Category Archives: Liszt – Years of Pilgrimage, Three Volumes

Happy Birthday, Franz Liszt

Posted on October 22, 2017 by Christine Stevenson

Raise a glass to Liszt today, on his birthday. Here he is, below centre, celebrating his 73rd birthday in Weimar with some of his students in 1884. 

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The Postcards, the Painting, and the Bolognese Sauce.

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Christine Stevenson

It all started with the Postcards; six or seven of them, dated from 1st to the 19th October, 1945, showing black and white views of Bologna, similar to these ones found on Wikipedia. The ink of the handwriting on the … Continue reading →

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I stood in Venice… Liszt’s Gondoliera

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Christine Stevenson

How different it was for Liszt when he first visited Venice as a young man many years before, aged twenty-seven. ‘Have you ever been to Venice? Have you ever glided on the sleepy waters in a black gondola down the … Continue reading →

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From Darkness to Light

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

The Sursum Corda , the final, uplifting piece of Liszt’s Troisième Année, is well placed; it is preceeded by two works which show Liszt’s Hungarian blood and which are both about death. Sunt lacrimae rerum – En mode hongrois, like Funérailles, was a response to … Continue reading →

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All Roads Lead to Rome – via Budapest and Weimar

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

It is unlike either of its predecessors. No geographic subtitle, such as Suisse or Italie; no easily discernible thread linking all of its movements. It even looks different: simpler, more white space on the staves, some titles and quotations in Latin. It sounds … Continue reading →

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Venice and Naples – optional excursions

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

‘Have you ever been to Venice? Have you ever glided on the sleepy waters in a black gondola down the length of the Grand Canal or along the banks of the Giudecca?… Have you seen the moon cast its pale … Continue reading →

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Abandon hope , all ye who enter here – unless your octaves are up to speed…

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

Liszt’s ‘Dante Sonata’, Après une lecture de Dante, takes its title from the poem by Victor Hugo, but its subject matter from Dante’s La Divina Commedia, in which Dante and Virgil travel through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. Liszt started composing it … Continue reading →

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Sonnets and Songs – Tre Sonetti del Petrarca

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

After the jaunty Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa in the Italian Année, Liszt turns to poetry – three sonnets by the 14th century poet, Petrarch. Love is the subject. Petrarch was in love with Laura de Noves; Liszt and Marie d’Agoult … Continue reading →

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Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa – or Bononcini?

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

‘Vado ben spesso cangiando loco’ goes this bright and cheerful marching-song, with a catchy melody long attributed to the poet/painter/actor Salvator Rosa , but in fact written by a fellow-Italian, Bononcini. Liszt’s straightforward transcription of it in the Italian Année is the perfect foil for … Continue reading →

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A Room With a View – or not. Il Penseroso

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

Watch the film ‘A Room with a View’ on a cold, wet, grey, dismal day in winter, and within the hour you’ll be planning a summer holiday in Tuscany. That’s how we ended up staying near Florence one year, seeing for ourselves the piazzas, the … Continue reading →

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