Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata: A Study of Artistic Innovation
Franz Liszt and his innovations Franz Liszt was a complex personality in the history of western classical music. His legacy in pianism, composition, and his teachings reverberate through out the musical world. Known to have reinvented the concert experience through his bold choices, he more importantly lived a diverse and rich life. A prolific composer, Liszt’s body of work range from keyboard music both in piano and organ, lieder, and symphonic poems. Liszt’s piano compositions, considered to be his most known contribution, can be divided into two categories: original works and transcriptions. His original works hold the largest portion of his piano music. Some original works include the sets Années de Pelirinage or the Years of Pilgrimage and the transcendental études. His virtuosic transcriptions include concert paraphrases of operas by Verdi and Wagner and lieder by Schumann and Schubert. On the other hand, the vocal compositions of Liszt are some of the most beautiful and, at times, progressive in terms of experimentation in the harmony and indeterminate endings. Both the Années de Pelirinage and his songs include some of Liszt’s experiments is something to not be ignored as some of his harmonic innovations are found in his songs and the Years of Pilgrimage through indeterminate endings as one of the examples.
Liszt travelled all throughout his life and settled in different places for long periods of time. His fascination for artistic and cultural gems such as art and poetry of different countries have influenced and molded his view of the world. This largely influenced his compositional outputs and have helped scholars categorize Liszt’s body of work more chronologically. The periods can be identified as the following: the early years, time with Marie D’Agoult, compositions at Weimar, eight years in Rome, and his last years. Known to have an experience of different worlds, Liszt’s other roles other than being a pianist and composer are being a prolific conductor, teacher, writer, and a religious leader. Known to have a deep connection with Roman Catholicism early on, his deep connection with the religion bloomed even more later in his life years. Liszt’s relationship with his religion was also at the core of his personality as seen in his works such as the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses. He took minor religious orders and was seen as an almost saintly figure. In contrast to this, he still throughout his life had incredibly human attributes and was notorious for some love affairs, vanity, and habitual indulgence in alcohol and tobacco. Regardless of the contrasts and ironies that exist in his life, he was a rockstar of his time.
A direct descendant of Czerny and Beethoven, Liszt was a promoter of classicism along with romanticism. A member of the then avant-garde New German school, the composer’s relationship with Richard Wagner was one of the more important relationships he developed. Both of them were open to their influences with each other. The most commonly discussed influence was harmony. The chromaticism of Tristan und Isolde and the triadic nature of the Ring were often attributed to Liszt’s Weimar symphonic compositions. Both of them experimented with forms with Liszt on the features of sonata and Wagner on his theory of “poetic-musical periods”. Considered to be the grand father of 20th century music, his innovations influenced forthcoming radical composers such as Strauss, Busoni, and Debussy. Liszt was an innovator of different compositional techniques. He was keen on the development of programmatic music, compositions based on extra-musical inspirations. Examples of this include Mazeppa and Mephisto Waltz Along the same lines, he was also credited for the symphonic poem, a piece of orchestral music usually in a single and continuous movement that evokes the content of non-musical things such as poetry, short stories, and novels among others. Liszt utilized two compositional practices in the symphonic poem.
The first practice was cyclic form, which had movements reflect one another’s content and combined separate movements into a cyclic single-movement. The second practice was thematic transformation, a type of variation where one theme is transformed into a new and independent theme. Although these two techniques weren’t original to Liszt, he nevertheless cultivated and brought the two compositional techniques to a higher level. One of the best examples can be found in his Second Piano Concerto in A major and his giant Piano Sonata in B minor.
The level of intrigue and interest in Liszt’s B minor sonata makes it one of the most analyzed and researched piece of piano music. Bearing in mind the amount of Liszt’s compositions that have extra-musical titles, the fact that this work did not have a programmatic title intrigued music scholars until today. The intricate details laid throughout the sonata have led to different interpretations of the overall theme of the piece. Some thought it was a portrait of the Faust legend that includes the Faust, Gretchen, and Mephisto themes. Some thought it was the Garden of Eden with themes that symbolized God, Lucifer, Adam, and Eve, and the serpent. While others, like Louis Köhler, saw the sonata as a struggle of heroic spirit in a world full of strife with Liszt being regarded indirectly as the hero. A more recent interpretation is that Liszt’s and Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein’s names were encrypted within the notes of the main themes.
Composed in February 2, 1853, Liszt waited four more years before the work received its first public performance. The publication of the work the year after had a dedication to Schumann. Schumann previously dedicated his Fantasy in C major, Op. 17 to Liszt in 1839. The publication raised little interest to the musical world at that time and was neglected for a long time. There were two private performances happened before and after the publication. The first was given by Liszt before a small circle of friends in Altenburg. Brahms, who was in the audience, famously fell asleep during the performance. The second was by Karl Klindworth for a private show for Wagner in London. Wagner on the other hand praised the work and called it a sublime. The first public performance happened in January 22, 1857 by Hans von Bülow, one of Liszt’s most famous students. The critics and press immediately denounced the work and described it as a formal fallacy because of the extreme thematic contrasts and the work having no fixed key signature. The piece continued to receive negative receptions from famous pianists in the 19th century. Clara Schumann refused to perform the sonata and dismissed it as “merely a blind noise” when the score arrived in the Schumann’s house. The piece however found a new and more engaged audience after the Second World War. Bela Bartok described the piece to have a habit of yielding its secret slowly. It certainly took a long time before the sonata to finally enter the standard piano repertoire. Twentieth century musicians and pianist openly embraced the work for its hidden treasures and has been one of the most popularly performed and recorded piano music.
One of the most evident influences of Liszt was Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, a piece he discovered as a touring virtuoso pianist. His affinity to the work led him to make several arrangements for piano and orchestra, and for two pianos when he settled in Weimar. The Wanderer Fantasy became a formal and compositional model for Liszt. The four movements linked together by the metamorphosis of themes and the existence of the fugue towards the end of the work are the two things that influenced Liszt. One of Liszt’s accomplishments in the work is glueing together the sonata structure through thirty minutes of continuous music. Another important genius of the piece is the dual-purposed form of the sonata, a sonata form composed within a sonata. In one angle, the piece can be analyzed to have four distinct movements. On the other hand, a larger setting of the sonata form having an exposition, development, and recapitulation can be deduced. The material found in the sonata as a whole constantly contributes to the distinct themes in the sonata form. This work can be considered to be Liszt’s masterwork in employing thematic transformation in a longer formal structure. Liszt’s ability to merge two forms into a gigantic work sets the sonata apart from the Wanderer Fantasy. According to Alan Walker’s formal analysis, the distinct movements in the piece consist of the following: introduction, exposition, development, fugue, recapitulation, and coda. The introduction is divided into two sections, the Lento assai and Allegro. Three most important themes that are thematically transformed throughout whole work are introduced in contrasting manners in the introduction. The first theme, Theme A, opens the Lento assai being the descending minor scale. The second theme, Theme B, starts in the Allergo energico and the third theme, Theme C, follows. The third theme is also called the hammer blows theme because of the repeating eighth notes resembling Jesus Christ being nailed on the cross. The key signature in the introduction is ambiguous and the clear and assertive arrival to the tonic key of B minor in measure 32, which signifies the start of the exposition. The exposition starts with the primary subject built on the combination of themes B and C. The music goes through a series of virtuosic piano writing before it arrives to a glorious crescendo, which is the transformation of theme A, as it arrives to the secondary subject in D major. Marked Grandioso, the secondary theme is one of Liszt’s most noble and heroic melodies. The melody is thematically derived from the plainchant Crux fidelis, a theme that signifies the struggle between good and evil. After the secondary subject, three subsequent themes follow in the same secondary section and showcases the different sonorities the piano can produce. The exposition wraps up in e minor with the somber juxtaposition of the hammer blows theme in the left hand and Theme C in the right hand in chords.
The development section is the slow movement of the sonata and is in a compound ternary form. This F-sharp major Andante sostenuto section offers the performer and listeners a breather in terms of energy. The contemplative and ethereal quality of this section is reminiscent of the slow movements of Beethoven’s late sonatas. The key of F-sharp major for Liszt is a holy and religious key that often represents something that’s unattainable. The first part of the movement starts calmly and reflective. The second part begins with the the Crux fidelis in F-sharp major that evolves to a more impassioned and Wagnerian-like writing. The Crux fidelis is stated once more, but now in G-minor. An expansive chromatic descend, derived from Theme A, happens in the left hand until it reaches and modulates to F-sharp major. Many Liszt scholars have identified measure 395 marked triple forte the peak of the entire sonata. The movement wraps up with the hammer blows theme in F-sharp major as if its fading away. A statement of Theme A in triple piano appears in the end of this section as it signifies a warning of uncertainty in the future. A fugue movement in G-flat major follows and serves as a lead back to the recapitulation. Considerably an extended section, the three-part fugato shows the influence of Schubert’s fugue in the Wanderer Fantasy and Beethoven’s affinity for fugal movements in his late sonatas. The fugue is an ingenious use of Themes B and C. There is a quiet intensity and an almost mocking energy in the fugue as the first two pages are written in piano. The octave measures from the exposition are recreated to serve as a lead back to the exposition. The fugue being in the key of G-flat major, the enharmonic of F-sharp major, can be seen as a big dominant to B minor. The recapitulation starts in measure 533, with the same material as the start of the exposition. This is the only moment in the sonata where the key of B minor appears again after the beginning.
The recapitulation is a thoroughly compressed version of the exposition with some secondary subject group themes omitted. An impassioned fortissimo starts the coda with Theme B transformed into challenging octaves and culminates to a triple forte and a dramatic pause. A reassuring Andante sostenuto section follows that can be seen as a priestly blessing before death or arriving at a different plane. The sonata ends with the opening theme, Theme A, now in the B major and marked Lento assai, the same marking as the beginning. The last seven measures are chords that somewhat signify the journey of a spirit to the after life through its chromatic ascension.
Learning the Liszt sonata is nothing short of a gargantuan task. I somehow found a deep admiration and have played big works by Germanic composers who had a different style than him on the other side of the coin. Playing the works of Brahms, Schumann, Beethoven, and Schubert became somewhat comfortable for me as I found a natural inclination to this. Liszt was out of the question as this point. Then I saw myself learning the Chopin 3rd piano sonata, a highly virtuosic work that had similarities with the Liszt sonata in terms of the length, number of movements, and key signature. Both of the works are musically demanding and require a great amount of advanced piano technique and stamina. Learning the Chopin Sonata opened my eyes to this kind of writing and deepened my understanding of the repertoire. My professor’s suggestion of learning the Liszt Sonata instead of a Schumann Sonata brought excitement and intrigue. I immediately started learning the piece. Initially focusing more on the technicalities of the work, the lessons which were 80% focused on the music and 20% on the technical work made me realize how I neglected the substance and genius of the sonata. Liszt’s writing was pianistic, although very technically challenging, and playing it was rewarding. The more I read and researched about the sonata, the more I realize the influences of the other composers I love in Liszt’s music and led to a deeper journey with the sonata.
My process in learning the piece started by making a discography discography chart of different recordings of notable Liszt players. The artists that I listened to include Claudio Arrau, Krystian Zimmerman, Vladimir Horowitz, Martha Argerich, Arthur Rubinstein, Daniel Barenboim, and Sviatislav Richter. I took into consideration the timing their recordings, style, rubato choices, tempo choices, and phrasing. A formal analysis was performed to have a better sense of the architecture of the work. Afterwards, I started working on the notes and started memorizing. Together with this, I practiced by phrases in accordance to the design of the sections to develop a logical, and natural phrasing. I dedicated two distinct parts in my practicing. The first one is learning and working on the music, and the second one was drilling on the technical work. One of the biggest challenges was to have authority over the work and to arrive at a point where everything is polished to give an effective performance. This approach helped me deepen my understanding and opened my eyes more to the genius of the sonata.
One of my goals is to have balance in the sonata to allow the music to be the central figure of the performance. A guiding principle with my interpretative decisions is to always consider the bigger picture. The music has many temptations and it’s easy to get caught up with too much lingerings. It has been said that the worst performances of the piece are given by players who get too caught up with the details and not the overall plan. Interpretative choices such as phrasing, tempo, rubato, accents, tone, pedaling, and character were all taken into consideration to bring the piece to life and make the music come through clearly. The tempo choices of the sections were used to enhance the structure of the piece. They were decided on how they will fit the other parts and depended on the character and location. Unwritten ritardandos were both utilized in beginnings of new sections to better set up arrivals. The ritardandos were also used in endings where Liszt did not write any but is artistically called for. Doing this creates balance and brings out the form better. An aspect related to timing in a way are accents. Liszt is known to be one of the most specific accent and articulation markers. The accent markings, whether dynamic or agogic, were planned and executed in way that makes sense in in the locality of the phrase and the overall form. The type of color was decided upon the needs and character of the theme. The piece requires an expansive range of piano sounds. One of the challenges in tone deals with sustaining the singing line on top of the flourish. Liszt being a big orchestral man really looks for sounds that exceed the piano.
In general, the governing sound palette leans more on the romantic side. An important decision was made in the character and color of the fugue. Because of the piano dynamic marking and Allegro energico, the character and color of the first part of fugue is cold and dry to enhance the irony and sense of sinister. Liszt, according to his students, was a stickler on pedaling and advocated clarity and effectiveness in pedaling decisions. The damper pedal was used generously to bring out the textures and enhance the sonorities. It was also used for better crescendos and diminuendos. The use of less pedal was used in some parts like the leggiero Mendelssohn-like figures to create a special sound. The pedals, both the una corda and damper pedal, were both used deliberately to bring clarity to the thematic material.
Sources
- Alan Walker’s Reflections on Liszt
- Kenneth Hamilton’s Liszt Sonata in B minor
- Franz Liszt and His World edited by Christopher H. Gibbs and Dana Gooley https://www.britannica.com/biography/Franz-Liszt
