employed
by
Mozart and
Beet
hoven.'
Michael
Saffle,
"Liszt
and the Traditions
of the
Keyboard
Fantasy,"
in
Liszt
The
Progressive,
ed.
Hans
Kagebeck-Johan
Lagerfelt
(Lampeter-Ceredigion-Wales:
Mellon
Press,
2001),
152.
25. Letter
from
Fribourg,
dated
5
September
1836,
written
by
George
Sand
to
Charles
Didier.
George
Sand,
"Lettres
d'un
voyageur.
No. 10
a
Herbert
(Charles
Didier),"
La Revue
des
Deux
Mondes
(November
1836,
re
edited
/
republished,
Paris:
Gamier
-
Flammarion),
188.
26.
Hereafter
Harmonies.
Studia
Musicologica
48,
2007
This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
8/21
Liszt
and the
Mozart Connection 305
Humphrey
Searle
acknowledges
in
The
Music
of
Franz Liszt that
a
strong
feel
ing
of late Beethoven is evident in this
'extremely
remarkable'
Liszt
work.27
Nevertheless,
equally
apparent
Mozartian links
can
be identified:
for
example,
between the three-note
ascending
and
descending figure
found in the
opening
bars of
Confutatis
Maledictis from theDies Irae
sequence
in
Mozart's
Requiem
and
a
similar
recurrent
patterned figure
in
the
opening
measure
of the Liszt
piece.
Michael Saffle
comments
in
The Liszt
Companion
that
'virtually
every
meas
ure
of Harmonies is derived from
a
consecutive-three-note
ascending
and des
cending
figure,
first
heard several
times
in
the
opening
measures
of the left
hand.'28
Liszt almost
certainly
adapted
this three-note
figure
from
music
played
by the lower strings in the opening bars ofMozart's Confutatis Maledictis.
Compare
the
circled
notes
in
Ex.
1,
measure
1
of
Confutatis
with
Ex.
2,
the
circled
notes
of
measures
1
and
2
of
Harmonies.
Note
the
similarity
of
patterned
movement.
Example 1
Mozart,
Requiem,
'Confutatis
maledictis,'
m.
1
Andante
J
76
Con
- - -
fa
Con
- - -
fij
-
ta
- - - -
tis
Andante
J
=
76
Trb
.
1
)
f
on
- - -
fu
-
ta
- -
- -
tis
(^j?*444
8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
9/21
306
William
Wright
Example 2
Liszt,
Harmonies
poetiques
et
religieuses
(1835),
mm.
1-2
Senza
tempo
a
cxtrtrocmentent***"
rr*** Pfl I
(14
-
\\
hj
r
fj
^
%/
svecun
rofbnd
entiment
feimut
conduolo
/
pesante
anguendo
tres
accentuc)
*ltf
=?
Jd
-=
dim
Not
only
so.
Extant
documentary
evidence
in
Liszt's
own
hand,
a
two-bar
fragment,
titled
Modulation du
Requiem
de
Mozart,
featured
in
the
Liszt 'Lich
nowsky'
Sketchbook,
a
pocket-sized
document used
by
Liszt
during
years
1842
to
1845,
now
held
in
the Goethe
and
Schiller archives inWeimar
(D-WRgs
60/N
8),
confirms
that Liszt
incorporated
other
material
from
the
Mozart
Confutatis
movement
from the
composer's
Dies Irae
sequence
when
writing
the 1833/34
masterpiece
(see
Plate
1).
Plate 1Facsimile of the sketchbookentry EMVRgs 60/N 8, p. 34;
photo:
Klassik
Stiftung
Weimar).
Reproduced
with
kind
permission
of
theGoethe-
und
Schiller-Archiv,
Weimar
Compare
Ex.
3,
measure
26-27
ofMozart's
Confutatis
and
Ex.
4,
measure
1,
Liszt's
sketchbook
material,
with
Ex.
2,
bar
2.
Studia
Musicologica
48,
2007
This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
10/21
Liszt
and the
Mozart Connection
307
Example
3
Mozart,
Requiem,
'Confutatis
maledictis,'
m.
26
if
'\ i ii1
'
i
O
-
ro
sup
-
plex
O
-
ro
up
plex
$'
1
I
fr
r
'
*
O
-
ro
sup
-
plex
n
i
i'i
i
'
O-
- - -
-
-ro
sup-
plex
1-nrA
_
_h
_
_h
_
_h
_
|__h
_
_h
_
-
i
Mi
?
% ?%
a:
% ly
__g
%
___3
f
_-___=
W
J
J
W-
"W
-J
^^
Example 4
Modulation du
Requiem
de Mozart
Prelude
l|:rij
r
r ict
^^
Notice that
all
three
excerpts
are
based
on
notes
of the
same
diminished
sev
enth hord:
E|>,
F#,
A
and C
in
x. 3 and
4,
F#,
A,
C and
E|>
in x.
2,
the
piano
piece by
Liszt.29
29. 'Mozart
was
fond of that
essentially
chromatic
harmony,
the diminished seventh' and used it
to
facili
tate
rapid
modulation.
Liszt
made
frequent
use
of the chord
throughout
Harmonies
to
suspend
tonality.
See also
Frederick
Niecks,
"The
Development
of Musical
Styles
from Mozart
to
the End of theNineteenth
Century,"
The Musical Times
(1903),
95.
Studia
Musicologica
48,
2007
This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart
11/21
308
William
Wright
Third,
observe
the
repeated
Ek-s
that
appear
in
the
three
examples,
as
har
monic bass
in Ex.
3 and
4,
and
as
right
hand recitative in
Liszt
excerpt
2.
A further
important point:
notice the
use
Liszt makes of the
harmonic
turn
or
'cry
motiv' of Ex.
5,
that
is,
the bracketed turn at the end of bass
entry
'quantus
tremor
est
futurus' from
Mozart's
Dies Irae
movement
represented
in Liszt
excerpts
2, 4,
and 6. Indeed the
entire
bass
entry
of Ex.
5
appears
to
be
adapted
in
Ex. 6.
Example
5
Mozart,
Requiem,
'Confutatis
maledictis,'
mm.
44-46
if rT i
^^^
i
i
W
\
'
?
?^
i
ii
ii
111
i[i
11
ir
il
i
quan
-
tus be
mor_
est_
fu
-
tu
-
rus,
In
I
Il,J
i
J
IJ
IJ
111
I
I
Example
6
Liszt,
Harmonies
poetiques
et
religieuses
(1835),
mm.
50-52
/HP
k
# h
h
t&k
\\V Vs semphceespr.