Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 08/24/2004, uploaded on 01/23/2009

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The advent of the Romantic period in the 19^th century was accompanied by the awakening of an interest in all things Medieval and, in particular, a fascination with the macabre. A striking example of this, and perhaps one of the first, was the inclusion of the Gregorian chant, Dies irae (“Day of Judgement”) in the final movement of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique in which, according to Berlioz’s own narrative, he imagines the macabre scene of a Witches’ Sabbath and he himself tortured by the appearance of the soul of his beloved. At the premiere of the Symphonie fantastique in1830, a young Franz Liszt was struck by Berlioz’s the ironic use of the medieval chant. Liszt, likewise, was fascinated by the subjects of death, religion and the afterlife, and remained so throughout his life. During his travels through Switzerland and Italy in the later 1830s with Countess Marie d’Agoult, he witnessed the famous fresco, The Triumph of Death, in Pisa in 1838. Drawing further inspiration from Francesco Traini’s fresco, Liszt began to sketch variations on the Dies irae chant for piano and orchestra. However, it took Liszt a decade to complete the work. Given the title Totentanz (“Dance of the Dead”), Liszt revised the work in 1853 and 1859, and it is in this final version that it is most known today. He also produced a two piano version as well as one for solo piano. In 1865, Totentanz was given its premiere in The Hague by one of Liszt’s pupils, Hans von Bülow.

Known for its stylistic innovations, Totentanz begins with thunderous, dissonant chords with which the Dies irae is interwoven. The introduction presents the chant in a rhapsodic manner; itself being nearly a variation in its own right. The first variation proper, however, presents the chant as punctuated notes in the bass with an angular countermelody above it. In similar manner, the next version maintains the chant melody in the bass, though this time in long bell-like tones echoed in the lower octave. Over this rendition of the melody appear sweeping glissandos and violent fanfare figures. The third variation, quickening in tempo to Molto vivace, presents a more macabre version of the chant, first in the bass but then rising into the treble over more fanfares. Slackening in tempo and offering a marked contrast to the preceding discourses, the fourth variation transforms the chant into a lyrical four-part canon. This section, however, is brief and leads to an eerie transformation, though not marked as a separate variation, in B major. Becoming almost tender in its expression, the chant seems to now float above the turmoil of the preceding variations. Yet, this heavenly vision is brusquely cut off with a return to D minor and the fifth and final variation. Starting off in a fugato manner, the chant undergoes a myriad of treatments throughout the work’s finale, recalling figurations heard earlier and returning somewhat in character to the previous B major section. Yet, building through furious scales and bombastic chords, Liszt arrives at the conclusion where the Dies irae chant is given a final statement through multiple octaves before being carried away into the abyss by a violent chromatic descent to the punctuated final octaves.       Joseph DuBose

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Totentanz     Franz Liszt

The 19th century concept of the dance of death as a midnight gathering of skeletons was an inspiration for Liszt when writing this piece, as was the plainchant Dies Irae, on which Totentanz is built.  This chant melody had already assumed a generally macabre quality in other romantic pieces, perhaps most famously by Berlioz in his Symphonie Fantastique, and by Saint-Saëns in his Dance macabre.

Liszt uses the theme as the basis of a set of truly diabolical variations which prompted one listener at the premiere to accuse him of having made a pact with the devil.  Liszt also wrote another version of Totentanz for piano and orchestra.   Minju Choi

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.