PIANO MUSIC - Abeille Musique

described as unfinished but which is undoubtedly S172a/2 Hymne de la nuit (formerly S173a/1)
complete, once Liszt’s shorthand is deciphered and the S172a/3 Hymne du matin (formerly S173a/2)
correct selection of material is made from Liszt’s many
overwrites and alternatives. Then, properly inserting the
S173 Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1851
series of ten pieces)
Paris leaf, two further numbers are complete: Miserere
(untitled in the manuscript, but with the Latin text of the
hymn underlaid) and Pater noster, d’après la Psalmodie
de l’Église. Despite the many short cuts in the notation,
the following Hymne de l’enfant à son réveil (second
version) is also complete. The eighth piece is a pair of
replacement sections for the early single piece Harmonies
poétiques et religieuses (later to become Pensée des
morts but here untitled, although an earlier sketch of
similar material to the first inserted passage gives Prose
des morts – De profundis). Here some serious detective
work is required. The ninth is La lampe du temple (first
version of the Andante lagrimoso) and is complete, even
if the pages are out of order and badly torn. The tenth
piece is without title (and tempo direction), and its
conclusion must have seemed obvious to Liszt because he
began the next piece on the next page and only allowed a
few blank systems at the end of this one for filling in final
chords (which may be deduced easily enough). The
eleventh and final piece is likewise untitled in the
sketchbook, although here the material is familiar: the
music derives from the earlier Prélude and eventually
finds itself incorporated into Bénédiction de Dieu dans la
solitude.
The third group is the familiar published set of ten
pieces.
Thus, the following pieces are published, and have
already appeared in volume 7:
In summary, the various compositions may be tabulated
as shown on page 2.
Right from the start, Liszt intended this music to
revolve around the poetry and prose of Lamartine, and
many of the pieces derive their titles or proems from
Lamartine’s work. As several scholars have shown, the
relationships of Liszt with, on the one hand, the Countess
d’Agoult and, on the other, the Princess zu Sayn-
Wittgenstein had considerable effect upon the general
thrust of the project. (Whilst Liszt was finishing the 1847
set under the Princess’s roof, he was still corresponding
with the Countess on the subject.) Certainly, the Lamartine
influence decreases by the 1851 set, and two works are
included there which, masterpieces though they may be,
have little to do with the project: Funérailles and Cantique
d’amour (the one a lament for the execution of the
Hungarian government in October 1849, the other a lovesong
for the Princess). Whereas Litanies de Marie has
been quietly dropped – a circumstance which may relate
to Liszt’s earlier habit of confusing some aspects of his love
for Marie d’Agoult with his veneration of the Virgin Mary.
Be that as it may, there does appear to be a scribbled
reference to Princess Carolyne in a shorthand bar of the
Litanies de Marie (second version). We do not know why
Nos 2, 3 and 10 of the 1847 cycle were dropped, either,
and nor does there seem to be a reason why the choral Ave
Maria of 1842 found its way in transcription into the 1851
set but not the 1847 set.
S154 Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (single
piece of 1834)
The first three numbers of the 1847 set having been
issued previously, we may begin here with a consideration
S172a/1 Élevez-vous, voix de mon âme (Invocation,
first version) (formerly S173b)
of Litanies de Marie. As Albert Brussee has rightly
shown, the earlier, monothematic version of the work was
4