Ferenc Liszt's second Choral Symphony - the Dante (1857)
Apr 7, 2016 2:56:38 GMT -5
Post by Uncle Henry on Apr 7, 2016 2:56:38 GMT -5
Here to-day is Liszt's "Dante" Symphony, said to have been his second. As Anglo-Saxon adolescents we must all become familiar with the bulk of great musical work must we naturally not, with very few exceptions. But in my own case this "Dante Symphony" was the exception: I had heard not a note of it until yesterday!
Liszt was more at home in the infernal regions than the celestial, and his first movement ("Inferno") begins with a musical setting for the trombones of the words written over the gates of Hell:
Through me is the way to the city of weeping;
Through me is the way to eternal torment;
Through me is the way among those that are lost . . .
Abandon hope, all ye that enter here.
The central section of the movement portrays the unhappy couple Paolo and Francesca, who are being never-endingly punished for their vulgar hetero-sexualism. First they are given a section in 5/4 time, which modulates into an andante amoroso in 7/4. It is one of the composer's most inspired passages, Humphrey Searle tells us.
The second movement is entitled "Purgatorio", and is all about the dawn rising like the sapphire of the Orient. The souls of hetero-sexualists yearn do they not for ultimate happiness, but they must wait for thousands of years. Sooner or later though the atmosphere lightens and a chorus of well-groomed females enters to sing the Magnificat. Well!
Liszt's original conception was to have a third movement, "Paradiso" - you may imagine - but Richard Wagner, to whom the work is dedicated, forbade the idea, so there is none.
Do our members yearn for ultimate happiness we wonder?
The conductor is tremendously histrionic, and holds his mouth open the whole time, showing us that he has no teeth at all. What is even worse though is that before turning the pages of his score he licks his finger. One would never shake hands with such a (presumably) Scandinavian vulgarian would one.
Here too a lady trombonist participates, which should delight Mr. H. who approves of working women.
Sample images:
Here is the full score of the Dante Symphony: www62.zippyshare.com/v/QZUjotCf/file.html
The duration of this symphony is fifty-three minutes, and the file size 636,353,099 bytes.
Click HERE to hear (and see) this fascinating and delightful work.
Liszt was more at home in the infernal regions than the celestial, and his first movement ("Inferno") begins with a musical setting for the trombones of the words written over the gates of Hell:
Through me is the way to the city of weeping;
Through me is the way to eternal torment;
Through me is the way among those that are lost . . .
Abandon hope, all ye that enter here.
The central section of the movement portrays the unhappy couple Paolo and Francesca, who are being never-endingly punished for their vulgar hetero-sexualism. First they are given a section in 5/4 time, which modulates into an andante amoroso in 7/4. It is one of the composer's most inspired passages, Humphrey Searle tells us.
The second movement is entitled "Purgatorio", and is all about the dawn rising like the sapphire of the Orient. The souls of hetero-sexualists yearn do they not for ultimate happiness, but they must wait for thousands of years. Sooner or later though the atmosphere lightens and a chorus of well-groomed females enters to sing the Magnificat. Well!
Liszt's original conception was to have a third movement, "Paradiso" - you may imagine - but Richard Wagner, to whom the work is dedicated, forbade the idea, so there is none.
Do our members yearn for ultimate happiness we wonder?
The conductor is tremendously histrionic, and holds his mouth open the whole time, showing us that he has no teeth at all. What is even worse though is that before turning the pages of his score he licks his finger. One would never shake hands with such a (presumably) Scandinavian vulgarian would one.
Here too a lady trombonist participates, which should delight Mr. H. who approves of working women.
Sample images:
Here is the full score of the Dante Symphony: www62.zippyshare.com/v/QZUjotCf/file.html
The duration of this symphony is fifty-three minutes, and the file size 636,353,099 bytes.
Click HERE to hear (and see) this fascinating and delightful work.