Hexaméron, Morceau de concert, S.392, is a collaborative work

Classical music written in collaboration

In classical music, it is relatively rare for a work to be written in collaboration by multiple composers. This contrasts with popular music, where it is common for more than one person to contribute to the music for a song...

 for solo piano, consisting of six variations on a theme, along with an introduction, connecting interludes and a finale. The theme is the "March of the Puritans" from Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...

's opera I puritani

I puritani

I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...

. The piece was conceived in 1837 by Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

, who composed the introduction, the second variation, the connecting sections and the finale, and integrated the piece into an artistic unity. He invited five other popular composer-performers of the day to contribute a variation each: Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

, Carl Czerny

Carl Czerny

Carl Czerny was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of études for the piano. Czerny's music was profoundly influenced by his teachers, Muzio Clementi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri and Ludwig van Beethoven.-Early life:Carl Czerny was born...

, Henri Herz

Henri Herz

Henri Herz was a pianist and composer, Austrian by birth, and French by domicile.Herz was born Heinrich Herz in Vienna...

, Johann Peter Pixis

Johann Peter Pixis

Johann Peter Pixis was a German pianist and composer born in Mannheim, Germany.He lived in Paris between 1825 and 1845, where he worked as a concert pianist...

 and Sigismond Thalberg

Sigismond Thalberg

Sigismond Thalberg was a composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.- Descent and family background :...

.

Hexameron was commissioned for a benefit concert for the poor, taking place on 31 March 1837 at the Paris salon of Princess Cristina Trivulzio Belgiojoso

Cristina Trivulzio Belgiojoso

Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso was an Italian noblewoman who played a prominent part in Italy's struggle for independence. She is also notable as a writer and journalist.-Life:...

. The piece was not completed on time, but nevertheless the concert was the place where Thalberg and Liszt had their famous 'piano duel' for the title of "greatest pianist in the world." Princess Belgiojoso’s famous judgment was: "Thalberg may be the first pianist in the world, but Liszt is the only one."

Hexameron is divided into nine parts:

1. Introduction: Extremement lent (Liszt)
2. Tema: Allegro marziale (transcribed by Liszt)
3. Variation I: Ben marcato (Thalberg)
4. Variation II: Moderato (Liszt)
5. Variation III: di bravura (Pixis) - Ritornello (Liszt)
6. Variation IV: Legato e grazioso (Herz)
7. Variation V: Vivo e brillante (Czerny) - Fuocoso molto energico; Lento quasi recitativo (Liszt)
8. Variation VI: Largo (Chopin) - (coda) (Liszt)
9. Finale: Molto vivace quasi prestissimo (Liszt)

The piece has been notably recorded by Raymond Lewenthal

Raymond Lewenthal

Raymond Lewenthal was an American pianist.-Biography:Lewenthal was born in San Antonio, Texas to Russian-French parents. His birth date is often given as 1926, but he was actually born three years earlier in 1923...

, Leslie Howard

Leslie Howard (musician)

Leslie Howard AM is an Australian pianist and composer. He is best known for being the only pianist to have recorded the complete solo piano works of Franz Liszt, a project which included more than 300 premiere recordings...

 and Marc-André Hamelin

Marc-André Hamelin

Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ, is a French Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Marc-André Hamelin began his piano studies at the age of five. His father, a pharmacist by trade who was also a pianist, introduced him to the works of Alkan, Godowsky, and Sorabji when he was...

 among others. The word "Hexameron

Hexameron

The term Hexameron refers either to the genre of theological treatise that describes God's work on the six days of creation or to the six days of creation themselves. Most often these theological works take the form of commentaries on Genesis 1...

" itself refers to the biblical six days of creation.

In addition to the solo piano version, Liszt made arrangements for piano and orchestra (S.365b), and two arrangements for two pianos (S.654) (both shorter than the solo and orchestral versions, and one with a completely re-written ending).

More recently, a solo-piano work with the same name and based on the same Bellini theme as the work above was created in 2009 by six New York-based composer-pianists, and was given its premier at the 2010 American Liszt Society Festival in Nebraska, USA. It is similar in structure to the original Hexameron, consisting of an introduction, theme, six variations with connecting interludes, and a finale. Although composed in contemporary times, it is romantic and virtuosic in nature.