Liszt y MOzart

8/9/2019 Liszt y MOzart

1/21

Liszt and the Mozart ConnectionAuthor(s): William WrightSource: Studia Musicologica, Vol. 48, No. 3/4 (Sep., 2007), pp. 299-318Published by: Akadmiai Kiad

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25598300.

Accessed: 26/01/2015 16:38

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Akadmiai Kiadis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Studia Musicologica.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:38:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=akhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/25598300?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/25598300?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ak


2/21

Liszt and

the

Mozart Connection*

William

Wright

24

Ayr

Road,

Giffnock

Glasgow

G46

6

RY,

Scotland

E-mail:

[email protected]

(Recieved:

February

2007;

accepted:

May

2007)

Abstract:

The

life

and

works

of

Mozart

are

central

to

a

due

understanding

of

Liszt's

development

as

pianist,

composer,

and

conductor.

Yet,

this fact receives

inadequate

attention

in

scholarly

studies. Liszt

readily

acknowledged

that

he

'owed

the

greater

part

ofwhat he

was as a

musician

to

Mozart' and

found

identity

nd

goal

as

he

sought,

as

pianist

and

composer,

to emulate the endeavors of the Viennese master. Like

Mozart,

he

was a

'pioneer

of

progress'

who

refused 'to

be

bound

by

accepted

modes

of

expression.'

Like

Mozart,

'he

pushed

virtuosity

to

utmost

limits.'

Like

Mozart,

he

was

seen

by

many

as

an

iconic

figure

of German

nationalism.

In

later

life,

iszt took

comfort

from

the fact that

Mozart,

his illustrious

role-model,

was

not

spared

bitter

experiences.

'As

with

every

great

genius,'

both

endured

'pain

and

suffering'

in

order

to

accomplish

their

task.

In

so

many

areas

of

musical

activity

and

experience,

Liszt

mirrored his

great

Viennese

master.

Throughout

Liszt's

life,

he

remained

devoted

to

the

scrupulous

study

and execution

of

Mozart's

music

and

played

an

important

part

in

promoting

a

better

understanding

of both

man

and

music

via

podium

and

press

before,

during,

and after theMozart Centenary Celebrations in Vienna in

January

1856.

Keywords:

Liszt,

Modulation du

Requiem

de

Mozart

While

the

significance

of

Beethoven's music for Liszt's

development

as

pianist,

composer,

and

conductor,

continues

to

be

widely

recognized,1

considerably

less

*

A

preliminary

version of this

essay

was

presented

at

the

Great

Romantics Festival inHamilton, Ontario,

on

6

October

2006.

1.

See for

example

Axel

Schroter,

"Der

Name Beethoven

ist

heilig

in

der

Kunst":

Studien

zu

Liszts

Beetho

ven-Rezeption,

2

Bde.

=

Musik

und

Musikanschauung

im 19.

Jahrhundert. Studien und

Quellen

6

(Sinzig:

Stu

dio,

1999).

For further

publications relating

to the

Beethoven

/ iszt

connection

see

Michael

Saffle,

Franz

Liszt:

A

Guide

to

Research

Second

Edition

(New

York-London:

Routledge,

2004),

298-299.

Studia

Musicologica

48/3-4,

2007,

pp.

299-318

DOI:

10.1556/SMus.48.2007.3-4.3

1788-6244/$

20.00 ?

2007 Akademiai

Kiado,

Budapest

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/21

300 William

Wright

attention

is

given

in

scholarly

studies

to

the

signal

effect the life and works of

Mozart

had

on

similar Lisztian

activities.2

Although

Liszt

owed the

greater part

of what he

was

as a

musician

to

the

Viennese

master.3

The

present

article seeks

to

redress

the

balance

a little. Included in this

study

will

be

an assessment of

the

significant

part

Liszt

played

in

promoting

a

better

understanding

of

Mozart

and

his

music,

via

podium

and

press,

before,

during,

and

after the

Mozart

Centenary

Celebrations

in

Vienna

in

January

1856,4

and when

advocating, by

correspond

ence,

the

publication

of

a

complete

edition of

the

composer's

works.5

But

first,

consider

the

profound

effect the

life

and works

ofMozart had

on

the

early

development

of

Liszt

as

pianist.

When

Liszt

arrived

in

Vienna

in

the

spring

of

1822

to

commence

his

musical

studies with Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri,6 he had, already, uncommon know

ledge

ofMozart's

keyboard

works,

taught

to

him

by

his

father,

Adam.

Many

key

board works

of

Bach,

early

Beethoven,

Clementi,

Hummel,

and

Cramer,

were

also

in

his head

and

fingers.7

There

can

be little

doubt that

during

Liszt's

fourteen-month

stay

in

the

city,

while

under

Czerny

and

Salieri's

tutelage

or

at

Viennese

society

gatherings,

he

further

deepened

and

extended

his

understanding

of

Mozart

and his

music.8

All,

while

he

rapidly

grew

in

stature

as

an

important

musical

figure

following

rave

reports

of

prestigious private performances

and

two

public engagements.

It

was

the latter

events,

Liszt's

public

debut

on

1

December

1822

at

the

capital's

Univer

sity

Hall,

and

his

engagement

at

the

Vienna Redoutensaal

on

13

April

1823,

par

2.

Past

studies,

relative

to

the Liszt/Mozart

connection,

while

majoring

on

Liszt's

Reminiscenses

de Don

Juan

or

Ferruccio Busoni's

1912

adaptation

of

the

Mozart/Liszt Weimar material

(D-WRgs

60/1

45),

fail

to

stress

the relevance

and

importance

of

the

life

and works

of

Mozart for Liszt's

identity

and

development.

See

Saffle,

Franz

Liszt: A

Guide

to

Research,

96,

300

and 474-475.

3. 'What

musician does

not

wholeheartedly

endorse

the

triumph

of this

genius

to

whom

we

owe

the

greater

part

of

what

we

are as

musicians

-

this

master who

was

gifted

above all

others

with

the

greatest

abundance,

the

most

astonishing

richness,

the

most

wonderful

flexibility,

the

most

marvelous

blend

of

very

diverse,

often

mutu

ally

exclusive

qualities,

with

the

loveliest

harmony

of

nobility

and

grace,

of invention

and

combination,

of

pas

sion

and

control,

of

majesty

and tenderness?'

An

excerpt

from

part

one

of Liszt's

two-part

article:

"Bei

Gelegenheit

der

hundertjahrigen

Mozart-Feier,"

Blatter

fur

Musik,

Theater und

Kunst

(18.

Januar

1856),

21.

4.

The

Centenary

Celebrations

took

place

at

the

Vienna

Redoutensaal

on

27 and 28

January

1856.

5.

See Liszt

letter,

dated 9

February

1856,

to

his

cousin, Eduard,

in Liszts

Briefe,

hrsg.

von

La

Mara,

Bd.

1

(Leipzig:

Breitkopf

and

Hartel,

1893),

216.

6.

Adam

Liszt

put

into effect

his bold

plan;

he

gained

a

year's

leave of absence

from

Prince

Nicholas

Esterhazy

and

early

in

May

1822

Adam

set out with

his

son on

the

journey

to

Vienna. Klara

Hamburger,

Liszt

(Budapest:

Corvina,

1980),

12.

7. 'The fact

that

within

twenty-two

months

he

[Liszt]

has

easily

overcome

any

difficulty

in

the

works

of

Bach,

Mozart,

Beethoven,

Clementi,

Hummel,

Cramer,

etc.,

and

can

play

the hardest

piano pieces

at

sight,

in

strict

tempo,

correctly

and

without

any

mistakes,

represents

in

my

opinion giant progress.'

Letter

from

Adam

Liszt

to

Prince Nicholas

Esterhazy,

dated

13

April

1820.

See

Stephan [Istvan]

von

Csekey,

"Franz Liszts

Vater:

Nach

bisher

unverdffentlichten

Dokumenten

dargestellt,"

Die

Musik

29/9

(Juni 1937),

631-635.

See

also

Alan

Walker,

Franz

Liszt: The Virtuoso

Years 1811-1847

(London-Boston:

Faber

&

Faber,

1989),

66.

8.

Liszt

probably

listened

to

Mozart's

compositions,

conducted

by Hieronymus

Payer

at the

Theater

an

der

Wien,

in 1822

or

'23,

or

at

the

Paris

Opera

in

late 1831

or

early

'32. See

notes

35, 37,

and

39.

Studia

Musicologica

48,

2007



4/21

Liszt and theMozart

Connection

301

ticularly

the

latter,

that

convinced his

father,Adam,

an

important

decision had

to

be made

concerning

his

son's future

career.9

Alan Walker records

in

volume

one

of

his

tripartite

Franz Liszt

biography:

After

Liszt's

appearance

in the

Redoutensaal

Adam could look back

on

their

stay

in

Vienna

with considerable satisfaction.

Every

one

of

his

objections

had

been

achieved.

His

son

was

now

the

center

of attention

in

the

capital.

He

had

played

before the

most

critical audiences

and had

brought

honor

to

his

family,

his

teachers,

and

his

country...

Above

all,

he had

grown

in

artistic

stature

and

stood

on

the

threshold

of

a

shining

career.

Adam

now

let his ambition

grow.

He

had

long

nurtured

a

dream

to

take Franzi

on

a

European

tour,

with

France

and

perhaps

England

as

theirultimate destination.

What could be done

in theRe

doutensaal

could be

done

elsewhere...

He

now

looked

westwards

-

to

Munich,

Stuttgart,

Augsburg

and

Paris...10

In

planning

Liszt's firstworld

tour,

dam

had

very

few

precedents

to

guide

him.

Uppermost

in

his mind

was

the

phenomenal

success

of the

Mozart

chil

dren,

Wolfgang

and

Nannerl, who,

sixty

years

earlier,

had been

taken

on

tour

by

their

father nd had

set

Europe

by

the

ears.

The fact that

dam

followed

a

similar

route

-

Munich,

Augsburg, Strasbourg,

Stuttgart

-

should

not

surprise

us.

People

were

beginning

to

compare

the

young

Liszt with Mozart

and

it

was

typical

of

Adam

to

symbolize

that

fact

publicly.11

It

is

important

to

emphasise

that Liszt's creative abilities

as

executant-virtuoso

were

being

compared

with Mozart's

similar

gifts.

Both refused

to

be

bound

by

the limitations of

accepted

modes

of

expression

as

they

pushed virtuosity

to

utmost

limits.

The

following

excerpt

from Liszt's

1856

article,

'Bei

Gelegenheit

der

hundertjahrigen

Mozart-Feier'

(On

the

Occasion of

the

Mozart

Centenary

Celebration),

that

appeared

in

Leopold

Zellner's

Vienna

journal,

Blatter

fur

Musik, Theater,

und

Kunst,12

sheds

more

light

on

thematter:

[Mozart's]

versatile

genius spanned every aspect

of

music,

not

excluding

the

virtuosity

which he raised

to

the

utmost

limits in

relation

to

the

techniques

of

his

day

-

an

achievement that

must not

be

silently

passed

over

when his

mem

ory

is

celebrated,

because,

even

if

we

can

no

longer

directly

appreciate

his vir

tuosity,

it

is

nonetheless the

source

of

part

of the

power

that Mozart

exercised

over

his

contemporaries

and

over

his

successors.

For

Beethoven,

Weber,

9. From the

Summer of 1823

increasing

interest

in the

extraordinary

abilities

of

young

Liszt

began

to

command the attention of the

musically

informed inLondon. See The

Quarterly

Musical

Magazine

and Review

5

(1823),

416,

and

The

Harmonicon

(1823),

88.

10.

Walker,

Franz Liszt:

The

Virtuoso

Years,

85-86.

11.

Walker,

Franz

Liszt:

The

Virtuoso

Years,

89.

12.

Leopold

Alexander

Zellner(

1823-1894),

editor of

Blatter

fur

Musik,

Theater und

Kunst

from

1859

to

1866.

Secretary

of

the

Gesellschaft

der

Musikfreunde

in Vienna

from

1868

and

Professor

at

Vienna

Con

servatory.

Studia

Musicologica

48,

2007



5/21

302

William

Wright

Meyerbeer,

Mendelssohn,

Spohr,

etc.,

it

served

as

a

kind of

model

he found

in

Bach and

Handel.13

Clearly,

Liszt was well aware of the

huge

influence Mozart had exercised over

his

own

development

as

traveling keyboardist.

Nowhere

was

this

Mozartian influence

more

wonderfully

demonstrated than

when

Liszt,

'building,

[like

Mozart]

on

what

already

existed

yet

seeking

to

ad

vance

into

regions

as

yet

unexplored,'14

performed

a

free

fantasia

on

the

aria,

'Non

piu

andrai'

from

the

composer's

opera,

Le

Nozze

di

Figaro,

at

the Italian

Theatre

in Paris

on

7

March

1824,15

or

again

on

27

August

that

year

at

Windsor

Castle,

England,

when

he

improvised

on

the

minuet

from

Finale Act

1

of

Mozart's Opera, II Don Giovanni:16 events thatbestowed on Liszt themantle of

international

recognition

as

performing

artist of

genius

and introduced

him

to

the

most

desirable

clientele,

the

highest

echelon

of

society

in

European

cities.17

Wonderful demonstrations of

digital

dexterity

foreshadowing

his advance into

further

realms of

transcendental

pianism

in

Paris

in

1832,

when

he

was

engaged

in

lengthy

and

frenetic

practice

sessions and

an

equally

intense

scrutiny

of

works

of

Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Hummel,

and

Weber,

all

bearing

unmistakable fam

ily

likeness, all,

in

part,

vehicles

of

virtuosity.18

13.

Liszt,

"Bei

Gelegenheit

der

hundertjahrigen

Mozart-Feier,"

Blatter

fiir

Musik,

Theater und

Kunst

(18.

Januar

1856),

21. The

second

part

of

the article

appeared

three

days

later.

Zellner almost

certainly

'came

[to

Liszt

]

with

the

proofs

of

the article'

on

17

January

1856.

In

a

letter to

Princess

Carolyne

Sayn-Wittgenstein,

written

two

days

later,

Liszt comments: T

thought

it

better

not

to

put

him off

any

longer.

You

will

have

seen

that

he

[Zellner]

has

split

it

into

2

issues,

which suited him better. Since

no

essential

harm

was

done

to

it,

I

made

no

categorical objections.

Besides,

I

am

quite pleased

with

Zellner...'

Liszt made

no

mention

of the

proofs

in

his

note to

Carolyne,

dated

16

January

1856.

Liszts

Briefe,

hrsg.

von

La Mara

(Leipzig: Breitkopf

&

Hartel,

1900),

Bd.

4,

300.

14.

'...andere Gebiete als die schon

sattsam

ausgebeuteten

betreten,'

"Bei der

hundertjahrigen

Mozart-Feier,"

[Part

II]

(21.

Januar

1856),

26.

15. Two themes fromMozart's

Opera,

Le

Nozze di

Figaro,

'Non

piu

andrai'

and 'Voi che

sapete,'

included

and

freely

arranged by

Liszt

in his

fifty-page

untitled

Weimar

autograph

(D-WRgs

60/1

45),

also feature

in

Ferruccio Busoni's

1912

adaptation

of

the

same

Weimar Liszt

keyboard

material,

Busoni's

Franz

Liszt Fantasie

iiber

zwei

Motive

aus

W.A.

Mozart's

Die

Hochzeit des

Figaro.

16.

Sixteen

measures

of

paraphrased

material

from

this

Donna

Anna /

on Ottavio

minuet,

that

Liszt

in

corporated

into

the

above

Weimar

manuscript,

fail to

appear

in

Busoni's

1912

adaptation.

17. In

the

following

letter

to

young

Liszt,

dated

2

July

1824,

the celebrated

English

tenor,

John

Braham,

recognizes

in him

one

who

would

continue

to

find

identity

and

goal

in

Mozart:

'My

dear Master

Liszt,

/

Many

thanks for

your

exertions.

/

he talent

you

displayed

on

the

evening

of

my

Benefit

[at

Drury

Lane Theatre

on

29

June

'24]

can never

be

forgotten by

the British Public. The

delight they

manifested

was a

tribute

paid

to

your

wonderful

genius,

as

ardent

as

it

was

just.

May

you

proceed

in

your

career as

prosperously

as

you

have

com

menced,

-

and

that

you

will

emulate the

glory

of Mozart

and

master-spirit

of

music

is

not

doubted

by

/

ours

much

obliged,

/ John Braham.'

Francesco

Berger,

"Retrospects

(IV),"

The

Monthly

Musical

Record

(1

April

1930),

107.

18.

Briefe,

Bd.

1,

6-8.

A

question

remains. Liszt

played

his

improvisations

on

Mozart's

compositions

in

the

1820's,

and

during

the

1830's

and 1840's

gave

public

performances

of

his

own

piano

transcriptions

of

some

of the

Viennese

master's works.

Yet,

why

did Mozart

concertos,

sonatas,

or

his

other

keyboard

works,

fail to

feature

on

Liszt

concert

programs?

Charles Rosen

gives

an

excellent

reply:

'...almost

all of the

solo

keyboard

repertoire

for

two

hands without

pedal

keyboard

[written]

before

1800

was never

intended

for

public

per

formance,

certainly

not

for

an

audience

of

more

than

a

dozen

or

two...'

Rosen,

Piano

Notes:

The

Hidden

Studia

Musicologica

48,

2007



6/21

Liszt and

the

ozart

Connection 303

Mozart's

Requiem

is central

to

a

due

understanding

of Liszt's

early

composition

al

development,

particularly

as

one

considers Lisztian

sketchbook

material,

rela

tive

to

motif

and

chromatic

material

from

the

Mozart

Dies Irae

sequence

that

Liszt

incorporated

into

his

1833

/ '34

masterpiece,

Harmonies

poetiques

et

reli

gieuses

(S.

154),

and its later

revision,

Pensee

des

Morts

(S.

173/4).19

When

one

recalls

that

Liszt

was

in Paris

during

the

city's

cholera

epidemic

in

the

spring

of

1832

and witnessed

the

seemingly

endless

procession

of

vehicles

bearing

dead

to

Notre

Dame,

it is

little

wonder

that the

experience

provoked

in

him

profound

musical

expression.

Walker

records

in Liszt

1:

Liszt's

obsession

with the

dead,

the

dying,

and

the damned

was

real

enough

and often

provoked

a

musical

response.

There is

a

whole branch of his

music

dealing

with death and

symbolized by

such titles s Totentanz

(S.

126),

Fune

railles

(S.

173/7),

a

Lugubre

Gondola

(S.

134),

and

Pensee

des

Morts.20

The

following

excerpt

from

the

Memoires

of

Countess

Dash

contains

a

vivid

account

of

similar

Lisztian

expression:

In

the

building

above

me,

lived

one

of

the

kings

of

celebrity,

itz

[sic].

He

was

no

longer

called little itz

but he

was

still

very

young

...

I

met

him often

and

see

before

me

his

long

pale

thin

face,

full

of

originality,

nd

that

was con

sidered very handsome. He came down the stairs as upright as a ghost and very

noisily

...

Liszt

was

the

most

disturbing neighbor

possible...

He

never

played

either

a

piece

or

an

improvisation.

He

gave

a

few

lessons

to

favored

people,

and

himself,

for

hours

on

end he

played

a

double

cadence

with

both hands

on

the

same

note

...

One

night,

it

was

the

beginning

of the Dies

Irae

and

he

never

left it.

It

was

enough

to

drive

one

mad,

I

assure

you.

And

so

the whole

build

ing oined

together

o

ask

for

his

eviction.

We

would

have

got

it,

ut

he did

not

put

us

to

that

trouble;

he

left

nstead.21

World

of

the

Pianist

(London:

Penguin

Books,

2002),

179.

Nevertheless,

it

is

important

to

note

thatwhenever

Liszt

gave

public performances

of

Hummel's

works,

he

was

embracing

the

Mozartian

style

of

playing

that

Hummel

had

'brought

to

such

exquisite

perfection.'

See

Reginald

R.

Gerig,

Famous

Pianists

and

Their

Technique

(Bridgeport

CT:

Robert B.

Luce, 1874),

116.

19.

See

Liszt's

so-called

'Lichnowsky'

sketchbook

(D-WRgs

60/N

8)

and

pages

60-65

and notes

27-30

of

present

article.

Liszt's

letter,

dated

30

October

1833,

to

Marie

d'Agoult,

confirms

that this

'petite

harmonie

Lamartienne

sans

ton

ni

mesure,'

that

is,

the

first

version of Liszt's

Harmonies

Poetiques

et

Religeuses

set

to

a

poem

by

Alphonse

de

Lamartine,

was

in

draft-form

at

that date.

See Franz

Liszt

Marie

d

'Agoult: Correspon

dance,

ed.

Serge

Gut

and

Jacqueline

Bellas

(Paris:

Fayard,

2001),

93-94.

While

it

is

not

known

when

Liszt

had

first

sight

of

Mozart's

Requiem,

it

may

well

have been

months

or

even

years

before

1833.

Liszt

heard

'Fragmens

du

Requiem

de Mozart'

at

theAcademie

de

Musique

on

12

April

1824.

See

Geraldine

Keeling,

"Liszt's

Appearances

in

Parisian

Concerts,

1824-1844

Part

1:

1824-1833,"

The

Liszt

Society

Journal

11

(1986),

23-24.

20.

Walker,

The

Virtuoso

Years,

151.

21.

Comtesse

Dash,

Memoires

des

autres

(Paris:

Calmann

Levy,

1898),

vol.

4,

149.

Comtesse

Dash,

the

pseudonym

of Ga

brie

lie

Anne de

Cisternes

de

Courtires,

viscomtesse

de

Saint-Marc,

French

writer

(1804

1872).

Studia

Musicologica

48,

2007



7/21

304

William

Wright

Was Liszt

performing

a

keyboard

arrangement

of

Mozart Dies Irae material

on

this occasion?

The

following

facts,

considered

collectively,

tend

to

suggest

this

to

be

so:

1.

On

24

January

1832 Liszt told favored

pupil,

Valerie

Boissier,

that

he

judged

Mozart

to

be the foremost

of

composers,

and

performed

for

her

some

of

the

com

poser's

works.22

2.

On

2

May

the

same

year,

Liszt

informed Pierre

Wolff,

another

of

his

pupils:

'works

of

Beethoven,

Bach,

Hummel,

Mozart, Weber,

are

all around

me.

I

study

them,

meditate

on

them,

devour them

with

fury...'23

3. Sometime

during

late

1833

Liszt

incorporated

Mozartian

Dies Irae

mater

ial into

his

piano piece,

Harmonies

poetiques

et

religieuses.

More

of this later.

Michael Saffle records in 'Liszt and theTraditions of theKeyboard Fantasy,' an

insightful

essay

featured

in

Liszt

the

Progressive,

that

even

before

1833

Liszt

was

employing

harmonic

and melodic

devices

in his

keyboard

works

closely

linked

to

those

used

by

Mozart

and

Beethoven.24

4.

In

September

1836,

Liszt,

still

preoccupied

with Mozart's Dies

Irae

sequence,

improvised

on

motivic

material

from

the

latter

sequence

on

the

Saint Nicholas

Cathedral

organ

in

Fribourg,

Switzerland:

variations

on

Quantus

tremor

estfutu

rus.

George

Sand,

shortly

after

witnessing

the

event,

wrote:

it

was

only

when

Franz

ran

his

hands

freely

ver

the

keyboard

and

gave

us a

fragment

rom the

ies

Irae

by

Mozart,

that

we

understood the

superiority

f

the

Fribourg

organ

over

everything

that

we

knew

of this

type.

Franz's Floren

tine

profile

had

never

delineated

itself

so

purely

and

palely

against

a

darker

cloud

of

mystical

terrors

and

religious

sorrows.

There

was

an

harmonic

group

that

repeated

itself

continually

under

his

fingers,

ach

note

of

which

translated

in

my

imagination

by

theharsh

words

of the

funeral

hymn:

Quantus

tremor

st

futurus Quando

judex

est

venturus...25

There is certainly a strong feeling of lateMozart in the figure that repeats it

self

continually

in

Liszt's

1833

masterpiece,

Harmonies

poetiques

et

religi

euses.26

22.

Caroline

[Madame

Auguste]

Boissier,

Lecons de

piano

donnees

par

Liszt

a

Mademoiselle

Valerie

Boissier

a

Paris

en

1832

(Geneva:

Slatkine,

1976),

132,

i.e. from

a

reprint

of

the 1923

Paris

edition.

23.

Liszt,

Briefe,

Bd.

1,6.

24. Saffle writes: 'Between 1822 and 1828 Liszt employed

in his

earliest

compositions

an

harmonic

gram

mar,

a

melodic

syntax,

and

a

set

of

formal

paradigms

closely

related

to

those

employed

by

Mozart and

Beet

hoven.'

Michael

Saffle,

"Liszt

and the Traditions

of the

Keyboard

Fantasy,"

in

Liszt

The

Progressive,

ed.

Hans

Kagebeck-Johan

Lagerfelt

(Lampeter-Ceredigion-Wales:

Mellon

Press,

2001),

152.

25. Letter

from

Fribourg,

dated

5

September

1836,

written

by

George

Sand

to

Charles

Didier.

George

Sand,

"Lettres

d'un

voyageur.

No. 10

a

Herbert

(Charles

Didier),"

La Revue

des

Deux

Mondes

(November

1836,

re

edited

/

republished,

Paris:

Gamier

-

Flammarion),

188.

26.

Hereafter

Harmonies.

Studia

Musicologica

48,

2007



8/21

Liszt

and the

Mozart Connection 305

Humphrey

Searle

acknowledges

in

The

Music

of

Franz Liszt that

a

strong

feel

ing

of late Beethoven is evident in this

'extremely

remarkable'

Liszt

work.27

Nevertheless,

equally

apparent

Mozartian links

can

be identified:

for

example,

between the three-note

ascending

and

descending figure

found in the

opening

bars of

Confutatis

Maledictis from theDies Irae

sequence

in

Mozart's

Requiem

and

a

similar

recurrent

patterned figure

in

the

opening

measure

of the Liszt

piece.

Michael Saffle

comments

in

The Liszt

Companion

that

'virtually

every

meas

ure

of Harmonies is derived from

a

consecutive-three-note

ascending

and des

cending

figure,

first

heard several

times

in

the

opening

measures

of the left

hand.'28

Liszt almost

certainly

adapted

this three-note

figure

from

music

played

by the lower strings in the opening bars ofMozart's Confutatis Maledictis.

Compare

the

circled

notes

in

Ex.

1,

measure

1

of

Confutatis

with

Ex.

2,

the

circled

notes

of

measures

1

and

2

of

Harmonies.

Note

the

similarity

of

patterned

movement.

Example 1

Mozart,

Requiem,

'Confutatis

maledictis,'

m.

1

Andante

J

76

Con

- - -

fa

Con

- - -

fij

-

ta

- - - -

tis

Andante

J

=

76

Trb

.

1

)

f

on

- - -

fu

-

ta

- -

- -

tis

(^j?*444


9/21

306

William

Wright

Example 2

Liszt,

Harmonies

poetiques

et

religieuses

(1835),

mm.

1-2

Senza

tempo

a

cxtrtrocmentent***"

rr*** Pfl I

(14

-

\\

hj

r

fj

^

%/

svecun

rofbnd

entiment

feimut

conduolo

/

pesante

anguendo

tres

accentuc)

*ltf

=?

Jd

-=

dim

Not

only

so.

Extant

documentary

evidence

in

Liszt's

own

hand,

a

two-bar

fragment,

titled

Modulation du

Requiem

de

Mozart,

featured

in

the

Liszt 'Lich

nowsky'

Sketchbook,

a

pocket-sized

document used

by

Liszt

during

years

1842

to

1845,

now

held

in

the Goethe

and

Schiller archives inWeimar

(D-WRgs

60/N

8),

confirms

that Liszt

incorporated

other

material

from

the

Mozart

Confutatis

movement

from the

composer's

Dies Irae

sequence

when

writing

the 1833/34

masterpiece

(see

Plate

1).

Plate 1Facsimile of the sketchbookentry EMVRgs 60/N 8, p. 34;

photo:

Klassik

Stiftung

Weimar).

Reproduced

with

kind

permission

of

theGoethe-

und

Schiller-Archiv,

Weimar

Compare

Ex.

3,

measure

26-27

ofMozart's

Confutatis

and

Ex.

4,

measure

1,

Liszt's

sketchbook

material,

with

Ex.

2,

bar

2.

Studia

Musicologica

48,

2007



10/21

Liszt

and the

Mozart Connection

307

Example

3

Mozart,

Requiem,

'Confutatis

maledictis,'

m.

26

if

'\ i ii1

'

i

O

-

ro

sup

-

plex

O

-

ro

up

plex

$'

1

I

fr

r

'

*

O

-

ro

sup

-

plex

n

i

i'i

i

'

O-

- - -

-

-ro

sup-

plex

1-nrA

_

_h

_

_h

_

_h

_

|__h

_

_h

_

-

i

Mi

?

% ?%

a:

% ly

__g

%

___3

f

_-___=

W

J

J

W-

"W

-J

^^

Example 4

Modulation du

Requiem

de Mozart

Prelude

l|:rij

r

r ict

^^

Notice that

all

three

excerpts

are

based

on

notes

of the

same

diminished

sev

enth hord:

E|>,

F#,

A

and C

in

x. 3 and

4,

F#,

A,

C and

E|>

in x.

2,

the

piano

piece by

Liszt.29

29. 'Mozart

was

fond of that

essentially

chromatic

harmony,

the diminished seventh' and used it

to

facili

tate

rapid

modulation.

Liszt

made

frequent

use

of the chord

throughout

Harmonies

to

suspend

tonality.

See also

Frederick

Niecks,

"The

Development

of Musical

Styles

from Mozart

to

the End of theNineteenth

Century,"

The Musical Times

(1903),

95.

Studia

Musicologica

48,

2007



11/21

308

William

Wright

Third,

observe

the

repeated

Ek-s

that

appear

in

the

three

examples,

as

har

monic bass

in Ex.

3 and

4,

and

as

right

hand recitative in

Liszt

excerpt

2.

A further

important point:

notice the

use

Liszt makes of the

harmonic

turn

or

'cry

motiv' of Ex.

5,

that

is,

the bracketed turn at the end of bass

entry

'quantus

tremor

est

futurus' from

Mozart's

Dies Irae

movement

represented

in Liszt

excerpts

2, 4,

and 6. Indeed the

entire

bass

entry

of Ex.

5

appears

to

be

adapted

in

Ex. 6.

Example

5

Mozart,

Requiem,

'Confutatis

maledictis,'

mm.

44-46

if rT i

^^^

i

i

W

\

'

?

?^

i

ii

ii

111

i[i

11

ir

il

i

quan

-

tus be

mor_

est_

fu

-

tu

-

rus,

In

I

Il,J

i

J

IJ

IJ

111

I

I

Example

6

Liszt,

Harmonies

poetiques

et

religieuses

(1835),

mm.

50-52

/HP

k

# h

h

t&k

\\V Vs semphceespr.

Documents

Liszt y MOzart