Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 in A minor
Floored by an 1832 performance by the virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini, the young Franz Liszt resolved to become the Paganini of the piano himself. In the process of cultivating an unparalleled pianistic technique, Liszt also pioneered the modern piano recital, introducing the theatrical elements of performing from memory, entering stage from the wings, and positioning the piano perpendicular to the stage to display his profile. Unconventional for featuring only one instrument, Liszt’s solo “soliloquies,” as he first called them, provoked hysterical enthusiasm from audiences, as women clambered for torn pieces of his clothing, hair or piano strings, and cast their own clothes onto the stage. Ever the showman, Liszt leaned into this “Lisztomania” with his own seductively dramatic piano showpieces, replete with dazzling fireworks of dexterity.
The 13th Hungarian Rhapsody is no exception; Liszt decorates the would-be simple folk melodies of his native Hungary with a mosaic of pianistic acrobatics. But for all the glitter of virtuosity, the Hungarian Rhapsody is not without substance. The meandering, appropriately rhapsodic Andante sostenuto opening is peppered with intervals of an augmented second, the unmistakable calling card of gypsies and all things eastward. The more rhythmic Vivace sections that follow unfold in Liszt’s typical pyrotechnical fashion. A page of repeated-pitch sixteenth notes passes in a flash, but not before recalling Liszt’s “La campanella” étude, itself a tribute to the composer’s own inspiration, Paganini.
© Graeme Steele Johnson for the Yale School of Music
Floored by an 1832 performance by the virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini, the young Franz Liszt resolved to become the Paganini of the piano himself. In the process of cultivating an unparalleled pianistic technique, Liszt also pioneered the modern piano recital, introducing the theatrical elements of performing from memory, entering stage from the wings, and positioning the piano perpendicular to the stage to display his profile. Unconventional for featuring only one instrument, Liszt’s solo “soliloquies,” as he first called them, provoked hysterical enthusiasm from audiences, as women clambered for torn pieces of his clothing, hair or piano strings, and cast their own clothes onto the stage. Ever the showman, Liszt leaned into this “Lisztomania” with his own seductively dramatic piano showpieces, replete with dazzling fireworks of dexterity.
The 13th Hungarian Rhapsody is no exception; Liszt decorates the would-be simple folk melodies of his native Hungary with a mosaic of pianistic acrobatics. But for all the glitter of virtuosity, the Hungarian Rhapsody is not without substance. The meandering, appropriately rhapsodic Andante sostenuto opening is peppered with intervals of an augmented second, the unmistakable calling card of gypsies and all things eastward. The more rhythmic Vivace sections that follow unfold in Liszt’s typical pyrotechnical fashion. A page of repeated-pitch sixteenth notes passes in a flash, but not before recalling Liszt’s “La campanella” étude, itself a tribute to the composer’s own inspiration, Paganini.
© Graeme Steele Johnson for the Yale School of Music