Piano Transcriptions from French and Italian Operas

by Franz Liszt

In his long career as a composer, Liszt (1811–86) wrote some sixty works based on popular operas of his day. This volume, spanning the composer's output from 1835 to 1879, presents a selection of his paraphrases and fantasies on operas written chiefly in the French and Italian traditions. Reproduced directly from a rare Russian edition of Liszt's works, this edition includes the following transcriptions:
Sarabande and Chaconne from Almira, Concert Arrangement (Handel)
Reminiscences of Don Juan [Don Giovanni] (Mozart)
Reminiscences of Robert le Diable: Valse Infernale (Meyerbeer)
Overture to William Tell (Rossini)
Reminiscences of Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Concert Waltz on Two Themes from Lucia and Parisina (Donizetti)
Grand Concert Fantasy from Sonnambula (Bellini)
Reminiscences of Norma (Bellini)
Concert Paraphrase of Rigoletto; "Miserere" from Trovatore; Concert Paraphrase of Ernani (Verdi)
Waltz from Faust, Concert Paraphrase (Gounod)
Polonaise from Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)
Encompassing selections as diverse as the Baroque melodies of Handel and the glittering romanticism of Tchaikovsky, Liszt's masterful transcriptions and fantasies reveal his exceptional ability to transform the essence of an operatic theme into unforgettable music for the piano. For this edition, published in association with the American Liszt Society, all headings, footnotes, and other indications that originally appeared in Russian have been translated into English. Liszt scholar Charles Suttoni has both selected the pieces and contributed a new Introduction.

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1982

About the author

Franz Liszt (1811, Doborján, Hungary - 1886, Bayreuth, Germany)(Hungarian: Ferencz Liszt, in modern usage Ferenc Liszt, from 1859 to 1865 officially Franz Ritter von Liszt) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher. He was also the father-in-law of Richard Wagner.

Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer during the 1800s. He is said to have been the most technically advanced and perhaps greatest pianist of all time. He was also an important and influential composer, a notable piano teacher, a conductor who contributed significantly to the modern development of the art, and a benefactor to other composers and performers, notably Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz.

As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the “neudeutsche schule” (“New German School”). He left behind a huge and diverse body of work, in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated some 20th-century ideas and trends. Some of his most notable contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form and making radical departures in harmony.