''Bagatelle sans tonalité'' ("
Bagatelle
Bagatelle (from the Château de Bagatelle) is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls (set at nine in the 19th century) past wooden pins (which act as obstacles) into holes that are guarded by wooden ...
without
tonality
Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is call ...
",
S.216a) is a piece for solo piano written by
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
in 1885. The manuscript bears the title "Fourth Mephisto Waltz" and may have been intended to replace the piece now known as the
Fourth Mephisto Waltz when it appeared Liszt would not be able to finish it; the phrase ''Bagatelle ohne Tonart'' actually appears as a subtitle on the front page of the manuscript.
The Bagatelle is a waltz in a typical sectioned dance form, with repeated sections given inventive variation. While this piece is not especially dissonant, it is extremely
chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...
, becoming what Liszt's contemporary
François-Joseph Fétis
François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ''Biographie univers ...
called "omnitonic" in that it lacks any definite feeling for a tonal center. Some critics have suggested, however, that the various underpinnings of the piece—in other words, the main bass notes and melodic elements—work together to imply an underlying tonality of
D,
[Baker, 117.] which would link the Bagatelle in terms of tonality with the Fourth Mephisto Waltz.
Overview
Program
The Bagatelle, like the Mephisto Waltzes, could be considered a typical example of program music, taking for its program an episode from ''
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...
'', not by
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
but by
Nikolaus Lenau
Nikolaus Lenau was the pen name of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau (13 August 1802 – 22 August 1850), a German-language Austrian poet.
Biography
He was born at Csatád (Schadat), Kingdom of Hungary, now Lenauheim, Banat, then p ...
(1802–1850). The following program note, which Liszt took from Lenau, appears in the printed score of the ''Mephisto Waltz No. 1'':
There is a wedding feast in progress in the village inn, with music, dancing, carousing. Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles (, ), also known as Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore. He originally appeared in literature as the demon in the Faust legend, and he has since appeared in other works as a stock character (see: Mephistopheles in t ...
and Faust pass by, and Mephistopheles induces Faust to enter and take part in the festivities. Mephistopheles snatches the fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
from the hands of a lethargic fiddler and draws from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains. The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded village beauty in a wild dance; they waltz in mad abandon out of the room, into the open, away into the woods. The sounds of the fiddle grow softer and softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song."
Form
Written in waltz form,
the Bagatelle remains one of Liszt's most adventurous experiments in pushing beyond the bounds of tonality, concluding with an upward rush of
diminished seventh
In classical music from Western culture, a diminished seventh () is an interval produced by narrowing a minor seventh by a chromatic semitone.Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.54. . Specific example of an d7 ...
s. Some have analyzed the piece as being constructed around a symmetrical chord—the
G diminished chord
In music theory, a diminished triad (also known as the minor flatted fifth) is a triad consisting of two minor thirds above the root. It is a minor triad with a lowered ( flattened) fifth. When using chord symbols, it may be indicated by the ...
with which the work ends—with the
B–
F tritone
In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three a ...
symbolizing
Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles (, ), also known as Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore. He originally appeared in literature as the demon in the Faust legend, and he has since appeared in other works as a stock character (see: Mephistopheles in t ...
as part of this chord. The lack of a definite key feeling, these critics continue, is due to the piece's reliance on mainly tritone and
diminished seventh
In classical music from Western culture, a diminished seventh () is an interval produced by narrowing a minor seventh by a chromatic semitone.Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.54. . Specific example of an d7 ...
harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
, as well as the piece's ending in an indefinite manner.
The main theme, marked ''Scherzando'', alternates between
F and
F, suggesting an oscillation traditional between major and minor modes. Consequently, the main elements of this melody,
E and
A, combine with
C in the bass to project what would traditionally be considered the
dominant here.
A contrasting ''appassionato'' section contains a bass line of C–D–E–E–F, that conforms with a standard tonal progression in
D minor
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major.
The D natural minor scale is:
Changes needed for t ...
. Moreover, the motivic activity between this bass line and the melodic features of the introduction strengthens the significance of D as a tonal center, overriding sectional contrasts. The second half of this work is basically a repeat of the first half with glittering variations based for the most part on the harmonic underpinning. The fact the Fourth Mephisto Waltz is written in
D major
D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor.
The D major scale is:
:
Ch ...
confirms to some critics that Liszt may have intended this work to replace it and that it was indeed written in 1885.
Premiere and publication
Unlike the Third and Fourth Mephisto Waltzes, the Bagatelle received its premiere within Liszt's lifetime, by his pupil
Hugo Mansfeldt
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...
in Weimar on June 10, 1885.
[Walker, ''The Final Years'', 445-46.] Like the Fourth Mephisto Waltz, however, it was not published until 1955.
See also
*
Mephisto Waltzes
The ''Mephisto Waltzes'' (german: Mephisto-Walzer, link=no) are four waltzes composed by Franz Liszt from 1859 to 1862, from 1880 to 1881, and in 1883 and 1885. Nos. 1 and 2 were composed for orchestra, and later arranged for piano, piano duet an ...
*
Mephisto Polka
The Mephisto Polka (S. 217) is a piece of program music written in folk-dance style for solo piano by Franz Liszt in 1882–83. The work's program is the same as that of the same composer's four ''Mephisto Waltzes'', written respectively in 1859†...
References
Bibliography
* ed. Ewen, David, ''The complete book of classical music'' (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965).
* ed. Hamilton, Kenneth, ''
The Cambridge companion to Liszt'' (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005). (paperback).
** Baker, James M., "A survey of the late piano works"
** Hamilton, Kenneth, "Early and Weimar piano works"
* Howard, Leslie, Notes for Hyperion CDA66201, ''Liszt Waltzes'', Leslie Howard, piano.
* Walker, Alan, ''Liszt: The Final Years, 1861-1886'' (Cornell University Press, 1997).
* Searle, Humphrey, ed. Stankey Sadie, "Liszt, Franz," ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 20 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1980). .
* Searle, Humphrey, ''The Music of Liszt, Second Revised Edition'' (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1966).
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
Card Catalog Number 66-27581.
Searle, Humphrey, "Liszt's Final Period," ''Oxford Journals'' 1 April 1952.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagatelle sans tonalite
Compositions by Franz Liszt
Music based on the Faust legend
Compositions for solo piano
1885 compositions