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The genesis and evolution of Liszt's Sonata in B minor : studies in autograph sources and documents /
Abstract
Thesis--University of California, Los Angeles, 1978. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 481-509). Photocopy. s
... Sharon Winklhofer derived her statement that the Sonata sketch "dates from the second week of January 1851" from page 74 of the bound sketchbook unto which Liszt wrote "Eilsen, 2 me semaine de Janvier 1851." 39 There is, however, nothing to link that page (Example 49) with 1851 or with Eilsen. Hence, there is no evidence as to when Liszt penned his sketch of the single motif headed by the B minor key signature of two sharps (Examples 52 and 50). ...
THIS IS THE FULL TEXT OF Towards a New Edition of Liszt’s Sonata in B minor: Sources, Editorial History, Symbolic Issues. Tibor Szász (with Gerard Carter and Martin Adler) “New wine into old wineskins”—such is the reception history of Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor. Ever since its publication in 1854 the score has suffered from textual misinterpretations which are reproduced as a matter of longstanding tradition in current editions and performances. What has led to these widespread misinterpretations of the Sonata? The answer must be the music itself—a continuum in statu nascendi (in the state of being born)—for which analysts have yet to develop adequate means of analysis and synthesis. Liszt was not a good proofreader of his own compositions, and this circumstance, together with his failure to transfer his piecemeal revisions to all similarly affected structures has led to his Sonata being misunderstood by generations of musicians. Liszt’s Sonata has in the past been viewed through the spectacles of distorted tradition. Accustomed to look for a featured “tune” in the soprano, analysts have failed to detect the completely novel structure of the opening Lento assai which comprises two interacting polyphonic elements, of which the “melodic” voice is found not in the traditional soprano but in the bass. Unable to find the expected structures, interpreters have forced out of the printed notes of the score fictional “tunes” fitted into a bed of habitual “soprano melodies.” They have been labeled with two unrelated names, “Phrygian” and “Gypsy” and incorrectly referred to as “descending scales.” Typically, the opening Lento assai was misinterpreted as unisons (staccati on G, mm. 1, 4, 7) broken up in mm. 2–3 and 5–6 by a descending scale starting on high G and a drone starting on the same high G. The Sonata in B minor was published in 1854 with flaws which continue to be restated uncritically in current Urtext editions. These flaws manifest, not as wrong notes, but as details of notation which obscure the two-voiced polyphony in octaves of the Sonata’s Urmotiv (or thème générateur). Liszt’s failure to transfer his autograph revisions of the Urmotiv to all similarly affected structures resulted in a first edition that contained seven flaws in the opening three measures which reappear in mm. 4–7. The present authors have re-examined all the extant and relevant sources: the autograph manuscript (the so-called “Lehman Manuscript”), the two Henle facsimiles thereof, the only extant sonata sketch (GSA 60/N 2), an undated “Sonate” fragment in E minor (old catalogue S701t / new catalogue S692f), the Urtext and critical editions published in the last two centuries, as well as other scholarly contributions to the literature on the Liszt Sonata. Their re-examination has yielded the following conclusions: Urtext policies perpetuate many of the flaws of the first edition and ignore Liszt’s autograph revisions; no edition of the Sonata reflects Liszt’s intended graphic layout of the score; many current performances and analyses of the Sonata are flawed; a correct edition that constitutes his Fassung letzter Hand (final authorized text) is urgently needed. The likelihood of misinterpreting the confusing graphic layout of the first edition of the Sonata was recognized by a number of pupils close to Liszt. In particular, Arthur Friedheim, José Vianna da Motta, and Alexander Siloti produced rectified graphic layouts intended to prevent misinterpretations of the Sonata’s opening measures. However, these solutions remain mostly unknown today. The aim of this article is to provide an impulse for the publication of a more correct Urtext edition of the Liszt Sonata which is free of the numerous flaws contained, not only in the first edition of 1854, but in all published Urtext and non-Urtext editions since then. Indeed, the time is ripe to excuse Liszt’s deficient proofreading, to remedy the resulting textual misinterpretations by performers, scholars, and editors, and to rehabilitate the text of the Sonata in a reliable Urtext edition based on Liszt’s previously ignored revisions. Implementation of this project will not be difficult, time-consuming, or expensive. It largely consists of amendments to the fourteen crucial measures 1–7 (Lento assai) and 453–59 (Quasi adagio). Besides making suggestions for a correct Urtext edition, the present authors have strived to point out the far-reaching consequences for performance of the rehabilitated Sonata text.
... Sharon Winklhofer derived her statement that the Sonata sketch "dates from the second week of January 1851" from page 74 of the bound sketchbook unto which Liszt wrote "Eilsen, 2 me semaine de Janvier 1851." 39 There is, however, nothing to link that page (Example 49) with 1851 or with Eilsen. Hence, there is no evidence as to when Liszt penned his sketch of the single motif headed by the B minor key signature of two sharps (Examples 52 and 50). ...
PREVIEW: Towards a New Edition of Liszt’s Sonata in B minor: Sources, Editorial History, Symbolic Issues
Tibor Szász
(with Gerard Carter and Martin Adler)
“New wine into old wineskins”—such is the reception history of Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor. Ever since its publication in 1854 the score has suffered from textual misinterpretations which are reproduced as a matter of longstanding tradition in current editions and performances. What has led to these widespread misinterpretations of the Sonata? The answer must be the music itself—a continuum in statu nascendi (in the state of being born)—for which analysts have yet to develop adequate means of analysis and synthesis. Liszt was not a good proofreader of his own compositions, and this circumstance, together with his failure to transfer his piecemeal revisions to all similarly affected structures has led to his Sonata being misunderstood by generations of musicians.
Liszt’s Sonata has in the past been viewed through the spectacles of distorted tradition. Accustomed to look for a featured “tune” in the soprano, analysts have failed to detect the completely novel structure of the opening Lento assai which comprises two interacting polyphonic elements, of which the “melodic” voice is found not in the traditional soprano but in the bass. Unable to find the expected structures, interpreters have forced out of the printed notes of the score fictional “tunes” fitted into a bed of habitual “soprano melodies.” They have been labeled with two unrelated names, “Phrygian” and “Gypsy” and incorrectly referred to as “descending scales.” Typically, the opening Lento assai was misinterpreted as unisons (staccati on G, mm. 1, 4, 7) broken up in mm. 2–3 and 5–6 by a descending scale starting on high G and a drone starting on the same high G.
The Sonata in B minor was published in 1854 with flaws which continue to be restated uncritically in current Urtext editions. These flaws manifest, not as wrong notes, but as details of notation which obscure the two-voiced polyphony in octaves of the Sonata’s Urmotiv (or thème générateur). Liszt’s failure to transfer his autograph revisions of the Urmotiv to all similarly affected structures resulted in a first edition that contained seven flaws in the opening three measures which reappear in mm. 4–7.
The present authors have re-examined all the extant and relevant sources: the autograph manuscript (the so-called “Lehman Manuscript”), the two Henle facsimiles thereof, the only extant sonata sketch (GSA 60/N 2), an undated “Sonate” fragment in E minor (old catalogue S701t / new catalogue S692f), the Urtext and critical editions published in the last two centuries, as well as other scholarly contributions to the literature on the Liszt Sonata. Their re-examination has yielded the following conclusions:
Urtext policies perpetuate many of the flaws of the first edition and ignore Liszt’s autograph revisions;
no edition of the Sonata reflects Liszt’s intended graphic layout of the score;
many current performances and analyses of the Sonata are flawed;
a correct edition that constitutes his Fassung letzter Hand (final authorized text) is urgently needed.
The likelihood of misinterpreting the confusing graphic layout of the first edition of the Sonata was recognized by a number of pupils close to Liszt. In particular, Arthur Friedheim, José Vianna da Motta, and Alexander Siloti produced rectified graphic layouts intended to prevent misinterpretations of the Sonata’s opening measures. However, these solutions remain mostly unknown today.
The aim of this article is to provide an impulse for the publication of a more correct Urtext edition of the Liszt Sonata which is free of the numerous flaws contained, not only in the first edition of 1854, but in all published Urtext and non-Urtext editions since then. Indeed, the time is ripe to excuse Liszt’s deficient proofreading, to remedy the resulting textual misinterpretations by performers, scholars, and editors, and to rehabilitate the text of the Sonata in a reliable Urtext edition based on Liszt’s previously ignored revisions. Implementation of this project will not be difficult, time-consuming, or expensive. It largely consists of amendments to the fourteen crucial measures 1–7 (Lento assai) and 453–59 (Quasi adagio).
Besides making suggestions for a correct Urtext edition, the present authors have strived to point out the far-reaching consequences for performance of the rehabilitated Sonata text.
... 1-2 sans les deux notes en levées, et mes. 6 (1853), comporte la même suite de degrés mélodiques : V-IV-III-II / III-II-#I-II / VI-V-V-III. ...
Tibor Szász, a noted pianist and scholar, is Piano Professor at the University of Music, Freiburg, Germany since 1993. Doctorate: 1984, University of Michigan. Former professor at Duke University, University of Dayton, Bowling Green State University. Publications: USA, England, Germany, France, Holland, Romania. Expertise: Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Bartók, Enescu. His identification of the Maria Pavlovna melody in the Liszt Sonata, and its divine and diabolical symbols, are noted in the 2015 Henle facsimile edition, see http://www.henle.de/media/foreword/3227.pdf His basso continuo research on Beethoven's five piano concertos was the centerpiece article in a Beethoven monograph, published by Cambridge University Press, and incorporated in three Urtext publications of Beethoven's piano concertos: Henle (Hans-Werner Küthen, ed.), Eulenburg No. 706 (Paul-Badura Skoda, ed.), and Bärenreiter (2015, Jonathan Del Mar, ed.).
The idea of progress became increasingly relevant during the 19th century, eventually instigating a paradigm shift. This transformation facilitated not only the emergence of numerous philosophical and literary trends, but also engendered new perspectives in music theory. The composer Franz Liszt was also influenced by the spirit of the epoch. This study’s analysis of his piano compositions from the Sonata in B Minor to the Bagatelle sans tonalité shows how he shaped and adapted his musical language and aesthetic thinking on the basis of what he called the ‘ideal of the time’.
The idea of progress became increasingly relevant during the 19th century, eventually instigating a paradigm shift. This transformation facilitated not only the emergence of numerous philosophical and literary trends, but also engendered new perspectives in music theory. The composer Franz Liszt was also influenced by the spirit of the epoch. This study’s analysis of his piano compositions from the Sonata in B Minor to the Bagatelle sans tonalité shows how he shaped and adapted his musical language and aesthetic thinking on the basis of what he called the ‘ideal of the time’.
The idea of progress became increasingly relevant during the 19th century, eventually instigating a paradigm shift. This transformation facilitated not only the emergence of numerous philosophical and literary trends, but also engendered new perspectives in music theory. The composer Franz Liszt was also influenced by the spirit of the epoch. This study’s analysis of his piano compositions from the Sonata in B Minor to the Bagatelle sans tonalité shows how he shaped and adapted his musical language and aesthetic thinking on the basis of what he called the ‘ideal of the time’.
This article is a shortened version of the JALS 2017 article "Towards a New Edition of Liszt's Sonata in B minor". It contains all discussions relating to the proposed New Urtext Edition but omits most of the material relating to historical and symbolic issues. The result is to provide pianists, analysts, editors and musicologists with the opportunity to implement, at this stage, the corrections to be introduced into the new edition. This will correct the many serious errors present in the original edition which the composer did not correct in the reprints issued in his lifetime. It will also correct the many serious errors in the numerous Urtext and non-Urtext editions that have been published over the years. This article will form the basis of a new Critical Commentary (Kritischer Bericht) which will be included as an appendix to the new edition. This will result in the presentation of an authentic text, uncluttered with footnotes, together with a separate, comprehensive explanation for each and every correction. The new edition will be the first and only edition, among other things, to state correctly the motifs on which the Sonata is based. It will enable every pianist to prepare her or his own live performances and recordings from a flawless score. The desired result is that eventually all performances and recordings of the Sonata will be in conformity with the composer's intentions. The word Figure (coded red) is a hyperlink that will automatically move the cursor to the linked music Example. To activate the hyperlink, touch the screen or click the word Figure with the mouse pointer. Be sure, however, to make a note of the original page number, since the hyperlink will not move the cursor back to the original place in the text. Textual revisions suggested by the present authors are found on pages 3 and 42. (This PDF file uses Endnotes; the other one uses Footnotes).
Tibor Szász, a noted pianist and scholar, is Piano Professor at the University of Music, Freiburg, Germany since 1993. Doctorate: 1984, University of Michigan. Former professor at Duke University, University of Dayton, Bowling Green State University. Publications: USA, England, Germany, France, Holland, Romania. Expertise: Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Bartók, Enescu. His identification of the Maria Pavlovna melody in the Liszt Sonata, and its divine and diabolical symbols, are noted in the 2015 Henle facsimile edition, see http://www.henle.de/media/foreword/3227.pdf His basso continuo research on Beethoven's five piano concertos was the centerpiece article in a Beethoven monograph, published by Cambridge University Press, and incorporated in three Urtext publications of Beethoven's piano concertos: Henle (Hans-Werner Küthen, ed.), Eulenburg No. 706 (Paul-Badura Skoda, ed.), and Bärenreiter (2015, Jonathan Del Mar, ed.).
Background in Music Psychology. Previous research on simple synthetic rhythmic patterns revealed the categorical structure of rhythm perception in music [1]. However, further research is needed to investigate complex rhythmic structures. This paper investigates rhythmic similarity in terms of mathematical measures and psychological measures. This study focuses on flamenco music, which is characterized by hand-clapping patterns whose underlying meter is composed of a pattern of soft and accented claps.
Background in Computer Science. A mathematical analysis of the five 12/8 rhythmic patterns used in flamenco
music was recently conducted to establish several musicological hypotheses [2], and specifically confirmed the
existence of an ancestral rhythm for flamenco music. This analysis relied on the similarity between the rhythmic
patterns. Such similarity was measured with two different rhythmic similarity measures: the chronotonic distance and the directed swap distance.
Aims. Presented in this paper are the results of a listening test conducted to evaluate the perceived similarity of the rhythmic patterns used in flamenco music (5 basic patterns + ancestral rhythm). The psychological ratings of similarity are then compared with the mathematical measures proposed in [2].
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