Transcendental Études

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Études d'exécution transcendante
Transcendental Études
Piano études by Franz Liszt
Portrait of Liszt (1839)
CatalogueS.139
Year1837 (1837)
Based onÉtude en douze exercices, S.136
DedicationCarl Czerny
Published1852 (1852)
Movements12

The Transcendental Études (French: Études d'exécution transcendante), S.139, are a set of twelve compositions for piano by Franz Liszt. They were published in 1852 as a revision of an 1837 set (which had not borne the title "d'exécution transcendante"), which in turn were – for the most part – an elaboration of a set of studies written in 1826.

Name Key
No. 1 Preludio C major
No. 2 (Molto Vivace) A minor
No. 3 Paysage F major
No. 4 Mazeppa D minor
No. 5 Feux follets B major
No. 6 Vision G minor
No. 7 Eroica E major
No. 8 Wilde Jagd C minor
No. 9 Ricordanza A major
No. 10 (Allegro agitato molto) F minor
No. 11 Harmonies du soir D major
No. 12 Chasse-neige B minor

History[edit]

The Transcendental Études contain extreme technical difficulties, such as the right hand configuration and left hand leaps in the Transcendental Étude No. 5.

The genesis of the Transcendental Études goes back to 1826, when 15-year-old Liszt wrote a set of youthful exercises called the Étude en douze exercices (Study in twelve exercises), S.136.[1] These pieces were not particularly technically demanding. Liszt then returned to these pieces for thematic ideas, elaborating on them considerably, in the composition of the Douze Grandes Études (Twelve Grand Studies), S.137, which were published in 1837.

The Transcendental Études, S.139, are revisions of the Douze Grandes Études. The fourth was altered and published alone as Mazeppa in late 1846,[2] and the collection as a whole was published in 1852 and dedicated to Carl Czerny,[3] Liszt's piano teacher, and himself a prolific composer of études. The set included simplifications for the most part: in addition to many other reductions, Liszt removed all stretches of intervals greater than a tenth, making the pieces more suitable for pianists with smaller hands.

When revising the 1837 set of études into their final "Transcendental" versions, Liszt added programmatic titles in French and German to all but two of the pieces,[3] Études Nos. 2 and 10. In his edition of the work, Ferruccio Busoni respectively called them Fusées (Rockets) and Appassionata, and these titles are occasionally used in modern performance. However, these alternate titles were never approved by Liszt himself, and, generally, in scholarly reference, in performance, and in authoritative urtext editions like those published by G. Henle Verlag, these two études are referred to only by their performance indications: Molto vivace and Allegro agitato molto, respectively.[3][4][5]

Liszt's original idea was to write 24 études, one in each of the 24 major and minor keys. He completed only half of this project, using the neutral and flat key signatures. In 1897–1905 the Russian composer Sergei Lyapunov wrote his own set of Douze études d'exécution transcendante, Op. 11, continuing Liszt's cycle through the keys that Liszt had not used, namely the sharp keys, to "complete" the set of 24.[6] Lyapunov's set of études was dedicated to the memory of Liszt, and bore titles as Liszt's set had done, with the final étude being entitled Élégie en mémoire de Franz Liszt.

Very few pianists have recorded the 1837 set, and even fewer have recorded the 1826 set (which really are works of Liszt's juvenilia). Leslie Howard is the only pianist to have recorded all three sets on a major label for international release, as part of his series of recordings for Hyperion of the complete solo piano music of Liszt.

Other works with a similar title[edit]

Selected recordings of the complete set[edit]

Pianist Recorded Label
Alexander Borovsky 1956 Vox
György Cziffra 1957–1958 EMI
Lazar Berman 1963 Melodiya
Claudio Arrau 1974–1976 Philips
Russell Sherman 1976 Vanguard
Michael Ponti 1982 Leo Records
Josef Bulva 1983 Orfeo Records
Jerome Rose 1984 Cum Laude
Jorge Bolet 1985 Decca
Vladimir Ovchinnikov 1988 EMI
Janice Weber 1988 MCA
Leslie Howard 1989 Hyperion
Jenő Jandó 1994 Naxos
Boris Berezovsky 1995–1996 Teldec
François-René Duchâble 1998 EMI
Janina Fialkowska 2000 Opening Day Recordings
Freddy Kempf 2001 BIS
Christopher Taylor 2002 Liszt Digital
Yu Kosuge 2003 Sony Classical
Bertrand Chamayou 2005 Sony
Alice Sara Ott 2009 Deutsche Grammophon
Vesselin Stanev 2010 RCA Red Seal
Mariangela Vacatello 2010 Brilliant Classics
Mélodie Zhao 2011 Claves Records
Vadym Kholodenko 2013 Harmonia Mundi
Kirill Gerstein 2016 Myrios
Daniil Trifonov 2016 Deutsche Grammophon
Mordecai Shehori 2018 Cembal d'amour
Yunchan Lim 2022 live in Fort Worth, Steinway & Sons

References[edit]

  1. ^ "李斯特:超技练习曲S.139" [Liszt: Transcendental Étude S.139], Deutsche Welle, 1 April 2022 (in Chinese)
  2. ^ Ubber, Christian (2005). Ubber; Klaus (eds.). Etudes d'exécution transcendante mit Grandes Etudes 2 & 7 (1 ed.). Vienna, Austria: Wiener. p. X. ISBN 3-85055-640-9.
  3. ^ a b c "Transcendental Études" by Betsy Schwarm, Encyclopædia Britannica
  4. ^ Liszt: Transcendental Studies, Urtext Edition
  5. ^ "Public domain list of historic public scores works of the Transcendental Études by Franz Liszt - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  6. ^ Liszt: The Complete Music for Solo Piano, Vol. 4 – Transcendental Studies (1989), Hyperion Records, Leslie Howard

External links[edit]