Beethoven Symphonies (Liszt)

Beethoven Symphonies ( _fr. Symphonies de Beethoven), S.464, is a set of nine transcriptions for solo piano by Franz Liszt after Ludwig van Beethoven's orchestral symphonies.

Liszt began the work in 1838, but at that time only completed Nos. 5, 6 and 7 of which Nos. 5 and 6 were published by Breitkopf & Härtel and No. 7 by Tobias Haslinger. In 1843, he arranged the third movement of Symphony No. 3, which was later published by Pietro Mechetti in 1850. Liszt was paid 8 francs per page by Breitkopf & Härtel who first requested two symphonies to be transcribed. During his 1840 travels in Europe he also gave the transcribed symphonies some publicity by playing them at his concerts. With three symphonies transcribed, Liszt set aside the work for another 23 years. It wasn't until 1863 that Breitkopf & Härtel advised Liszt to transcribe the complete set for a future publication. For this work, Liszt recycled his previous transcriptions by simplifying passages, stating that "the more intimately acquainted one becomes with Beethoven, the more one clings to certain singularities and finds that even insignificant details are not without their value". Liszt would note down the names of the orchestral instruments for the pianist to imitate, he would also add pedal marks and fingerings for amateurs and sight readers. He transcribed all movements of the symphonies without getting across any rendering issues. However, for the 4th movement of Symphony No. 9, Liszt became "...convinced of the impossibility of making any pianoforte arrangement of the 4th movement... that could in any way be... satisfactory". Nevertheless, Liszt made another attempt to adapt the 4th movement after an expressive letter from Breitkopf & Härtel. The full set of transcriptions was finally published in 1865 and dedicated to Hans von Bülow. To date, these have been the most accurate and preferred transcriptions of Beethoven's Symphonies. There actually exists a fragment by Beethoven of an attempt to transcribe the first movement of his 7th symphony. A very basic comparison shows that Liszt is far more faithful to the original text than Beethoven.

References

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3689 Letters of Franz Liszt — Volume 1: from Paris to Rome]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3750 Letters of Franz Liszt — Volume 2: from Rome to the End]

External links

*IMSLP2|id=Beethoven_Symphonies,_S.464_(Liszt,_Franz)|cname=Symphonies de Beethoven