A Dante Symphony - Franz Liszt

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra & Women of the Berlin Rundfunk Chorus conducted by Daniel Barenboim. I - Inferno. Lento - Allegro frenetico. Quasi doppio movimento (Alla breve) - Più mosso - Presto molto - Lento - Quasi andante, ma sempre un poco mosso - Andante amoroso. Tempo rubato - Più ritenuto - Tempo I. Allegro (Alla breve) - Più mosso - Più moderato (Alla breve) - Adagio: 0:00 II - Purgatorio. Andante con moto quasi allegretto. Tranquillo assai - Più lento - Un poco meno mosso - Lamentoso - [L’istesso tempo] - Poco a poco più di moto - Magnificat. L’istesso tempo - Poco a poco accelerando e crescendo sin al Più mosso - Più mosso ma non troppo - Un poco più lento - L’istesso tempo, ma quieto assai: 21:37 Liszt’s Dante Symphony was composed along the Faust Symphony between 1855-6, based on previous sketches and ideas dating from 1839 and 1847-8. It was premiered on November 7 of 1857 at Dresden, conducted by the own composer. Sadly the premiere was a disaster due to the lack of rehearsal, and the piece was heavily panned as a consequence. Like Liszt’s Faust Symphony, the piece has little to do with what a symphony was considered at the time, being more properly described as a multi-movement, large-scale symphonic poem that defies both harmonic and formal conventions of the time. It attempts to musically recreate the literary masterpiece “The Divine Comedy“ of Dante Alighieri. The poem discusses “the state of the soul after death and presents an image of divine justice meted out as due punishment or reward“, and describes Dante’s travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Allegorically, the poem represents the soul’s journey towards God, beginning with the recognition and rejection of sin (Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life (Purgatorio), which is then followed by the soul’s ascent to God (Paradiso). Originally, Liszt wanted to depict the paradise as the third movement, but after Wagner dissuaded him from doing so, instead writing a choral Magnificat. The first movement depicts Dante’s and Virgil’s passage through the nine Circles of Hell. It opens with three ominous themes that describe the gates of hell (“Abandon all hope, all ye who enter!“). The tritone, traditionally associated with the Devil, is omnipresent in the movement. Eternal suffering is evoked by the use of strings tremolos, diminished chords and chromatic harmonies. Liszt depicts the descent into Hell with a chromatic falling figure, surrounded by other motives that gradually accelerate and become more dissonant. A ferocious allegro then unleashes, built on two grotesque themes derived from the introduction material. They represent the Vestibule (in which the dead are condemned to perpetually chase after a whirling standard) and First Circle of Hell (Limbo), which Dante and Virgil traverse after they have passed through the Gates of Hell. After a hellish development of all this material, the music reaches a great climax, followed by a recapitulation of the introduction elements. The repetition of the chromatic falling figure signals the descend of Dante and Virgil into the second circle of Hell. The music grinds to a halt, before a contrasting episode begins with harp glissandi and chromatic figurations in strings and woodwinds. It represents the tragedy of Paolo and Francesca da Rimini, who were hurled into Hell for adultery. Their passionate love is painted through an expressive theme of great voluptuosity on bass clarinet and a duet on two clarinets As before, the transition to the next circle of Hell is prefaced by a return of the opening theme. A short cadenza for harp leads to a passage in which Dante meets the blasphemous Capaneus in the Seventh Circle of Hell. The main themes of the allegro are recapitulated, but are twisted and transformed in a manner reminiscent of Mephistopheles in Liszt’s Faust Symphony. Where before they represented the sufferings of the damned, now it is a cruel parody of that suffering in the mouths of their watchmen devils in what can be assumed to be the Eighth and Ninth Circles of Hell. Another climax leads us into the coda, dominated by the descent motif and the second theme. After an outburst, the music comes to a momentary pause. The descent motif quickly builds up to an even greater climax. In the final ten measures, however, the opening theme returns for the last time: Dante and Virgil emerge from Hell on the other side of the world. [Musical analysis continued in the comments section] [Activate subtitles to read the lyrics] Picture: “Ugolino gnawing on the brains of the Archbishop Ruggieri“ (1890) Illustration by French artist Gustave Doré. Sources: and To check the score: