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Franz Liszt's "Dante Sonata": The origins, the criticism, a

selective musical analysis, and commentary

Yeagley, David Anthony, D.M.A.

The University of Arizona, 1994

Copyright @1994 by Yeagley, David Anthony. All rights reserved.

V·M·I
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 1

FRANZ LISZT'S DANTE SONATA:

THE ORIGINS, THE CRITICISM, A SELECTIVE MUSICAL

ANALYSIS, AND COMMENTARY

by

David Anthony Yeagley

Copyright © David Anthony Yeagley 1994

A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the

SCHOOL OF MUSIC

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

WITH A MAJOR IN PERFORMANCE

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

1994
 2

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

GRADUATE COLLEGE

As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have

read the document prepared by David Anthony Yeagley

entitled Franz Liszt's Dante Sonata: The Origins, the Criticism,
A Selective Musical Analysis, and Commentary

and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the requirements

for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts

ｾｧ＠ ｲ［Ｍｵｾｬ＠ 71
Date
｟Ｚ＾Ｍ＼ｾＳ＠ Ａｾ＠ __ )c!
Date '

ｄｾ＠ ｾＭＰ＠ fi
Date

Date

Final approval and acceptance of this document is contingent upon the

candidate's submission of the final copy of the document to the
Graduate College.

I hereby certify that I have read this document prepared under my

direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the
requirement.

Director Date
 3

STATEMENT BY AUTHOR

This document has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an

advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University
Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.

Brief quotations from this document are allowable without special permission,
provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for
permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in
whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder.

SIGNED: , /)ｾ＠ '/ U":7ｾ＠

 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Having entered upon this document project in complete nescience of

computor skills, I am forever indebted to the CCIT User Support Department of
the University of Arizona. At the time of my project, 1993-1994, Barbara
Hoffman and Mike Alcorn were the executers of this program.
The program involves labs containing sophisticated, updated computor
equipment for use by students of the University, regardless of the students' level
of computor skills. The program also provides highly skilled student monitors
in each lab, available to answer innumerable questions from students-often of
the most basic, frustrating nature. The quality and character of these student
monitors was notably professional, always helpful, and remarkably patient.
Without these special monitors, I could never have hoped to complete my
Doctorate.
Cetainly, I must acknowledge the kind women in the Graduate College
Degree Certification office, notably Maria Telles and Carol Buttery, supervisor. I
also must mention Patricia Bailes, in Graduate Student Programs, who more than
once provided the solution to a. critical problem. I am very grateful to Jocelyn
Reiter, Director of Graduate Studies at the School of Music, and Lyneen Elmore,
secretary. Their direction and assistance, under stressful circumstances, was
salvific.
Of course, I am most thankful to the director of my program, Mr. Nicholas
Zumbro. His personality, breadth of learning and experience, and acute sense of
deep values, I found inspirational at a personal level. I also am grateful to other
faculty members who were part of my program, and who contributed to my
experience as a musician and as a human being. I especially thank Daniel Asia,
Leonard Pearlman, John Brobeck, James Anthony.
 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................6

PREFACE ....................................................................................................................... 8

I. THE ORIGINS' OF THE DANTE SONATA .......................................................... 10

II. THE CRITICISM ..................................................................................................... 14

The Musical Effects .......................................................................................... 14

The Idea of Religious Music ............................................................................ 19

ill. SELECTIVE MUSICAL ANALYSIS ................................................................... 27

1. The Dotted Rhythm Notation .................................................................... 29

2. Tri-tone Relations ........................................................................................ 33
3. Chromatic Melodic Descent ....................................................................... 35
4. Harmonic Mediant Relations ..................................................................... 37
5. The Chorale Theme ..................................................................................... 39
6. Whole-tone Harmonizations ..................................................................... 40

IV. COMMENTARY: The Sonata and the Comedy_ ................................................. 48

AFTERWORD ............................................................................................................... 58

APPENDIX A: Translations ....................................................................................... 62

APPENDIX B: The Musical Score of the Dante Sonata ........................................... 65

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 90
 6

ABSTRACT
The earliest European Christian (Catholic) music was exclusively vocal.
Western music's Renaissance (c.1400-1600) brought about independent
instrumental music. However, the idea that religious sentiment could be
expressed non-vocally, in non-liturgical contexts, on instruments not associated
with religious circumstance, was developed by Liszt (1811-1886). Though
Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote non-liturgical music regarded ｾｳ＠ "spiritual," (e.g.,
the late piano sonatas, the late string quartets), Liszt sought to establish a category
of music specifically religious, apart from vocal, liturgical associations.
Liszt invented such music at the piano, an instrument incorporating the
variety of sounds, gestures, and harmonies he considered evocative of religious
sentiment. The Dante Sonata is such a composition.
Ex(;€pt for a brief, early moment in the Dante Sonata, the score is void of
scales and arpeggios--very basic pianistic musical gestures. The score instead
comprises innovative harmonies, creative use of octaves, chords, and original
concepts of notation and rhythm. However, scales, arpeggios, indeed the gamut
of 19th century pianism, are used by Liszt in other "religious" piano solos. The
Legendes de St. ｆｲ｡ｮｾｯｩｳ＠ contain substantial use of scales and arpeggiated figures.
Other Catholic works, e.g., Pater noster, Vexilla Regis Prodeunt, Ave Maria, and
numerous death-oriented works, though not virtuosic, are not limited in pianistic
style. The Harmonies Poetiques et Religious (1845-1852, Nrs. 1-10) contain pieces
with both limited and non-limited pianism. the Invocation is void of scales and
arpeggios, like the Dante Sonata; but the Benediction and the Cantique d'amour
contain much typical arpeggiated accompaniment of melody.
 7

The present essay does not identify individual compositional elements as

"religious." Each element of the Dante Sonata selected for present analysis is
simply cited as interesting. The Dante Sonata itself is put in the context of
religious music, hence, religious music and pianistic innovation are both
addressed, though not interpreted nor defended. That the Dante Sonata is
religious music, and pianistically innovative, are the author's judgments a priori.
This essay assumes responsibility for circumstantial, pragmatic exemplification
of these judgments, not the due process of academic logistics by which they
derive. (The latter process requires separate essays.)
 8

PREFACE

The four major sections of this ･ｾｳ｡ｹ＠ address the personal circumstances
of Liszt during the period of time in which he composed the Dante Sonata, and
the important ideas which contributed to the unique nature of the composition,
pianistically and musically. The first section, The Origins of the Dante Sonata,
describes the immediate geographic locality of the composition's inspiration, the
intellectual and spiritual concerns of Liszt at that time, and the significance of its
subject, that is, Dante's Divine CO:'11edy. The second section, The Criticism,
presents the available previous research: first! that which pertains to the music
itself (or, better, its effects), and second, that which has to do with "spiritual" or
"religious" differentiation which Liszt made in his music. The third major
section, Selective Musical Analysis, is a detailed musical analysis of six selected
compositional elements upon which the music is built, and which are involved
throughout the composition. For the sake of clarity and brevity, the Analysis
does not involve "sprititual" interpretation of musical events, but simply offers
their musical analysis, and occasional observations about their pianistic
character. The fourth and final major section, Commentary: the Sonata and the
Comedy, attempts to relate the music of Liszt's Dante Sonata to Dante's Divine
Comedy, in ways useful particularly to pianists developing an interpretation of
the music, and especially to persons seeking to understand the illustrative
capacities of music (or, the ways in which music can depict visual and emotional
experience).
The interpretation of the entire composition as a specific type of entity is
left to the Afterword. This post-analysis commentary concludes the ideas
 9

presented initially in the second part of the second section: The Idea of
Religious Music. The Afterword addresses the ideas concerning the matter of a
conceptual, philosophical differentiation between "religious" music in a liturgical
context, and at least the idea of "religious" music outside liturgical associations.
In the present author's opinion, the Dante Sonata is an initial and significant
attempt to create non-liturgical "religious" music. However, the matter of
identifying individual musical gestures as specifically "religious" in nature, in
terms of their pre-extant, historically established associations, is the subject of
another essay entirely. The present essay simply introduces the Dante Sonata as
a musical work which is, for reasons to be explained, an example of the concept
of non-liturgical religious music.
In a sense, then, the first two sections of this essay are prolegomenous to
future essays on 1) selected musical gestures and their historical, religious
associations and connotations, and 2) Liszt's innovative philosophical distinction
between liturgical religious music and non-liturgical religious music. The
Afterword of the present essay, as well as the first two major sections, are
somewhat independent of the musical Analysis. This is to say, the Analysis is
concerned with musical and pianistic elements in the Dante Sonata as a
composition, whereas the other sections are concerned with ideas about
"religious" music, or, the greater context in which the Dante Sonata occurs.
 10

I. THE ORIGINS OF THE DANTE SONATA:l

Annees de Pelerinage z!g. Annee
VII. Apres une lecture du Dante Fantasia quasi Sonata

Concerning the origins and nature of the Dante Sonata, the scarcity, and
superficial, eccentric quality of secondary critical literature generated by the
composition might suggest that it is an insignificant work. The extant academic
material has nevertheless run the normal professional course from first, initially
received fact, subsequent contradiction, then reaffirmation of original data
Specifically, all scholars before Alan Walker received the dates and geographic
circumstances of origins of the Dante Sonata as given by Princess Carolyne
through Lina Ramann in the latter's Franz Liszt als Kunstler und Mensch (voU,
1880; vo1.2, 1887; vo1.3, 1894). For example, Portales 2 recounts the origin of the
Dante Sonata at the Italian village of Bellagio, on Lake Como. The beautiful
scene, as repainted by most biographers, is that of the Villa Melzi, with the great
statue of Dante being led by Beatrice, and thither the afternoon readings of the

1The title "Dante Sonata" is used most widely in scholarly reference to the music. The title of the
music has been varied from the origin of its inception. As a convenient reference, no doubt, it
settled as the Dante Sonata. Liszt's original title was Prolegomenes a la Divina Comedia: Fantaisie
symphonique pour piano, but when Schott published the Annees de Pelerinage in 1858, it was Apres
une lecture du DantelFantasia quasi Sonata.
2Guy de Pourtales, La vie de Franz Liszt (Paris: Librairie Ballimard, 1917), p.82. When Frederick
Corder published his Ferenc Liszt (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1925), Cosima was still alive,
"living at Beyreuth," as Corder pointed out, after having recited the Bellagio staria, p.63. In 1970,
Alan Walker edited a collection of nine essays, in which is included one by Sacheverill Sitwell,
entitled "Liszt: A Character Study," wherein Sitwell recounts the Bellagio staria, unequivocably,
calling the "quasi-sonata" a "quasi-master-piece." See, Liszt: The Man and His Music, ed. Allan
Walker (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1970), pp.1-21. Furthermore, in 1971, Walker himself
faithfully retold the basic circumstance of the Dante Sonata: "Liszt completed it in the space of a
few weeks on the shores of Lake Como, shortly before Christmas, 1837." See, A. Walker, Liszt
(London: Faber & Faber, 1971), p.42. In 1975, Walter Rusch' delivered a short paper at the
Kongress-Bericht Eisenstadt, entitled, "Franz Liszt in Bellagio," later published in Liszt Studien-1
(Graz: 1977), pp.155, ff. Rusch buys the Bellagio staria, every word, and adds scholarly
embelishment. The Dante Sonata is cited, p.158.
 11

Divine Comedy by Marie d'Agoult to Franz. In 1983, however, Walker3 was

prepared to deny the whole account, categorically, based on the 1933-34
publication by Daniel Ollivier (Liszt's grandson) of the Correspondance de Liszt et
de la Comtesse d'Agoult. Nevertheless, A. Williams4, in his 1990 Oxford-published
Portrait, reaffirms the Ramann account, based on letters of Liszt himself.
It is certain, of course, that Liszt did have a great interest in Dante,S an
interest which heightened during the Italian "pelerinage." It is also certain that
Marie d' Agoult was a great devotee of Dante's poetry, and that she and Liszt had
intimate discussions on the subject, specifically with regard to the rOle of Beatrice:

Un jour elle a ecrit dans son journal, amerement: "Celui que

j'aimais n'a penetre qu'a la surface de mon amour. Dante, Beatrice
... " Et Liszt qui a decouvert et lu ce journal, pique au vif: liCe sont
les Dantes qui font les Beatrices, et les vraies meurent a dix-huit
ansI "6

Inasmuch as Liszt is reported to have had "a vision of the world of Dante and
Beatrice as an idealized reflection of the world of Franz Liszt and Marie
d' Agoult,"7 the question is quaintly asked, "Est-ce Ie fievreux ete romain qui les
envenime l'un contre l'autre?"8.
it seems probable that the Dante Sonata was first conceived in the
approximate year of 1839, in Italy, and that it is not the "symphonic work" then
proposed, but it would be based on the "Dantesque fragment." A symphonic

3Allan Walker, Franz Liszt (London: Faber & Faber, 1983), pp.246-249, esp. p.246.
4Adrian Williams, Portrait ofLiszt (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), p.9S, f.
SIIA Milan, ii Ven{se, sur la lac Majeur, les voyageurs continuaient leurs lectures en commun (Dante,
toujour Dante, mais aussi Ie Tasse et Shakespeare)." See, Franr;oise Mallet-Joris, "Don Juan de la
musique," in Liszt: Collection Genies et Realites (Librairie Hachette, 1967), p.S9.
6ibid., p.61.
7Ronald Taylor, Franz Liszt (London: Grafton Books, 1986), p.S1.
8Pourtales, op. cit., p. 97.
 12

work based on Dante was a concept in Liszt's mind as early as February, 1839.
Newman9 quotes from Liszt's journal:

If I feel the needful life and strength in me, I will attempt a

symphonic work based on Dante, then another on Faust, say
in three years. Meanwhile, I will make three sketches-the
Triumph of Death, after Orcagna, the Comedy of Death, after
Holbein, and a Dantesque fragment.

Newman (in a footnote, p.83, n.38) says: "The Dante Symphony does not seem to
have taken any kind of definite shape in Liszt's mind until about 1847, though
the opening theme of it is to be found in an early song of his, Le vieux vagabond. It
was only in 1855 that he really set to work at it, completing it in July of the
following year... If by 'Dantesque fragment' Liszt means the Fantasia quasi Sonata,
apres une lecture du Dante... , this was finished some time in 1839."
Watson lO says that, although Ramann suggests an 1837 origin of the
Fantasia composition, the date for the actual sketch is "in September, 1839," and it
was performed in this form in Vienna, "two months later, in November." Along
with Totentanz (based on the "Triumph of Death" fresco at Pisa) and other pieces
of the Italian Annee, it was revised in the early Weimar years when the fragment
became a Fantasia quasi Sonata. It is notable that most of these works share the
common theme of death, a subject to which Liszt often returned. It forms a vein
of symbolic importance in works after the Weimar years.
It may be of interest to note that, under Princess Carolyne's influence,
after 1847, the Dante Symphony was undertaken, at Weimar, and that the musical
material of the symphony bears no relationship to the Dante Fantasia. Franz and
Carolyne had moved to Paris in 1853, the same year Liszt went to Zurich to visit

9Emest Newman, The Man Liszt (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1935), p.83
lOoerek Watson, Liszt (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1989), p.47.
 13

Wagner. Among other things, the Dante Symphony was discussed between the
two composers. Liszt had conceived of the work in three movements: the Inferno,
the Purgatorio, and the Paradiso. Wagner advised Liszt not to attempt to portray
the joy of Paradise in music,ll but to let the music "die away to a pianissimo
ending."12 The fact that Carolyne objected, preferring "a more noisy finish," led
Liszt to disregard Wagner's advice, and to substitute a Magnificat for women's
voices, and led one Liszt scholar/critic to observe that "the fact that such
alterations should have been possible at all shows a most peculiar approach to
the art of composition. It is the approach of a man experimenting rather than
that of a man expressing himself. "13 (This comment is perhaps too harsh, for
Liszt, as well as other major Romantic composers, made it a point to experiment
with new ways of, precisely, expressing themselves.)

llFor an expose of Wagner's objections, See, Taylor, op. cit., p.145, 146. Wagner says the weakest
movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is the last, the choral movement; and, for ultimate
proof of the said impropriety, Wagner says that Dante's Paradiso was the weakest part of the
Commedia.
Wagner had his own agenda regarding the impropriety of Paradise. His later letter to Liszt
advising him against a musical depiction of Paradise contained "a lengthy diatribe against
Christianity and Catholicism." Paul Merrick, Revolution & Religion in the Music of Uszt
(Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1987), p.44. Wagner utterly rejects the Catholic
theology concerning the creation of man and Hell, and regards the idea of "the hoped-for
salvation" of Paradise being "the only real and consciously enjoyable thing" to be a supreme
sophistry of the Roman Church. Of course, sensitive to the Roman Christianity as Liszt was, his
reasons for following, then not following Wagner's advice, had more to do with Carolyne than
with his own ideas of the function of music, or of Paradise.
12Walter Beckett, Liszt (London: J.M.Dent, 1956), p.43
13ibid., p.43.
 14

THE CRITICISM

The Musical Effects

The scholarly commentary on the circumstantial origins of the Dante

Sonata is scarce. Textual commentary and musical analysis are more scarce.
Calvoccorssi14 says, regarding the Fantasia, "la forme generale de cette composition,
son origine poetique et sa valeur musicale permettent d' egaler celle-ci aux poemes
symphoniques, bien qu'elle soit ecrite pour piano." Then he offers an adumbratio of its
form. "Les elements de l'oeuvre sont exposes dans l'introduction lente, et toute la suite
est un travail thematique fort serre..." He observes the improvisatory nature of the
work, and ends his comments by an assertion derived from observation on the
relationship of poetry and inspiration, (Le., of the Divine Comedy and the
Fantasia), in which he claims Liszt's "inspiration" exceeded, or "passed" the
poetry, and "qu'ill'a prouve precisement dans la premiere de ses grandes oeuvres."
Domling15 wants to say that it wasn't actually the Divine Comedy of Dante which
inspired the music, but Victor Hugo's short poem of 1836, "Apres une lecture de
Dante."16 "Liszt's Sonate hat weder direckt... mit Dantes Comedia zu tun, noch ist sie
eine Illustration des Gedichtes von Hugo; sie ist, wie Hugos Verse, eine poetische
Reflexion der Dichtung Dantes." He says Liszt borrowed the idea of the musical
form's title from Beethovens Op.27 No.2, Sonata quasi una fantasia. Also Domling
mentions Schubert's Wanderer-Fantasie; Schumann mentions (1842) a Sonata quasi
Fantasia of J.E.Leonhardt; and apparently a W. Klingenberg wrote a

14M. D. Calvoccorssi, Franz Liszt (Paris: Librairie Renouard, 1905), pp.76,77.

15Wolfgang Domling, Franz Liszt und Seine Zeit (Regensburg: Laaber-Verlag, 1985), p.129.
16Cf. Humphrey Searle, The Music of Liszt (London: Williams & Norgate, Ltdl, 1954), p.32, and
Taylor, op. cit., p.51.
 15

Phantasiesonate the year before. And there is Schumann's own Fantasie Op.17,
written in 1836. Of course, Domokos I7 indirectly suggests that it was really
Czemy who influenced the titling and form of the Liszt fantasia. Czemy felt that
improvisation was an essential skill for a pianist, and he wrote much on the
subject. In his library, Czemy had his text-book Systematische Anleitung zum
Fantasieren auf dem Pianoforte, which was compiled by 1829. The young Liszt, of
course, studied with Czemy, and by 1826, Liszt was including Phantasierens on
his concert tours. It was a special, improvisatory art form en vogue, and in fact
expected and required of any pianist worthy of his fingers. 18
Rudolph KokaP9 shows that several major fantasie works were composed
by Liszt in the mid-1830's: Grand Fantaisie Symphonique for piano and Orchestra
(1834); Fantaisie Romantique (1835); Deux Fantaisies pour Ie Piano (1835); Grande
Fantaisie sur la Niobe de Pacini (1835); Rondeau fantastique (1836); Grande Fantaisie
dramatique (1836); etc. These are fantasies whose musical nature is indicated in
the title; others, of an equally improvisatory nature, do not contain the word
"fantasie" in the title.
In other words, the Dante Fantasie-Sonata is not an isolated work. In fact,
Kokai reports that a 37-page manuscript exists, originally entitled, Prolegomenes a
la Divina Comedia: Fantaisie symphonique pour Piano. 20 Liszt corrected this
manuscript, and on the basis of this, the modem editions derive, beginning with
the Schott edition of 1858, which includes the entire Italian Pelerinage.

I7Zsuzsanna Domokos, "Carl Czemys Einfluss auf Franz Liszt: Die Kunst des Phantasierens," in
Liszt-Studien-4, ed. Serge Gut (Miinchen: 1993), p.l9, ff.
I8Domokos, op. cit., p.21.
I9Rudoph Kokai, Franz Liszt in Seinen FrUhen Klavierwerken (Budapest: Barenreiter, 1969), pp.13-I5
20ibid., p.20.
 16

Kokai goes on to make the point that Liszt had abandoned former
traditions of form. "1m allgemeinen ist zu sagen, dass die alte Formtradition
vollstiindig durchbrochen und uberwunden ist. Dies kommt schon in den Titein der
Stucke zum Ausdruck."21
Searle22 made some interesting comments about the Dante Sonata in 1954:

It is a strange, confused, and passionate piece, perhaps

incoherent and inchoate, but conjuring up a powerful and
unmistakable atmosphere. It is not quite altogether
satisfactory as a piano solo piece, for Liszt often seems to be
trying to express things which are beyond the powers of the
instrument; but a version for piano and orchestra, such as that
made by Constant Lambert for the Sadler's Wells ballet Dante
Sonata, brings out its qualities in a far clearer and more
incisive manner.

Searle also feels Berlioz and Paganini influenced Liszt's musical ideas at this
time. 23 The Dante Sonata, as other early large scale works, was "written in the
form of one loosely constructed movement, which might contain contrasting
episodes, but otherwise consisted entirely of varied treatments of one or two
main themes."24 Searle says Liszt performed the piece in Vienna in 1839,

although he sketched it as early as 1837. It was revised to its present form in

1849.25
Walker26 is first to call the Dante Sonata "one of Liszt's masterpieces." (He
says, in 1971, that the piece was completed in a few weeks on the shores of Lake
Como, shortly before Christmas, 1837.) Walker observes the "Diabolus in Musica"

21Kokai, 0p. cit., p.l09.

22Searle, op. cit., p.32.
23ibid., p.45.
24ibid., p.5S.
25ibid., p.29
26Alan Walker, Liszt (London: Faber & Faber, 1971), pp.42-45.
 17

with which Liszt opens the gates of Hell, then calls the Presto agitato assai
"tortured chromaticism," and "a stroke of great originality." It is meant to create
"a distant, ominous roar."
Walker then cites the "choral-like theme" in three of its important and
contrasting appearances: the initial precipitato (m.l0l,f.), an Andantelben marcato il
canto (m.136,f.), and the tremolando Andante (m.293,f.). Walker identifies this as a
particular compositional technique called "transformation of themes," a device
closely associated with Liszt in modem theoretical literature. The two main
themes of the Dante Sonata, thp. descending chromatic line (first appearing in the
m.s., at m.29) and the choral theme (first appearing at m.l03) are not themselves
varied, but rather their harmonic, contextual surroundings are changed, and
their rhythmical nature, as well as their tempi, are altered. Walker is apparently
one of the first scholars to make some kind of textual citation of the Dante Sonata,
preceded only by Louis Kentner, whose essay appeared in Walker's collection of
the previous year. 27
Kentner, however, cited little more. He observes the piece's "austere
grandeur," then notes the tri-tonal introduction, and also the "most exciting
experiment" of the Presto Agitato assai. He acceeds its entire success. He then
presents the first and second versions of the "choral-like" theme, the second of
which (m.136) he calls a "love duet," which, of course, must refer to the melody's
doubling at the octave. There is simply no melodic harmonization between the
two voices of the said "duet." Kentner remarks on the Piu tosto ritenuto
phenomenon (m.157, f.), and singles out mm.273-275 as a significant structural
closing of "the heavy gate" of Hell. Kentner says,

27Louis Kentner, "Solo Piano Music: 1827-61," in Liszt: The Man and His Music, ed. A. Walker,
(London: Barrie & Jenkins,1970), pp.79-133.
 18

"If the last section falls below the rest in musical interest, the
reason is obvious. In the Dante Symphony Liszt desisted,
possibly on Wagner's advice, from giving a musical
n
counterpart to Paradiso, on the grounds that no music could
adequately express the beauty of Paradise. The glimpse into
Paradise, attempted in the Sonata is--not surprisingly--
disappointing. "28

Kentner then cites mm.293-302 as the "glimpse," the trem.olo version of the
choral-like theme. Kentner proceeds to iaud the Coda as a "stunning effect," and
refers to "some unusual 'modal' harmonics which create a completely satisfactory
tonal cadence, without once using the dominant-tonic progression." (Christopher
Headington's essay, "The Songs," in Walker's same volume, presents an
interesting point about Liszt's peculiar cadences as a feature of his tonal
language. See esp. p.243.)
Watson29 offers very brief musical examples of the Dante Sonata. He does
observe "breathtaking use of keyboard effects," as well as "structural use of the
tri-tone." He does refer to a "repeated note idea" common to the incipient
Maestoso and the Presto agitato assai. He attributes the "mighty chorale" and its
"reflective expansion" (m.136) to the descending chromatic melody of m.25, f.
Wilkinson30 points out that during the Bellagio episode, or, during the
trip through Italy, Liszt completed the twelve Grandes Etudes transcendentes, the
six Grandes Etudes d'apres les Caprices de Paganini, as well as the first sketch of the
Dante Fantaisie. In other words, it is important to consider the pianistic trends of
Liszt's efforts, which had much to do with a phenomenological, physical

28Kentner, 0p. cit., p.95.

29Watson, Liszt, op. cit., pp.247,248.
30Anthony Wilkinson, Liszt (London: Macmillan, 1975), p.127.
 19

approach to the keyboard, i.e., an approach involving more and more the free
use of hand, arm, and body movement.

The Idea of Religious Music

In the critical literature on Liszt's music, in general, there has arisen no

universally accepted, established methodology of classification regarding
"geistliche," or spiritual, religious music. (In fact, the same may be said of music
history after the Medieval period, once the titles and lyrics of the music are non-
liturgical. It appears relative and somewhat subjective to distinguish specific
musical events as "sprititual" or as non-religious.)
In one specific study, Serge Gut3l considers the matter of modes as they
are employed by Liszt, but not as a specifically religious expression.
Furthermore, all of his examples are taken from music written after the Dante
Sonata, which sonata, of course, is not mentioned. In Les EIements,32 however,
Gut does cite specifically the Dante Fan tas ie. Under the section Les Elements
MeZodiques, he presents a chapter, "La gamme par tons," in which he describes
Liszt's various uses of special scalar successions of pitches, which, when
harmonized, create special effects. Among eleven pieces from which examples
are cited is the Dante Sonata, and what the present essay has called "Whole-Tone
Harmonization," or, the harmonization of each pitch in a whole-tone scale series
with a major triad above it. Gut describes mm.364-368 (cf.mm.228-234) thusly:

3lSerge Gut, "Die Historische Position Der Modalitate Bei Franz Liszt," in Liszt Studien -l,ed.
Wolfgang Suppan (Graz: 1977), pp.97, ff.
32Serge Gut, Franz Liszt: Les Elements du Langage Musical (Universite de Poi tiers: Klincksieck,
1975), pp.103,104.
 20

re-do-si-bemol-la bemol1a diese, harmonisees chacune par une

accord parfait majeur, ce qui donne en realite a la main gauche
une descente de trois gammes par ton simuItanees... Cette fafon
d'ecrire, qui n'est point celle qui sera retenue par la suite, n'en est
pas moins resolument neuve et audacieuse pour l'epoque. 33

In a footnote, Gut says, "Ce principe d'enchainements d'accords parfaits majeurs par
tons descendants date des annees 1840. Nousl'avons deja recontre dansles esquisses de
la Dante-Sonate." He then referes to the Heroischer Marsch im ungarischen Style of
1840, whence a similar harmonic scheme appears.
Under "Les Elements Harmoniques," Gut presents "L'accord de neuvieme de
dominante." Here an isolated harmonic incident in the Dante Sonata receives
special attention. It is mm.182-188:

La disposition de la main gauche accentue Ie caractere dissonant de

I' accord. On remarquera egalement Ie changement enharmonique
du mi diese en fa becarre ecrit sa volonte--alors qu' il est toujours
sur une dominante de fa diese--d'arriver dans la tonalite d'ut.
Liszt est souvent friand de ces equivoques enharmoniques qui lui
procurent une satisfaction intellectuelle. Signalons, enfin, la
resolution exception nelle, assez rare a l'epoque so us cette
presentation. 34

In fact, however, the said progression is at the end of a succession of interesting

chords. Mm. 167-177 have presented the tonic of F#Major; this passage ends,
m.178, with a D Major arpeggio, which, however, maintains a firm C# as the bass
note, thus creating an ambiguity, a double exposure of F#minor and D Major.

Ｓｆｲ｡ｮｾｯｩｳＭｊ･ｰｨ＠ Fetis (1784-1871), music historian and musicologist, had distinguished four
periods in the history of harmony: unitonic, transitonic, pluritonic, and omnitonic. See, Esquisse de
histoire de l'harmonie consideree comme art et comme science systematique (Paris, 1840). Fetis lectured
in Paris, and Liszt was acquainted with him. Liszt's ''fafon d'ecrire," in the Dante Sonata, was
definitely "omnitonic," and represented the wave of the future, especially as carried by the music
of Wagner.
34Gut, op. cit., p.276.
 21

The D Major tendency seems to prevail, for it is followed by another harmonic

ambiguity, in which the C# bass remains, but a strange G Major Lydian scalar
structure appears. The G Major tonality is "Lydian-ized," of course, due to the
maintenance of the C# in both the bass and in the scalar structure itself. (The G
Major illusion is created by the melodic emphasis or shape of the scalar passage
itself.) By m.180, the C# bass has become a pedal tone, over which the G Major
tonality seems to function as a Neopolitan 2nd in F#minor. The passage ends on
the C#Major 7th (+flatted 9th), which is where Gut begins his observation.
The C#Major 7th (+flatted 9th), dominant seventh in F# minor, itself
contains an ambiguity in the flatted 9th, or the D natural. In the tonic, F#minor
the D natural usually indicates F# minor. This, however, also represents a
chromatic mediant relationship of F#minor to D Major. F# Phrygian contains the
same pitches as D Major.
In any event, the C#Major 7th (+flatted 9th) does not resolve, as more or
less expected, to F#minor, but instead into F minor. Thus the V7 in F#minor
becomes a "dominant pivotal chord,1/35 or, a VI+aug.7th in Fm. Liszt's resolution
is a bit fancier, for the D natural of the V7+flatted 9th in F#minor becomes the
6th of the F minor triad (over a C-natural bass). This "resolution" might have
appeared more "exceptionelle" had Gut presented the chord successions which
preceded it.
Gut does mention a major incident of what the present document has
termed "rhythmic displacement" at the metric level. In the section, "Influences et
Elements Divers," Gut has a chapter called "Les Elements Rythmique.1/36 His

35Current academic jargon provided by Mr. Adar I. Garcia. It could also be called a dominant
transitional or modulatory chord.
36Gut, op. cit., p.391.
 22

examples are fascinating, but, of all the original experiments with rhythm and
notation in the Dante Sonata, Gut cites only one, the section beginning at m.1S7.
"Les recherches polyrythmiques les plus remarquables se trouvent dans la Dante-
Sonate." Gut offers a break-down of the rhythm patterns involved, then says "Ce
rythme se poursuit pendent 21 mesures," when, actually, something quite different
occurs after the tenth measure. ｎｾｶ･ｲｴｨｬｳＬ＠

Le fait que Liszt, passee la piriode de jeunesse, ne se soit plus laisee

tenter par les mesures rares est d'autant plus surprenant qu'iI avait
des exemples encourageants autour de lui. Nous n'en citerons ici
que quelques cas.3 7

In the section "La Phrase Melodique Lisztienne," (in the chapter "Les Elements
MeJodiques"), under the heading, ilLes Intervalles Melodique Rares," Gut but
mentions the descending tri-tone of the Dante Sonata's opening gesture. He
places it first in the list of examples of "la quarte augmentee melodique" catagory,
(after which he cites three more from other works). "L'intervalle melodique de
quarte augmenUe sert de motif essentiel de construction tout au long de cet admirable
morceau. 38 " In Szabo1csi's39 study on the generation of six very late piano work
an interesting epiphenomenon is provided on the subject of Liszt's use of
peculiar intervals. In a composition called Evil Star, written between 1880-1886,
Liszt makes incessant use of that infamous and unstable melodic interval spelled
as an augmented fourth and/ or a dimished fifth.
To the present author's knowledge of readily available sources, there is no
further specific literature on the Dante Sonata. Concerning the broader subject of

37Gut, op. cit., p.392.

38ibid., p.137.
39Bence Szabolcsi, The Twilight of Ferenc Liszt (Budapest: Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1959),
p.89, ff.
 23

religious music, there is, of course, occasional commentary, as well as several

specific works. D. Redepenning40, in her section on "Eigenbearbeitungen an der
Geistlichen Musik," curiously does not once mention the Dante Fantasie. though
ironically does mention "Sposalizio," of the same Annees de Pelerinage which
includes the Fantasie; but then she procedes to discuss Sposalizio's classification
with the category of "Ave Maria Kompositionen." With considerable detail,
however, Redepenning had studied the Mephisto Walz under the chapter,
"Bearbeitung und Besetzung," comparing Liszt's orchestral version and the "zwei-
und vierhiindige Klavierversion."41 Apparently, the personal devil (Mephisto)
obtains analytical status via the technicalities of his musical depiction, whereas
the demonic environment, i.e., Hell, in the Dante Fantasie, is not to be considered
"in der geistlichen musik," or so would Redepenning's assessment imply. Perhaps
Redepenning was simply more familiar with the Walz than with the Fantasie.
Winfried Kirsch,42 in a philosophical, Catholic article entitled, "Musik
zwischen Theater und Kirche," includes several mentions of Liszt in Older
jahrhundertalten Diskussion um weltliche und geistliche Idiome der Musik." He cites
the names of Liszt, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Beethoven, and Wagner in "die Diskussion
um die· Kirchenmusikalische Reform." Liszt, although ambivalent in his earlier
years, made "spiiteren klareren Trennung der eigentlichen Kirchenmusik von der
Religiosen Musik."

4000rthea Redepenning, Das Spiitwerk Franz Liszts: Bearbeitungen Eigener Kompositionen

(Hamburg: Verlag der Musikalienhand1ung, 1984), p.ltO. See: Hamburg Beitrage zur Musik
Wissenschaft, Band 27.
41ibid., p.40. .
42Winfred Kirsch, "Musik zwischen Theater und Kirche: Zur Dramaturgie geistlichen Musik der
Neudeutschen Schule," in Liszt Studien-3, ed. Serge Gut (Miinchen: 1986), pp.90-102.
 24

Anselm Hartmann43 points out that Liszt, in 1835, began his own literary
endeavors with an article on "die beklagenswerte Lage der Kunstler, den Zustand der
Musik, Institutionen, Konzerte; einen wesentlichen Platz riiumt er dabei der
Kirchenmusik ein." (In Paris, whence the article was first published, its title was
"De la Situation des Artistes et de leur condition dans la societe.")
Heinmann44 first makes an interesting observation about the importance
of the role of improvisation before certain compositions are written down:

Bereits im Virtuosen Liszt ist die Dichotomie Virtuose-Komponist

angelegt. Der Virtuose des fruhen 19.Jahr-hunderts (Paganini,
Liszt) reproduziert nicht, sondern hat eine Vermittlerrolle. In den
Improvisationen des Virtuosen wird der Vorrat zeitgenossischer
Sprachmoglichkeiten und--eben von Musik in Abstimmung mit den
Erfordernissen des Instrumentes und der Beherrschung seiner
Moglichkeiten wie der Erwartungshaltung des Publikums realisiert.
Dergleichen Improvisationen mogen sich spontan im Konzert
ereignen oder als sogenannte Konzertparaphrasen zu Papier
gebracht werden: sie bleiben weithin identisch.

Later Heinmann devotes an entire section to Liszt's problems with Catholic

theology and authority,45 then another on Liszt's "Kritik der Kirchenstils./46 Liszt
appears in earnest concerning these matters; however, Heinmann doesn't make
the clear distinction between "Kirchenmusik" and "Religiosen Musik" which W.
Kirsch had made. Therefore, it is not surprizing that Heinmann, albeit after
painstakingly asserting the "Dichotomie" of the improviser-composer, does not
mention the Dante Fantasie, a first improvised, later written out piece of

43Anselm Hartmann, Kunst und Kirch: Studien zum Messenschaffen von Franz Liszt (Regensburg:
Gustav Bosse, 1991), p.ll.
44Ernst Gunter Heinemann, Franz Liszt Auseinandersetzung mit der geistlichen Musik (Munchen:
Katzbichler, 1978), p.7.
45Heinemann, op. cit., p.56, f.
46ibid., p.65, f.
 25

obviously "religiosen musik." Of course, the well-articulated confrontation of

religion, church, authority, and aesthetics which Heinmann finds in Liszt's
writings occurs mostly after 1865. Heinmann's study, of course, ends on Liszt's
great choral works, obviously of a liturgical, "Kirchische" musical nature. These
are empirically religious. Abundantly apparent, then, is the necessity to
differentiate between religious music and church music, if one expects to
develop an accurate concept of Liszt' concerns anent the subjects.
In final irony, Elmar Seidel47 makes a reference to a "Teujelsmuhle" (a
neologism intended to mean a "devil's mill", or "devil's grinder") in the Dante
Sonata. Of course, the term is not at all used as a religious reference, but
identifies the specific vexatious harmonic succesion invented by Liszt and used
in various other compositions as well, in two different forms, or modes. (The
succession itself was first identified as a "Teujelsmuhle" in 1978 by Dieter
Torkewitz in his dissertation, "Harmonisches Denken im Fruhwerk Franz Liszts.")
Seidel refers to mm.89-95, whence the (tertian) chromatic mediants of A-flat
minor, B minor, D minor, and F minor are passed through by means of
enharmonic ally diminished chords and an overlapping tonic in the m.d., that is,
G#/ A-flat, B-natural, D, and F. Basically, a diminished seventh is spelled out,
melodically, but each of its letters is made the tonic of a minor tertian chord, in
inevitably chromatic mediant relation to each other. This is the lock-in, or, the
grind-the "Teujelsmuhle." Seidel observes, "Nur sind heir die Mollquartsextakkorde
durch Molldreiklange in der Grundstellung ausgetauschtworden. 1m Unterscheid zum
vorigen Beispiel steht hier der ganze Satz, auch die Partie der rechten Hand, in

47Elmar Seidel, "Uber den Zusammenhang Zwischen Der Sogenannaten Teufelsmiihle und dem
2. MODUS mit Begrenzter Transponierbarkeit in Liszt's Harmonik," in Liszt Studien-2 (Miinchen:
Katzbichler, 1981), p.175.
 26

2.Modus." The Chromatic line is contained in the 5th, or inner voice, of each
chord, i.e., in the m.s. and m.d.: D, E-£lat, F# G#, A, B, C, etc. It is basically an
octatonic scale.
Torkewitz48, of course, had not referred to the Dante Sonata example, but
had simply coined the term "Teufelsmuhle" in reference to a chromatic (bass) line
over which tertian chords formed a perpetually related series of harmonic
successions. The order was basically Dom.7th--Dim.7th--(tonic) 6/4--Dom7th--
Dim7th--(tonic) 6/4, etc.
It is again curious, as in Redepenning's case of the Mephisto Walz, the
subject within religious beliefs is attended, but is not itself considered "religious"
in musical nature. The Devil gets his due, in a mechanical, child's game sort of
way, but Dante's Hell is passed over with nary a singe of thought.

480ieter Torkewitz, Harmonisches Denken in Friihwerk Franz Liszts (Miinchen: Katzbichler, 1978),
p.32.
 27

III SELECTIVE MUSICAL ANALYSIS

As a "Fantasia quasi sonata," this composition would be expected to

comprise some general form of a (classical) sonata: an Exposition, with main
theme material in a tonic, then subordinate, auxiliary themes--usually in a
dominant, sometimes sub dominant key; a Development section in which these
themes are used in different ways, in diverse keys; a Recapitulation in which the
Expository themes recur in usually the tonic key; and a Coda, generally a
finalized statement derived from the principal, main theme. The Dante Sonata
does follow this physiognomical form, after an aggrandized fashion. It has an
impressive Introduction, mm.1-34, in which all the basic thematic material and
characteristic pianistic inventions are presented. (The"Andante maestoso" theme
recurs at structural points, similarly as does the "Grave" material in the
Introduction of the first movement of Beethoven's "Pathetique" Sonata, Op.13).
Mm.3S-ll4 would constitute the Exposition; mm.llS-1B4 seem to function as the
Development; however, this might be extended to include the next 29 measures,
or, mm.llS-214. The Recapitulation, therefore, is either at m.184, or at m.214. the
Coda is an extended one, comprising mm.309-376.
In this "Fantasia," however, the key relationships do not strictly follow the
sonata form. The tri-tone Introduction fades into the D minor tonality of the
Exposition's beginning. The main theme, i.e., the most recurrent in one form or
another, is m.2S, f. The second theme, also recurrent and transformed, begins at
m.103, in F# Major. The Development begins at m.llS, with a restatement of the
Introductory material, albeit in the second of the three possible diminished chord
transpositions, 'i.e., the first was A to E-flat; the second, at m.llS, is D to G#.
(Interestingly, in the Coda, all three transpositions occur in close succession. See
 28

mm.321-327.) This is followed by an extended excursion in F# Major, mm.124-

178, with notable use of C# pedal tones.
If m.183 represents the Recapitulation, it is tonally unstable, and quickly
passes from a C# Major dom. 7th (+ flatted 9th) to B dim. 7th, G-flat dim. 7th, etc.
there is no real tonal settling until m.214, in the key or A-flat Major. If this is the
Recapitulation, it represents a tri-tone relation to the original D minor tonic of
the Exposition. D minor to A-flat Major could be called a chromatic modal trident
relation. (The roots of the two chords are a tri-tone apart, and mode of the
chords changes from minor to major.) The recurring dotted-rhythm thematic
material leads into the subordinate, choral theme, m.252, f., in B Major. This is
followed by a D minor recasting of the developmental section beginning at
m.124, which was in F# Major. The D minor recasting holds an A pedal tone.
The transformed tonic of D Major (Le., instead of the original D minor) is
seductively introduced at m.293. This is in fact the tonic key for the remainder of
the Coda. The final eight measures have transformed the demonic tri-tone into
the archangelical interval: the perfect 5th.
So, then, this particular Fantasia, unlike a sonata, employs various
chromatic mediant'relations at each structural point, rather than tonic-dominant
or sub-dominant relations. The Fantasia transforms the color, mood, harmonic
position and tempo of its themes, rather than breaking them down into smaller
elements and developing them. The Fantasia, when understood, is nevertheless
equally satisfying as musical architecture.
The present essay elects to examine six major elements which comprise
both the musical innovation and the pianistic (i.e., idiomatic) invention of the
Dante Sonata: 1.) The Dotted-Rhythm Notation Figure; 2.) The Tri-Tone
 29

Relations; 3.) The Chromatic Melodic Descent; 4.) The Harmonic Mediant
Relations; 5.) The Chorale Theme; and 6.) Whole-Tone Harmonization.
Following these observations is commentary on less obvious harmonic
procedures, and less obvious rhythmic characteristics.
Because the innovative rhythmic devices in the music involve original
types of notation, several examples from the musical score are presented within
the first" dotted-rhythm" analysis. However, due to the numerous references in
the subsequent analyses, there is included a copy of the complete score at the end
of the essay (Appendix A, p. ,f.) The measures of the score are all numbered, so
that the reader can readily follow the references made within the essay.

1. The Dotted-Rhythm Notation

Andante maestoso

"I"""""-=o4a:'__________ ｾＭ __
____ｾｵＭ
O'!il. •

The opening gesture of the Dante Sonata is, as aurally perceived, a dotted-
rhythm figure; however, it is notated as a series of principal notes preceded by
grace notes (each of the same pitch as its principal). Apparently, Liszt chose to

forgo the notational exactitude of, say, C 7"")1 ))1 tJJ InJJ n)to
for the intensified drama afforded by the "interpretable" grace note. The pianistic
execution of the grace note notation allows for a broadening, an allargando,. as the
descent into the lower registers of the keyboard demands, to insure the clarity of
 30

the gesture. By m.5, the melodic base line involves a dotted-eighth/sixteenth

figure (n j) which, under the ritardando, is considerably broadened, or
dramatized; the phrase ends with the m.d. triple-dotted half/sixteenth, leading
into a rolled (arpeggiated) chord. This last sixteenth, then, is the most slowly
executed of the dotted-rhythm figures.
At mm.20-22, however, Liszt elects to note the dotted-rhythm idea with
exactitude (m.20), then with a new peculiarity: !p 7 n n nr ;p
'f i'

If the rests mean lifting the hands off the keyboard, the riten. molto must begin in
rather early in m.20. Still another rhythmical notation evolves from mm.25-2B. If
this gesture is a pianistic rendering of a string tremolo, mm.29-32,f., a kind of
double-stop tremolo, is noted nevertheless as yet another modified dotted-rhythm
figure:

2.'1 P.P

o 'fm.
# ｾｓ＠ 'fm.
ｪｾＧ＠
n n n ill
0 0

Mm. 29-32,f., are perceived aurally as rj ",P

ｾｌｦｕｉｃ＠
The aural impression of the dotted-rhythm is even more pronounced in the
Presto agitato assai passage following, in which the chromatic melodic line is in
the m.d., and the krouein (i.e., the down beat) is clearly the "longa" of the breve-
longa figure. Cf. mm. 35, 40, 44-48.
The illusion of the dotted-rhythm (longa-breve-Ionga). returns in m.94, then
the literal gesture in mm.95-102.
 31

After a recapitulatory presentation of the grace note notation of the

dotted-rhythm (nun.115,f.), the "Andante (quasi improvisato)" section presents yet
another notation of the same basic rhythmic gesture, nun.124,f.:

ｾ＿ＢＺ［ＭＡＧ＠

r IlIIa t"Orri"
ｾ＠

The portamento (porta to) surely indicates at least a slight raising of the hand

(or fingers) off the keyboard. "T' ｾ＠ "'J" ｨｊＢｾ｜＠ J

The melody is heard as Iｾ＠ } J ) j J' i I etc. In mm.147,f.,
the peculiarity of m.21 reappears as the melody. In the Allegro moderato section

of mm.184-191 the dotted figure appears with exactitude: ｾ＠ J.. >)..) J >. as
inm.20.

Mm.197 and 201 contain another notation: J(J. JJ. D. 1 l

This is similar to the peculiarity of m.20, but with the actual dots on the eighth
notes, eliminating the sixteenth rests.
The ·Piu mosso section of mm. 214, ff., contains the most exact,
conventional notation, of simply f,) n etc., with, however, a few J;J n
notations. M.239 introduces another, simple variant notation: ｾ＠ ..ｾ＠ ..l )J }
and the passage ends with ｾ＠ ) J . ｾ＠ J y) J r,M 0 -..::!..- Ｇｴｨ･ｾｩｮ＠ the
complete dot and the dot/rest are used. I
At m.288, the triple dot returns briefly. The grace note notation returns at
m.309 "with a vengeance." The straight dotted figure comes again in m.321. The
 32

finale allegro vivace version of the chromatic melodic descent theme (mm.330,ff.)
may also be interpreted as containing a breve-Zonga incident, albeit as

syncopation: C 17 J j j ｲｾＩｊＧ＠ j j }
at ell U·
The breve suddenly incorporates three notes in succession, as opposed to the
ususal two, e.g., n n J)
L. __ ｾ＠ __ "

The Presto section at m.342 contains the most creative manipulation of the
(breve)-longa-breve idea:

Presto
.1

a
ｾ＠
r

The dotted-rhythm allusion (illusion) is in the m.d.:

It is the descending melody once again.

The grace note notation returns at m.364, and, with ｾ･＠ exception of m.369
and the dots, continues through the end, so that the composition ends with the
basic gesture by which it began.
 33

2. Tri-Tone Relations

To the most cursory examiner, the descending tri-tone of the opening

measure (and those of the following) is the most notable feature after the
incipient breve-Zanga rhymic gesture (Le., the grace note followed by its own
principal). Within the first two measures there are a total of five descending tri-
tones. The identical gesture is soon repeated, mm.7,8, only transposed a minor
third higher. Mm. 13and 14 begin the gesture again, a tri-tone higher than the
incipient, and present one descent followed by an octave ascent, follwed by one
more tri-tone descent. Mm.16 and 17 represent the same basic gesture, but the
intervals become altered, by a half step adjustment, to a descending perfect 4th,
(an octave ascent), and a descending perfect 5th. M.18 presents a descending
Major 6th (i.e., the third and dim.5th of a dim.7th chord on A), and m.19 the same
descending Major 6th (but instead, as the tonic and 3rd of a minor triad on C);
then appears, simultaneously, a series of ascending (in the m.s.) and descending
(in the m.d.) tri-tones. The m.d. contains a total of seven tri-tones (counting only
the uppermost note of each chord); the m.s. ascends with four tri-tones, then
descends, with the m.d., for another three (counting only the lowermost note of
each chord). This all occurs in the breve-Zonga manner established incipiently.
At m.73, a somewhat rhythmically, registerially "camouflaged"
recurrence lasts a little over the measure, containing six tri-tone descents
(counting the uppermost note in the m.d.). [The greatly aggrandized ascending
diminished chord outlined over five measure (mm.84-89) is not to be considered
related to the tri-tone gesture as herein discussed.] Mm.95-102 have altered the
descending/ascending breve-Zanga tri-tone gesture to perfect 5ths and 4ths.
 34

The quasi-developmental section (beginning at m.11S) opens with the return

of the incipient, albeit truncated rhythmically, and containing four tri-tone
descents instead of five; the second gesture does, however, include the full five
descents (mm.119,120).
At m.l84 begins a developmental recurrence of the incipient descending
tri-tones, in the m.d., in which two consecutive sets of three descents are
juxtaposed. In m.19S, exactly one tri-tone descent is presented, followed in
m.197 by an ascent of two. (This pattern is repeated in mm.198 and 201,
respectively.)
M.214 presents the most forceful recurrence yet of the breve-Ionga motif,
and the affined or ensconced descending 4ths and Sths. Especially is this found
in mm.214,21S; 218, 219; and 222, 223. Mm.236 and 237 come out with the final
perfect interval descent of the series.
M.239 contains two tri-tone descents (m.s.), as do again m.241 and 242
(lowermost note of the chords).
In the faint, reminiscent gesture of mm.288 and 289, a descending perfect
Sth and 4th occur.
Just before the final presentation of the major thematic materials of the
piece (beginning at m.331), mm.321-327 present three groups of descending tri-
tones, the first two containing four each, and the third containing five.
Of course, m.369 yeilds one perfect Sth descent, shortly followed by the
final descents of a perfect Sth, 4th, and Sth (mm.373-376).

If m.llS can be considered the beginning of the restatement (or,

transformation) of materials, we might think that the descending tri-tone gesture
 35

heralds a new "section" when it occurs; yet, in a highly sectionalized piece of

music, its function is actually ambiguous. For example, mm.185-191 seem to end
a section; (mm.192-201 are actually a combination of the tri-tone and another
gesture taken from mm.25-28); mm.239,241, and 243 are in the middle of a
section, and even mm.288 and 289 seem to end a section. However, mm.321-326
do seem to "open" into the finale.
One cannot leave the tri-tone element without also considering a couple of
hidden moments of its occurrence. Mm.32 and 33 faintly echo the descending
perfect 4th, in E-flat Major. M.34 answers with a descending Major 3rd, in A-
Major. E-flat to A is itself the tri-tone, and harmonically, the chords E-flat Major
to A Major represent the chromatic mediant derivative which can be called a
chromatic trident. This idea is again faintly echoed in mm.288-291, wherein the
final A again serves as the dominant of the D tonality to follow.
There is also a hidden sense of the chromatic mediant element in m.66, ff.
Tonality passes from the established D minor to its dominant A Major 7th (with
added lowered 9th); this A Major 7th, in second inversion (Le., with the C# in
the bass) becomes a C# Major 7th, passing into F# Major, in m.67. This is
followed by another C# Major 7th, into F# minor, to B Major, into B minorj the B
minor serves as a sub dominant in F# minor. Mm.76-77 return with the F#
minor /C# Major 7th relationship. Thus, A Major to the C# Major of mm.65 and
66 represent another chromatic mediant relation, obfuscated as it is. Of course,
the D minor tonality to the F# minor is also a chromatic mediant relation.

3. Chromatic Melodic Descent

 36

The next most thematically significant, and musically most memorable

idea, is the extended chromatic descent which forms what might be called a
curious kind of melody. It is introduced in the lowermost register in mm30-32,
and then comprises the Presto agitato assai section, in the m.d.
Shortly after the thematical quasi-development section begining at m.ll5,
this chromatic descending melody is presented again, (mm.124-132) albeit with
greatly reduced agitation, rhythmically, and more soothing ｨｾｲｭｯｮｩ｣｡ｬｹＮ＠ There
is, however, a new harmonic element introduced: an ascending bass line. M.124
is a C# Major 7th (with added 9th); m.128 is an E Major 7th (with added 6th).
Here, the bass line indicated a chromatic mediant relation. Shortly it will
comprise a more strictly chromatic ascending line. Ms. 147-149 and 152-153
present a faint reminiscence of the opening chromatic melodic descent of m.35, f.
M.157 transforms the chromatic descending melody over a second
inversion F# Major triad. M.167, f., must constitute a simple dechromaticized
descending melody, of the same extended character of that from which it is
derived. The bass line of the Piu tosto ritenuto (m.157, f.) begins its chromatic
ascent in the middle of m.160, continuing to 163, then it hovers over a G (which
is C major, second inversion); there is also a hint of remnant ascent in the bass of
ms.167,168. (The dramatic chromatic descent of mm.238-249 probably are not to
be related to the chromatic melodic descent except only in a most generic,
obvious sense.)
Mm.276-285 present genuine recurrence of the opening melodic chromatic
descent, albeit with a hovering over the pedal tone A (of the A Major dominant)
instead of the tonic D minor. The rhythmical contrast is of course borrowed from
the first "transformational" rendition of the idea of m.124, f.
 37

Mm.303-306,309 might be considered a dramatized chromatic ascent of

the bass line idea.
Mm.330-341 represent a rhapsodic version of the "major-ized" version of
the chromatic melodic descent. It was first major-ized over a dominant C#
Major 7th in m.124, f., then again in m.157, f., over a second inversion F# Major
triad.
Mm.342-353 are the cognate of mm.167-177, and the dechromaticized
descending melody. Mm.353-355, interestingly, dramatize the chromatic ascent
suggested in mm.177, 178.

4. Harmonic Mediant Relations

In the Dante Sonata the fundamental use of harmonic mediant relations

(Le., chromatic mediant relations of various sorts) is established by mm.6 and 12;
or, an A-flat Major triad, root position, followed (albeit delayed somewhat) by a
B Major triad, root position. M.15 renders an E-flat minor chord in second
inversion (i.e., third position); m.19 renders a C minor likewise. (Of course, the C
minor chord is followed by a G minor, in first inversion, which itself seems to
function as a iv chord in D minor, which does in fact finally appear in m.30, in
second inversion.)
Mm.90-102 present a series of harmonic (chromatic) mediants. M.90 has
an A-flat minor chord; m.91, a B minor; m.92 has a B minor followed by a D
minor; m.93 has an F minor, followed by an A-flat minor. M.94 has a B minor,
then a D minor, leading to the B-flat Major of m.95. M.95 also follows with G
Major; m.98 renders E-flat Major.
 38

M.107 is a dominant C# Major (without the 7th), which passes into a B-flat
Major in m.109. This B-flat Major paasses into an F# Major dominant 7th
(functioning actually as a IV chord in C# Major), which slips back into C# Major
(second inversion) in m.113.
Mm.119 and 123 offer a G Major and an A# (B-flat) Major tonality,
followed again by a C# Major, m.124.
M.136 begins in F# Major; m.140 is in B-flat Major; m.143 is in D Major.
Mm.146-156 are in G minor, followed by another, special kind of
chromatic mediant reiation, which can be called a chromatic modal relation. The
G minor triad becomes F# Major, by flatting the G and the D and maintaining the
B-flat. It is actually a G-flat Major triad.
M.214 is in A-flat Major; m.218 is in B Major; m.223 is in D Major.
Mm.265 and 266 are in E-flat Major, immediately juxtaposed with C
Major, mm.267 and 268.
Probably one of the most curious harmonic entities in the piece is found in
mm.271 and 272. It is clearly B-flat Major in the m.d.; but it is clearly G minor in
the m.s. It is reminiscent of mm.23, 24, which, in G minor, are shortly followed
by D minor. In the case of m.276,f., the D minor tonality is present, though
ensconced in the A Major dominant 7th. It might be observed that the E-flat
passage of mm.288 and 289, in relation to the A Major triad, constitutes what can
again be called the chromatic trident relation.
There are other altered chromatic mediant relations less obvious, such as
in mm.214, ff. E.g., m.216 has an enharmonic C# minor followed by an A Major
7th, follwed by an F# Major 7th. M.220 repeats this pattern as E minor, C Major
7th, and A Major 7th chords.
 39

Mm.238-249 are most interesting, if audible: (m.238) A dim. 7th; (m.240)F

Major dom. 7th (first inversion); (m.248) D Major dom. 7th in second inversion.
This series is truncated to quarter note successions toward the end of the
passasge.
M.293, f., is in D major; m.297 is in F# Major. This passage, of course, is
another version of what was previously presented in m.l03,f. The F# Major of
297 is shortly followed by A Major in m.301. This basic harmonic set is repeated
in mm.309-319, involving D Major (m.309), F# Major (m.31S), and again D Major,
m.319.
The finale passage of chromatic mediant relations is in the final passage of
the piece, mm.370-37S: B minor; G Major; and E minor.

5. The Chorale Theme

The overtly religious choral theme is such by virtue of its MixoLydian

modality (on F#). It is introduced "in precipitato," in mm.l03-114. Its incipient
modal harmonic nature also involves chromatic mediant relatior.ships, (although
the latter not initially). It is a simple series of notes: A#-B-A#-G#-F#-F-Natural-
E-flat-D. This theme itself might be seen as a "sancified," or "eternalized"
version of the chromatic descent melody, the first dechromaticization, although
its elongation (augmentation) and particularly its underlying harmonization
would seem to obfucscate this association.
Especially the whole-tone harmonization, of F# Major to E Major, under
the first two notes of the theme, then back to F# Major, calls attention away from
the melody itself, emphasizing the raw MixoLydian modal character. The
passsage into the chromatic mediant of B-flat Major (mm.l08,109) makes the
 40

melodic interest even more dependent upon the harmonization. The progressive
rhythmic diminutions, from the whole note even unto the final 16th note, occur
over rapidly changing harmonic sonorities.
M.136 presents again the chorale theme, with harp-like accompaniment,
and the same tonality, i.e., F# Major.
The chorale theme reappears at m.253 for an extended version, or, a
combination of its first half and immediately subsequent repetition, in a different
key. M.253 is in B Major; m.259 is in G Major. These are two chorale theme
appearances, juxtaposed in chromatic mediant relation. M.265 is in E-flat Major,
thus another chromatic mediant relation, followed by yet another, C Major
(m.267). C Major is follwed by B-flat Major, or, a tertian-harmonized whole-tone
relation. (This very phenomenon is the final chord succesion of the piece: E
minor tertian, to D Major tertian.)
The chorale theme appears again, in a high register, in m.293, in D Major.
The grand rendition of m.309, f., is again in D Major.
Both the m.293,f., version and the m.309, f., version involve a D Major-F#
Major-D Major cycle of harmonic successions, whereas the m.136, f., version
begins in F# major, goes to B-flat Major, but then on to D Major, instead of going
back to F# major. The initial version, m.103, f., went from F# Major to B-flat
Major, to C# Major (the dominant of F# Major, but also a chromatic mediant of
B-flat Major).

6. Whole-Tone Harmonization
 41

There is in the Dante Sonata an underlying whole-tone element, which

accounts for several major harmonic passages, and it is something found, to a
lesser degree, throughout the piece.
The first descending scale pattern itself, however, is a chromatic one, in
the bass line over mm.14-20, being C-flat, B-flat, A, G, F#. This, of course, is
chromatic except for the A to G relation. There is a second bass line, in mm.22
and 23: C, B, B-flat, whence the B-flat comprises the 3rd of a G minor triad in
second position (first inversion). The enharmonic B 7th tied over to m.23 might
be considered in chromatic mediant relationship to the G minor 7th following.
However, the descending chromaticism makes this passage most arcane.
There is a hidden chromatic scalar ascent in mm.90-95, beginning with the
D in the m.d.: D, E-flat, E#, F#i E#, F#, G#, Ai B, C, D, E-flat, E#, F#, G, A, B-flat,
and B-natural, (m.95). If anything, this represents an octagonic scale on F#, also
on A. It also contains a hexatonic group: D, E-flat, E#, F#, G#, Ai and a
pentatonic group, F#, G, A, B-flat, and B-natural. However, the chromatic
mediant relations of the harmonic succession of the passage almost totally
disguises this octagonal ascent. The repeated octave line of the m.d. ascends by
minor, or "diminished" 3rds. This is what the ear hears, normally or initially.
The real introduction of whole-tone harmonization begins with the Choral
Theme of mm.103, f.. Forsooth, there is but one instance within the theme, F#
major--E Major--F# Major (bass line), but it is the intial one, and it is entirely
novel at this point in the composition. It stands out as a distinct, mediceval
religious gesture in its ecclesiastical modality. Of course, this incident recurs
with every representation of the choral theme, notably: mm.136,137i mm.293,
294i and mm.309-31l. However, it is the other passages, of a scalar nature, in
 42

which the bass line moves in a whole-tone fashion, and is reenforced by tertian
harmonization accordingly.
A hint begins actually before the initial choral theme entrance. M.99 is in
E-flat Major. M.I00 is immediately juxtaposed as O-flat Major. Both are in
tertian harmony, over an E-flat-O-flat bass movement.
The interesting, more complex example begins at the m.157 passsage.
M.159 is F# Major in second inversion; m.16I is A-flat Major in second inversion;
m.162 is B-flat Major in second inversion; m.163 is C major. The bass line of the
chords is C#, E-flat, F, and G. They are connected by a chromatic step, of course,
which is harmonized by a diminished 7th (0 dim., E dim., and F# dim.,
respectively, representing the three "limited transpositions").
Another whole-tone harmonized ascent of the bass line occurs, less
obviously, in mm.202-206. The passage begins with a C Major dom.7th in root
position; m.204 has a 0 major dom.7th in root position; and m.206 has an E
Major dom.7th in root position. The passage ending includes a quick chromatic
descent (beginning at m.209) in the bass line: 0 dim.7th; C# Major 7th; F minor,
second inversion (C bass); B dim., B-flat Major, 0 minor (second inversion, A
bass); A-flat dim.7th (without the 3rd of the chord); G 7th, dom., implied; etc ..
The clearest extended whole-tone harmonization of a scalar passage (a
descent in this case) begins at m.22S, in the m.d.. It is 0 Major (tertian); C Major;
B-flat Major; A-flat Major; F# Major; E Major; 0 Major; C Major; etc., ending on
the A-flat Major tertian of mm.234-237.
The whole-tone bass ascent of mm.159-164 recurrs in mm.330-334, with 0
Major (2nd Inversion) in m.330; E Major (2nd Inver.) in m.334; F# Major (2nd
Inver.) in m.336, and A-flat Major (2nd Inver.) in m.339. Again the chords are
 43

"pasted" together with dim.7ths, which create an actual chromatic ascent in the
bass line itself.
The final whole-tone tertian harmonization is at mm.371 and 372. The E
minor chord is followed by the D Major finale. Both chords are in root position.

In the Dante Sonata, Liszt also created a harmonic "revolving door" effect,
in which he starts a section in one tonality, progresses through a cycle or series of
tonalities in a sequencial manner, until he arrives at the original tonality
introducing the section. The first major instance of this is the Piu tosto ritenuto
section of mm.157-167, beginning in F# Major and passing through A-flat Major,
B-flat Major, and C major, then back into F# Major. This is done, as already
noted, through the use of dominant 7ths and diminished 7ths.
The second major instance is mm.214-237, beginning in A-flat Major and
ending in A-flat major. Not including the dominant 7ths in a given tonic, a total
of eighteen tonalities are passed through before the return to A-flat major.
Within this series, a sub-sequence is found in mm.228-232, in which D Major is
the beginning and ending, with five passing tonalities in between.
Mm.330-342 represent a final round of D Major through E major, F#
major, A-flat Major, back to D major (m.342). The round that begins with D
Major, (m.364), to C major, to B-flat Major, to A-flat Major, to F# major, stops at
F# major, then, through two chromatic mediants and one whole-tone
harmonized step, returns to D major.

With regard to rhythmic innovations beyond those pertaining to the breve-

Zonga idea, there seems to be a fundamental experimentation with rhythmic
 44

displacement of ideas. The first hint of this comes in m.44, when the 16th-note
anakrousis is accented and its subsequent krouein is not. At the fast tempo, such
an octave leap is likely to produce a natural over-playing of the anakrousis
anyway. However, Liszt's accent creates a different perspective on the
phenomenon. It occurs several times in the following measures. Curiously, m.63
contains an accent on the krouein and, in the same measure, an accent on an
anakrousis. The effect of the anakrousis accents, of course, is to dislocate the
krouein. The ear is uncertain of any significant krouein; the ear can only acquiesce
to the ominous rumbling, or the vibrant, turbulent groaning. The entire Presto
agitato assai section is rhythmically like an amorphous agony, therefore. The
initial measures of the phrases create uneven groups of measures as well.
If this is metric displacement, whether in a single bar or group of bars, then
the next level is mensural displacement, when a gesture's length is incongruous
with a measure, but the gesture is repeated until it finally coincides with a
krouein, usually after three or four measures. 52 The first example of this kind of

52This is to say, when a musical idea or gesture is of shorter length than the measure in which it
occurs, and nevertheless the idea is repeated, consecutively, over a period of several measures, a
certain number of measures must be passed through before the idea will come around on the
krouein as when it began. The mathematical ratio is based on the proportion of the idea length to
the measure. E.g., a two beat idea, beginning on a krouein, in a measure of three beats, will not
come again on the krouein until the third measure.
In the final movement of Beethoven's piano Sonata Op.31 No.2, "The Tempest," there is a simple
example of this type of occurrence in mm.43-49. It is not a hemiola, but the illusion of a special,
artificial suspension of meter, which has the effect of greatly emphasizing the authentic meter
upon its return. (Actually, modem "jazz" musicians often display a certain "viscosity" on a
certain group of notes, repeating them over and over in very much the same way, with very

ｾＺ＠ "-- ｾ＠ ---

much the same effect, as this original Beethovenian gesture.)
ｾ＠ ｾ＠ ｾＭＮ＠ ｾ＠ . . ｾ＠

::: ＬｴＱｩｬｾｦ＠ b:nl:r:r I I: ｾＺ＠ ｾＺｲ＠ Ib:ill:r:rIII:dftfIbil:r:E ｉｾＺｦ＠ fI':rb::r

 45

thing in the Dante Sonata is at m.B4. The combination arpeggio / chromatic descent
of m.B4 ends on the second pulse (beat) of m.B5; the gesture is sequenced
beginning on the 3rd pulse of m.B5, ending on the 4th pulse of m.B6; sequenced

Jonathon D. Kramer called more complex examples of this kind of thing "gestural rhythm" in an
article entitled, "Multiple and Non-Linear Time in Beethoven's Op.13S" in Perspectives of New
Music, II, 2 (Spring-Summer 1973), pp.122-14S.
Scriabin also experimented with this kind of illusion. In his piano concerto in F# Minor, Op.20,
there occurs a fine example in mm.141-14S:
£1-........__ ._._--
BI---
ｾ＠
.... .. .. ｾ＠ i

(Example from 1898, edition M.P.Belaieff.) Scriabin also achieved a great effect in the same,
canonic, displaced metric illusion in his Fantasy Op.28, in the third Piu vivo, section, mm.l09, f.:

II/., ..

(International Music Company edition.)

 46

a second time, the gesture begins on the krouein of m.87, but the chromatic
descent is extended, and ends somewhat ambiguously on the 3rd pulse of m.89.
M.89 begins a new gesture which totally obfuscates any remnant of the
original metric krouein. It creates a mensural displacement which is not resolved
until beginning in m.95, and even thence the new rhythmic gesture involves
syncopation not totally resolved until m.103, albeit two points of resolution occur
in mm.97,98 and 101,102. There may be considered an element of metric
displacement within the first three chords of the chorale theme, also.
Highly refined rhythmic displacement, at the metric level, occurs at m.157.
When executed accurately, it is an aural illusion of amorphous exudation, or
timeless scintillation. It is actually a combination of several different rhythmical
patterns, each disguised, and occurring simultaneously. The m.s. figure is
straight 16ths (in Common Time), minus the first krouein and de-krouein, as well
as the 2nd and 4th pulses. This in itself is acutely ambiguous. Above this, in the
m.d., there are triplets to the quaver. The second 16th of each triplet stands out as
the chromatic descent melody, alla maggiore e quasi leggiero. Of course, after one
recognizes the melody, one notices that the entire melody is metrically displaced
by a 16th (i.e., one 6th of a pulse, in this case of 16th triplets to a quaver). M.167
farther displaces the melody by putting an accent in the m.s., one eighth of a
quaver triplet (i.e., one third of a pulse) after the krouein. Of course, the m.d.
presents an initial broken octave of the same pitch, so that b2, b3, and b (three
registerially distinct B's) are heard in rapid succession, only the first of which is
heard on the krouein, but unaccented, until m.175, con rinJorzandi.
Mm.181-184 create a mensural pulsar ambiguity unresolved until m.185.
This pattern, actually syncopation, appeared in suggestion in mm.95-102i it is
 47

aggrandized in mm.238-249, especially in mm.244-249. The pattern ends on the

2nd pulse of m.249; which serves as the beginning of a new pattern, also
mensurally displaced, not resolving until m.253. Thus, two mensuraZ
displacements are juxtaposed, creating an extended succession of violent pulses,
with displaced mens ural allignment for approximately eight measures, or
mm.245-252.
Mm.330, ff., contain a metric displacement, but resolved within each
measure. This is merely syncopation, and not really displacement. It is mm.342,
ff., which present the final and most complicated metric displacement. Though
comparable to mm.157, ff., or 167, ff., m.342, ff., also involve the Zonga-breve idea,
ensconced within the metric displacement. In the m.d., the displacement actually
continues through m.363.
 48

IV. COMMENTARY: The Sonata and the Comedy

Obviously, the music of Liszt's Dante Sonata is related to the poetry of the
Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri (b.Florence, 1265-1321). Inquiry anent this
relation requires consideration of the immediate contents of the Divine Comedy,
(c.1306-1313}.The sparse references of Kentner and Walker (pp. 16-18 of the
present essay) to the Divine Comedy, though specific, are nonetheless simply
insufficient for one attempting to understand the Comedy's relation to the entire
Dante Sonata. Domling's remark (p.13 of the present essay) that the Sonata is a
poetic reflexion of the Comedy, and not a direct, verse by verse musical
recreation, is essentially true;50 neverthesless, the vividness, or the
"unmistakable atmosphere" (Searle, p.1S of the present essay) of the Dante Sonata
beckons some very clear emotional imagery, a superabundance of which is
afforded by the Divine Comedy.
Historically, the Divine Comedy reflects conditions of human consciousness
in Italian late-Medireval and early Renaissance civilization.51 On the matter of
tyranny in the city states, Burkhardt52 says "Despotism.. .fostered in the highest

50Liszt's Dante Sonata does have the same title as Hugo's poem, "Apres une lecture de Dante," of
1836, (32 lines of rhymed cuplets). D6mling is corrrect in saying that both Hugo's poem and
Liszt's Sonata are "poetic reflexions" on the Comedy, and not annotations. However, it does not
follow that Liszt's Sonata was inspired by Hugo's poem. After all, Franz and Marie read Dante in
Italy, not Hugo.
It is interesting to note, however, that Hugo later wrote a substantial poem called, "La vision de
Dante." This was from the serie complementaire, published in 1883, subsequent to the original, La
Legende des Siec1es, published in 1859. (Both publications bear the same title.) La vision de Dante
was written in 1853. It contains 740 lines of rhymed cuplets in stanzas of various length. It is
more of a miniature recreation of a Comedy, not a reflexion "apres une lecture" thereupon. It is a
journey, complete with guides, spirits, and surrealistic psychal scapes. It is apocalyptic in nature.
51The term "Renaissance," in reference to European political, social, and literary history, has
Significantly broader dates then when referring to music history. Dante Alighieri lived from 1265
to 1321. The Divine Comedy, a late, mature work, appeared, by parts, c.1306-1313.
52Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, trans. S. G. C. Middlemore (Vienna:
The Phaidon Press, 1937), p.71.
 49

degree the individuality of the tyrant...but also of the men whom he protected or
used ..., the secretary, minister, poet, and companion." Furthermore, Italy had
begun "to swarm with individuality; ... Dante's great poem would have been
impossible in any other country in Europe."53 Finally, "Good and evil lie
strangely mixed together in the Italian States ...The personality of the ruler is 50
highly developed, often of such deep significance, and so characteristic of the
conditions and needs of the time, that to form an adequate moral judgement on it
is no easy task."54 The Divine Comedy, in this context, is really an elaborate,
creative analysis and commentary on the human condition, prompted by a
certain cognative dissonance generated by the ambiguity and complexity of human
behavior of the times. The Roman Catholic Church had set austere moral
standards, yet its hierarchy set the leading example of profanity, according to
Machiavelli.55 With this kind of abject irresolution, it is no surprise that profound
contrast would become a principle of artistic expression, nor that Romanticism
would discover the value of Dante and Petrarch, and would espouse their artistic
concepts.
In the Dante Sonata, gigantic contrasts of dynamics, pitch register, and
tempo are incessant and uniquely dramatized by bold juxtaposition. This is
certainly in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance ethos. However, the Sonata is
not musique aprogramme, scene by scene musical depiction of the Comedy. Rather,
it is a series of vivid II atmospheric II impressions which, juxtaposed, create a

53Burckhardt, p.70.
54ibid., p.9.
55Niccol6 Machiavelli, The Prince and the Discourses, Intro. Max Lerner (New 'tork: Modem
Library, 1940), p.151: "The nearer people are to the Church of Rome...the less religious they are."
"The evil example of the court of Rome has destroyed all piety and religion in Italy, which brings
in its train infinite improprieties and disorders." "We Italians then owe to the Church of Rome
and to her priests our having become irreligious and bad." Machiavelli lived from 1469 to 1527; n
principe e I discorsi appeard in 1513.
 50

compelling musical process, or journey. The student of the Sonata would do well
to consider, not the entire narrative of the Comedy, but certain especially dramatic
scenes therein, in a flexible chronological order, so as to suit the order of musical
depiction of the same. The music creates a narrative of its own which, in a sense,
might be enhanced by images offered by the Comedy.56
The opening of the Dante Sonata, which is a combination dotted-
rhythm/tri-tone descent, is a stentorian, striking, annunciatory gesture. That it
represents a precipitous fall into Hell, however, is not necessarily the case. The
inscription above the Gate of Hell, to which more than one commentator has
referred this incipient musical gesture, does not appear until the 3rd Canto of the
Inferno, and there is no description of a descent immediately before or after. In
fact, in the initial terrors of the first twenty-eight lines of the 1st Canto, Dante had
unaccountably found himself within "una selva oscura e selvaggia, aspra e forte," at a
valley "che m'avea di paura il cor compunto." It is from this point that his intent is
to climb the lonely slope ahead. Furthermore, just before Dante and Virgil reach
the Gate of Hell, Dante reports "intrai per 10 cammino alto e silvestro." (Inferno, 2nd

56In regard to visual illustrations, there are various editions of the Divine Comedy which contain
original illustrations. Two of the best of these are: Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy,
Intro.,ltalian, trans. and commentary by Allen Mandelbaum (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1980-82), vols. I-lli, illustrations by Barry Moser; Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, trans.
Lawrence Grant White (New York: Pantheon Books, 1948), illustrations by Gustav Dore. There is
an earlier edition of the last two sections of the Comedy: Purgatory and Paradise, trans. Rev. Henry
Frances Cary (New York: Cassell & Company, Ltd., 1883). The illustrations are again by Dore, all
that are in White's edition, and many which are not. There are eight (pIs. 2, 7, 19, 22,25,34,42,
44) within the first ten of Cary's Canti alone. All are reproduced much more clearly than those in
the White edition.
Of perhaps more interest are the editions of exclusive illustrations: Lamberto Donate, II Botticelli
e Ie prime Illustrazioni della Divina Commedia (Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 1962); Milton Klonsky,
Blake's Dante (New York: Harmony, 1980) with 102 plates; The Dore Illustrations for Dante's Divine
Comedy (New York: Dover, 1976) containing all the Dore illustrations in the clearest
reproduction. Botticelli's pictures are sketchy, simple, and undramatic; Blake's are conservative,
simplistic, and not realistic; Dore's are by far the most dramatic and characteristic of ｴｨＨｾ＠
literature they illustrate.
 51

Canto, 1.142.} Of course, when m.1l5 repeats this dotted-rhythm/tri-tone

incipient descent, we are not to imagine that we are back at the fearful valley, the
terrorized forest, nor at the Gate of Hell, etc. Initially, Dante is simply lost,
amidst a terrifically grand, almost supernaturally fearful forest. Dore's "Dante
astray" is a fair illustration of the feeling. (See, White, p.xvi. New Age and
fantasy art represent appropriate styles of illustration. Many of the great works
of Boris, e.g., would make excellent depictions of Dante.)
If the Presto agitato assai is the distant groaning of souls just inside Hell's
gate, as some have suggested, one could take this musical gesture to depict then
many other incidents when Dante hears" 'ntrono accoglie d'infiniti guai" from a
"valle d'abisso dolorosa." (See, e.g., Mandelbaum, Inferno, 4th Canto, 1l.7-9.) Also,
any number of Dore's illustrations are appropriate. (See, e.g., White, pp.13, 25,
43, etc.)
The first serious programmatic incongruity would occur at m.103.
Following an exciting series of various, precipitous ascents and descents, we
arrive at the magnificent "choral theme," fortissimo, with falling octaves, in
precipitato. One looks for a plateau or a peak of triumph somewhere in the
Comedy's narrativej alas, there is none in the vicinity of the Inferno. The
beauteous but brief appearances of the Muses, Beatrice,. Lucia, and Rachel, are
not described in such a way as to suggest the supreme sense of elation in
mm.103-ll5. Though, e.g., "Lucevan Ii occhi suoi [Beatrice's] piu che la stella,"
when she spoke to Dante the sound of her voice came "soave e piana, con angelica
voce." (Inferno, 2nd Canto, 11.55-57.) This, moreover, was before the approach to
the Gate of Hell, at the 3rd Canto.
 52

Clearly, the music has passed from an intimidating, terrifying beginning,

to an equally prodigious, triumphant plane. However, we are only at m.ll5, the
beginning of the transformational, "B" section. The entire sojourn through the
Inferno, unto the Fourth Ring of the Ninth Circle (34th Canto) depicts no scene so
wonderful as mm.103-113. The music has simply become, undeniably,
independent of the Comedy, so far as chronology is concerned.
The dream-like trance state of mm.124-156, and the intense rapture of
mm.157-17B, are surely not found in the Inferno. We must turn then to Il
Purgatorio (if not n Paradiso). Here the more realistic depictions of human life are
presented. The Mount of Purgatory and its Earthly Paradise is a process
whereby the desires of the heart are educated. 57 Certainly, mm.124-156 create
the effect of longing or yeaming. Consider Liszt's musical directives: (m.124, f.)
dolcissimo con intimo sentimento; (m.157, f.) dolcissimo con amore .. Indeed, Dante's
guiding companion through the Earthly Paradise is Beatrice. Whereas Virgil had
led Dante through Hell and Purgatory, Beatrice leads him through the Earthly
Paradise and then to il Paradiso. Beatrice Portinari (1266-1290), of course, was a
real person, and a life-long beloved female in Alighieri's mind. He had regarded
her as the implicit incarnation of the divine way; thus, she is his guide through
the literary Earthly Paradise. (See Appendix A, note under p.lO.) Perhaps the
music of this section is meant to represent "that inborn and perpetual thirst for
heaven created with mankind." (White, Paradise, 2nd Canto, 1l.19,20.)
Of course, the quasi sonata has its "quasi" recapitulation at m.1B4. It is not
reasonable to look for such a return of narrative materials in the Comedy. The
violence of mm.35-102, leading to the climax of the Choral Theme of mm.103, f.,

57To be educated, corrected, even punished, is associated with purgation. The object, of course,
is reform, not torture. It is purification.
 53

is repeated in'mm.202-249 (esp. mm.238-299) and reaches a plateau of another,

albeit more serene rendition of the same Choral Theme. Mm.276-285, marked
"lamentoso," faintly echo the extended "distant groans" of the original mm.35-76,
also marked "lamentoso." However, this late-appearing version is cast in the
longing, yearning mode of the episode at m.124, f., marked "dolcissimo con intimo
sentimento." Again, this is undoubtedly musical transformation, but not a
literary depiction of purified souls in the Earthly Paradise. Also, if there is any
"closing of the gate of Hell," (as Kentner interprests mm.273-275 58), it is not until
after the last lamentazioni, or, mm.288-291. In any case, no such gate ever closed
in the Inferno. The way out of Hell was a "cammino ascoso," lie poco pende."
(Inferno, 34th Canto, 11.132,133.)
Surely, Kentner's "glimpse into Paradise" is mistaken. Mm.293, f., are
indeed very distant sounding, as if to depict the glistening of heavenly light; but
it is rather the final return of the grand Choral Theme at m.309, in the
transformed tonic (i.e., D Major instead of D minor), which begins a sense of
heroic, triumphant resolve. There is one more episode of the dramatized
descending tri-tones in mm.321-326, and one more gesturally accentuated
chromaticism in mm.327-329; but this is simply musical drama, and it is
followed by a sense of rhapsodic passion and free-flowing ecstacy. Mm.356-376
create perhaps the most monumental sense of triumph in all piano literature.
The final eight measures are surely a musical colossus incarnatus. If triumph in its
purest sense is in any way to be associated with Paradise, then Liszt, in the
ending of the Dante Sonate, gave more than a glimpse The dotted-rhythm figure,
the descending tri-tone, essentially the opening of the Inferno, indeed are

58Kentner, in Walker, Liszt: The Man and His Music, op.cit., pp.94,95.
 54

transformed into absolute victory. In this sense, Liszt succeeded in the Dante
Sonata where he later "failed" in the Dante Symphony.
Perhaps this later inadequacy was only in part due to Wagner's
suggestions of the impossibility and impropriety of Paradise--as a concept.59
Perhaps Liszt, in the Dante Symphony, had simply chosen not to employ his
earlier Sonata's concept of Paradise-as-triumph. Experiencing Dante's Paradiso
involves an identification and magnification of Love as divinity, and a total
unification therewith. Perhaps it was Liszt's personal frustrations in earthly love
which eclipsed this Dantean, Platonic, ethereal concept, leaving its expression to
the later Dante Symphony and its Magnificat for women's voices. The earlier,
heoric triumphs of the Sonata were much more realistic, more "earthy." That had
been Paradise in the mind of a younger man. It was heroic achievement, victory,
and finality.
The problem of conceiving of Paradise was never limited to Liszt and
Wagner in the mid-nineteenth century Europe. In many other cultures, as well
as in the Judeo-Christian civilization, the appeal of Paradise is strong, and yet
elusive. This is perhaps due in part to its instinctive nature and innate presence
in the human psyche.60 The Jesuit James Torrens61 has recognized the problems
of Dante's Paradiso in a contemporary (1993) context:

59To be accurate, the very word "paradise" is one which most Indo-European languages have
maintained from its original, Persian form, "paradqeza," in reference to the terraced gardens which
the ancient shahs created for their wives. It literally means "earth terraced." In the context of the
present essay, however, the word "paradise" means eternity, happiness, and freedom from pain.
It was perhaps Milton, in Paradise Lost, who first associated the word "paradise" with the original
bliss of the Garden of Eden. See, Genesis chs.1-3. Dante's Paradiso is not thither, but heavenly.
60Freud spoke of the "consolation of the religious illusion," and the illusion as something which
"need not be false ...llrucalli;able or incompatible with reality." Sigmund Freud, The Future of an
Illusion, trans. W.D.Robson-Scott (1927, rpt. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957), pp.88,53. He
later (1929) spoke of Romain Rolland's idea of "the true source of religious sentiment." .It is the
"sensation of etemity... of something limitless, unbounded ... oceanic," said Rolland. Freud himself
confesses a lack of such sesation, calling it rather a feeling of being one with the external world as
 55

What about "'Paradise"? Here, one would think, is the most

absorbing of all subjects, the one where we humans have
most at stake. Here, in the dwelling place of God and His
holy ones, all our fantasy and desire, as well as our faith, can
have full play.62

Yet, Torrens confesses that "Paradise" is, paradoxically, more arduous than "Hell"
or "Purgatory." "The story line is weaker," he admits, (though on a different basis
than judged Wagner, who rejected the idea of Paradise, at least as a moralistically
functioning dogma of the Catholic Church). There is less plot, less drama. "The
story on its human level is about Dante's rapturous devotion to the transformed
woman Beatrice, who is also his source of illumination, his teacher of the divine."
She also undergoes such beauteous transformation as to become meaningful, or,
appreciable, only by her Maker. 63 She, of course, is leading Dante closer and
closer to the perfection of Divine Love, but she is only an intermediary, or, the
reflector of the lumen gratiae, to which Dante steadily proceeds.
To associate the approach to the eternal bliss with the earthly attractions
of a female, however, belies a certain equivocability, inauthenticity or, contrivance
in Dante's Paradiso. There is a certain Freudian, psychological naturalness,
hence, a non-literal, wholly imaginary concept at work. Liszt's triumphant
Paradise in his Dante Sonata is, in its pure, intense emotional sense of grandeur, is
a much more realistic heaven. The sheer physical excitation of the music
transcends the sublimated imagination of sexual love. The Dantean sublimated

a whole, at best. It is "ideational," more than quintessentially emotional. Sigmund Freud,

Civilization and Its Discontents, trans. James Strachey (1929, rpt. New York: Norton, 1961), p.1l,12.
61James Torrens, S.J., Presenting Paradise (Scranton: University of Scranton Press, 1993). Torrens
renders a new translation as well as a much needed annotation of each Canto of the Paradiso.
62Torrens, op. cit., p.B.
63ibid., p.235.
 56

emotion of sexual catharsis is too personal to create a sense of eternity, too

subjective, too occasional, or incidental, notwithstanding its sublimation. It is
rather the profound physical elation of heroic, eternal achievement, in the
Beethovenian sense, and not the natural momentary function of the body, which
is more universal, phenoinenological, and more believable.
Inasmuch as the Judeo-Christian scriptures, however, are themselves the
source of the subject of Paradise for both Dante and Liszt, the last word shall be
appropriately given them:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more
sea. And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband. and I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself
shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Revelation 21: 1-4. (KJV. London: Robert Barker, 1611.)
Perhaps the student of the Dante Sonata would do better to study the ancient
scriptures themselves, rather than their historical interpretations, however
artfully such interpretations ensconce the scriptures. One thing is certain: to
create a successful performance of the Dante Sonata, the pianist is required to
achieve unprecedented feats of strength, endurance, and above all, the effect of
triumph. Without athletic commitment, the performance cannot rise above
frustration and disappointment, which, more often than not, is the unfortunate
fate of the music. Like the cowards in the vestibule of Dante's Hell, pianists fail
of heavenly triumph through inertia, or, lack of commitment. They are like the
wailing chorus of cowardly angels, che non furon ribelli ne fur fedeli a Dio, rna per se
 57

fuoro. (Mandelbaum, Inferno, 3rd Canto, 1l.38,39.) Indeed, at the incipient

measures of Liszt's Dante Sonata, "All cowardice must here be overcome."
(White, Inferno, 3rd Canto, 1.15.)
 58

AFTERWORD

The subject of religion's rOle in the life of Franz Liszt, and in his music, is
obviously an essential one in understanding both his ideas about it, and his
musical expression of those ideas. The brief citations in this essay have scarcely
indicated the depth of the subject. Merrick's64 work is the most concentrated
and complete, yet many significant remarks of Liszt on the subject of religion are
absent therefrom. The researcher is left to glean from secondary sources, books
and journals, whose subjects and chapters are organized so that certain of these
divisions may have headings or titles that indicate a likely setting in which to
find the desired segments of Liszt's thought. However, the desired information
is not always to be found in works whose subject is Liszt himself; and even when
one is searching a Liszt volume or journal, the desired material may be found
under a chapter or heading completely unexpected and unrelated.
Taylor65 presents a classic example of this. Under the chapter, "The Prince
and the Princess of Altenburg," he quotes, simply in passing, one of the most
Significant statements about Liszt's concept of the relation of religion and music.
After rehearsing the Wagnerian objection to Liszt's attempt to express n Paradiso
in music, Taylor makes many insightful comments about Liszt, then says,

Indeed, he [Liszt] came to see the innate spirit of music itself

as virtually identical with that of the Christian [Catholic]
religion. "One may say," he wrote to Joseph d'Ortique, friend
from his Paris days, "that music is religious in essence and,
like the human soul, Christian by nature. And when it is
united with words, what more natural use could it make of its

64paul Merrick, Revolution and Religion in the Music of Liszt (Cambridge: Cabridge University
Press). See: fn.lO, p.4, of the present essay.
65Robert Taylor, Franz Liszt, op. cit., p.l47.
 59

powers than to sing the glory of God and thus act as a

mediator between the two worlds, the finite and the eternal?"

Taylor does not identify this letter, but its content shows that it is clearly from
the period during which Liszt was making his way into the Catholic hierarchy.
Princess Carolyne's involvments and connections with the hierarchy, of course,
facilitated Liszt's progress therein. Taylor offers an excellent bibliography and
source classification, albeit, in his own text, created in a popular style,
nevertheless makes no use of any footnotes or end notes, even when directly
quoting.
Rostand 66 quotes a letter from Liszt to Carolyne, dated 16 September 1856:

I have taken a serious stand as a religious, Catholic composer.

Now this is an unlimited artistic field and I feel I have a
vocation to cultivate it vigorously... I can say this in all good
faith and without pretension, that among the composers I
know, none has a more intense and deeper feeling for
religious music than your humble servant.

Rostand is most appropriate in pointing out that Liszt's "religious inspiration

manifested itself not only in pure liturgical music, or in oratorios, but also in a
number of piano compositions starting with Harmonies poetiques et religieuses (the
first outlines of which stem from his period of romantic Catholicism during the
1830's) up to the two Legendes and the last book of the Annees de peierinage
composed when he was middle-aged. Although Rostand typically fails to
mention the Dante Sonata as an experimental example of "religious" music,
nevertheless he has differentiated between liturgical religious music and non-

66C1aude Rostand, Liszt, trans. John Victor (New York: Grossman, 1972), pp.149-151.
 60

liturgical religious music. (In this he preceded W. Kirsch's published

differentiation by nearly fifteen years. See fn.40 of the present essay.)
The point is simple: Liszt's idea of religious music transcended the
liturgical associations. He was principally a pianist. The piano was born, not in
the church, but in the court, or the salon. Its primal associations are not,
therefore, with religious sentiment, but with the secular gamut of human
emotion. The fact that Liszt would conceive of "religious" music, non-liturgical
music, for the piano, indicates clearly that he did in fact consider religious
sentiment as an entity separable from liturgical context. It normally occurred in
liturgical context, but, according to Liszt, it could occur elsewhere. Religious
sentiment was not therefore an artificial creation of the cathedral. This is,
philosophically, an advanced articulation of the concept of music itself, as well as
a controversial concept of religious sentiment (i.e., theology). Even though Liszt
considered Beethoven among those who represented "the summit of Catholic
art,"67 Beethoven had not thus attempted to differentiate explicitely between the
liturgical (or, text-based) religious music and, say, instrumental (Le., piano)
music.
The Dante Sonata uses various harmonic and musical gestures which had
been, in Western music, long established as depictions of religious sentiment.
Most of this religious association was the result of established usage;
nevertheless, Liszt attempted to expand or to develop those principal
grammatical dicta which he had received. Historically, the Dante Sonata
represents one of the first attempts to create music with 1) the idea that religious
music could be independent from a liturgical context, and 2) the idea that its

67Rostand, op. cit., p.150.

 61

instrumentation could be non-vocal, non-organal, or otherwise non-ecc1esiastical

in tradition.
 62

APPENDIX A: Translations

The material from this essay translated, from French, German or Italian, is here
listed in chronological order as it appears on the given page of its citation. One
asterisk, e.g., indicates that the translation is first in the order; two asterisks
means that the translation is second, etc. Not all material is translated, though all
portions are still in a chronological sequence, according to the given page cited.
Commentary is parenthetical.

(p.lO) "One day she wrote in her journal, bitterly: "Those that I love have not
penatrated the surface of my love. Dante, Beatrice." And Liszt who discovered
and read this, cut to the quick: "It is the Dantes who make the Beatrices, and
they really last eighteen years!
....Is it the feverish Roman summer which embittered one against the other?
{Liszt must have known about the peculiar, Platonic relationship between
Dante and Beatrice. The latter two met, for the first time, in 1274, at the home of
Beatrice's father. The two were then nine years of age. They saw each other,
later in life, apparently only once. Dante's "spiritual" ｦ･ｩｴｾｯ＠ of her influenced
him for the next eighteen years, or, until her death in 1290 (at age 25), and until
two years after, when he married Gemma Donati, in 1272. In Vita Nuova Dante
reveals his life's silent, spiritual love for her, and its consequent influence on
himself. This work was written within the year of Beatrice's death.)
(In fact, she probably knew little of him, or of his psychological
relationship to her image in his mind. It was all imaginary, even in visionary
form at times. He was but a distant, passionate devotee. She became a married
woman, of course. In Dante's mind, however, which idolized her, she was still a
"spiritual" guide. It is in this sense, no doubt, that Liszt claimed it was the
Dantes that made the Beatrices, and that they lasted eighteen years. It is not
uncommon for great artists to have such psychological attachment to a distant,
unseen female; d. e.g., Guillaum de Machaut, Tschaikowsky, etc.)

(p.14) "the general form of this composition, its poetic origin and its musical
valour allow it to equal these symphonic poems, although it is written for piano .
....The elements of the work are exposed in the slow introduction, and all
that follows is a powerful thematique outworking.
......that he had proven it precisely in the first of his great works [Le., the
Dante Sonata] .
......*Liszt's Sonata has neither directly to do with Dante's Comedy, nor is it
an illustration of Hugo's poetry; it is, like Hugo's poetry, a poetic reflection of
the poetry of Dante.

(p.l6) Essentially, this is to say that the old form tradition is completely broken
and overturned. This is indicated from the very title of the piece [Le.,
 63

Prolegomenes a la Divina Comedia: Fantaisie symphonique pour Piano, or Fanaisie

quasi sonata].

(p.20) I'D,C,B-flat,A-flat,F#, each harmonized by a perfect major chord, which, in

reality, give to the left hand a descent of three scales by the keys' simultaneity...
This fashion of writing, not that which was retained by that which followed, was
no less resolutely novel and audacious for the age.
(This is to say, D,C,B-flat imply one key (of B-flat major); C,B-flat,A-flat
imply another (of A-flat major), and B-flat,A-flat,F#(G-flat) imply a third key (of
G-flat major). These illusory keys are not so much simultaneous as they are in
succession. What the ear also hears is simply a descending whole-tone scale,
from D to G-flat. Of course, the right hand line is ascending (F#,G,B-flat,C,D-
flat), so that the top and bottom lines are moving in opposite directions. This
creates the effect of grand expansion.)
**This principal of linking perfect major chords with descending notes
dates back to the 1840's. We have already encountered this in the sketches of the
Dante Sonata.
***The arrangement of the left hand accentuates the dissonant character of
the chord. One equally notices the enharmonic change of E# to F-Natural,
written intentionally--when it is always on the dominant of F#--to arrive in the
tonality of C. Liszt is often fond of these equivocable enharmonics which to him
provide an intellectual satisfaction. In fact, the exceptional resolution was quite
rare in the time of its presentation.

(p.22) The fact that Liszt, passed the period of youth, no longer let himself be
tempted by unusual methods, is all the more surprizing as he had encouraging
examples around him. We cite here only some cases.

(p.24) *the lamentable situation of the artist, of the state of music, institutions,
concerts; an essential place it yeilds therewith [to] church music
**Even in Liszt the virtuoso, the dichotomy of the virtuoso-composer is
evident. Virtuosos in the early 19th century (Paganini, Liszt) did not reproduce,
[compositions] but took a transmitter role. The virtuoso, in his improvisations,
explores contemporary musical languages in balance with the requirements of
his instrument and the control of his abilities as well as the expectations of the
audience. Such improvisations may occur spontaneously in concert or be
brought to paper as a so-called concertphrase. They remain largely identical.

(p.25) Only here are the minor 6/4 chords exchanged for minor chords in root
position. This whole movement appears in the 2nd modus, also the part of the
right hand, differing from the 1st example.

(p.50) [I] entered by a lofty and wild [forested] pathway

 64

(p.S1) the valley of abyssal sorrow whose thunder takes in incalculable woe
(This passage, like the whole of the Divine Comedy, has been translated
many, many different ways. Musa (Penguin, 1971) wrote, "griefs abysmal valley
that collects the thunderings of endless cries." Gittings (Shocken, 1966) had
written, "that abysmal valley muttering with gathered miseries, late and early."
Mackenzie (Folio Society, 1979) later wrote, "abyss of woe that thunders with the
sound of endless wails." Mandelbaum (University of CA, 1980) wrote, "the
melancholy valley containing thunderings, unending wailings." Strand (Echo,
1993) writes "abyss of pain, a vale of endless cries." Sisson (Oxford, 1993) writes,
"the valley of the sorrowful abyss which echoes with infinite lamentations." The
present author's translation, though not poetic, is most accurate of these cited.
(The poetry of Dante is verbally volatile; the words are action-packed, and
thus translations are both multitudinous and vicissitudinous. Each translator
attempt to be the poet anew. It is an arduous task to select a "best English"
translation, though Sisson's and Musa's seem to be the best. Also, there have
been many changes in Italian word spellings since Dante's day. E.g., trono now
means "throne," when it once meant "thunder." Today, thunder is tuono. ).

(p.53) a hidden pathway, a slight incline.

 65

APPENDIX B: The Musical Score of the Dante Sonata

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one. }"lealie lot lIIe Imow, aga1n, as soon a3 poss1.ble, I am trying to
graduate 19 "ugust, (1994).

Thank you for your ｾｯｮｳＱ､･ｲ｡ｴＮ＠

f.Z. I. I specif1cally want to use the Fantasia quas1 Sonata (VII).

Ｂｾｰｲ･Ｘ＠ UM Lecture du Dante" Ilhich 1& ｰｾＮ＠
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 66
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REFERENCES

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy, Intro., It. trans., Allen Mandelbaum
(Berkelely: University of California Press, 1980-82)

_ _ _ _ _. The Divine Comedy, trans. Lawrence Grant White (New York:

Pantheon Books, 1948)

Donate, Lamberto. II Botticelli e Ie Prime lllustrazioni della Divina Commedia

(Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 1962)

Dore lllustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy (New York: Dover, 1976)

Becket, Walter. Liszt (London: J. M. Dent, 1956)

Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, trans. S. G. C.

Middlemore (Vienna: The Phaidon Press, 1937)

Calvoccorssi, M. D. Franz Liszt (Paris: Librairie Renouard, 1905)

Cary, Rev. Henry Francis, trans. Purgatory and Paradise (New York: Cassell &
Co., Ltd., 1983)

Corder, Frederick. Ferenc Liszt (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1925)

Domling, Wolfgang. Franz Liszt und Seine Zeit (Regensburg: Laaber-Verlag,

1985)

Domokos, Zsuzsanna. "Carl Czernys Einfluss auf Franz Liszt: Die Kunst des
Phantasierens," in Liszt-Studien-4, ed. Serge Gut (Miinchen: 1993)

Fetis, Franc;ois-Joseph. Esquisse de histoire de l'harmonie consideree comme science

systematique (Paris: 1840)

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents, trans. James Strachey (1929, rpt.
New York: Norton, 1961)

______. The Future of An Illusion, trans. W. D. Robson-Scott (1927, rpt.

Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957)
-
Gut, Serge. Franz Liszt: Les Elements du language musical (Universite de Poitiers:
Klincksieck, 1975)
 91

_ _ _-I' ed. Liszt-Studien-3 (Miinchen: 1986)

_ _ _-I' ed., Liszt-Studien-4 (Miinchen: 1993)

_ _ _--'. "Die Historische Position Der Modalitiite Bei Franz Liszt," in Liszt-
Studien-1, ed. Wolfgang Suppan (Graz: 1977)

Hamburger, Michael, trans. Beethoven: Letters. Journals, and Conversations

(Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, 1960)

Hartmann, Anselm. Kunst und Kirch: Studien zum Messenschaffen von Franz Liszt
(Regensburg: Gustav Bosse, 1991)

Heinemann, Ernst Giinter. Franz Liszt Auseinandersetzung mit der geistlichen

Musik (Miinchen: Katzbichler, 1978)

Hugo, Victor. "Apres une lecture de Dante," from "Les Voix Interieures," in (Euvres
Poetiques, ed. Pierre Albouy (Tours: Editions Gallimard, 1968)

_____. "La vision de Dante," from "La Legende des Siecles," (serie
complementaire) in Victor Hugo: Poesie, pref. Jean Gaulmier (Paris:
Editions du Seuil)

Kentner, Louis. "Solo Piano Music: 1827-61," in Liszt: The Man and His Music,
ed. A. Walker (London: Barrie & Jenkens, 1970)

Kirsch, Winfred. "Musik zwischen Theater und Kirche: Zur Dramaturgie Geistlechen
Musik der Neudeutschen Schule," in Liszt-Studien-3, ed. Serge Gut
(Miinchen: 1986)

Klonsky, Milton. Blake's Dante (New York: Harmony, 1980)

Kokai, Rudolph, Franz Liszt in Seinen Fruhen Klavierwerken (Budapest:

Barenreiter, 1969)

Mallet-Joris, Fran<;oise. "Don Juan de la musique," in Liszt: Collection Genies et

Realites (Librairie Hachette, 1967)

Machiavelli Nicco16. The Prince and the Discourses, Intro. Max Lerner (New York:
Modern Library, 1940)
 92

Merrick, Paul. Revolution & Religion in the Music ofLiszt (Cambridge: University
of Cambridge Press, 1987)

Musik-Konzepte (Miinchen: Volendorf,1987)

Newman, Ernst. The Man Liszt (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1935)

Pourtales, Guy de. La Vie de Franz Liszt (Paris: Librairie Ballimanrd, 1917)

Redepenning, Dorthea. Das Spiitwerk Franz Liszts: Bearbeitungen Eigener

Kompositionen (Hamburg: Verlag der Musikalienhandlung, 1984). See:
Hamburg Beitrage zur Musik Wissenschaft, Band 27.

Searle, Humphrey. The Music ofLiszt (London: Williams & Norgate, Ltd., 1954)

Seidel, Elmar. "Uber den Zusammenhang Zwischen Der Sogenannten Teufelsmuhle

und dem 2.MODUS mit Begrenzter Transponierbarkeit in Liszt's Ha1'1nonick,"
inLiszt-Studien-2 (Munchen: Katzbichler, 1981)

Seroff, Victor. Franz Liszt (New York: Macmillan Co., 1966)

Sitwell, Sacheverill Liszt (New York: Philosophical Library, Inc., 1956)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _. "Liszt: A Character Study," in Liszt: The Man and His Music,

ed Allan Walker (London: Barrie & Jenkens, 1970)

Sullivan, J. W. N. Beethoven: His Spiritual Development (New York: A. Knopf,

1936)

Szabolcsi, Bene. The Twilight of Ferenc Liszt (Budapest: Hungarian Academy of

Sciences, 1959)

Taylor, Ronald. Franz Liszt (London: Grafton Books, 1986)

Torkewitz, Dieter. Harmonisches Denken in Fruhwerk Franz Liszt (Miinchen:

Katzbichler, 1978)

Torrens, James, S. J. Presenting Paradise (Scranton: University of Scranton Press,

1993)

Walker, Allan. Franz Liszt: The Man and His Music (London: Barrie & Jenkens,
1970)
 93

_____. Franz Liszt (London: Faber & Faber, 1971)

_____. Franz Liszt (London: Faber & Faber, 1983)

_____,. Liszt, Carolyne, and the Vatican (Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon

Press, 1991)

Watson, Derek. Liszt (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1989)

Wilkinson, Anthony. Liszt (London: Machmillan, 1975)

Williams, Adrian. Portrait ofLiszt (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990)

The pursuit of the idea of religious music, as differentiated from that of liturgical
music, involves many facets of academic and scientific knowledge. The following
is a list of selected references, organized according to their respective fields, which
is pertinent to such a pursuit, and is here presented as the foundation of an
approach. The subject of religious music involves anthropology, sociology,
psychology, and certainly history. It is a subject obviously involving religion and
music seperately.

Ancient Music

Farmer, Hanry George. "The Music of Ancient Mesopotamia," in Ancient and

Oriental Music, ed. Egon Wellesz (London: Oxford University Press, 1957)

Galpin, F. W. The Music of the Sumerians (Cambridge, 1937)

Sachs, Curt. "Die Streichbogenfrage," in Archiv Fur Musik Wissenschajt, I (1918-

1919)

Schneider, Marius. "Primitive Music, " in Ancient and Oriental Music, ed. Egon
Wellesz (London: Oxford University Press, 1957)

Music As Language

Chafe, Eric. Tonal Allegory in the Vocal Music off. S. Bach (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1991)

Cook, Deryck. The Language of Music (London: Oxford University Press, 1959)
 94

Lectures on the History of Art and Music, pref. by Irving Lowens (New York: Da
Capo Press, 1968)

Meyer, Leonard. Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956; rpt. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1974)

______. Music, the Arts and Ideas (Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1967)

Roustit, Albert. Prophecy in Music: Prophetic Parallels in Musical History, trans.

John A. Green (Paris: 1975)

Schweitzer, Albert. J. S. Bach (London: A. & c. Black, 1923)

Spitta, Philipp. Johann Sebastian Bach (New York: Dover Publications, 1951)

Linguistics and Music

Bowra, C. M. Primitive Song (Cleveland: World Publishing Co., 1962)

Lord, Albert B. The Singer of Tales (1960; rpt. New York: Atheneum, 1976)

Sociology of Music

Allen, Warren Dwight. Philosophies of Music History (New York: American

Book Co., 1939)

Bedford, Arthur. The Great Abuse of Music (1711; rpt. New York: Broude
Brothers, 1965)

Dobat, Klaus-Dieter. Musik als romantische Illusion (Tiibigen: Niemeyer, 1984)

Henze, Hans Werner. Musik und Politik (Munchen: Deutscher Tashenbuch

Verlag, 1976)

"Greek Cycles of Music and History," in Studies in Music History and Theory, ed.
Lee Rigsby (n.p., n.d.)

Tippett, Michael. Music of the Angels, ed. Meirion Bowen (London: Eulenburg
Books,1980)
 95

Weber, Max. The Rational and Social Foundations of Music, eds. Don Martindale
and Johannes Riedel (1958; rpt. Edwardsville: Southern lllinois
University Press, 1969)

Williams, Ralph Vaughan. National Music and Other Essays (1934; rpt. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1987)

Sociology of Religion

Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane, trans. W. R. Trask (New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1959)

_ _ _ _ _. Shamanism: Archaic Technique of Ecstacy (New York:

Bollingen/Pantheon,1964)

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. Nuer Religion (1956; rpt. New York: Oxford University

Press, 1974)

Goldin, Judah. "The Religion of Magic and Superstition," in Aspects of Religious

Propaganda in Judaism and Early Christianity, ed. Elizabeth Schussler
Fiorenza (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1976)

Romilly, Jacqueline de. Magic and Rhetoric in Ancient Greece (Cambridge:

Harvard University Press, 1975)

Thomas, Keith. The Decline of Magic (New York: charles Scribner's Sons, 1971)

Turner, Victor. Revelation and Divination in Ndembu Ritual (Ithica: Cornell

University Press, 1975)

Vetter, Beorge B. Magic and Religion (New York: Philosophical Library, 1973)

Music History

Ember, llkiko. Musik in der Malerei: Musik als symbol in der malerei der
Europaischen Rennissance und des Barock (Budapest: Corvina, 1984)

Hammerstein, Reinhold. Diabolus in Musica: Studien zur Ikonographie der Musik

im Mittelalter (Bern: Franke Verlag, 1976)

Sendry, Alfred. The Music of the Jews in the Diaspora (New York: Thomas
Yoseloff,1970)
 96

Studies in Jewish Music: Collected Writings of A. W. Binder, ed. Irene Heskes (New
York: Bloch,1971)

Psychology

Burowitz, Edward M. The Molecular Basis of Memory (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice

Hall, Inc., 1969)

Deutsch, J. Anthony, ed. The Physiological Basis of Memory (New York: 1975)

Kausler, Donald A. Psychology of Verbal Learning and Memory ( New York:

Academic Press, 1974)

Maggio, Elio. Psychophysiology of Learning and Memory (Springfield: Charles C.

Thomas, 1971)

Ungar, Georges, ed. Molecular Mechanisms in Memory and Learning (New York:
Plenum Press, 1970)

In the Golden Age of Spanish history, there developed an interesting distinction

between two different kinds of "religous" music. It seems that Spanish composers
conceived of religious music as more irrational, more passionate than did their
fratelli della croce in Rome. The calm perfectionism of Palestrina was not a concept
which appealed to the Spainish composers and writers, such as Tomas Luis de
Victoria, Cristobal de Morales, and Miguel de Cervantes. Certainly, this era
cannot be considered apart from the significant influence of St. Ignacius Loyola.
The Spainish concept of religious experience, probably due in great part to
ｌｯｹｬ｡Ｇｾ＠ ideas, involved the mystical ecstacy, and the trance state. This, in turn,
might be related to the earlier Arabic, Islamic element in Spain. The following is a
list of references pertinent to this subject.

Meissner, William W. Ignatius of Loyola: Psychology of a Saint (New Haven: Yale

University Press, 1992)

Stevenson, Robert M. Spanish Cathedral Music in the Golden Age (Berkeley:

University of California Press, 1961)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _'. Spanish Music in the Age of Columbus (The Hague: M.

Nijoff, 1960)