19THCENTURYMUSICPlate 2: A sketch of the “Dante” Sonata’s diatonic theme, dated 11 March 1840; MS 1C.51.Courtesy of the Prague State Conservatoire Archive.Date / MS / copyist9/1839 —> I-18, n.1 (<strong>Liszt</strong>)3/11/1840 —> IC-51 “Prague fragment” (<strong>Liszt</strong>)ca. 1840 —> I-18, n.3 (<strong>Liszt</strong>)ca. 1840 —> <strong>Liszt</strong>’s exemplar (lost)ca. 1840 —> I-76 (Gaetano Belloni + Adolph Stahr) revised by <strong>Liszt</strong>ca. 1849 —> I-17 (Eduard Henschke) revised by <strong>Liszt</strong>ca. 1853 —> I-18, n.2 (<strong>Liszt</strong>)ca. 1854 —> I-13 7 (Joachim Raff) corrected by <strong>Liszt</strong>ca. 1857 —> Stichvorlage1858 —> Schott’s editionFigure 158
Table 1Transmission of the “Dante” SonataDate Title MS Folia Watermark H<strong>and</strong>DAVIDTRIPPETT<strong>Virtuosity</strong> inthe “Dante”Sonata9/26/1839 Fragment . . . I-18, n.1 - G. Eck <strong>Liszt</strong>3/11/1840 - IC-51 - - <strong>Liszt</strong>ca. 1840 - I-18, n.3 - Blacons/Shield Bellonica. 1840–41 - I-76 3–17 Blacons/Shield Bellonica. 1848–49 Paralipomènes . . . I-76 1–2 G. Eck Stahrca. 1848–49 - I-76 18–22, + collettes G. Eck <strong>Liszt</strong>ca. 7/1849 - I-17 2–23a, 25a-l, 26–31a, 36–37 No watermark Henschkeca. 1851 - I-17 32–35 No watermark <strong>Liszt</strong>ca. 1852 Prolégomènes . . . I-17 1 No watermark Henschke/<strong>Liszt</strong>ca. 1852–53 - I-17 10a, 15a, + 24–25 No watermark <strong>Liszt</strong>ca 1853–54 - I-18, n.2 - No watermark <strong>Liszt</strong>ca. 1853–56 <strong>Après</strong> <strong>une</strong> Lec . . . I-13 7 Complete No watermark Raff1853, <strong>and</strong> ca.1854 <strong>and</strong> 1858 suggest that <strong>Liszt</strong>was working toward publication at three differentstages. 24 Contemporary with the first twostages, a letter to Marie d’Agoult, a concertreview in the Allgemeine Theaterzeitung, <strong>and</strong>a letter from the Hungarian violinist EduardReményi report that <strong>Liszt</strong> performed the workin at least three different versions. 25 Given that24There is no doubt <strong>Liszt</strong> inten<strong>de</strong>d his Fragment dantesqueto be published in late 1840. Writing to the portrait artistHenri Lehmann, <strong>Liszt</strong> asks: “Have I never played you myFragment dantesque? I don’t believe so. I will publish itwilly-nilly at the beginning of Winter with the first of myYears of Pilgrimage” (Vous ai-je jamais joué mon FragmentDantesque? Je ne crois pas. Bon gré mal gré je lepublierai à l’entrée <strong>de</strong> l’hivera avec la première <strong>de</strong> Mesannées <strong>de</strong> pèlerinage). <strong>Liszt</strong> to Lehmann, 20 September1840, Engl<strong>and</strong>, in Une Correspondance romantique: Madamed’Agoult, <strong>Liszt</strong>, Henri Lehmann, ed. Solange Joubert(Paris: Flammarion, 1947), p. 128. Beyond this evi<strong>de</strong>nce,the presence of <strong>Liszt</strong>’s manuscript markings in red crayon—which he ten<strong>de</strong>d to use for final corrections—suggests thepreparation of a publishable version. Only red crayon couldbe seen clearly above the often <strong>de</strong>nsely layered revisionsin pencil or pen.25<strong>Liszt</strong> performed the “Dante” Sonata in different forms atthe Hôtel <strong>de</strong> l’Europe on 25 October 1839, at his fourthmorning concert (of six) in Vienna on 5 December 1839,<strong>and</strong> in Weimar during J<strong>une</strong> 1853, when he performed alater version entitled Prolégomènes à la Divina Commediato Reményi. <strong>Liszt</strong> mentions his private performance toMarie d’Agoult on October 25; see Correspondance / Franz<strong>Liszt</strong>’s own letters make no reference to the1853 performance, it seems likely that althoughhe publicly programmed the Sonata only oncein Vienna, he may have performed it privatelyto Weimar guests on numerous occasions. Thisopens up the possibility that the stages of compositionrepresented in the early manuscriptsmay have been directed less toward the completionof a final, immutable version than towardan evolving collection of musical i<strong>de</strong>as subjectto continual reworking. Composition, at leastwith regard to this music, would thus havebecome an open-en<strong>de</strong>d process of refinement.It is revealing that, for <strong>Liszt</strong>, this was at notime incongruous with his conception of theSonata as a composed work.I will argue that the relation of the two earlyfragmentary sketches to the completed score isanalogous to the relation of <strong>Liszt</strong>’s i<strong>de</strong>ntity as avirtuoso improviser to his i<strong>de</strong>ntity as a com-<strong>Liszt</strong>, Marie d’Agoult, p. 388. Heinrich Adami published areview of <strong>Liszt</strong>’s performance in Allgemeine Theaterzeitung(7 Dec. 1839), 1197. Reményi reports in a letter that <strong>Liszt</strong>played a version of his sonata for him in J<strong>une</strong> 1853: “Thisscribbler allows himself to address a great man—after havingheard . . . la Fantasie d’après Dante, etc.” (Briefehervorrangen<strong>de</strong>r Zeitgenossen an Franz <strong>Liszt</strong>, ed. La Mara[Leipzig: Breitkopf <strong>and</strong> Härtel, 1895], I, 283).59
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