Franz Liszt – Liebestraum No. 3
Liszt was an extremely popular and successful virtuoso
pianist in the 19th century. He was both a composer and a brilliant
entertainer, and is now considered one of the best pianists of all time. He
composed this piece in 1850, a few years after ending his long term
relationship with Madame d’Agoult, the mother of his three children. In 1848 he
retired from the stage at the urging of his new love interest, Princess
Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, and began his career in Weimar. There his
compositional style changed dramatically, as he began writing for personal
expression rather than entertainment.
A.
Liszt’s music often reflected the events
occurring in his life. This piece was written shortly after the death of
Frederic Chopin, an associate of Liszt. At this time he was also newly in love
with Carolyne. Both themes of love and death are reflected in this piece, in
both the mood and the accompanying poem. There is no record of the first
performance, but it was published while he lived at Weimar.
B.
Liebestraum (“Dreams of Love”) is a set of 3
pieces for solo piano, and is a great example of program music. Each explores a
“type” of love: No. 1 a religious love, No. 2 erotic love, and No. 3 a pure
love that lasts until death. This piece (No. 3) has an accompanying poem with
the refrain:
O love, love as long as you can!
O love, love as long as you will!
The time will come, the time will come,
When you will stand grieving at the
grave.
As a programmatic piece, the music reflects the contrasting themes of the
poem with contrasting keys and unexpected key changes. The music also follows
the events of the text, imitating the mood changes and storyline. Liszt
referred to these pieces as Nocturnes, and based them off Chopin’s style in
this genre.
C.
This piece has a general ABA form common in Lieder.
Liszt originally wrote this piece as a Lied and transcribed it for piano to go
in this set. Since the accompanying text has a refrain that repeats frequently,
ABA form would be a logical choice for a Lied. Liszt also added cadenzas after
each B section to transition through key changes back to the A sections.
D.
During the Romantic era, music was developing
into less of an abstract medium and into an expression of inner emotion and
thought. The New German School of musical thought formed during this time, which
defined the purpose of music as an embodiment of philosophical ideas. Liszt was
an important figure in this school, and most of his music conformed to these
ideals. This piece in particular is extremely expressive, with accompanying
lyrics that give the music a platform to express these specific themes of pure
and intense love.
This is a great example of a programming piece. I listened to this while looking at the text, and I think Chopin did a FANTASTIC job of reflecting the mood and textual shifts of the lyrics in his piece.
ReplyDeleteWhether this is true or not, I read that the chord progression was a walk around the circle of fifths. Could Liszt have done this intentionally to symbolize something or just due to the fact that it sounded pretty? Maybe that his mind is left going around in circles after the death of his associate?
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