''Totentanz'' ( en, Dance of the Dead): Paraphrase on ''Dies irae'', S.126, is the name of a work for solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

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 ...

notable for being based on the Gregorian plainchant melody '' Dies irae'' as well as for stylistic innovations. It was first planned in 1838, completed and published in 1849, and revised in 1853 and 1859.

Obsession with death

Nuremberg chronicles - Dance of Death (CCLXIIIIv)

Some of the titles of Liszt’s pieces, such as ''Totentanz'', ''

Funérailles ''Funérailles'' is the 7th and one of the most famous pieces in ''Harmonies poétiques et religieuses'' (''Poetic and Religious Harmonies''), a collection of piano pieces by Franz Liszt. It was an elegy written in October 1849 in response to the ...

'', ''

La lugubre gondola ''La lugubre gondola'', a piano piece, is one of Franz Liszt's most important late works, written in 1882. History Its genesis is well documented in letters from which we know that Liszt was Richard Wagner's guest in the Palazzo Vendramin on ...

'' and '' Pensée des morts'', show the composer's

fascination with death Fascination with death has occurred throughout human history, characterized by obsessions with death and all things related to death and the afterlife. In past times, and present, people would form cults around death and figures. Famously, Anub ...

. In the young Liszt we can already observe manifestations of his obsession with death, with religion, and with heaven and hell. According to

Alan Walker Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a British-born Norwegian music producer and DJ primarily known for the critically acclaimed single " Faded" (2015), which was certified platinum in 14 countries. He has also made several songs including ...

, Liszt frequented Parisian "hospitals, gambling casinos and asylums" in the early 1830s, and he even went down into prison dungeons in order to see those condemned to die.

Sources of inspiration

In the

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

age, due to a fascination with everything

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

, the aspect of fantastic or grotesquely macabre

irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

often replaced the original moral intent. A musical example of such irony can be found in the last movement of the ''

Symphonie fantastique ' (''Fantastical Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections'') Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is an important piece of the early Romantic period. The first performan ...

'' by

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

which quotes the medieval (Gregorian) '' Dies Irae'' ( Day of Judgment) melody in a shockingly modernistic manner. In 1830 Liszt attended the first performance of the symphony and was struck by its powerful originality. Liszt's ''Totentanz'' (Dance of Death), a set of

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

for piano and orchestra, also paraphrases the ''Dies Irae'' plainsong. Another source of inspiration for the young Liszt was the famous

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

"Triumph of Death" by

Francesco Traini Francesco Traini was an Italian painter who was documented as working from 1321 to ''ca'' 1365 in Pisa and Bologna. He appears to have been a follower of Andrea Orcagna to judge by only one work known to be by Traini: in 1345 he signed and da ...

(at Liszt's time attributed to

Andrea Orcagna Andrea di Cione di Arcangelo (c. 1308 – 25 August 1368), better known as Orcagna, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect active in Florence. He worked as a consultant at the Florence Cathedral and supervised the construction of the fa ...

and today also to

Buonamico Buffalmacco Buonamico di Martino, otherwise known as Buonamico Buffalmacco (active c. 1315–1336), was an Italian Renaissance painter who worked in Florence, Bologna, and Pisa. Although none of his known work has survived, he is widely assumed to be the ...

) in the Campo Santo,

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

. Liszt had eloped to Italy with his mistress, the Countess d’Agoult, and in 1838 he visited Pisa. Only ten years later, Liszt's first sketches materialized into a complete version of his ''Totentanz''. Revisions followed in 1853 and 1859, and its final form was first performed at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

on 15 April 1865 by Liszt's student Hans von Bülow, to whom the work is dedicated.

Stylistic innovations

Since it is based on Gregorian material, Liszt's ''Totentanz'' contains Medieval sounding passages with canonic

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

, but by far the most innovative aspect of the scoring is the shockingly modernistic, even

percussive A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...

, nature of the piano part. The opening comes surprisingly close to the introduction in Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, a work composed almost a hundred years later. This may be no coincidence since Bartók frequently performed Liszt's ''Totentanz''. Other modernistic features are the toccata like sections where the pianist's repeated notes beat with diabolic intensity and special sound effects in the orchestra—for example, the '' col legno'' in the strings sound like shuddering or clanking bones.

Richard Pohl Richard Pohl (September 12, 1826 – December 17, 1896) was a German music critic, writer, poet, and amateur composer. He figured prominently in the mid-century War of the Romantics, taking the side opposite Eduard Hanslick, and championing t ...

(an early biographer) notes, "Every variation discloses some new character—the earnest man, the flighty youth, the scornful doubter, the prayerful monk, the daring soldier, the tender maiden, the playful child."

Extant versions

Like most Liszt pieces, a number of versions exist. Next to Liszt's first version of the ''Totentanz'' a second '' De Profundis'' version was prepared from Liszt's manuscript sources by

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

(1919). The standard version is the final and third version of the piece (1859). Liszt also wrote versions for two pianos (S.652) and solo piano (S.525). Edited by

Emil von Sauer Emil Georg Conrad von Sauer (8 October 186227 April 1942) was a German composer, pianist, score editor, and music (piano) teacher. He was a pupil of Franz Liszt and one of the most distinguished pianists of his generation. Josef Hofmann called vo ...

, the original edition for two pianos, however, merely incorporated the solo part of Liszt's rendering for piano and orchestra, with a transcription of the orchestral accompaniment in the second piano. Dr.

Andrey Kasparov Andrey Rafailovich Kasparov ( hy, Անդրեյ Րաֆաիլի Կասպարով, russian: Андре́й Рафаи́лович Каспа́ров, born 6 April 1966) is an Armenian-American pianist, composer, and professor, who holds both Americ ...

has since re-imagined this setting as a work for piano duo. It shows to great effect the breadth of the ''Totentanz'', when distributed evenly between two performers.

Notable performers

Besides the performances by Hans von Bülow,

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

and

, performances of historic significance include those of the Liszt student

José Vianna da Motta José Vianna da Motta (modern spelling as 'Viana da Mota') (22 April 18681 June 1948) was a Portuguese pianist, teacher, and composer. He was one of the last pupils of Franz Liszt. The José Vianna da Motta Music Competition was founded in 1957 ...

(1945 – Port Nat S IPL 108), as well as

György Cziffra Christian Georges Cziffra (; born Cziffra Krisztián György; 5 November 192115 January 1994) was a Hungarian-French virtuoso pianist and composer. He is considered to be one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of the twentieth century. Among h ...

(EMI 74012 2), Claudio Arrau,

Jorge Bolet Jorge Bolet (November 15, 1914October 16, 1990) was a Cuban-born American virtuoso pianist and teacher. Among his teachers were Leopold Godowsky, and Moriz Rosenthal – the latter an outstanding pupil of Franz Liszt. Life Bolet was born in Havan ...

(Decca), Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1961 – Arkadia HP 507.1; 1962 – Memoria 999-001),

Michel Béroff Michel Béroff (born 9 May 1950) is a French pianist and conductor of Bulgarian origin. Background and education Béroff was born at Épinal, and trained at the Nancy, France, Nancy Conservatory, winning the 1st prize in 1962 and the prize of ex ...

(EMI Classics),

Byron Janis Byron Janis (born March 24, 1928) is an American classical pianist. He made several recordings for RCA Victor and Mercury Records, and occupies two volumes of the Philips series ''Great Pianists of the 20th Century''. His discography covers rep ...

(RCA), Martha Argerich, Krystian Zimerman (Deutsche Grammophon),

Arnaldo Cohen Arnaldo Cohen (Rio de Janeiro - 22 April 1948) is a Brazilian pianist. Biography Parallel to his piano studies, he also received degrees in Engineering and Violin from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and started his professional career a ...

(Naxos and BIS),

Raymond Lewenthal Raymond Lewenthal (August 29, 1923November 21, 1988) was an American virtuoso pianist. Among his teachers were Olga Samaroff, who was a pupil of Charles-Valentin Alkan's son, Élie-Miriam Delaborde. Biography Lewenthal was born in San Antonio, Tex ...

, and Enrico Pace at the Second International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 1989.

Notes

External links

*
Live Recording of Ivan Drenikov – Sofia 1985
{{Authority control Compositions by Franz Liszt Compositions for piano and orchestra 1849 compositions Music based on art Death in music Compositions in D minor