Un Sospiro

"Un Sospiro" (Italian, for "a sigh") is the third of Franz Liszt's Trois Études de Concert (Three Concert Etudes). It is also sometimes referred to as Etude No. 39, and is a piano solo in D-flat major. However, it is likely that the title did not originate with Liszt. Although there is no evidence that he actively attempted to remove the subtitle "Un Sospiro," none of the editions or subsequent printings of the "Trois Etudes" published by Kistner during Liszt's lifetime used them; he simply ignored such subtitles in later years, always referring with his pupils to the piece by key.

The etude is a study in crossing hands, playing a simple melody with alternating hands, and arpeggios. It is also a study in the way hands should affect the melody with its many accentuations, or phrasing with alternating hands.

The etude is in common time (4/4), but it is extremely difficult to count its four beats to every measure because the underlying harmony has a varying amount of notes per bar; usually it is around 28, but sometimes it rises to 32 or more, and also comes to uneven numbers at times, unsynchronizing the harmony from the pulse occasionally. Its melody is quite dramatic, almost Impressionistic, radically changing in dynamics at times, and has inspired many listeners.

Un Sospiro consists of a flowing background superimposed by a simple melody written in the third staff. This third staff—an additional treble staff—is written with the direction to the performer that notes with the stem up are for the right hand and notes with the stem down are for the left hand. The background alternates between the left and right hands in such a way that for most of the piece, while the left hand is playing the harmony, the right hand is playing the melody, and vice versa, with the left hand crossing over the right as it continues the melody for a short while before regressing again. There are also small cadenza sections requiring delicate fingerwork throughout the middle section of the piece.

Towards the end, after the main climax of the piece, both hands are needed to cross in an even more complex pattern. Since there are so many notes to be played rapidly and they are too far away from other clusters of notes that must be played as well, the hands are required to cross multiple times to reach dramatic notes near the end of the piece on the last page.

This etude, along with the other "Trois Etudes," was written in dedication to Liszt's uncle, Eduard Liszt (1817-1879), the youngest son of Liszt's grandfather and the step-brother of his own father. Eduard handled Liszt's business affairs for more than thirty years until his death in 1879.

The piece was used as the recurring musical theme in the 1948 Max Ophüls masterpiece Letter from an unknown woman.

External links

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* [http://www.serg.vangennip.com/www/piano.html Recording by Serg van Gennip]