Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos ad salutarem undam

The Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos, ad salutarem undam, S.259, is a piece of organ music composed by Franz Liszt in the winter of 1850 when he was in Weimar.Franz Liszt: [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/1lofl10.txt Letter of Franz Liszt, Volume 1] . No. 78: to Breitkopf and Härtel.] It was dedicated to Giacomo Meyerbeer who was the composer of the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", which Meyerbeer first incorporated in the Act I of the opera Le prophète, and which Liszt later used as the central theme in his organ composition. The fantasy and fugue was given its premiere on October 29, 1852 in the Merseburg Cathedral with Alexander Winterberger performing. The whole work was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1852, and the fugue was additionally published as the 4th piece of Liszt's operatic fantasy "Illustrations du Prophète" (S.414). A piano duet version by Liszt appeared during the same time (S.624).

Form

The piece consists of three sections:
# Fantasy
# Adagio
# Fugue

The piece opens with the Ad nos theme and then turns quiet and contemplative. The theme returns and eventually a climax is reached. A second climactic passage follows, after which this section ends.

The Adagio serves as a development section, beginning quietly, the theme moving to major keys now from the minor keys of the preceding section. The piece brightens a bit in the latter half of this section.

The fugue serves as the finale, but also, within the sonata-form, as the recapitulation and coda. Elements from the previous sections appear again. The piece ends with a triumphant coda. [cite web|title=Fantasy and Fugue on Ad nos, Ad nos salutarem undam (Duet version) Entry|url=http://wm03.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=42:12087~T1|publisher = Allmusic|author = Robert Cummings|accessdate=2008-01-19]

A typical performance lasts nearly half an hour.

Transcriptions

Feruccio Busoni prepared a much praised piano arrangement which was first published in 1897 by Breitkopf & Härtel. [cite web|title=Fantasy and Fugue on Ad nos, Ad nos salutarem undam (Busoni) Entry|url=http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8516980|publisher = Worldcat.org|accessdate=2008-01-19] [Kenneth Hamilton: The Cambridge Companion to Liszt, 2005. Page 77.] Alan Walker, the noted biographer of Liszt, said that it "represents one of the pinnacles of twentieth-century virtuosity." [Alan Walker: Franz Liszt, 1987. Volume 2. Page 161.] Liszt himself at least once performed an own piano transcription, of which Walter Bache, his student, made an account of in 1862. Liszt never notated such a version however.

References

External links

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