Harmonies poétiques et religieuses explained
Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies), S.173, is a cycle of piano pieces written by Franz Liszt at Woronińce (Voronivtsi, the Polish-Ukrainian country estate of Liszt’s mistress Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein) in 1847, and published in 1853. The pieces are inspired by the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine, as was Liszt’s symphonic poem Les Préludes.[1]
Structure
The ten compositions which make up this cycle are:
- Invocation (completed at Woronińce);
- Ave Maria (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
- Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (‘The Blessing of God in Solitude,’ completed at Woronińce);
- Pensée des morts (‘In Memory of the Dead,’ reworked version of earlier individual composition, Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1834));
- Pater Noster (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
- Hymne de l’enfant à son réveil (‘The Awaking Child’s Hymn,’ transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
- Funérailles (October 1849) (‘Funeral’);
- Miserere, d’après Palestrina (after Palestrina);
- La lampe du temple (Andante lagrimoso);
- Cantique d’amour (‘Hymn of Love,’ completed at Woronińce).
Reception
Critic Patrick Rucker wrote in 2016 that “in Liszt’s engagement with the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine, there is a naked intensity, an urgent, in-your-face, lapel-grasping earnestness that one doesn’t find, say, in the Années de pèlerinage.”[2]
External links
- Book: Walker
, Alan
. Alan Walker (musicologist) . Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848-1861 . Cornell University Press . 1993 . Ithaca, New York . 49–50, 71–73 . 0-8014-9721-3 .
Notes and References
- Web site: Tripathi, Sonia . Franz Liszt's "Harmonies poetiques et religieuses": The inspiration derived from the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine, with an analysis of the 1853 piano cycle . Alexandria Digital Research Library. 2011 . 2019-09-13.
- Web site: Rucker, Patrick . Liszt: Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses . Gramophone . 2019-09-13.
