Après une Lecture de Liszt: Virtuosity and ... - Free

19THCENTURYMUSICb. (continued)16 ♭♭ ♮♮♮♮♯♯♯♯♭♭♮♮ 19↓♯ ♯ ♯ 22 24 () ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♮ ♮ ↓♭ ♭ ♯ ♯ ♯ ♯ ♭ ♭ ↓ ♯♯♮↓♯ ↓ ♮ ↓ ↓ ♭ ↓ ♭ ↓ ♯♮ ♮ ♭ ♭♯♯ ♯ ♯ ♯ ♮ ♮ ♭ ♭ ♯ ♮ ♮ ♭♭ ♭♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭ ♭♭ ♮ ♭ ♭ con strepito♮ ♭ ♭ ♯ ♮ ♭ ♯♯ FG♭ ♭ ♭♭ ♭♭ ♭ ♭ ♭♭ ↑♭♭ ♯ ♯♯♯↑♯ ♯♯ ↓ ♭♭ ♯♯♯♯♭ ♭ ♭♭ ♭♭̇̇ ̇̇♭ ̇̇ ̇̇♭ ♭♭ ♯♯ ♭ ♯ ♮♮ ♯♯ ♯ ♯ ♯♯ ♭ ♭ Example 5 (continued)viewed as an increasingly elaborate improvisationin its patterned chordal and octave texturesbetween A and C, its reliance on repetition,and its recourse to “default” chromatic ordiminished octaves before moments of harmonicarrival (mm. 5, 8, 12, 15–17, 25). Becausethe relationship between composition-as-improvisationand improvisation-as-compositionremains fluid in the “Dante” Sonata, it wouldseem wrong-headed to identify any precise pointat which improvisation “becomes” composition.The indeterminacy is wholly in keepingwith Liszt’s conception as projected in his finaltitle.Much of Liszt’s virtuosity resides in a worldof expanding keyboard idioms that have traditionallybelonged to the execution of preexistingmaterial rather than to the thematic-har-monic substance of composition. This idealistdivision becomes increasingly difficult to maintainin the “Dante” Sonata, in part due to thework’s complex genesis. To conceive Liszt’spatterning of figures as the scripting of physical,visually virtuosic gestures is to draw attentionto him as the performing agent in contrastto the customary invisibility of a work’s creator.90 The two reports that document Liszt90In neat summary of the work-condition under scrutinyhere, Lydia Goehr writes that composers “should be neitherseen nor heard, to underscore the mystery both ofabsence and of genius.” Continuing this model, the statusesof performers and audience are to be complementary:“Performers and their instruments should be heardbut not seen, but ‘heard’ only as imperfect pointers towardsthe transcendent. And audiences, to complete thetriad, should be seen but not heard, but ‘seen’ only in the84