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Sonata Form in the Orchestral Works of Liszt: The Revolutionary Reconsidered

Author(s): Richard Kaplan and Franz Liszt


Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Autumn, 1984), pp. 142-152
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746759
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Sonata Form in the Orchestral Works of
Liszt: The Reconsidered
Revolutionary
RICHARD KAPLAN

Almost a hundred years after his death, Franz that the aspects of this music that loomed larg-
Liszt's position with regard to crucial music- est to its nineteenth-century audiences were
historical issues of his time remains inade- those that seemed most novel and that
quately established. In particular,recent schol- prompted the attachment of the label "music of
ars have tended to view the large-scale the future"; links to music of the past were con-
programmaticorchestralworks Liszt composed comitantly slighted, if not completely over-
during his years in Weimar (1848-61)1 more or looked.
less through his contemporaries'eyes, without This continues to be true especially of the
availing themselves of the perspective offered study of form in Liszt's symphonic poems.
by the passage of more than a century. As a These works were characterized early on as
result, there exists a body of literatureflawed by archetypes of a genre in which large-scaleorga-
too heavy a reliance on facile, outdated general- nization is dictated primarily by extramusical
izations and insufficiently groundedin careful considerations:
analysis of the music itself. It is not surprising
But this form, which Liszt invented, is fitted exclu-
'These include the Faust and Dante Symphonies and the sively to the poetical subject of each particularwork,
first twelve symphonic poems. (Athirteenth, Vonder Wiege and would be quite senseless if used with another
bis zum Grabe, was addedmany years later.) Other major programme.2
products of these years include the B-MinorPiano Sonata
and the final versions of the two piano concertos.
19th-CenturyMusic VIII/2(Fall 1984). ? by the Regents of 2FelixWeingartner,The SymphonySince Beethoven,trans.
the University of Califoria. MaudeBarrowsDutton (Boston,1904),pp. 74-75.

142
But Liszt went substantially beyond his predecessors Brahmsand Wagner,there is a fundamental dis- RICHARD
and completely subordinatedeven the forms of the KAPLAN
tinction between "absolute" and "program" Orchestral
compositions to the program.3 music, a salient characteristicof the latter being Worksof
Liszt
a free-wheeling approachto form:
This view has endured well into the twentieth
century. In 1954 Humphrey Searle wrote as fol- Two broadstrains may be identified in 19th-century
lows concerning the major works of Liszt's music: a "Romantic" one, focusing on vocal music,
Weimar period: programme music and the characteristic piece for
piano; and a conservative or "classicizing" one, foc-
To Liszt, who wanted to express a series of varying using on the traditional genres of absolute music.
mood pictures, the balancing methods of the classi- Only the latter tradition gave sonata form much
cal sonata were of little use; he felt the necessity of prominence.... Many large instrumental works in
creating new forms which would allow him greater [the former]repertoryseem to be searchingfor differ-
flexibility while still maintaining unity. And there is ent forms altogether (Berlioz, Symphonie fantas-
no doubt that in the best works of his middle period, tique; Liszt, Sonata in B Minor).6
like the Sonata and the Faust Symphony, he trium- [Inthe symphonic poem] the unifying and cyclical re-
phantly succeeded in this. The logic of a rigidframe- strictions of large form could be abandoned,and in-
work was replacedby the cogency of an emotional ar- stead separate descriptive pieces could be freely
gument.4 strung together: here fantasy could do as it pleased.
Inspiration, a sense of sonority and of effect, were
More recently, the German scholar Constan- more important than the convincing architectonics
tin Floros has virtually restated the position of large forms, and the composer could, accordingto
taken by Weingartner and Kretzchmar at the his talents and his needs, lean upon literary subjects
or the depiction of imaginary content, events, or
turn of the century: characters.7

A further fundamental principle of Liszt's sym- It is the long-standing consensus concerning


phonic programmusic was the demand that the sub- Liszt's symphonic poems, then, that in them he
ject of a composition (the "poetic idea")must deter-
mine the form. Through the observance of this repudiated traditional forms, and created new,
principle Liszt sought to free his music from the unique structures based on the programs of the
schematism of "classical" form and to open up for it individual compositions. To be sure, this over-
unlimited possibilities of formal design.5 estimation of the ascendancy of the program as
a form-determining factor was partially the re-
This widespread agreement concerning the sponsibility of Liszt himself. He emphasized
relationship of form and program is itself part the programmatic aspects of the symphonic po-
and parcel of a more comprehensive and equally ems both in his writings and in the prefaces to
common view of nineteenth-century music in the scores. In one of them, Die Ideale, he even
general and of program music in particular. Ac- went so far as to cite lines from Schiller's poem
cording to this view, prevalent since the time of throughout the score itself. While this may be a
manifestation of what Louise Cuyler has called
the "nineteenth-century predilection for 'the
word',"8 it seems likely that the motivation for
3Hermann Kretzschmar, Fiihrer durch den Concertsaal, this approach lay at least partly in Liszt's desire
ErsteAbtheilung: Sinfonie und Suite, 3rd edition (Leipzig, to make his moder-sounding music more ac-
1898),p. 316: "Lisztging aberiiberseinenVorganger we-
sentlichhinausundordnetedemProgramm auchdie For- cessible to its audience.
menderCompositionen vollstandigunter."
4HumphreySearle,The Music of Liszt,2nd revisededn.
(NewYork,1966),p. 61.
sConstantinFloros,"DieFaust-Symphonie vonFranzLiszt:
Eine semantische Analyse," Musik-Konzepte 12: Franz 6JamesWebster,"Sonataform,"The New GroveDictionary
Liszt(Munich,1980),p. 50: "Einweiteresfundamentales of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (London,1980),
Prinzipder symphonischenProgrammusik Lisztswardie vol. 17,p. 504.
Forderung, dai dasSujeteinerKomposition(die'poetische 7FriedrichBlume, Classic and Romantic Music:A Compre-
Idee')die Formbestimmenmiisse.DurchBefolgungdieses hensive Survey,trans.M. D. HerterNorton(New York,
Grundsatzes suchteLisztseineMusikvondemSchematis- 1970),p. 159. Originallypublishedin Die Musikin Ge-
musder'klassischen'Formzu befreienundihrunbegrenzte schichte und Gegenwart, 1958.
MoglichkeitenformalerGestaltungzu erschliegen." 8LouiseCuyler,TheSymphony(NewYork,1973),p. 173.
143
19TH
CENTURY Unfortunately, his statements have also re- each of these composers wrote a number of con-
MUSIC sulted in a lack of appreciationof the role played cert overtures which, although in some cases
by purely musical factors in the organizationof inspired by a literary or dramaticwork, have no
the symphonic poems. Yet it is known that in connection whatever with larger musical
Die Ideale, for example, he changed the orderof works: for example, Beethoven's Namensfeier
the quotations from the poem, and also took the and Coriolan, and Berlioz's Corsaire,Rob-Roy,
liberty of providing a final "apotheosis" not Waverley, and Roi Lear;to these may be added
called for by Schiller. The central minuet in Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream,
Tasso, which is supposed to depict Tasso at the Hebrides, Ruy Bias, Meeresstille, and Die
court of Ferrara,did not even exist until the schone Melusine. All of these overtures were
fourth and final version in 1854. It seems likely composed a decade or more before Liszt began
in instances such as these that matters of musi- his series of symphonic poems, and he was cer-
cal organizationwere determined less by extrin- tainly familiar with many if not all of them.
sic than by intrinsic factors. Moreover, formal All of these overtures are in sonata form
procedures in several of the symphonic poems (modified in some cases); the occasional over-
are so similar that one can realistically postu- ture and the concert overturewere derivedfrom
late the operation of a sort of formula in these the opera overture, for which the use of sonata
works. This similarity belies the claim of pro- form was consideredobligatory.This derivation
gram-dictateduniqueness of formal design. is confirmed by Anton Reicha and Carl Czerny,
A majorsource of misunderstandinghas been both teachers of Liszt, especially in the latter's
the notion that in the symphonic poem Liszt Practical School of Composition, op. 600:
"invented a form." While this idea supportsthe
concept of Liszt as revolutionary composer, it The Overtureis of two kinds.1st as an introduction
fails to take into account the origins of the andcommencementofanOpera;and2ndlyasa Con-
works themselves. As is well known, only half cert-overture.
of the symphonic poems were originally con- In this lattercase, a determinedcharactercanbe
ceived as independent works. One, Heroide given to it; for, duringits production,we think of
some celebratedplay(asa Tragedy&c:)endeavorto
funebre, was intended for a five-movement adaptit to the same,andperhapsalsonameit thereaf-
symphony which never materialized, while no ter; as, for example,Beethoven'sOvertureto Cor-
fewer than five were in fact written as over- iolanus,to Egmont&c....
tures: Hamlet and Tasso for the plays by Shake- The constructionof the Overture,is nearlysimi-
lar to that of the first movementof the Symphony,
speare and Goethe, Les Preludes for Liszt's cho- with this difference,that 1st the firstpartis not re-
ral work Les Quatre Elemens,9 Prometheus for peated;and 2ndly the whole must be shorterand
Liszt's choruses from Herder'sPrometheus Un- moresuccinct .... The Concert-overture, however,
bound, and Orpheus for a performance of is less restrictedin this respect.10
Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice. While these
overtures were published as independent pieces Of the five Liszt symphonic poems that were
and are virtually never heard in their originally originally written as overtures, all but Hamlet
intended settings, there is ample precedent for display sonata organization. It seems logical to
this tradition of autonomy in the overtures of make an analogous connection between these
Beethoven (Prometheus, King Stephen, Eg- works and the early nineteenth-century concert
mont, Die Weihe des Hauses) and Berlioz (Les overture.ll Rather than claim that Liszt "in-
Francs-Juges, Roman Carnival). Moreover, vented a form," then, one might say at most

'?CarlCzemy, School of Practical Composition: Complete


9Inhis article, "Liszt afterLamartine:'LesPreludes'" (Mu- Treatise on the Composition of All Kinds of Music..., op.
sic & Letters60 [19791,133-48), AlexanderMainarguesthat 600, trans. JohnBishop (c. 1848; rpt. edn. New York, 1979),
the overtureand the symphonic poem were not one andthe II,45.
same composition. Nevertheless, it is clearthe LesPreludes "It is significant that the symphonic poems which were
in some way grew out of the earlier work, and Main con- written as overturesareformallythe most traditionalof the
firms the fact that Les Preludes shares a considerable series; this suggests a consciousness on Liszt's part of the
amount of material with the unpublishedchoruses. models for this sort of composition.
144
RICHARD
that he invented a genre. To be even more pre- KAPLAN
cise, given the indistinct boundaries between Orchestral
the concert overture and the symphonic poem, "."10dl KiI . 11
Worksof
Liszt
he really invented only the name of a genre. "P
PP dolcissimo
dolcissimo smorz.

While it is true that some of Liszt's works in the


genre are indeed formally innovative, there is a Example 1: Les Preludes.
significant and palpable, if generally over-
looked, formal kinship between several of the
While themes almost always display well-
symphonic poems and earliermodels.
defined periodic structures, periodicity breaks
down in introductory and transitional passages.
Of Liszt's orchestral works, five pieces-the In a way, this practice makes it easier for the lis-
first movement (entitled "Faust")of the Faust tener to tell where he is, since it makes the clear
Symphony and the symphonic poems Tasso, structures of thematic statements stand out by
Les Preludes, Orpheus, and Prometheus-dis- comparison.
play what may be regardedas three fundamen- Perhaps by way of compensation for blurring
tal aspects of sonata organization: a tonal di- sectional lines, Liszt uses other means of formal
chotomy which eventually is resolved, a articulation which, once they are recognized,
concurrent thematic duality, and a return or re- serve as effective guideposts for the listener.
capitulation. Two additional Weimar works, Two of these are changes in tempo and meter: in
Die Ideale and the Sonata in B Minor, combine the "Faust" movement, for example, the first
the sonata scheme with a continuous three- or theme is Allegro and in duple meter, the second
four-movement design'2; the present study, theme is marked "Affettuoso poco Andante"
however, will exclude these formal "hybrids" and features a distinctive alternation of 3 and 4
and concentrate on the single-movement so- measures, and the third is marked "Grandioso,
nata structures listed above. poco meno mosso" (with reference to the Alle-
The actual process of determining form in gro con fuoco tempo of the transition) and is or-
these works is complicated by the blurring of ganized in measure-groups of alternating duple
outlines that were distinct in many classical so- and triple meters. Another, more individual
nata movements. The lack of exposition repeats practice is the use of recitative-like transitional
is consistent with Czerny's description of the passages between sections or theme areas.
overture. In addition, there is also a lack of sec- These passages feature solo or unison lines
tional harmonic closure: most of the themes do which frequently outline a diminished-seventh
not cadence, and expositions either blend into chord or a chromatic scale, either unaccompa-
development sections or end on harmonic nied or against a simple chordal background (see
"question marks," such as the diminished-sev- ex. 2); in Prometheus and Tasso, such passages
enth chord at m. 108 of Les Preludes (see ex. 1). are even marked "Recitativo" and "quasi Reci-
tativo."

A A

'2The form of the sonata has perhaps most aptly been de-
scribedby GeraldAbrahamas "a colossal 'first movement'
likewise containing the elements of all the other usual E27f .
movements" (A Hundred Yearsof Music, 3rdedn. [Chicago,
1964],p. 42). This piece has been the subjectof an intriguing
number and variety of analytical studies andessays: see, for
example William S. Newman, The Sonata since Beethoven A A

(ChapelHill, 1969),pp. 371-78; R. M. Longyear,"Liszt'sB- (f) P


Minor Sonata: Precedents for a StructuralAnalysis," The
Music Review 34 (1973), 198-209; Sharon Winklhofer,
Liszt's Sonata in B Minor: A Study of Autograph Sources v~ >rj_ =-
L/
r^ri
^
and Documents (Ann Arbor, 1980),pp. 115-68; and David w p
______
Allen Damschroder, The Structural Foundations of "The
Music of the Future": A Schenkerian Study of Liszt's
WeimarRepertoire(Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1981). Example 2: Prometheus.
145
19TH
CENTURY
The most obvious "aidto the listener" is rep- imbalance in proportion;but in his view, the ex-
MUSIC etition. Along with the operation in some of position is 70 measures long and the develop-
these pieces of the familiar technique known as ment 288. Searle's sectionalization achieves
"thematic transformation,"there is a greatdeal somewhat more even proportions, but only by
of literal repetition, often as large passages of delaying the arrival of the recapitulation by 62
music. Liszt was well aware of the value of this measures. These three interpretations, along
practice: with my own, are given in table 1.
Why are these views so widely divergent?
It is a mistaketo regardrepetitionas poverty.From The chief difficulty lies in the universal failure
the standpointof the audienceit is indispensableto to recognize the distinction between motives
the understanding of the idea;fromthe standpointof and full-fledged themes and the ways in which
artit is almostidenticalto the demandsof clarity,or- Liszt's treatment of them differs. All three au-
der,andeffect.'3 thors seem to have fallen into the trap of label-
For Liszt, then, repetition was a means of mak- ing every new melodic idea as a theme no mat-
ter what its length, structure,or function. Their
ing both form and content more accessible and
intelligible. analyses rely too heavily on narrow themati-
cism and not enough on the formal implications
of tonal structure.
The longest and most elaborate of the five so- An alternative analysis is given in some de-
nata-form pieces is the "Faust" movement. tail in table 2. Gruber's misgivings notwith-
This movement has been the subject of several standing, the "Faust" movement is quite
analyses which clearly illustrate the difficulty clearly one in which all of the sonata functions
even exemplary Liszt scholars have had in un- can easily be recognized. However, since a good
deal of controversy surrounds this movement,
derstanding the structures of these works.14In
his preface to the Eulenbergstudy score of the and since the movement displays a number of
unconventional features, some commentary is
symphony, Peter Otto Schneider asserts that
the movement has five themes; Gruber,Floros, in order.
and Searle all agree, though they are not unani-
mous with regard to the specific identities of The first and most strikingdifferencebetweenthe
the themes. All except Floros do agree, how- analysisgivenin table2 andthoseillustratedin table
ever, that the first two themes span a total of 1 is the indicationof an introduction.Whileit is by
five measures. As for the movement's overall no meansexceptionalfora extendedsymphonicfirst
structure, Florosis disturbedby an imbalance in movementto havean introduction,the scopeof this
introduction is extraordinary;it is 70 measures long,
proportion between the exposition and the de- encompassingthreesubsectionsset apartby tempo
velopment; according to his analysis, the expo- changes.The extentof this introductionis not with-
sition is 296 measures long, the development out precedent,however.The introductionof Ber-
only 62. Gruberwants to dismiss the idea that lioz's Symphonie fantastique, the premiereof which
the movement is a sonata at all, again citing an Liszt had attended in 1830, is 71 measures long and
also includesa fastermiddlesectionanda returnto
the openingtempo.
Liszt's introduction presents no theme and estab-
'3FranzLiszt, "Robert Schumann's Klavierkompositionen lishes no tonality. (There is no key signature until
Opus 5, 11, 14," Gesammelte Schriftenvon FranzLiszt,vol. the beginning of the exposition, m. 71.) It does, how-
2, pt. 1, ed. Lina Ramann (Leipzig, 1881), p. 103: ". .. es ein ever, present two motives (see ex. 3) of great conse-
Irrthumist die Wiederholungals Armuth anzusehen. Vom quence for the structure of the movement, despite
Standpunktedes Publikums aus ist sie zum Verstandnisse their lack of qualification for "themehood." Accord-
des Gedankensunentbehrlich,vom StandpunktederKunst ing to Floros, the first twenty-two measures have the
aus ist sie fast identisch mit den Forderungender Klarheit, tonal center Ab; this assumption makes it rather dif-
derAnordnungund der Wirkung." ficult for him to explain the increasing dominance of
'4Theseinclude Searle,"FranzLiszt,"in The Symphony,ed. C (after all, a sonata movement in which the first
RobertSimpson (Baltimore,1966),vol. I,pp.264-67; Gemot
theme-for so Floros considers it-in the exposition
Gruber,"Zum Formproblemin Liszts Orchesterwerken-
exemplifiziert am ersten Satz der Faust-Symphonie,"Liszt is not in the tonic is exceptional indeed), and he ar-
Studien, Band I: Kongress-BerichtEisenstadt 1975, ed. gues that the movement revolves around the sym-
WolfgangSuppan(Graz, 1977), pp. 81-95; and Floros,"Die metrical pitch structure Ab-C-E. It is the exploita-
Faust-Symphonievon FranzLiszt,"pp. 42-87. tion of this augmented triad in the opening measures
146
M.1I 297 359 582 RICHARD
Dev. Recapitulation Coda 1 KAPLAN
Orchestral
Floros Eposition (62) 1 (223) (73) 1 Worksof
Liszt
71 319 359 421 599
Ia b c Ila ib C
Gruber Expo. Development I Recap.:, Coda
(70) (288) (240)j- (56)

1 297 421 611


Exposition JDev. RecapitulationCo
Searle
(296) j(124) ] (190) 44~i
1 71 319 421 599
IIntro. IExposition (Dev. IRecapitulation Coda
Kaplan (70) (248) (178) (56)
1(102)

Table 1: The Form of the First Movement of the Faust Symphony: Four Interpretations.

SECTION THIEME AREA / SUBSIECTION TONAL CENTER * MOTIVE* **

INTRODUCTION a) Slow mm. 1-22 A, B


(mm. 1-70) b) Fast 23-65 A
c) Recitative 66-70 B
EXPOSITION Theme I 71-110 c
(71-318) Transition 1 111-146 A
Interlude 147-165
Recitative 166-178 B
Theme II 179-201 E
Transition 2 202-224 I, III
rThemeIII 225-249 E
Episode 250-271 B, III
-Theme III 272-280 E
Bridge 281-296
Codetta 297-3 18 Al I
DEVELOPMENT a) False Repeat 319-358
(319-420) b) Intro. Reprise 359-381
c) 382-399 A, B, Tr. 1
d) Retransition 400-420 A
RECAPITULATION Theme I 421-445 c
(421-598) Recitative 446-449 B
LTheme II 450-471 E
ETheme II 472-479 C
Transition 2 480-501 III
-ThemeHII 502-518 C
Episode 519-547 B, III
LTheme III 548-565 C
Bridge 566-581
Codetta 582-598 A, I
CODA a) 599-610 III
(599-654) b) 611-635 A, B, III
c) 636-654 B
*Fortheme-areas. * *Fornon-theme areas;letters referto motives (ex. 3), numerals to themes (ex. 4).
Table 2: Faust Symphony: First Movement ("Faust").
147
19TH that precludes the establishment of any tonal center. false repeat, this reprise provides a means for a sec-
CENTURY The first unambiguous tonal progression is the ca- ond hearing of Liszt's materials in this long and com-
MUSIC dence in C minor at the beginning of the actual expo- plex movement.'9
sition.15 The recapitulationis quite conventional. The first
The movement's three themes are given in ex. 4, tonal areais considerablyshortened,with the transi-
along with the melodic figure of the first transition.16 tion completely excised. The second theme is stated
The second tonal area and the tonality of Themes II fully in its original key before its final arrivalat the
and III is E major, a major third above the tonic. tonic major at m. 472. The coda, logically, begins at
Beethoven's Piano Sonatas in G, op. 31, no. 1, and in the point where the recapitulation divergesfrom the
C, op. 53 ("Waldstein")immediately come to mind exposition, at the maestoso intonation of Theme III
as precedents for this tonal relation; however, there in the distant area of Gb.
is the important difference that Liszt's movement is Throughout the movement, the many passages
in the minor mode, making the major-thirdrelation which are not concerned with thematic statements
the more extraordinary.17 (passageshere labeled transitions, interludes, or epi-
The second theme is, of course, basedon motive B. sodes) are based on one or both of the motives intro-
Floros, for whom the first twenty-two measures of duced in the first five measures, sometimes com-
the introduction constitute a theme, labels this, too, bined with elements of the themes (see table 2, last
as a theme; Gruber and Searle, who call motive B column). These motives providean impressive sense
"Theme II," regardthis as a modified statement of of unity to the movement, preventingit from becom-
that "theme." Yet the differencebetween the theme ing desultory despite its length of almost thirty min-
and the motive out of which it grows is unmistak- utes. The treatment of form is expansive and imagi-
able. The tonal stability and periodicregularityof the native, always clear and well-proportioned.
theme are the antithesis of the motive's vagueness.
The designation "Theme III"instead of "Closing
Theme" for measures 225ff. may provokesome skep- Of the four symphonic poems in sonata form,
ticism. This theme does share some attributes of the none is nearly as long or complex in structure as
traditional closing theme, notably the tonal associa- the "Faust" movement, but all display the cru-
tion with the second theme, but its function is far cial tonal and thematic sonata functions as
more than just cadential or key-confirmatory.Rather
its extent (56 measures in the exposition, 64 in the re- clearly. These functions are shown in table 3.
capitulation) suggests the expansion of the closing Moreover, there are several striking parallels
theme to the proportionsof a theme in its own right. among these five pieces in both formal devices
Theme I recurs at measure 319, a point at which and thematic gestures, bearing out the notion
an exposition repeatmight be expected, but in COmi-
nor, the relative minor of E major.Exceptfor the key,
the recurrence corresponds to the exposition, note
for note, for eighteen measures. It is the literalness of
this recurrencewhich suggests the interpretationof
the passage as a "false exposition repeat."'8The sub-
sequent reprise of the introduction is a literal and '8Thatis, at the point at which a repeat might be expected
complete restatement of mm. 1-22. Along with the (and sonata movements without exposition repeats were
still exceptional), Liszt provides a passage which seems to
be just that, but which instead turs out to be the beginning
of the development section. (My use of the term "false re-
peat" deliberatelyinvites comparisonwith the familiarde-
vice known as "false recapitulation.")Liszt's choice of key
of these
a moreplausibleandintriguinginterpretation
S5For forthis passageis noteworthy: since C# minoris the relative
openingmeasures,see RobertP. Morgan,"DissonantPro- minor of the second tonal area, the listener is likely to be
longations:Theoreticaland CompositionalPrecedents," fooled into hearing this as a return to the tonic key, com-
JournalofMusicTheory20 1976),60-62.Morgantreatsthe pounding the element of deception. The "false exposition
first twenty-two measures as a prolongation of the aug- repeat"has precedents in several early nineteenth-century
mented triad C-E-Ab. sonata movements which lack repeats,for example the first
16Floros,Gruber,and Searle all label this as a theme; how- movements of Beethoven's Quartet in F, op. 59, no. 1, and
ever,it is tonally unstable (cf.Themes I-III)andfails to recur Mendelssohn's Quartetin Eb,op. 12.
in the recapitulation.In other words, even though it is me- '9Therecurrenceof the introduction has many precedents,
lodic in character,it is not thematic in function. among them Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata and Haydn's
'7Beethovenchangedmode in the second tonal areaof both Drum Roll Symphony.In the latter, the introductionis also
movements in orderto mitigate the distance of the modula- incorporatedinto the development,renotatedin the rhythm
tion. In op. 31, no. 1, the second theme shifts fromBmajorto and meter of the main body of the mpvement. This also oc-
B minor after eight measures; thus, the final destination is curs in Beethoven's Piano Trio in Et, op. 70, no. 2, and in
the minor mediant, or the relativeminor of the dominant.In Louis Spohr'sSymphonyNo. 3 in C Minor (1828),in which
op. 53, the changeof mode fromEmajorto Eminoroccursin the entire development section consists of an integral re-
the closing area,effecting a smoother retransitionto the re- prise of the introduction, similarly renotatedin the rhythm
peat of the exposition. of the allegro.

148
RICHARD
KAPLAN
Orchestral
Worksof
Liszt

Example3: Faust Symphony, first movement.


Theme I
A71 molto rinf

V _~~~~~~~~~~~L

Theme II
17
fcantando

I~~4A 4Y~-
~~ 7=7=-==
PP~~~~~~~

Example 4: Faust Symphony, first movement.

Tasso Les Pr6ludes Orpheus Prometheus

Introduction Introduction introduction Introduction


* Theme I
EXPOSITION Theme I (c) Theme I (C) Theme Ia,b (C) (a)
Trans Trans
Intro
*Theme II (c-E) Theme II (E) Theme lla,b (E) *ThemelII (1D)
Intro Closing (D6)
DEVELOPMENT Minuet 2 sections Fugato
+ retrans
RECAPITULATION Theme I (c) Theme II (A-C) Theme Ib,a (C) *ThemeI (a)
Trans Trans
Intro
-Minuet (C)
Themell (C) -Theme I (C) Theme Ila (B-C) Theme II (A)
- Themes Ia,
lIb (C)
- Closing - Closing
- Coda - Coda Coda - Coda
* indicates section precededby a recitative-like bridgepassage.
Bracketindicates multiple formal roles filled by the same passageor section.

Table 3: Sonata Form in Liszt Symphonic Poems.


149
19TH
CENTURY ? 48 _f,ten.
o
MUSIC
alm " -m- i

Example5: Prometheus.

that form in these works is by no means a ran- Liszt exercises the greatest freedom and variety
dom element: of construction. For example, the development
of the "Faust" movement is itself sectional-
1. Fourof the fivepiecesarein the keyof C (majoror ized,22comprising the false exposition repeat,
minor). the introduction reprise,and only then two sec-
2. All five have introductionswhich are generally
slow andtonallyunstable(theintroductionto the tions which are conventionally "developmen-
shortestof the pieces,Orpheus,the bodyof which tal." The development section of Les Preludes
is itself slow, is verybrief). is in two parts, of which the first is a fantasia on
3. Three of these introductions-"Faust," Pro- the opening motive, and the second a transfor-
metheus,andTasso-are "agitato"andin the mi- mation of the transition idea from m. 47 (which
normode;note especiallythe similarityin gesture
of the openingsof the "Faust"and Prometheus is itself, of course, based on the opening motive;
themes(compareexs. 4 and5). see ex. 6). The central section of Tasso is a min-
4. Thesecondthemesareinvariablyin the keya ma- uet which is developmental only in that it is
jorthirdabovethe tonic, evenin the minor-mode motivically based on the opening motive and on
pieces.20 the second theme, while that of Prometheus is a
5. The secondthemesarealwaysin the majormode
and cantabile in character,and often featurea fugato. Orpheus has the "sonatawithout devel-
prominentlyrepeatedthirdscaledegree.21 opment" form common in slow movements;
the only development takes place in what Ro-
The fact that all five works were written or sen calls the "secondary development section"
given their final revision in 1854 or 1855 makes following the first theme areain the recapitula-
these parallels all the more striking. tion.23
In these pieces, a three-partconcept of sonata
form seems to take precedence over the earlier
binary concept described by Czerny and his
,f
x31,J. -
I u47
J IJ.H

predecessors. This is principally the result of


the extensiveness and the strongly individual
nature of Liszt's development sections, which Example 6: Les Preludes.
diverge variously from the outer sections in
character,in texture, in tempo, and even in me- The strongest case for binary organizationin
ter. It is in these development sections that any of these works (Orpheusexcepted)would be
in the "Faust" movement and in Prometheus,
because in both cases introductory material re-
curs almost exactly halfway through the piece.
20Thismajor-thirdrelationship is a vital aspect of Liszt's In the "Faust" movement, with this recur-
harmonic vocabularyon foregroundas well as background
levels. Note, for example, the strikingalternationof I andiii rence serving as the means of formal articula-
at the end of his song Der du von dem Himmel bist or the tion, the C#-minorfalse exposition repeatcould
alternationof major-third-relatedmajortriadsin the second be interpreted as the close of an arched exposi-
theme of Prometheus (mm. 133-37).
21See Prometheus, m. 129ff.; Les Prgludes, m. 69ff.;
Orpheus,m. 72ff. This melodic formulaseems to have been
a favorite of Liszt; it can also be found in the melody of the
central section of Heroide Funebre,in the Consolation No. 22Thisof course was a routine practice in classical sonatas,
3 in D", and in the song O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst, but here the sections are much more discrete in character
better known in its transcriptionfor piano solo as Liebes- and clearly articulated.
traum No. 3. 23CharlesRosen, Sonata Forms(New York, 1980),p. 276.

150
tion. This is not unlike Gruber's view of the by A. B. Marx in Die Lehre von der musikalis- RICHARD
KAPLAN
movement; it ignores the strong initiative func- chen Komposition, vol. 3 (1845),so that it is not Orchestral
tion of the recurrence of Theme I. In Pro- unlikely that Liszt approachedhis sonata con- Worksof
Liszt
metheus, the division into two parts by the re- struction from this viewpoint. Certainly three-
currence of the introductory recitative places partorganization is the most consistent andlog-
the development in the first half. The logic of ical explanation of large-scale form in these
this analysis is reinforcedby the merging of the works.
closing theme and the fugato which dominates Liszt's approachto structural details is more
the development, and by the balance between adventurous, and shows considerably more va-
the development and the extensive coda. Nev- riety, than his approachto large-scale organiza-
ertheless, this remains a long way from the tra- tion. Many of his usages are unconventional,
ditional binary sonata structure, in which expo- and a few are truly unprecedented.A number of
sition makes up the first part and development these usages involve the treatment of themes.
and recapitulation the second. In any event, by For example, each of the two theme areas of
the time of Liszt's Weimar period, the three- Orpheus contains two distinct thematic enti-
part concept was widely disseminated, notably ties, as shown in example 7.

Theme Ia Ib
~~~
? 15 J JA I< jI44Lj I
~~~ I I
~-O-
A38 -V :
IIa lb

# to , J. -_ ,, m - ? #Z +l 5f X :||
71

Example 7: Orpheus.
Earlier instances of this can be found, such as two full-fledged themes) consists of two state-
the first tonal areaof Haydn's Quartetin ESMa- ments of the theme surroundinga developmen-
jor, op. 50, no. 3. In Orpheus, however, the situ- tal episode.
ation is considerably more complex. First, Another non-standardthematic treatment is
Theme IIb is to all intents and purposes a clos- the reorderingof themes. In the recapitulation
ing theme, as becomes particularly clear in the of Les Preludes, for example, the order of the
recapitulation; second, the themes display an two themes is reversed, producing a palin-
intricate web of interrelationships. Themes Ia dromic arch form (see table 3).24 The reordering
and Ib are two sides of the same coin. In each, a in the recapitulation of Orpheus is somewhat
series of repeated Gs is followed by a melodic more subtle. The two elements of Theme I are
arch beginning on the fourth beat of the mea- reversed, while the second element of Theme II
sure. The family resemblance extends to does not occur until the closing area. Orpheus
Theme IIa,which is rhythmically a 2:1 diminu- also illustrates another unusual aspect of the-
tion of Theme Ia, and shares much of its me- matic treatment, the use of themes in dual
lodic contour as well. The repeated-note figure roles. Theme IIbserves as a closing theme in the
is common to all four thematic elements.
Occasionally, Liszt expands a theme area by
repeating the theme: for example, the second
theme of Orpheus is repeated in its entirety, in 24Thethemes are similarly recapitulatedin reverseorderin
varied form. In the "Faust" movement, the Mozart's Sonatas K. 311 for piano and K. 306 for piano and
third theme area (which itself represents an ex- violin; however, these precedents are rather more distant
than those of Berlioz,Beethoven,andeven late Haydn,so we
pansion of the second tonal areaso as to contain cannot be certain that Liszt was familiarwith them.

151
CENTURY exposition; in the recapitulation, the same the five pieces lead to the inescapable conclu-
MUSIC function is performed by fragmentaryversions sion that the programis not the crucial form-de-
of Themes Ia and IIb.In Les Preludes, similarly, termining factor it has long been assumed to be.
the recapitulation of the maestoso first theme is Second, the numerous and prominent corre-
at the same time the coda of the entire work; in spondences between these pieces and earlier
Prometheus, the subject of the fugato can also compositional and theoretical models of sonata
be seen as a closing theme; and in Tasso, the construction destroy the equally longstanding
minuet and the second theme are recapitulated image of Liszt as a revolutionarist of musical
during the course of the extensive coda, which form. Liszt's sonata form makes constant refer-
begins directly after the recapitulation of the ence to those of earlier composers, especially
first theme. Beethoven and Berlioz; his formal innovations
Other types of departuresfrom classical tra- and expansions are in turn a source for contin-
dition are tonal in nature. I have already men- ued development by later composers such as
tioned Liszt's systematic use of the key a major Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, and Mahler. In recon-
third above the tonic, in place of the dominant, sidering and revising older compositional prin-
as the second tonal area. Liszt's use of this rela- ciples, Liszt provideda basis for both continuity
tion in minor-mode pieces is probablyunprece- and evolution of sonata forms in the second half
dented; his consistency in this use is equally ex- of the century.
traordinary. I do not mean to deny that these pieces are
Liszt's treatment of the second tonal area in revolutionary, or for that matter that they are
the recapitulation seems to be derived, like his programmatic, for they are certainly both. It
use of the majormediant in the exposition, from must be recognized, however, that these attri-
Beethoven's "Waldstein"Sonata.The recapitula- butes lie less in Liszt's forms than in other fun-
tion of Beethoven's second theme begins in A damental aspects of his art. It is not the se-
major(the majorsubmediant;note that this pre- quence of themes or of key relationships which
serves the fifth-relationship between the sec- gives each work its individual character,but the
ond tonal areasof the exposition and recapitula- themes themselves. This is not the place for a
tion) and moves to C major by way of A minor. discussion of the ways in which the materials of
This scheme is followed most closely in Les exs. 3 and 4 may be said to "represent"Faust,for
Preludes: here, however, the shift from A major example (that sort of thing has been done often
to C majoroccurs abruptly,with no intervening enough by others), but a quick comparison of
change of mode. In Orpheusthe same technique the principal thematic materials of Orpheus
is used in service of a more unusual key scheme. and the "Faust"movement, or of Les Preludes
The recapitulation of the second theme begins and Tasso, will make the point clearly enough.
in B major,a fifth above the key of that theme in The radical quality of Liszt's musical thought
the exposition; the resulting juxtaposition of B resides in his harmonies and his melodies, and
and C major is most striking. in his music's extravagant gestures and con-
Still another modulatory scheme occurs in trasts: in short, in his rhetoric ratherthan in his
the recapitulation of the "Faust" movement. craftsmanship. In this area, too, Liszt's work
The second theme begins in E major, as if the served as a model for that of later Romantic
tonal plan of the exposition were to be pre- composers (again, Tchaikovsky and Mahler are
served, but shifts to C major after being stated the most prominent examples) who, while
once in full. This is, curiously, the reverseof the freely admitting the programmatic origins of
process in the exposition of Tasso. There the their compositions, insisted that the public
second theme is stated first in the tonic (C mi- hear and understandtheir music as music. If we
nor) and only then in E major. are fully to appreciate Liszt's music, we will
surely have to hear it and understand it not
merely as a vehicle for the depiction of charac-
Two conclusions are to be drawn from the pre- ters, events, or ideas, ,
ceding analyses. First, formal parallels among but in and of itself.

152

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