''Harmonies poétiques et religieuses'' (''Poetic and Religious Harmonies''), S.173, is a cycle of piano pieces written by
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...
at
WoronińceVoronivtsi the Polish-Ukrainian country estate of Liszt's
mistress
Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to:
Romance and relationships
* Mistress (lover), a female lover of a married man
** Royal mistress
* Maîtresse-en-titre, official mistress of a ...
Princess
Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein) in 1847, and published in 1853. The pieces are inspired by the poetry of
Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869) was a French author, poet, and statesman. Initially a moderate royalist, he became one of the leading critics of the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe, aligning more w ...
, as was Liszt's
symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...
''
Les Préludes
LES or Les may refer to:
People
* Les (given name)
* Les (surname)
* L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer
Space flight
* Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews
* Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies
* Lincoln Experimental ...
''.
Structure
The ten compositions which make up this cycle are:
#''Invocation'' (completed at Woronińce);
#''Ave Maria'' (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
#''Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude'' ('The Blessing of God in Solitude', completed at Woronińce);
#''Pensée des morts'' ('In Memory of the Dead', reworked version of earlier individual composition, ''Harmonies poétiques et religieuses'' (1834));
#''Pater Noster'' (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
#''Hymne de l'enfant à son réveil'' ('The Awaking Child’s Hymn', transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
#''
Funérailles'' (October 1849) ('Funeral');
#''Miserere, d'après Palestrina'' (after
Palestrina
Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...
);
#''La lampe du temple'' (Andante lagrimoso);
#''Cantique d'amour'' ('Hymn of Love', completed at Woronińce).
Reception
Critic Patrick Rucker wrote in 2016 that "in Liszt's engagement with the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine, there is a naked intensity, an urgent, in-your-face, lapel-grasping earnestness that one doesn't find, say, in the ''
Années de pèlerinage''."
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmonies poetiques et religieuses
Compositions by Franz Liszt
Compositions for solo piano
1847 compositions
Suites (music)
Adaptations of works by Alphonse de Lamartine