Franz Liszt - Piano Sonata in B minor (1853)

Franz Liszt (Hungarian: Liszt Ferencz, in modern usage Liszt Ferenc 22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, organist, philanthropist, author, nationalist and a Franciscan tertiary during the Romantic era.

Please support my channel:
https://ko-fi.com/bartjebartmans

Piano Sonata in B minor (1852-53)
Dedication: Robert Schumann (1810–1856)

1. Lento assai (0:00)
Andante sostenuto (11:13)
Allegro energico. Fugue/Scherzo (18:23)

François-René Duchâble, piano
Studio recording 1984

Liszt noted on the sonata's manuscript that it was completed on 2 February 1853, but he had composed an earlier version by 1849. At this point in his life, Liszt's career as a traveling virtuoso had almost entirely subsided, as Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein had influenced him to concentrate on composing rather than performing. Liszt settled in Weimar in 1848 where he devoted himself to composition, and to living a comfortable lifestyle, composing, and occasionally performing, entirely by choice rather than necessity.

The Sonata was dedicated to Robert Schumann, in return for Schumann's dedication of his Fantasie in C major, Op. 17 (published 1839) to Liszt. A copy of the work arrived at Schumann's house in May 1854, after he had entered Endenich sanatorium. Pianist and composer Clara Schumann did not perform the Sonata despite her marriage to Robert Schumann; according to scholar Alan Walker she found it "merely a blind noise".

Problems playing this file? See media help.
No other work of Liszt's has attracted anywhere near the amount of scholarly attention paid to the Sonata in B minor. It has provoked a wide range of divergent theories from those of its admirers who feel compelled to search for hidden meanings. Possibilities include the following:

* The Sonata is a musical portrait of the Faust legend, with "Faust," "Gretchen," and "Mephistopheles" themes symbolizing the main characters.
* The Sonata is autobiographical; its musical contrasts spring from the conflicts within Liszt's own personality.
* The Sonata is about the divine and the diabolical; it is based on the Bible and on John Milton's Paradise Lost.
* The Sonata is an allegory set in the Garden of Eden; it deals with the Fall of Man and contains "God," "Lucifer," "Serpent," "Adam," and "Eve" themes.
* The Sonata has no programmatic allusions; it is a piece of "expressive form" with no meaning beyond itself.

The complexity of the sonata means no analytical interpretation has been widely accepted. Some analyses suggest that the Sonata has four movements, although there is no gap between them. Superimposed upon the four movements is a large sonata form structure, although the precise beginnings and endings of the traditional development and recapitulation sections have long been a topic of debate. Others claim a three-movement form, an extended one-movement sonata form, and a rotational three-movement work with a double exposition and recapitulation. An average performance of the sonata lasts approximately 30 minutes.