' (German for ''Dreams of Love'') is a set of three 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 ...

works (S.541/R.211) 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 ...

, published in 1850. Originally the three ' were conceived as

lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

er after poems by

Ludwig Uhland Johann Ludwig Uhland (26 April 1787 – 13 November 1862) was a German poet, philologist and literary historian. Biography He was born in Tübingen, Württemberg, and studied jurisprudence at the university there, but also took an interest in ...

and

Ferdinand Freiligrath Ferdinand Freiligrath (17 June 1810 – 18 March 1876) was a German poet, translator and liberal agitator, who is considered part of the Young Germany movement. Life Freiligrath was born in Detmold, Principality of Lippe. His father was a teacher. ...

. In 1850, two versions appeared simultaneously as a set of songs for high voice and piano, and as transcriptions for piano two-hands. The two poems by Uhland and the one by Freiligrath depict three different forms of love. Uhland's "" (exalted love) is saintly or religious love: the "martyr" renounces worldly love and "heaven has opened its gates". The second song "" (blessed death) is often known by its first line ("", "I had died"), and evokes erotic love; ("I was dead from love's bliss; I lay buried in her arms; I was wakened by her kisses; I saw heaven in her eyes"). Freiligrath's poem for the third nocturne is about unconditional mature love ("Love as long as you can!", " O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst").

Liebestraum No. 3

Liebestraum No. 3 in

A-flat major A-flat major (or the key of A-flat) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats. The A-flat major scale is: : Its relative minor is F minor. Its parallel minor, A-flat m ...

is the last of the three that Liszt wrote and the most popular. It can be considered as split into three sections, each divided by a fast

cadenza In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and of ...

requiring dexterous finger work and a very high degree of technical ability. The same melody is used throughout the piece, each time varied, especially near the middle of the work, where the climax is reached. In that section, the melody is played by a series of octaves, followed by arpeggios. A sample of this melody from the opening bars, adapted from the first edition engraving (1850), ''Liebesträume'', S. 541 is as follows: : \header tempoMark = global = \parallelMusic #'(voiceA voiceB voiceC voiceD) right = left = \score

References

External links

*
Sheet music
of Liebestraum No.3 on Cantorion.org

Real recordings by Otto Higel, Leo Ornstein, Josef Lhevinne, Eugene d'Albert, Katsuhiro Oguri

various recordings

* ttps://harpers.org/2009/11/freiligrath-_o-lieb-so-lang-du-lieben-kannst_/ "Freiligrath – 'O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst' "by Scott Horton, 8 November 2009, ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Liebestraume Compositions by Franz Liszt Compositions for solo piano 1850 compositions Adaptations of works by Ludwig Uhland