PIANO MUSIC - Abeille Musique

T
HIS RECITAL—a palindrome with an encore—
gathers several varieties of occasional music, some
quite ephemeral pieces cheek by jowl with more
enduring creations and transcriptions, along with some of
Liszt’s earlier versions of pieces better known today as he
finally offered them.
The student song Gaudeamus igitur has long been
associated with graduations and other academic festivals,
and Liszt also used it in the music for the dramatic
dialogue Vor hundert Jahren (mistakenly entered in most
Liszt catalogues as a melodrama, but, in fact, a theatrical
work) as well as in the present pieces. The Gaudeamus
igitur—Paraphrase (or Gaudeamus! Chanson des
étudiants as the Schlesinger edition gives the title) was
composed for we know not what occasion, but is one of
Liszt’s typically extrovert paraphrases on such material
and, although quite entertaining in its dare-devilry, is
scarcely a masterpiece—indeed, the extra melodic
appendage which the theme acquires in midstream is
numbingly banal, but fortunately funny. There is a certain
amount of imagination in between a very clumping fugato
and bold Hungarianisms, along with treacherous doublenote
glissandi and other tricks of the virtuoso’s trade. The
later work on the same theme, Gaudeamus igitur—
Humoreske, is actually a lot less humorous than its
precursor: commissioned for the centenary of the Jena
Academy Concerts of 1870, Liszt used and recast elements
of the early piece in a larger work for orchestra, with
optional male or mixed chorus. He also prepared versions
for piano duet and for solo piano. As ever, in the solo piano
version, he made many alterations to the texture to make
the final result much more than a literal transcription. The
fugato is much improved, the appendage to the theme is
expunged, and there is an excellent contrasting slower
section derived from the end of the theme. The piece
ranges much further in tonality—the Hungarian variation
2
is more imposing in A major than it was in C major—and
the whole work, whilst still festive, is much more a product
of Liszt’s later years.
The three Italian transcriptions are utter rarities, by
three composers of varying distinction but uniform in
their vanishment from the repertoire: enquiries to date
reveal that F. Pezzini (his Christian name and his dates
are elusive) lived in Tivoli and became acquainted
with Liszt at the Villa d’Este. He was a bandmaster
(‘Capo Musica del Concerto Municipale a Roma’ is his
title on the cover of Liszt’s transcription), and his Una
stella amica—Valzer (‘A Friendly Star—Waltz’) was
transcribed, one presumes, from a work for band. Liszt’s
arrangement was published both by Manganelli and
Ricordi, so there must have been some prospect of
popularity in its day. It remains a pleasant and utterly
unimportant trifle.
Giuseppe Donizetti (1788–1856) has fared even less
well than Michael Haydn as a brother of a much more
gifted and celebrated man. Like Pezzini, Giuseppe was a
bandmaster, although, on the strength of the present
piece, does not seem totally unworthy of a place by brother
Gaetano’s side. But it was at Napoleon’s side in a military
capacity that Giuseppe made his career. Having developed
an interest in things Turkish, he moved to Istanbul in
1828, was granted the title Pasha, and founded the court
orchestra ‘Mizikay-i Hümayun’. The Grande Marche was
composed for the coronation of Sultan Abdülmecid-Khan
in 1839, and for some decades became the national
anthem of the Ottoman Empire. Liszt composed his
version when he visited and was decorated by the Sultan at
Istanbul-Büyükdere in 1847. (The present writer is
indebted to the Turkish composer-pianist Aydin Karlibel
for his kind assistance with some of this information.)
Liszt’s piece, originally entitled Grande Paraphrase de la
Marche de Giuseppe Donizetti composée pour Sa