FERENC LISZT FREE ARRANGEMENTS XV [ii/15]

EDITED BY ISTVÁN KASSAI & IMRE SULYOK

Editio Musica Budapest, 2003. pp. XI-XXI.

PREFACE

POLONAISE AUS TSCHAIKOWSKIS OPER “JEWGENY ONEGIN”

(R 262, SW 429, NG2 A293)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) wrote his opera Eugene Onegin (op. 24) in 1877-1878 on the basis of a narrative poem by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837). The composer himself compiled the libretto, with the help of Shilovsky[1] The opera had its premiere in Moscow on March 29, 1879. In November 1879 Liszt transcribed for piano the 19th number of the first picture in Act III, the Polonaise. He dedicated the transcription to a former pupil, Karl KIindworth.[2] The transcription was first published in 1880 by the Jurgenson publishing house in Moscow,[3] then printed from the same plates for the Jurgenson firm by their con-signatary in France and Belgium, Felix Mackar of Paris[4] In the same year the piece was also published by Rahter of Hamburg.[5]

The present edition is based on the printed sources, together with the autograph[6] kept in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, which is presumed to have been the first notation of the transcription.

PRÉLUDE Á LA POLKA DE BORODINE

(R 297, SW 207a, NG2 A296)

The Russian composers Alexander Porfiryevich Borodín (1833-1887), César Antonovich Cui (1835-1918), Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov (1855-1914) and Nicolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) published in 1879 a joint work entitled Paraphrases. In it they worked up a little theme easily playable with two fingers, in the form of variations and character pieces for piano four hands, so that player number one (primo) played the little theme in unaltered form, continuously, right through the work. Liszt had a very high opinion of this series, and composed for the planned second edition in 1880 a variation on the introduction to Borodin’s polka. The Prélude was published in 1881 in the second edition of the series,[7] as a facsimile of Liszt’s manuscript, placed between two variations. The older lists of works record this composition as one of those written for four hands, but Liszt’s variation was explicitly written for two hands, for player number two (secondo).

The only source for our edition was the above-mentioned facsimile.

2^da MAZURKA PER PIANOFORTE DI TIRINDELLI VARIATA DA F. LISZT

(R-, SW 573a, NG2 A297)

In 1880 the pianist Helen Augusz (1850-?), daughter of Liszt’s admirer and friend, Baron Antal Augusz (18071878), sent Liszt three compositions[8] by the Italian violinist, composer and conductor Pier Adolfo Tirindelli (1858-1937).[9] Presumably these works had been written and published not long before that.[10] Liszt marked alterations in these scores: “Hier je me suis permis de noter plusieurs variantes dans sa mélodie [...]” - and sent them back to Baroness Helen Augusz together with a letter praising Tirindelli’s talent.[11] The sources of only one of the three compositions reworked by Liszt, the 2^da Mazurka, are known: the edition published in 1880 by Giudici e Strada, Turin,[12] and the autograph of the bars reworked by Liszt, 100-124 and 140-212. [13]

Our edition is based on these two sources, which we also compared with the Giudici e Strada edition of the original piano work.

LIEBESSZENE UND FORTUNAS KUGEL AUS DEM ORATORIUM “DIE SIEBEN TODSÜNDEN” VON ADALBERT VON GOLDSCHMIDT FANTASIESTÜCK

(R 165, SW 490, NG2 A298)

Adalbert von Goldschmidt (1848-1906) was an Austrian bank official who became a composer and poet; his salon in Vienna was a centre of social and artistic life, and in April 1885 Liszt too paid it a visit.[14] His first success as a composer was with his oratorio Die sieben Todsünden, which he wrote to a text by Hamerling[15] and which was given its first performance in 1876 in Berlin. The composer dedicated the work to Liszt,[16] who wrote a fantasia based on two parts of the oratorio[17] in 1880 in the Villa d’Este, near Rome. The transcription, the first notation of which bears the date 10 October 80, was published in 1881 by Goldschmidt’s publisher, Arnold Simon, Hanover.[18]

As a source for our edition we used this first edition. Additional sources were provided by an autographed copy kept in the Skhsisches Staatsarchiv, Leipzig,[19] and the the autograph first notation, which is to be found in the music department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.^[20]

O! WENN ES DOCH IMMER SO BLIEBE! LIED VON ANTON RUBINSTEIN Op. 34 No. 9

(R 239/1, SW 554/1, NG2 A304)

The Russian conductor Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein (1829-1894) the second greatest pianist of the 19^th century after Liszt, was a many-sided composer who founded the St. Petersburg conservatoire and was a protégé of Liszt[21] Rubinstein’s song was composed to a poem by the German poet, translator and teacher Friedrich Martin Bodenstedt (1819-1892), from his volume entitled Lieder des Mirza-Schaffy,[22] and was published in 1854 or slightly later by Friedrich Kistner in Leipzig[23] as number 9 in the series Zwölf Lieder des Mirza-Schaffy von Anton Rubinstein. Op. 34. In 1880 Liszt transcribed the song for piano.[24] The transcription, which he dedicated to Rubinstein’s wife,[25] was also published by Kistner in 1881.[26]

This edition, together with an autograph (ragment, part of the first notation of the work, which is kept in the Österreichisches Nationalbibliothek, Vienna,[27]^. served as the basis for the present edition. We used the first edition of Rubinstein’s song as a supplementary source.

DER ASRA LIED VON ANTON RUBINSTEIN Op. 32 No. 6

(R 239/2, SW 554/2, NG2 A329)

The title is that of a poem by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), to which Anton Rubinstein wrote his song. The latter is number 6 in a volume entitled 6 Lieder von Heine von Anton Rubinstein, Op. 32, published by Kistner in Leipzig in 1856.[28] Liszt’s piano transcription was written at the beginning of the 1880s, and this too was published by Kistner, in 1884.[29]

Our edition is based on that one. The copy numbered 1606 in the so-called Heyer catalogue[30] was not available to us for this edition.

PROVENZALISCHES MINNELIED VON ROBERT SCHUMANN

(R 254, SW 570, NG2 A306)

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) composed his ballad entitled Des Sängers Fluch for solo voices, choir and orchestra (Op. 139) in 1852. The text of the ballad was written by Ludwig Uhland[31] and reworked by Richard Pohl.[32] Liszt transcribed for piano the 4th movement of the 14-movement work (Provençalisches Lied) in 1881.[33]^. The transcription, entitled Provenzalisches Minnelied, was published in that same year by Adolph Fürstner in Berlin,[34] edited by Albert Ross Parsons.[35] In 1882 it was also published by Lucca of Milan.[36]

As sources for the present edition we used not only these two printed editions but also the copy kept in the Library of Congress, Washington, signed by Liszt and containing his corrections and additions.[37] We took the Uhland-Pohl text extract from the following edition of the Schumann work: Robert Schumann’s Werke, hrsg. von Clara Schumann. Serie IX. Grössere Gesangwerke mit Orchester oder mit mehreren Instrumenten. Partitur. Vierter Band. Verlag von Breitkopf & H irtel in Leipzig. Plate number: A.F. 2624 / R.S. 90. Ausgegeben 1885. Pp. (208)-(214).

DREI LIEDER ZU JULIUS WOLFF’S EPOS “TANNHÄUSER” KOMPONIERT VON OTTO LESSMANN

(R 177, SW 498, NG2 A316)

The German composer and writer about music Otto Lessmann (1844-1918), who was for a long time responsible for the Allgemeine Musikzeitung, was an enthusiastic, combative supporter of the music of Wagner and Liszt. Lessmann wrote three songs to parts of the epic poem “Tannhuser” by the German poet and writer Julius Wolff (1834-1910), published in 1880. In 1882 Liszt transcribed these songs for piano,[38] presumably in return for Lessmann’s study of Liszt, published in 1881.[39] The three transcriptions were first published in 1883 by Theodor Barth, Berlin,[40] then in the same year, 1883, by Lucca of Milan,[41] on both occasions in separate volumes.

These two editions served as sources for the present one, together with the autograph of the transcriptions, which is held in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv^.[42]

RÉMINISCENCES DE BOCCANEGRA DE VERDI

(R 271, SW 438, NG2 A314)

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813-1901) wrote his opera Simon Boccanegra to a libretto by Piave,[43] and it had its first performance on March 12, 1857 in Venice. More than two decades later the composer rewrote the opera after having the libretto revised by Boito.[44] In its new form the opera was first performed in Milan on March 24, 1881. A piano reduction of the revised work was soon published, probably in 1881,[45] and a copy of that edition can be found in Liszt’s Budapest bequest.[46] In Venice in December 1882 Liszt composed a fantasia based on parts of the opera. These transcribed parts were the introduction to the Prologue; the Doge’s fanfare motif; the warlike march from the closing chorus of Act II: “All’armi, o Liguri”; finally the fantasia ends with a transcription of the finale of Act III (Boccanegra’s death: “Gran Dio li benedici”) and a coda taken from the Prologue. As early as the following year, two editions of the transcription were published by Ricordi in Milan.[47]

Apart from the two editions just mentioned, the sources for the present edition included a copy kept in the archives of the Ricordi publishing house, corrected by Liszt and used as the engraving manuscript for the first edition, and the first notation, which is in the possession of the British Museum, London.[48]

FEIERLICHER MARSCH ZUM HEILIGEN GRAL AUS DEM BÜHNENWEIHFESTSPIEL “PARSIFAL” VON RICHARD WAGNER

(R 283, SW 450, NG2 A315)

On July 26, 1882 in Bayreuth Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883) premiered his last opera, Parsifal Ein Bühnenweihfestspiel in 3 Aufzügen.[49] Liszt, who since getting to know Wagner in Paris had supported and assisted him in every way and admired all his work,[50] was present at not only the premiere but also at least four subsequent performances and several rehearsals, and in the Wahnfried villa he performed extracts from the opera on the piano for visiting guests[51] It was at this time that he wrote his last Wagner transcription, the Feierlicher Marsch zum heiligen Gral, based on several motifs from the first act of the opera. On September 16, 1882 Liszt sent the manuscript of the fantasia to the Schott publishing house in Mainz,[52]^. where it was published in December 1883.[53] At the same time as Schott’s edition or a little later the Milan publisher, Lucca,[54] also published the piece. Its first performance in a concert hall took place in Weimar on September 29, 1882, when the young d’Albert[55] included it in the programme of his first piano recital in Weimar.[56]

Our edition is based on the three editions mentioned, together with the engraving manuscript for the Schott edition, a copy corrected by Liszt and kept in the publishers’ archives in Mainz.

MARCHE HONGROISE D’APRÈS SCHUBERT: DIVERTISSEMENT À L’HONGROISE Op. 54 No. 2 - D 818/2 Troisième édition 1883

(R 250, SW 425, NG2 A48)

Divertissement à l’hongroise, a series of pieces for piano four hands by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828), was transcribed by Liszt for two hands in 1838-39. The transcríption was published in 1840, and again in 1846 with “auf eine leichtere Art gesetzt” inscribed on the title-page, by the Diabelli publishing house in Vienna.[57] Much later, Liszt again reworked the second piece in the series (Marcia). This revised version was published as an independent work, under the title Marche hongroise (Fr. Schubert) Troisième édition revue et augmentée, first in Vienna by C. A. Spina (Alwin Cranz), and not long afterwards, in 1883, in Hamburg by August Cranz.[58] The new arrangement is based on the thematic material of the earlier one and in the same key, but it contains significant expansions.

The two editions mentioned served as the sources for our edition.

We also used as sources three documents kept in the Library of Congress, Washington, which together contain the complete score of the new arrangement: a copy of the second volume of Schuberts Ungarische Melodien auf eine leichtere Art gesetzt and of Mélodies hongroises d’après Schubert[59]^. with Liszt’s autograph jottings and instructions for the troisième édition, together with autograph music manuscript pages belonging to the former, bearing Liszt’s inscription Correctur Blätter.[60]

We were not able to use as a source the autograph written for Sophie Menter[61] and also kept in the Library of Congress, Washington.[62] This manuscript contains changes and additions affecting several hars in five places, marked Nach dem Trio. The edition, however; to which these alterations refer is not given, and the precise locations of the changes are not indicated.

VALSE DE CONCERT D’APRÈS LA « SUITE EN FORME DE VALSE » DE JEAN DE VÉGH DE VEREB

(R 263, SW 430, NG2 A318)

János Verebi Végh’s[63] set of waltzes for piano four hands entitled Suite en forme de Valse[64] was transcribed by Liszt in 1882-83 for two hands, as a token of his appreciation of János Végh’s arrangement of the Dante symphony for two pianos, eight hands.[65] Liszt’s transcription for two hands was first published by Harmonia in Budapest in 1885.[66] This edition was the source for ours, together with a facsimile of an autograph sheet of corrections containing bars 87-110.[67] As a supplementary source we were able to use a copy by János Végh’s son, Gyula Végh, which he made in 1933 from the original manuscript of the first version of the transcription. This copy is to be found in the manuscript collection of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music (State University) Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and Research Centre, Budapest.[68]

The present whereabouts of the autograph of the final form (see SW 430) are unknown. The edition by Friedrich Kistner of Leipzig was prepared from the plates of the Harmonia edition. From the evidence of its plate number (7217), it must have been published in 1888 or 1889,[69] so we could not use it as a source.

ABSCHIED

RUSSISCHES VOLKSLIED

(R 104, SW 251, NG2 A324)

The Russian pianist and conductor Alexander Ilyich Siloti (1863-1945) was a pupil of Liszt’s in Weimar between 1883 and 1886. Through him Liszt came to know the Russian folk song “На прощание” (Farewell),[70] which inspired him to write a transcription. This transcription or arrangement, according to the catalogues of works, was composed in 1885, and first performed on August 13, 1885 during one of Liszt’s classes in Weimar.[71] The first edition, with a dedication to Siloti, was published in September 1885 by Fritzsch of Leipzig,[72] and probably in the same year by Bernard of St. Petersburg as well.[73]

The two editions mentioned, together with the autograph first notation kept in the National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg, served as the sources for this edition.[74]

TARENTELLE DE CÉSAR CUI

(R 147, SW 482, NG2 A327)

In 1885 Liszt transcribed the orchestral Tarantella by Cui[75] for piano.[76] He dedicated this Tast transcription to Louise Mercy-Argenteau,[77] a friend of his and enthusiastic promoter of Russian music.[78] The transcription was published in 1886 by Durand & Schœnewerk of Paris.[79] Saint-Saëns[80] corrected the proofs.[81] This edition was the source for our present one. We also used as a source the copy held in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna,[82] on which Liszt’s autograph corrections can be seen, together with the attached copy inscribed “Zusätze zum Manuscripte der Tarantelle ven Cui”, and Liszt’s autograph first notation, kept in the library os Congress, Washington, in the Rosenthal Collection.

Budapest, February 2003

István Kassai, Imre Sulyok

(English translation by Lorna Dunbar)

ABKÜRZUNGEN - ABBREVIATIONS

Br. = Franz Liszts Briefe. Hrsg. von La Mara, Bd. (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1893-1905). D = Franz Schubert, Thematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke in chronologischer Folge von Otto Erich Deutsch. In: Franz Schubert, Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, Serie VIII, Supplement Band 4 (Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag, 1978).

DLD = Anik Devriès-François Lesure: Dictionnaire des éditeurs de musique français Volume II. De 1820 á 1914 (Genève: Éditions Minkoff, 1988).

ELEB = Acta academiae artis musicae de Francisco Liszt nominatae, 3. Franz Liszt’s Estate at the Budapest Academy of Music, II. Music. Edited by Mária Eckhardt (Budapest: Liszt Ferenc Zenemûvészeti Fõiskola, 1993).

ELMM = Studies in Central and Eastern European Music 2. Edited by Zoltán Falvy. Mária Eckhardt: Franz Liszt’s Music Manuscripts in The National Széchényi Library, Budapest (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1986).

F = Chronologisch-systematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Franz Liszts von Ludwig Friwitzer. In: Musikalische Chronik (III. Jahrgang der “Wiener Musikalischen Zeitung”) Bd. 5, Nrn. 3-8. Wien, 5. 11. 1887-31. 1. 1888.

HM = Musikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht neuer Musikalien, musikalischer Schriften und Abbildungen. Angefertigt von Adolf Hofmeister. (Leipzig: Hofmeister, 1834-).

HMW = Wolfram Huschke: Musik im klassischen und nachklassischen Weimar (Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1982).

L-K = Franz Liszts Klavierunterricht von 1884-1886. Dargestellt an den Tagebuchaufzeichnungen von August Göllerich. Hrsg. von Wilhelm Jerger (Regensburg: Gustav Bosse Verlag, 1975).

LLC2 = Dezsõ Legány: Ferenc Liszt and His Country, 1874-1886 (Budapest: Occidental Press, 1992)

L-P = Liszt-Pädagogium. Klavierkompositionen Franz Liszts nebst noch unedirten Veränderungen, Zusätzen und Kadenzen. Nach des Meisters Lehren pädagogisch glossirt von Lina Ramann. Serie I-V (I,eipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1901).

ML = Jakov Iszakovics Milstejn: Liszt (Budapest: Zenemûkiadó, 1965).

MND = Musikverlags Nummern von Otto Erich Deutsch (Berlin: Verlag Merseburger, 1961). NG2 = Franz Liszt, Works by Mária Eckhardt, Rena Charnin Mueller, in: The New Grove. Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Second Edition. Ed. by Stanley Sadie. Vol. 14 (London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 2001) pp. 785-872.

R = Dr. Felix Raabe: Verzeichnis aller Werke Liszts nach Gruppen geordnet. In: Peter Raabe, Liszts Schaffen, S. 241-377, Zusätze S. 7-40. 2. Ausgabe (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1968).

SW = Franz Liszt, Works. Compiled by Humphrey Searle. Rev. by Sharon Winklhofer. In: The New Grove. Early Romantic Masters 1: Chopin, Schumann, Liszt (New York & London: Macmillan, 1985).

WL3 = Alan Walker: Franz Liszt, Volume Three, The Final Years 1861-1886 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996).