PIANO MUSIC - Abeille Musique

The first version of Huldigungsmarseh (D E is missing from the catalogues, apparently because
Ferruccio Busoni, in an uncommon moment of carelessness, seems to have misidentified the
manuscript, which is in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, as a draft for an orchestral piece -
which is how that library stili lists it. It is certainly a completely worked-out piano piece, even
though it contains memoranda about a proposed orchestral version. (Liszt did orchestrate the
second version of the work. His piano versions of such pieces frequently have extra staves with
reminders of some détail of the orchestral version, but nevertheless often antedate the orchestrai
version.) Although the main material of the work is similar to the final version (Volume 28), the
trio section and coda are completely différent, with an excellent melody not found elsewhere in
Liszt's music - whereas the revised version incorporâtes the theme of the later Weimars Volkslied
in its place.
The two versions of a Grande Fantaisie sur des thèmes de Paganini (D Q], E] are contained
within one manuscript, which was completed in Lisbon in 1845 and is presently in Weimar. The
work was published in 1989, edited by the excellent Imre Mezó. A few textual observations: first,
the manuscript is untitled, but the clear connection of the work with the Clochette fantasy seems
to warrant a similar title rather than the 'Variations' suggested by Editio Musica Budapest
(EMB); secondly, the first version of the ending can only be properly reconstructed if some pages
of crossed-out material are included from the manuscript - the EMB solution of printing just
what was not crossed out does not work, because it no longer connects at the point of its
insertion; thirdly, EMB's bar 139 should not be included - it is part of a partially crossed-out
group of bars which have been replaced on the adjacent systems; fourthly, the 'missing' bars 454-
463 of the second version can be supplied by repeating bars 284-290 rather than by composing
some other variant of the Clochette theme; and lastly, the second version's final chords can be
supplied from the undeleted ending of the first version.
The themes of the Paganini fantasy are the ubiquitous Clochette and Le Carnaval de Venise. Liszt
incorporâtes some music directly from the Clochette fantasy, but otherwise treats the material
quite differently, in alternating variation and development of each theme. The two versions
remain identical for quite some time: both begin with a hint of La Clochette and continue with a
lively introduction to that theme, partly taken from the published fantasy on that theme - ali these
pieces are in A minor. When the theme appears in full it is in the left hand with semiquaver
leaping accompaniment from the right. This is followed by a fragment of Paganini tutti from the
originai concerto not found in the earlier fantasy, and then cornes a version of the familiar
ritornello. The little bells return and are immediately adapted into a suitable accompaniment for
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