Selected operatic paraphrases of Franz Liszt (1811-1886): Compositional style and performance perspectives

Abstract

This study investigates Liszt's compositional style, and considers performance perspectives in his operatic paraphrases, Reminiscences de Don Juan and Valse de l'opera "Faust" de Charles Gounod. The great body of transcriptions by Liszt forms an important contribution to the development of piano music, combining technical challenges, innovative notation, dramatic projection, and pianistic effects. Reminiscences de Don Juan and Valse de l'opera "Faust" de Charles Gounod offer good examples of Liszt's genius in condensing an operatic score into a viable piano texture. Rather than offering simple medleys of popular arias, Liszt extracts the principal elements of the operas and creates a new art work from each. The relationship of his transcriptions to the original operas is carefully planned throughout. The artistic insight, creativity, and integrity Liszt devoted to these paraphrases extends to his use of the piano to evoke sonorities of both voices and orchestra, and in doing so, he expands the pianist's concept of the instrument. These transcriptions thus pose challenges beyond the purely technical, exploiting the performer's sense of drama, color and imagination in unique ways.