FRANZ LISZT - nca - new classical adventure

Berlioz and Wagner. Richard Strauss, who
considered Berlioz to be the “creator”, and Wagner
the “perfector, of the modern orchestra” ranked
Liszt quite unequivocally along with them when
in 1904 he praised him as “Instrumental poet
and Interpreter of colours”. As with Berlioz, the
composition of Liszt’s orchestra basically followed
Beethoven’s doubling of the woodwind, augmented
by instruments from the opera orchestra that were
often not included in the smaller German orchestras
of the mid-nineteenth century. Worthy of mention
are the three trombones that Liszt habitually
included whose traditional connection to vocal
music had already been cut by Franz Schubert in his
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two late symphonies. Another constant grouping in
Liszt’s orchestra was the horn quartet, encountered
in Beethoven’s ninth symphony, whereby Liszt
always reckoned with the modern valve instruments
which, around 1850, were not yet entirely in
vogue in Germany but which Richard Wagner first
specified in his scores of Rheingold, Die Walküre,
and Tristan und Isolde that were completed in the
second half of the 1850s. Liszt also favoured the
newer trumpets fitted with valves. Besides the usual
doubling he frequently used three, and just once, in
the Symphonic Poem Tasso, even four trumpets are
called for. The bass tuba, constructed by Wieprecht
in 1835, must be regarded as an instrument for
symbolic effect in Wager’s orchestra and for the
New German School. Its “incredible roundness and
power of sound” (Berlioz) became an indispensably
characteristic component of Liszt’s orchestra.
Among the woodwinds, beside the standard pairs of
flutes, oboes and bassoons the piccolo (also often
used as an alternative to the third flute) is quite
often found, less frequently the cor anglais and even
more seldom the bass clarinet, whose construction
had, from the mid-1830s, been significantly altered.
Only Mazeppa and the “Dante Symphony“ (dedicated
to Richard Wagner) make use of the triple scoring
for woodwind with all three additional instruments
established by Wagner in his Lohengrin (performed
for the first time by Liszt in 1850). The quadruple
woodwinds of Wagner’s Ring orchestra bore fruit
only later with Liszt’s “successor“ Richard Strauss.
Liszt shared a certain scepticism with Wagner
concerning the double bassoon, an instrument at
that time still plagued with deficiencies, for which
reason he never specified it (Mazeppa alone is
scored for a third bassoon). On the other hand he
set great store by the harp, adopted from the opera
orchestra, and which according to Berlioz, must
have suffered a “sore and quite barbaric neglect”.
Also favoured was an extended percussion section in
which cymbals, triangle and bass drum appear most
often, and sometimes a side drum, tam-tam and
bells. Among the symphonic poems only Orpheus,
Prometheus, and Hamlet are limited to the tympani,
wherein Berlioz’s influence can most clearly be seen.
This conclusion is supported not only by the use of
a greater number of instruments (2-4) and several
players (as in the “Dante Symphony”) but also by
the exact instructions for playing, for instance the
specification of the types of drumsticks.
The way in which the poetical programme can
be made perceptible to the senses can best be
studied using the example of Liszt’s “Dante
Symphony” that received its premiere in 1857 in
Dresden. Programmatic are the sharp contrasts,
worked out in the Inferno section, between the
dark orchestral tutti controlled by the brass, and
the passages dominated by bass clarinet and
cor anglais solos. The sound of the cor anglais is
poignantly associated for Liszt (as for Berlioz and
Wagner) with a more beautiful past, harp glissandi
symbolise “the ghostly forms of the unfortunate
Francesca da Rimini and her lover rising from
the inferno” (Richard Strauss). Also in the
succeeding love scene and process of sublimation
in the Purgatorio, giving a glimpse of Paradise,
Liszt imparts a remarkably vivid impression and
dramaturgical power of conviction, particularly in
his extremely varied treatment of the woodwinds
and divided strings.
FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886)
Klaus Aringer
“Dante” Symphony, for women’s chorus and
orchestra
Inferno
Purgatorio – Magnificat
The epic poem La Divina commedia (“The Divine
comedy”) by the Florentine poet and philosopher
english