Liszt - Grande fantaisie di bravura sur La Clochette de Paganini, S420

The Grande fantaisie di bravura sur La Clochette de Paganini was published in 1834 as opus 2, but it may have been completed by 12th June, 1832 - this date is on the draft MS in Weimar. (All the old catalogues give 1831, for some reason.) It bears a dedication to Herminie Vial [with whom Liszt famously played his two-piano Konzertstück on themes from Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words in 1835 - when he fainted during the performance] and is written in the old-fashioned style of bravura fantasy where a slow section - which usually, as here, contains nothing of the theme which is to come - is followed by a cadenza, then the theme and variations, interspersed with pseudo-orchestral ritornelli and concluded with a grand coda. Paganini’s original theme - the principal theme - La campanella - of the rondo of the second violin concerto - is in B minor; Liszt has it here in A minor. (How sensible he was to transpose it to a black-note key for his later studies on the same theme.) The introduction slightly foreshadows the world of Liszt’s Apparitions without yet aspiring to their extraordinary harmonic originality, and the cadenza is based on the middle section of Paganini’s theme. The theme itself is given at some length, including a phrase or two in the major, and concludes with the ritornello. There follows a Variation à la Paganini which makes much use of reckless leaps - the tempo direction, mercifully, is moderato - and then the remainder of the work is marked Finale di bravura. This finale incorporates a vast, much freer variation, and the last section is again in the major, as is the ritornello, both at a reduced tempo. Then follows the actual coda with its repeated notes and its final descending chords which hint at the whole-tone scale.

(Howard)

리스트 - 파가니니의 종에 의한 화려한 대 환상곡 (작은종 대 환상곡)