Assignment 5- Liszt (Wallenstadt, Orage)
Franz Liszt- Années de pèlerinage. Première année: Suisse, S.160
II. An lac de Wallenstadt
V. Orage
Franz Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) is a set of three suites for solo piano which published between 1855 to 1883. About the background, the title referred to Wolfgang von Goethe’s literary work, ‘Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre’, and Liszt tried to portray his journey to Switzerland, Italy with his partner, Maria d’Agoult, based on the scenery he witnessed, inspired him to reflect on the music. The whole set summed up Liszt’s musical styles and changes, from displaying virtuosity and rich harmony in the first two suites to experimenting progressive tonality and harmonization in the last suite.
For the Première année: Suisse, the collection originally was placed on his album, ‘Album d’un voyageur’, however, he kept revised the music and eventually added two more pieces into the set and published it as Première année: Suisse. This set is about his trip to Switzerland by using different kinds of techniques and melody to sketch his memory. I have selected two pieces in the collection exclusively which I think they are the best examples to represent the beauty of nature.
II. Au lac de Wallenstadt:
Liszt specifically portrayed the Lake Wallenstadt, one of the largest lakes in Switzerland. Different from his usual virtuosic writing, he applied simple melodies and harmony to reflect the simplicity and tranquilness on his trip to Lake Wallenstadt, with the preface from Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage to give a richer background to the music,
Thy contrasted lake
With the wild world I dwell in is a thing
Which warns me, with its stillness, to forsake
Earth's troubled waters for a purer spring.
The introduction already gave the listeners an unique feeling about the Lake Wallenstadt, started with a sequence of arpeggios supported by tonic and dominant chord in the left hand repeatedly, which can imagine the waves go back and forth gently and the oar boat floated on the lake with its light stream.
Introduction
As the music goes, Liszt tried to add more colour to the melody by adding octaves and syncopated sequences on the right hand, it sounded like the bright sunlight reflected on the water surface, created a tranquil, peaceful feeling.
Main melody in the first theme (with octaves)
In the middle section, the key switched to subdominant, dissonances of chords can be heard on the right hand, and the left hand arpeggio still remained the same pattern, which Liszt tried to portray a slight turbulence occurred on the river, while they were still enjoying the beautiful view on the oar which followed the stream to move.
Middle section, where the key switched, dissonances came out
After a little disturbance, at the later section, the key switched to tonic again, and the primary melody appeared, and this time, Liszt added more colors to the right hand by applying complex chords, extended octaves, and arpeggios, to reflect the stream was back to a peaceful mode, to sum up a beautiful ending for his trip to Lake Wallenstadt.
Coda section, arpeggios on R.H., gives a feeling of the oar smooth sailing on the lake after a little turbulence
V. Orage (Storm)
Much different from the previous one, Liszt attempted to discover the nature of storm of he witnessed in Switzerland by showcase different kinds of complexity, i.e., continuous sequences of octaves and extended chord, double thirds, and dissonances with a rich dynamic. Liszt also gave a brief introduction by providing references from Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,
But where of ye, O tempests! is the goal?
Are ye like those within the human breast?
Or do ye find at length, like eagles, some high nest?
It started off with a pair of chord and octaves, added a fermata pause between two sequences then the octaves melody came out, with a ff dynamics and accent, the environment got intensified immediately and telling the listeners the storm is creating and coming out soon.
Introduction: where the storm is creating and ready to burst out
Onto the principal theme, presto furioso, that’s where the rage was coming out, which Liszt did an awesome job combining the thunderous chromatic octave introduced in the first motif, while tried to retain the lyrical side of the melody, this opening reminisced his Mazeppa from the Transcendental Etude to me, which had the similar octaves build up to the main theme. The ascending octaves in the left hand provided the basis of the storm, while the lyrical right hand sounded like the countless change of the storm, with the octaves/ double thirds switching in the middle sounded like a suddenly powerful of air stream burst out.
Principal theme: where the main melody appeared, while retaining the octaves motif on L.H.
In the middle section, where the tempest began, the atmosphere intensified quickly, although the theme was changing, switched to D# minor, but the main melody and octaves remained, more like a variation to the principal theme. The dynamics turned into fff, the left-hand part switched to a triplet octave sequence, which increased the compactness of the storm.
Middle section: the key switched to D# minor, octaves pattern switch to triplet form
The cadenza pushed the octaves pattern and virtuosity to its limit with both hands playing, the diminished seventh chord in the middle increased the intensity of the storm, combining with thunder and lightning, which the music reached its climax.
Cadenza: new octaves pattern, gives a feeling of thunder and tempest
The recapitulation brought back the principal theme, which reminded the listeners again of how the storm was looked like, with a heavy chord-oriented melody, and Liszt chose to have a thunderous ending by writing a large pattern of chromatic octaves at the end.
The two pieces above truly portray what the nature looks like, and Liszt did a superb job by having a perfect contrast of a tranquil lake and a storm, by applying different kinds of melody and techniques, along with his signature beautiful romanticism harmony, gives the listeners a broad understanding of the natural environment and his life’s journey.
Music Score:
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