Mephisto Waltzes
Encyclopedia
The Mephisto Waltzes are four waltz
es composed by Franz Liszt
in 1859-62, 1880–81, 1883 and 1885. Nos. 1-2 were composed for orchestra, later arranged for piano, piano duet and two pianos, whereas 3 and 4 were written for piano only. Of the four, the first is the most popular and has been frequently performed in concert and recorded.
The Bagatelle sans tonalité
(Bagatelle without tonality; also Bagatelle ohne Tonart) is sometimes included with Liszt's Mephisto Waltzes. The manuscript bears the title "Fourth Mephisto Waltz" and may have been intended to replace the Fourth Mephisto Waltz when it appeared Liszt might not be able to finish it. Critics point out the similarity in tonal center between these two pieces (D major) as confirmation of their composition shortly after one other in 1885 as well as Liszt's initial intent with the Bagatelle.
One other composition to be considered is the Mephisto Polka
which, while not a waltz, follows the same program as the other Mephisto works.
Mephisto Waltz No. 1 is the best-known of the series and, together with No. 3, the most praised musically.
Mephisto Waltz No. 1, Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke (The Dance in the Village Inn) is the second of two short works he wrote for orchestra. While the work preceding it, Midnight Procession ("Der nächtliche Zug"), is rarely given (though both works have been recorded together), the waltz has been a concert favorite, with its passion, sensuality and dramatics generating an emotional impact. James Huneker
described the work's "langourous syncopated
melody
" as "one of the most voluptuous episodes outside of the Tristan
score."
The Mephisto Waltz No. 1 is a typical example of program music, taking for its program an episode from Faust
, not by Goethe
but by Nikolaus Lenau
(1802–50). The following program note, which Liszt took from Lenau, appears in the printed score:
Liszt intended to publish the Waltz simultaneously with the Night Procession: "...The publication of the two Lenau's Faust episodes... I entrust to Schuberth's own judgement; as to whether the piano version or the score appears first, makes no difference to me; the only important thing is that both pieces should appear simultaneously, the Night Procession as No.1 and the Mephisto Waltz as No.2. There is naturally no thematic relationship between the two pieces; but they are related nonetheless by all the contrasts of emotions. A Mephisto of this kind may only arise from such a poodle!..." Liszt’s request was not fulfilled and the two episodes were published separately.
The waltz was conceived as both an orchestra and a piano work. Three versions, orchestral (S.110/2), piano duet (S.599/2) and piano solo, (S.514), all date more or less from the same period (1859–62). The piano duet version is a straightforward transcription of the orchestral version, while the solo piano version is an independent composition. Liszt dedicated the piece to Carl Tausig
, his favourite pupil.
The orchestral version also has an alternate, softer ending which, while not as rousing as the usual coda, some critics argue is closer to the intent of Lenau's tale. While this ending is not often heard in the concert hall, both Fritz Reiner
and
James Conlon
have recorded it. He also provided two extra passages for the piano solo version. It is not known when Liszt wrote these extra passages, but it was a habit of his later years to make alterations while teaching his works to his pupils.
.
Harmonically, the Second Waltz anticipates Scriabin
, Busoni
and Bartók
. Liszt begins and ends the work with an unresolved tritone
, a musical interval
famous as representing the devil
in music, and the music overall is more violently expressive than both its predecessor and Camille Saint-Saëns
' Danse macabre
, which Liszt had transcribed a few years earlier. The piece, for all its dissonance
, remains firmly in E-flat
until the B
-F
tritone shatters the work's climax at the piece's end. This gesture leaves the work's ending unresolved harmonically.
with numerous passages of descending minor triads whose roots are a semitone
apart. The chord on which these progressions are based, according to Alan Walker, "is difficult to explain in terms of traditional harmony. It is best regarded as a 'fourths
' chord in its last inversion." Tonally, the music is pulled between F-sharp major, D minor
and D-sharp minor. As in its predecessors, the Third Waltz has the devil dancing in triple time while other groups of three move past so quickly that a larger rhythm of four is established, and triple time is abandoned altogether in the dreamlike passage near the work's conclusion. Humphrey Searle, in his book The Music of Liszt, considers this piece to be one of Liszt's finest achievements.
This waltz bore no dedication initially. After French pianist Marie Jaëll played the work for the composer (who asked her to repeat certain passages over and again), he made extensive changes to the work and dedicated it to her. Saint-Saëns, Jaëll’s composition teacher at the Paris Conservatoire (who also dedicated his first piano concerto to her), commented about her interpretation of Liszt’s works that "only one person in the world [besides Liszt] who can play Liszt—Marie Jaëll." Liszt also made no orchestral version. However, British composer and arranger Gordon Jacob
orchestrated this along with other late works of Liszt for the Sadler Welles ballet Apparitions, a project conceived by composer Constant Lambert
.
The first recording of this piece was by France Clidat
in her traversal of Liszt's works for Decca.
. While the work is mainly in D, it begins and ends on C-sharp. This, writes noted Australian Liszt scholar and pianist Leslie Howard
, was an encouragement while working on his performing version to refer to the main material in the slow Andantino and to recapitulate
a portion of the fast Allegro before Liszt's coda. Some critics do not consider this waltz as original as its predecessors and surmise that, had Liszt lived to complete it, he may have made considerable improvements. No orchestral version of this Waltz
was made by Liszt.
Despite its being unfinished, this waltz is still considered playable. It is usually performed in a version (S.216b) combining the completed fast outer sections, omitting the incomplete slow middle section. Howard made a performing version of this Waltz in 1978 which utilizes a middle section assembled from Liszt's manuscript sources, completed in line with the composer's late style and with a minimum number of added notes from Howard. A recording of this completion is available on Hyperion
's "complete piano music of Liszt"-series, while the sheet music, dedicated to Alfred Brendel
, has been published by Basil Ramsey, and once again in 1988 by Orpheus Publications. However, the first recording of a version of this piece was by France Clidat
in her traversal of Liszt's works for Decca.
-trained pianist Fred Mustard Stewart
. Composer Jerry Goldsmith
also incorporated the pieces into his score for 1971 film of the same name
based on Stewart's novel.
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
es composed 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...
in 1859-62, 1880–81, 1883 and 1885. Nos. 1-2 were composed for orchestra, later arranged for piano, piano duet and two pianos, whereas 3 and 4 were written for piano only. Of the four, the first is the most popular and has been frequently performed in concert and recorded.
The Bagatelle sans tonalité
Bagatelle sans tonalité
Bagatelle sans tonalité is a piece for solo piano written by Franz Liszt in 1885. The manuscript bears the title "Fourth Mephisto Waltz" and may have been intended to replace the piece now known as the Fourth Mephisto Waltz when it appeared Liszt would not be able to finish it; the phrase...
(Bagatelle without tonality; also Bagatelle ohne Tonart) is sometimes included with Liszt's Mephisto Waltzes. The manuscript bears the title "Fourth Mephisto Waltz" and may have been intended to replace the Fourth Mephisto Waltz when it appeared Liszt might not be able to finish it. Critics point out the similarity in tonal center between these two pieces (D major) as confirmation of their composition shortly after one other in 1885 as well as Liszt's initial intent with the Bagatelle.
One other composition to be considered is the Mephisto Polka
Mephisto Polka
The Mephisto Polka is a piece of program music written in folk-dance style for solo piano by Franz Liszt in 1882-3. The work's program is the same as that of the same composer's four Mephisto Waltzes, written respectively in 1859-60, 1880–81, 1882 and 1885 and based on the legend of Faust, not by...
which, while not a waltz, follows the same program as the other Mephisto works.
No. 1, S.514
Mephisto Waltz No. 1, Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke (The Dance in the Village Inn) is the second of two short works he wrote for orchestra. While the work preceding it, Midnight Procession ("Der nächtliche Zug"), is rarely given (though both works have been recorded together), the waltz has been a concert favorite, with its passion, sensuality and dramatics generating an emotional impact. James Huneker
James Huneker
James Gibbons Huneker was an American music writer and critic.Huneker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano in Europe under Leopold Doutreleau and audited the Paris piano class of Frédéric Chopin's pupil Georges Mathias. He came to New York City in 1885 and remained there...
described the work's "langourous syncopated
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
" as "one of the most voluptuous episodes outside of the Tristan
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
score."
The Mephisto Waltz No. 1 is a typical example of program music, taking for its program an episode from Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
, not by Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
but by Nikolaus Lenau
Nikolaus Lenau
Nikolaus Lenau was the nom de plume of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau , was a German language Austrian poet.-Biography:...
(1802–50). The following program note, which Liszt took from Lenau, appears in the printed score:
There is a wedding feast in progress in the village inn, with music, dancing, carousing. MephistophelesMephistophelesMephistopheles is a demon featured in German folklore...
and Faust pass by, and Mephistopheles induces Faust to enter and take part in the festivities. Mephistopheles snatches the fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
from the hands of a lethargic fiddler and draws from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains. The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded village beauty in a wild dance; they waltz in mad abandon out of the room, into the open, away into the woods. The sounds of the fiddle grow softer and softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song."
Liszt intended to publish the Waltz simultaneously with the Night Procession: "...The publication of the two Lenau's Faust episodes... I entrust to Schuberth's own judgement; as to whether the piano version or the score appears first, makes no difference to me; the only important thing is that both pieces should appear simultaneously, the Night Procession as No.1 and the Mephisto Waltz as No.2. There is naturally no thematic relationship between the two pieces; but they are related nonetheless by all the contrasts of emotions. A Mephisto of this kind may only arise from such a poodle!..." Liszt’s request was not fulfilled and the two episodes were published separately.
The waltz was conceived as both an orchestra and a piano work. Three versions, orchestral (S.110/2), piano duet (S.599/2) and piano solo, (S.514), all date more or less from the same period (1859–62). The piano duet version is a straightforward transcription of the orchestral version, while the solo piano version is an independent composition. Liszt dedicated the piece to Carl Tausig
Carl Tausig
Carl Tausig was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger and composer.-Life:Tausig was born in Warsaw to Jewish parents and received his first piano lessons from his father, pianist and composer Aloys Tausig, a student of Sigismond Thalberg. His father introduced him to Franz Liszt in Weimar at the...
, his favourite pupil.
The orchestral version also has an alternate, softer ending which, while not as rousing as the usual coda, some critics argue is closer to the intent of Lenau's tale. While this ending is not often heard in the concert hall, both Fritz Reiner
Fritz Reiner
Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...
and
James Conlon
James Conlon
James Conlon is an American conductor and the current Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera.-Early years:Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New...
have recorded it. He also provided two extra passages for the piano solo version. It is not known when Liszt wrote these extra passages, but it was a habit of his later years to make alterations while teaching his works to his pupils.
No. 2, S.515
The Second Mephisto Waltz followed the first by some 20 years. Its composition took place between late 1880 and early 1881. Liszt wrote the orchestral version (S.111) first, then based both the piano solo (S.515) and four-hand (S.600) versions on it. The orchestral version was premiered in Budapest in 1881. After this performance Liszt extended the work and changed the ending radically. The printed music for all three versions is based on this revision and is dedicated to Camille Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
.
Harmonically, the Second Waltz anticipates Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
, Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
and Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
. Liszt begins and ends the work with an unresolved tritone
Tritone
In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...
, a musical interval
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
famous as representing the devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
in music, and the music overall is more violently expressive than both its predecessor and Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
' Danse macabre
Danse Macabre (Saint-Saëns)
Danse macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based in an old French superstition...
, which Liszt had transcribed a few years earlier. The piece, for all its dissonance
Consonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
, remains firmly in E-flat
E-flat
E-flat may refer to:* E♭ * E-flat major* E-flat minor* E-flat tuning, on a guitar...
until the B
B (musical note)
B, also known as H, Si or Ti, is the seventh note of the solfège. It lies a chromatic semitone below C and is thus the enharmonic equivalent of C-flat....
-F
F (musical note)
F is a musical note, the fourth above C. It is also known as fa in fixed-do solfège.When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of Middle F is approximately 349.228 Hz. See pitch for a discussion of historical variations in...
tritone shatters the work's climax at the piece's end. This gesture leaves the work's ending unresolved harmonically.
No. 3, S.215a and S.216
Composed in 1883, the Third Mephisto Waltz (S.216) takes the harmonic language even further, featuring chords built up by fourthsPerfect fourth
In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions , and the perfect fourth is a fourth spanning five semitones. For example, the ascending interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five semitones above C, and there...
with numerous passages of descending minor triads whose roots are a semitone
Semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically....
apart. The chord on which these progressions are based, according to Alan Walker, "is difficult to explain in terms of traditional harmony. It is best regarded as a 'fourths
Perfect fourth
In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions , and the perfect fourth is a fourth spanning five semitones. For example, the ascending interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five semitones above C, and there...
' chord in its last inversion." Tonally, the music is pulled between F-sharp major, D minor
D minor
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has one flat ....
and D-sharp minor. As in its predecessors, the Third Waltz has the devil dancing in triple time while other groups of three move past so quickly that a larger rhythm of four is established, and triple time is abandoned altogether in the dreamlike passage near the work's conclusion. Humphrey Searle, in his book The Music of Liszt, considers this piece to be one of Liszt's finest achievements.
This waltz bore no dedication initially. After French pianist Marie Jaëll played the work for the composer (who asked her to repeat certain passages over and again), he made extensive changes to the work and dedicated it to her. Saint-Saëns, Jaëll’s composition teacher at the Paris Conservatoire (who also dedicated his first piano concerto to her), commented about her interpretation of Liszt’s works that "only one person in the world [besides Liszt] who can play Liszt—Marie Jaëll." Liszt also made no orchestral version. However, British composer and arranger Gordon Jacob
Gordon Jacob
Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob was an English composer. He is known for his wind instrument composition and his instructional writings.-Life:...
orchestrated this along with other late works of Liszt for the Sadler Welles ballet Apparitions, a project conceived by composer Constant Lambert
Constant Lambert
Leonard Constant Lambert was a British composer and conductor.-Early life:Lambert, the son of Russian-born Australian painter George Lambert, was educated at Christ's Hospital and the Royal College of Music...
.
The first recording of this piece was by France Clidat
France Clidat
France Clidat is a French pianist renowned for her interpretations of the works of Franz Liszt, a great many of which she has recorded, and Erik Satie, whose complete piano works she recorded....
in her traversal of Liszt's works for Decca.
No. 4, S.216b
The Fourth Mephisto Waltz (S.696) remained unfinished and was not published until 1955. Liszt worked on the piece in 1885. Like the Second Waltz, the Fourth uses an introduction and coda which do not stick to the basic keyKey (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
. While the work is mainly in D, it begins and ends on C-sharp. This, writes noted Australian Liszt scholar and pianist 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...
, was an encouragement while working on his performing version to refer to the main material in the slow Andantino and to recapitulate
Recapitulation (music)
In music theory, the recapitulation is one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement's development section, and typically presents once more the musical themes from the movement's exposition...
a portion of the fast Allegro before Liszt's coda. Some critics do not consider this waltz as original as its predecessors and surmise that, had Liszt lived to complete it, he may have made considerable improvements. No orchestral version of this Waltz
was made by Liszt.
Despite its being unfinished, this waltz is still considered playable. It is usually performed in a version (S.216b) combining the completed fast outer sections, omitting the incomplete slow middle section. Howard made a performing version of this Waltz in 1978 which utilizes a middle section assembled from Liszt's manuscript sources, completed in line with the composer's late style and with a minimum number of added notes from Howard. A recording of this completion is available on Hyperion
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...
's "complete piano music of Liszt"-series, while the sheet music, dedicated to Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:...
, has been published by Basil Ramsey, and once again in 1988 by Orpheus Publications. However, the first recording of a version of this piece was by France Clidat
France Clidat
France Clidat is a French pianist renowned for her interpretations of the works of Franz Liszt, a great many of which she has recorded, and Erik Satie, whose complete piano works she recorded....
in her traversal of Liszt's works for Decca.
Legacy
The pieces are referenced as the title of the 1969 novel, The Mephisto Waltz by American author and JuilliardJuilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
-trained pianist Fred Mustard Stewart
Fred Mustard Stewart
Fred Mustard Stewart was an American novelist. His most popular books were The Mephisto Waltz , adapted for a 1971 film starring Alan Alda; Six Weeks , made into a 1982 film starring Mary Tyler Moore; Century, a New York Times best-seller in 1981; and Ellis Island , which became a...
. Composer Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
also incorporated the pieces into his score for 1971 film of the same name
The Mephisto Waltz (film)
The Mephisto Waltz is a 1971 American horror film about an occult-murder mystery. It was directed by Paul Wendkos and starred Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Parkins, Bradford Dillman and Curt Jürgens...
based on Stewart's novel.
External links
- Recording of the "Mephisto Waltz" No.1 for piano, S. 514, (arr. Busoni), performed by the pianist Cecile Licad, from the Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner MuseumThe Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner's lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens...
in MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format - Video - Mephisto Waltz No.1 performed by Hye-Mi Son at the Bavarian Academy of Music, Hammelburg, Germany
- "Mephisto Waltz No. 1 performed by Fredrick Pritchard."
- Recording of this Waltz No.1, S.514 (tr. of 2 Episodes from Lenau's Faust; 2.Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke, S.110) performed by the pianist Alberto Cobo.