For the Music Major Students
By Wei Wu Liszt’s Biographical Background
The Review of the “Years of Pilgrimage”
Selected Piano Piece Analyzed
Summary Born on Oct.22, 1811 in Hungary Piano playing was taught by his father (1818 -1820) First public performance in early 1820 at the age of 9 In 1823, family moved to Paris. Started to study with Carl Czerny in Vienna and instructions in composition with Antonio Salieri Giving performance at concerts in Vienna & Paris and gain recognition between 1824 and 1827 In 1830, French July Revolution occurred. Traveled to Switzerland and Italy between 1835 and 1839 with Marie d’Agoult, which inspired the compostition of “The Years of Pilgrimage”” Died in 1886 in Bayreuth Germany at the age of 74 The piano collections include three suites
Première Année: Suisse – First Year: Switzerland Deuxième Année: Italie – Second Year: Italy Troisième Année – Third Year (not covered) Chapelle de Guillaume Tell (William Tell's Chapel) Au Lac de Wallenstadt (At the Lake of Wallenstadt) Pastorale Au Bord d'une Source (Beside a Spring) Orage (Storm) Vallée d'Obermann (Obermann's Valley) Eglogue (Eclogue) Le Mal du Pays (Homesickness) Les cloches de Genève: Nocturne (The Bells of Geneva: Nocturne) Sposalizio (Marriage (of the Virgin: a painting by Raphael)) Il Pensieroso (The Thinker (a statue by Michelangelo)) Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa (Canzonetta of Salvator Rosa) Sonetto 47 del Petrarca (Petrarch's Sonnet 47) Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (Petrarch's Sonnet 104) Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (Petrarch's Sonnet 123) Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata (After Reading Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata) Single movement piano music with two main subjects Inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia Journey includes Hell ( Inferno ), Purgatory (Purgatorio ), and Paradise ( Paradiso )
Liszt’s piano works were greatly influenced by the literature, music and visual art developments during the Romantic Era Years of Pilgrimage helps us to gain some insight into that period of Romantic Music History Dante Sonata examined here is one of the most well-known within this piano collection Thank You