Franz Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No 1

Princess Carolyne was undoubtedly a refined princess but she used to smoke cigars and talk a lot, as the composer and pianist Hans von Büllow, Liszt's son-in-law, married to his daughter Cosima, told everyone. (Perhaps because of being that talkative, Cosima left him later to live life with the love of his life, 25 years her senior, Richard Wagner.)
Apart from that, Princess Carolyne was indeed a good woman who devoted her life to Franz accomplishments, including in that commitment the remote monitoring of the education of the composer's children, besides the wise suggestion that he will abandon the concert tours to devote all his energies to composition.

While all this was going on, Carolyne's request for divorce from her prince and army officer Nikolaus, still awaited the decision of the Holy See, an issue that Carolyne will have favorably resolved only in 1855, ten years after the process started and shortly after Nikolaus had remarried. But, one thing was becoming divorced, obtaining permission to get married, quite another. The church ruled that Nikolaus was right to do so (because he was a Protestant) but Carolyne did not, showing little regard for the princess's devotion to theological studies.

The permission to marry was finally granted to Carolyne in 1860, five years after the divorce. Franz wanted to get married right then, but she suggested to do it in Rome the following year, by the time the composer turned 50, on October 22, 1861.
And so they agreed. But on the 21st, the eve of the wedding, an emissary of the Pope knocked on the door of Carolyne's house in Rome, to announce that a new revision of the procedure was required.

The Mephisto Waltz
The piece popularly known as Mephisto Waltz is the first of four waltzes with the same title composed by Liszt at different times. The piano version – there is one for the orchestra and one for two pianos – was born around 1860 although its harmonic innovations presage the spirit of the music of future composers as Ravel or Prokofiev.
Consequently, I advise patience and willingness in listening to the first two and a half minutes, because it hardly can be assumed as music from the mid-nineteenth century. There are no Love Dream or Consolations here, but Liszt and romanticism, although it may not seem so at the beginning.
With that in mind, enjoy the following comment on Youtube on this piece, a somewhat different opinion about Lisztian "bravery":
"I saw this shit in a bugs bunny episode ... and the piano exploded".

The rendition is by the Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky.

Dear visitor, if you liked the article, we'll be grateful if you share it with an easy click

Franz Liszt: Consolation No 3

Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein with her daughter Marie in 1840

The princess

Many years ago, back in the fourth century, a disciple of the philosopher and theologian St. Augustine dared to ask him what God used to do before creating the universe. Augustine did not hesitate and, impassively, answered that along with creating the universe God had also created time.

The ingenious and accurate answer remained for centuries as immovable truth attracting the attention of theologians and philosophers, among them, Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, who as a pioneer woman of the theology in the XIX century, decided to sink the tooth to this and other matters.

In the mid-1840s, already separated from her husband and officer of the Russian army Prince Nikolaus, Princess Carolyne used to spend all the day long in his native Kyiv to unravel the questions and answers that both Augustine and the distinguished doctor of theology St. Thomas Aquinas had been raising centuries ago.

Franz Liszt visits Kyiv
In the summer of 1847, while working on those matters, she learned that the internationally-famed composer and pianist Franz Liszt was in Kyiv as part of a concert tour throughout Russia, in addition to Austria and Hungary.
We do not know the details but we may assume that Carolyne attended one of the concerts, after which she would have begun to question the amount of time she spent studying Augustine and Thomas. The fact is that Carolyne left Kyiv and went to live with Franz in the city of Weimar, where the famous pianist resided serving as Kapellmeister of the court.

The relationship, extremely complex due to the repeated and unsuccessful attempts to get Carolyne's divorce from the Holy See, will last for fourteen years.

Consolation No. 3, in D-flat major
Composed between 1849 and 1850, at the height of the love affair, the "Consolations", though very typical of Liszt's musical universe, tend to be related to the aesthetics of Chopin's nocturnes, for its spirit and its non-spectacular technique.
Consolation No. 3 is the one that has most attracted the favour of the public, of the six that make up the group.

The rendition, outstanding, is by Tiffany Poon when she was eleven.

Dear visitor, if you liked the article we will be grateful if you share it with an easy click

Robert Schumann and Clara: Piano concerto

Robert and Clara Schumann, the long courtship

"So, one little 'yes' is all you want! What an important little word it is! Surely a heart so full of inexpressible love as mine can utter it freely. I can indeed say it. [...] Your proposal seems daring to me, but love takes small heed of danger, and again I say 'yes'..."

This is how Clara Wieck responded to Robert Schumann's request to hand old Wieck a letter from him requiring the paternal blessing of the lovers' union.
It was a very respectful letter but Clara's father rejected it.
That year, 1837, Clara was in Dresden by order of Wieck. In October she went to Leipzig to give a concert in which she played the Schumann Symphonic Studios, but the lovers could barely see each other. Clara had to leave Leipzig right away. A seven-month tour had been arranged for her.

But Robert was not discouraged. And Clara either. Their relationship, although of a strictly epistolary nature, remained solid, unbreakable. So, in 1839, Schumann made another attempt to get Wieck's approval and wrote him a new letter:
"Two years have passed since my first request, you doubted that she and I could remain faithful ... nothing can shake our faith in future happiness ... Give us peace."
Old Wieck refused again.

Faced with this frank and inconsiderate opposition, Clara and Robert decided to follow the legal route and go to court to get married without Wieck's approval. It resulted in an ordeal. Wieck employed all kinds of tricks to prevent or delay the decision, going so far as to accuse Schumann of being a hopeless alcoholic. Robert was forced to apply for an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Jena, which, if granted, could be presented to the court as proof of his integrity. Mendelsohnn, a friend of the couple, testified in his favour.

Nevertheless, with the accusation of alcoholism Wieck had done himself a disservice. It worked clearly against him and at the beginning of August 1840, the court ruled in favour of the lovers. Robert was in Leipzig but Clara was on tour, working. They met in Weimar and contracted the marriage near Leipzig, on September 12.

In her diary, Clara left us her impressions of that day:
"...We were married at Schönefeld at ten o'clock. [...] There was a little dancing, no excessive gaiety, but every face shone with real satisfaction. The weather was lovely. Even the sun, which had hidden his face for many days, shed his warm beams upon us as we drove to church as if to bless our union. It was a day without a jar, and I may thus enter it in this book as the fairest and most momentous of my life."

The couple gave birth to eight children but happiness would last only 14 years. In 1854 Robert began to suffer hallucinations and ravings. After a frustrated suicide attempt on the Rhine – being rescued by boatmen and taken home – he was taken to an asylum for the insane, where he will remain for two and a half years. Clara wasn't able to visit him because, according to doctors, he could get worse. Clara will see him for one and last time two days before his death, in the company of Brahms. Her diary includes an extensive and detailed account of this last meeting, which ends with these words:
"May God grant me the strength to live without him." The favour was granted: Clara will live 40 further years.

Concert in A minor
In 1841 Schumann wrote a Concert Fantasy that found no publisher. Four years later he added two new movements to the Fantasy: Intermezzo and Finale. Thus was born the Concerto for piano and orchestra in A minor, the only one written by Schumann for this instrument. His first public performance arose, of course, from the hands of Clara Schumann, in December 1845.

Movements:
00:00  Allegro affettuoso - Andante espressivo - Allegro
15:40  Intermezzo. Andante grazioso
21:25  Allegro vivace

The rendition is by the Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich, who managed to play this Concert for a radio station in Buenos Aires when she was ten. Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gewandhausorchester.

Clara and Robert Schumann, the lovers

At the age of nine, Clara Wieck played the piano extremely well. Therefore, it is not surprising that at 13 she was invited to Zwickau to give a concert. There, she played at the piano the sketches of a symphony whose author was the brilliant pupil of his father and companion of homely nights, Robert Schumann. The young composer had begun to notice that the feelings the young pianist inspired him seemed to go beyond the natural affection for the daughter of his teacher.

Clara didn't know it yet, and much less, that years later her repertoire will not be able to do without Romanza N ° 2, her favorite of the cycle of Three Romances, opus 28, composed by Schumann in 1839.

Romanza N ° 2 - Piano: J. Utuk (2:48)


One of the first news about the relationship Clara and Robert had established can be found in Schumann's "courtship-book", which reads:

"Painful farewells: in November 1835, after the first kiss on the stairs of Wieck's house, when Clara left to Zwickau."

Robert was 25 years old. Clara, 16, had taken a trip to give another concert, this time without music by Schumann, even though he had just composed this year his most famous piece for piano: Carnival, op 90.

Clara's father did oppose an obstinate resistance to courtship because he did not want the marriage to interrupt his daughter's promising piano career, especially if the suitor, still his best pupil, was only emerging as a budding composer.

Friedrich Wieck went so far as sending his daughter to Dresden, prohibiting her, under threat, any contact with Robert. But the lovers will find a way to communicate by letter with the help of a discreet go-between. When Wieck got to learn about it, he demanded Schumann to abandon any illusion, once and for all.

Those were difficult moments. Robert fell into a deep emotional crisis from which he will only recover with the help of music. Great compositions of his catalogue came to light in 1837. Fantasiestücke is one of them, a small cycle of 8 short pieces, beginning with the beautiful melody "Des Abends" (Sunset), performed here live (audio) by the maestro Arthur Rubinstein:

In the summer of that year, Robert set out to clarify his relationship status by asking Clara for her disposal to hand Wieck a letter from him:

"Are you loyal and true as ever? ...because[ the stoutest heart would be disconcerted when left without a word from the dearest thing in the world, which is what you are to me... Let me have just one word, 'yes', from you if you are willing to hand your father a letter from me in your birthday... He is kindly disposed to me just now, and will not repulse me if you plead for me too..."

Clara's response will not delay...
(...to be continued...)

Dear visitor, if you liked the article, we will be very grateful if you share it, o recommend it on Google with an easy clic

Schubert: Schwanengesang - Serenade

In his thirty-one short years, Franz Schubert composed about 1,500 pieces. A good number are lieder, about 800, for one voice or for several voices, accompanied by piano or other instruments. The word lied (lieder is the plural in German) has no translation into English, but it can be roughly likened to "art song". Discounted the artistic and musical value, the difference with our "songs" is that the verses come from great poets (Göethe, Heine, Schiller) or from Franz's friends who at that time could exhibit certain renown as such.
In less than four or five minutes, they could be sung one after the other in social gatherings around good wine, music and literature, at Schubert's friend houses, friendly get-togethers that later were called "Schubertiades".

Setting Goethe to music
In 1814, at age 17, young Franz had begun to perform as an assistant at the school his father was managing in those days. In charge of the kindergarten class, he was certainly not a great teacher. By then, his soul and spirit were definitely with poetry and music. The second half of 1814 and the whole year 1815 are fertile in the production of works. He met the poet Mayrhofer, whom he had already "musicalized"; also wrote one of the most brilliant works of the period with text by Goethe, who Franz deeply admired.

One of his friends came to the decision of making contact with Goethe to let him know about this lad who, based on his verses, did compose wonderful music. He sent to the German poet a series of lieder inspired by his texts, requesting their approval so that they could be dedicated to him:

"The undersigned allows himself to steal with these lines some moments of your precious time ... the poems ... have been put into music by a 19-year-old composer ... (and he wishes that) he was allowed to humbly consecrate this collection to Your Excellency ... the young artist would be happy to deserve approval ... I beg you to be extremely polite to favour me with your response ".
Goethe did not respond.

Ten years later, in 1825, the composer himself did send to Goethe his poems translated into the pentagram. The poet turned a deaf ear to it anew. Little Franz had only three years to live.

"Ständgen" –Serenade– from the Schwanengesang cycle, D. 957
Schubert's famous Serenade is one of the 14 lieder that make up the Schwanengesang cycle (The Swan Song), 1828, and published posthumously (hence the title of the cycle). It bears the number four and is composed of verses from the poet Rellstab, the same one that reportedly gave the sobriquet to the sonata "Moonlight", by Beethoven.

This is a version for violin and piano with the masterful performance of the violinist of Ukrainian origin Mischa Elman (1891-1967). We assume this is a recording from the twenties or thirties, for the rare flavor of the background noise on a format prior to vinyl.

Dear visitor, if you liked the article, we will be grateful if you share it with an easy click

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No 2

The affair with Lola Montez
In 1842, Liszt was appointed Kapellmeister Extraordinaire at Weimar, but this flamboyant title did not prevent him from continuing his brilliant virtuoso career by offering concerts all over Europe. In February 1844, the worldwide renowned pianist visited Dresden for the umpteenth time, receiving a delirious reception, as usual. This encouraged him to take a short trip to Dessau, where fate had prepared a surprise for him.

Lola Montez, the famous "Spanish" dancer of Irish origin, was in Dessau trying to make herself known as a dancer, or courtesan, or whatever. At age 26, the erotic aura that surrounded her did allow the girl to ask for that and much more. For Franz, seeing her and loving her were one and the same.

Lola Montez (1818 - 1861)

On February 25, Liszt returned to Dresden and brought Lola with him. The room in the hotel where he was staying became a silent witness of a passionate encounter. The next morning, Franz got up early because he had to work. He was still committed to giving three further concerts in Dresden.

That night, the maestro feared for his reputation. Reportedly, before leaving he locked Lola in the room and put down a considerable sum of money to repair the damage the dancer was going to cause when she realized she had been abandoned.
The news arrived in Paris and sealed the definitive break with his faithful Marie d'Agoult.

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Published in 1847, the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 is the most famous of the 19 rhapsodies written by Franz Liszt on Hungarian themes. It offers, without a doubt, an extraordinary opportunity for the brilliance of the performer, who is demanded great skill and dexterity. Thus, it is not surprising that, after listening to the maestro, an avalanche of damsels wanted to pounce on this mid-nineteenth century idol to greet him, hug him and something else, if things did go well.

At the piano, Alfred Brendel. It's the most serious "video" I found, due to the aforementioned possibility of showing off. Brendel offers the right pauses, the precise speed, the correct balance between music and paraphernalia.

And now, I turn again to the insurmountable comedian talent of the Danish maestro, Victor Borge, pianist, orchestra conductor and comedian who, with the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 also tries to show off but through jokes.

Dear visitor, if you liked the article, we will be grateful if you share it with an easy click

Schumann's "Träumerei"

Perhaps as an early foreshadowing of the madness that would lead him to death, Robert Schumann decided at age 22 to disable the middle finger of his right hand to provide greater independence and agility to the remaining four. He kept it immobilized for long enough to prove, at the end, that the paralysis was irreversible and his bet on a career as a concert performer had broken down beyond repair, as a result of an unfortunate decision, to say the least.

Seeing severed his aspiration as a pianist, he will choose to compose.
This is one of its fruits, perhaps the most famous within his piano miniatures:

Träumerei (1838) - Piano: Valentina Lisitsa

Born in 1810 (Zwickau, Saxony), the same year as Chopin, a year before Mendelssohn and one after Liszt, at age eighteen Robert Schumann left to Leipzig to study law at the direction of his father, even though he had already shown some talent for musical composition, with a couple of pieces to his credit. For two years he would alternate his law studies with his love of music, but after attending a Paganini concert in 1830 decided to take the final step: his true passion is music and so he confesses in writing to his mother, being honest with her as a good teenage son:

"Choosing in life a direction diametrically opposed to the first education and destiny is not very easy and requires patience, confidence ... I am still in the middle of imaginative youth, which can still be cultivated and ennobled by art; also arrived at the certainty that with application and patience, and guided by a good teacher, in six years I will be able to compete with any pianist ... "

So, Robert decided to appear before the famous music teacher, Friedrich Wieck, whom he already knew. He was taken to test for six months, and stayed at the Wieck house, as was the custom. There he rediscovered Clara, the teacher's daughter, who at age thirteen played the piano as God intended. Robert got dazzled, and only God knows if he did not decide right there to emulate her skills, no matter what.
The little piano girl grew older. Years later, turned into a celebrity, she will live, along with Robert, a love story full of turbulence in the purest romantic style.

The short piece we are listening, named "Träumerei" (Dreaming), takes the number 7 in a series of 15 grouped in Opus 81 with the title "Scenes from Childhood". His remarkable lyricism has led to try out numerous transcriptions for violin, viola, or cello, with accompanying piano. Regardless of the tutus and the roses in bloom, the video presents a very inspired version.

Dear visitor, if you liked the article, we will be very grateful if you share it or recommend it on Google with an easy clic

Liszt: "Un sospiro" - Étude de Concert

Franz Liszt and Marie d'Agoult
Liszt's great love, or let us say, his most stable relationship, was called Marie de Flavigny as a single girl. A liberal woman, a renowned writer and historian, adopted the pseudonym of Daniel Stern when she began to collaborate with the French opposition press in the early 1840s. At the time of meeting Liszt, in 1833, Marie had become Countess Marie d'Agoult, for she had been married for six years in a holy but arranged marriage with Count Charles d'Agoult, whom she left without further ado when she realized that true love had knocked at her door.

Intense and passionate, the relationship lasted for 11 years and three children were born from the union.
This is the stage during which the famous and acclaimed pianist toured Europe, giving recitals in large cities, performing his own works, or making known the maestros not yet appreciated by the general public. Liszt was the first musician to program concerts devoted entirely to Bach, Beethoven or his contemporaries Chopin or Schumann.

His tours, always triumphant, were an event. Transformed into a celebrity of his time, Franz Liszt was awaited and received with great enthusiasm by what today we would call "his audience", or his "fans". For this reason, the chance of an affair was always at hand. Without thinking twice, Franz simply used to move in that direction. At the same time, at home, Marie was beginning to get tired of such long absences. And she sighed.

Étude de Concert No 3 - "Un sospiro"
Four years after the end of the relationship, Marie worked in 1848 as a prominent contributor to the liberal newspaper La Presse. Franz, in turn, finished composing his Three Études de Concert, aimed at improving the technical skills of the advanced student. The Étude No 3 in D-flat takes the Italian name "Un sospiro" (a sigh) and is intended to achieve skills on crossing hands effects at great speed.

When, years ago, I heard this piece for the first time, I could not explain how it was possible that the performer could carry that melody and, simultaneously, be accompanied by such a trapeze of arpeggios which were only possible with the participation of both hands. Time later, I was able to access the score and managed to see that such magic was due to the "simple" contraption of crossing hands.

As can be seen, the melody is being conducted by both hands, once on the left taking advantage of a silence and the next on the right in parallel with the bass. To facilitate the reading, the piano score presents, uncharacteristically, two treble clefs.

Marc-André Hamelin, French-Canadian pianist and composer, at a recital in Tokyo, 1997.

Dear visitor, if you liked the article, we will be very grateful if you share it or recommend it on Google with an easy click