Les préludes

Franz Liszt, after a painting of 1856, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach.

Les préludes ("Preludes" or "The Beginnings"), S.97, is the third of Franz Liszt's thirteen symphonic poems. The music was composed between 1845–54, and began as an overture to Liszt's choral cycle Les quatre élémens (The Four Elements), then revised as a standing alone concert overture, with a new title referring to a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine. Its premiere was on 23 February 1854, conducted by Liszt himself. The score was published in 1856 by Breitkopf & Härtel. Les préludes is the earliest example of an orchestral work entitled "Symphonic Poem" (German: Symphonische Dichtung or French: Poème symphonique).

Form

Les préludes is the final revision of an Overture initially written for a choral cycle Les quatre élémens (The Four Elements, 1844–48), on 4 poems by the french author Joseph Autran: La Terre (The Earth), Les Aquilons (The north Winds), Les Flots (The Waves), Les Astres (The Stars).

The chorus Les Aquilons was composed and created in a version for male chorus with piano accompaniment in Marseille in 1844, and the first sketches of the Ouverture des quatre élémens date from 1845, during Liszt's tour through Spain and Portugal. A manuscript of the overture from 1849-50 shows that the work had by then reached its almost definitive structure and thematic content. .

After being partially orchestrated, the choral cycle project was abandoned. The Overture was revised in 1853-54, as a stand-alone piece, with a new title Les préludes inspired by the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine. It is important to note that the title, and the reference to Lamartine's Ode as a suggestion for a programme, were added only after the work was almost complete. Contrary to an idea that is still sometimes widespread today, the work was neither written nor even revised after Lamartine: there were no addition of new themes, no addition or suppression or changes in the order of episodes, not even changes of the tonal structure within the episodes, between the last stage of the manuscript of the Ouverture des quatre élémens, and the final revision of 1853-54 under the title Les préludes .

Les préludes is written for a large orchestra of strings, woodwind, brass (including tuba and bass trombone), harp and a variety of percussion instruments (timpani, side drum, bass drum and cymbals). To realize the orchestration, Liszt was helped successively by Joachim Raff for the manuscripts of 1849-50, then by Hans von Bronsart for the final revision in 1853-54.

Musical structure

The form of Les préludes corresponds to that of an opera overture or concert overture: an overview of musical themes of the work to come, combined in a sequence of contrasting movements leading to a brilliant finale, as frequently found in composers with which Liszt was familiar (cf. many Overtures by Beethoven, Weber, Rossini, Berlioz, Wagner...)

The musical structure is as follows:

1. Andante: mm.1–34

2. Andante maestoso: mm.35–46

3a. L'istesso tempo (Espressivo cantando): mm.47–69
3b. L'istesso tempo (Espressivo ma tranquillo): mm.70–108

4a. Allegro ma non troppo - mm.109–130
4b. Allegro tempestoso: mm.131–181

5a. Un poco più moderato: mm.182–200
5b. Allegretto pastorale (Allegro moderato): mm.200–296
5c. Poco a poco più di moto sino al Allegro marziale: mm.296-344

6. Allegro marziale animato: mm.345–405

7. Andante maestoso: mm.406–420

Links between the themes / sections and the poetic pictures by Autran

All themes in "Les préludes" come from the choruses Les Quatre Élemens , .
The reading of the verses by Autran for which these themes were initially written, thus gives the first keys for a possible descriptive dimension of the music.

1. Andante (Introduction)

Main theme from "Les Astres" and 1st phrase of "Les préludes"

After 2 pizzicati, the strings intone a phrase which is nothing other than a presentation of the vocal theme sung by the Stars at the beginning of the chorus Les Astres, extended by an ascending arpeggio:

"Hommes épars sur le globe qui roule / (Enveloppé là-bas de nos rayons).»
"Men scattered on the rolling globe / (Wrapped up there in our rays)».

This "theme of the Stars" is also headed by a 'three-note cell' C-B-E, which unify all the thematic material of the Preludes , as it already does in the original choruses.

The theme is first presented as a hesitant sketch emerging from silence and returning to silence, in an ambiguous key and ambiguous rhythm, the pizzicati and the attacks being systematically on weak times. The phrase is then repeated in waves of increasing intensity, carried by a wind ostinato driving an harmonic progression that builds increasing tension toward C major, which will only be resolved when moving on to the next section.

Note that the Andante indication is more or less respected by different conductors, many of whom follow a tradition of expanding it into an adagio or largo, as the discography attests.

Note also that some editions of the score display a strong ritenuto just before the andante maestoso, while others do not. Both version can be heard till today, without it being possible to know what Liszt would have wanted.

2. Andante Maestoso (The Stars)

The 3 main elements of the andante maestoso

The return to a luminous C major finally resolves the harmonic tension accumulated earlier.

The music here comes entirely from the beginning of the chorus Les Astres (The Stars): ,

• The harmonic scheme, proceeding in descending thirds before returning to C major, is strictly that of the instrumental introduction to the chorus.
• The chorale-like writing in held notes in woodwinds, trumpets and horns was present in the instrumental introduction.

• The waves of sharply articulated arpeggios in the violins and violas also appeared in a similar form in the introduction, even in the piano part.

• The aforementioned theme of the Stars is now declaimed in the trombones, tuba, bassoons and low strings, with a new rhythmic pattern that will be reaffirmed by the timpani. 
This theme, which in the original chorus appeared only at the entrance of the voices, is here superimposed and adapted to the musical elements of the introduction, providing a melodic and rhythmic counterpoint to the other elements (addition made during the 1853-54 revision: the 1850 manuscript still had the choral line as its main material) .

Note that the trombone and tuba parts are indicated simply f, not ff like the rest of the orchestra, which seems to mean that Liszt was keen on a balance between the 3 musical elements, not an overwhelming predominance of the trombones.

3. L'istesso tempo - espressivo cantando (Love)

Love theme from "Les Astres" and 1st love theme of "Les préludes" (Heavenly love)

Continuing with the same pulse, but with a tender and lyrical expression, the new section presents 2 musical themes that were explicitly associated with poetic images of love in the 2 choruses Les Astres and La Terre (The Earth).

3a. mm.47–69
The theme played by 2d violins & celli is the full quote of a theme from the 2d section of the Chorus Les Astres , associated with the notion of heavenly/divine love:

« Seul astre pur qui parfois illumine / Comme un de nous vos ténébreux chemins [...] / Couples heureux, pleins d’extase divine / Vous soupirez, en vous tenant les mains »
« Only pure star that sometimes illuminates / Like one of us your dark paths [...] / Happy couples, full of divine ecstasy / You sigh, holding hands.»

As the previous "theme of the Stars", this "heavenly love theme" derives from the original 3-note founding cell, moved to the 3rd degree instead of the first.

Love theme from "La terre" and 2d love theme of "Les préludes" (Earthly love)

3b.: mm.70–108

The new theme played by the 4 horns, "espressivo ma tranquillo", is a citation of a 4-voices motif sung by The Trees in the chorus La Terre, this time associated with the notion of earthly/carnal love:

« Des ivresses unanimes, voici les moments heureux / De nos pieds jusqu’à nos cimes / S’élancent en nœuds intimes / Tous les êtres amoureux »
« Of unanimous voluptuousness, here are the happy moments / From our feet to our peaks / All beings in love are thrown into intimate knots »

Although not obvious at first sight, this 2d Love theme is in fact an embroidery of the 3-notes cell, as shown by Richard Taruskin

This theme also displays the typical sway of a barcarolle, an example of which also appeared in the chorus Les Flots to accompany the following lines:

« Puis [la mer] promène en silence / La barque frêle qui balance / Un couple d’enfants amoureux. »
« Then [the sea] silently carries / The frail boat that rocks / A couple of children in love. »

Courbet - Portrait of Hector Berlioz, 1850

This "earthly love theme" is then resumed by the strings, and gives rise to passionate impulses, alternating fiery outbursts from the violins in the high register, sudden suspensions, sensual woodwinds sighs, creating a tableau in direct lineage with the Rêveries-passions of the Symphonie fantastique, or the Scene d'amour of Romeo and Juliette, a work of which Liszt had been an enthusiastic admirer since 1846 , and which he was to conduct highlights several times in Weimar in 1853 , shortly before the last revision of Les préludes.

The music calms down with a final quotation of the 1st love theme, before woodwind 7th chords set up a new harmonic tension, creating the expectation before the storm.

4. Allegro ma non troppo - Allegro tempestuoso (Storm)

This new section takes up some of the musical material associated with the evocation of sea storms and shipwrecks in the two choruses Les Flots and Les Aquilons, and is a characteristic example the legacy of Sturm und Drang in Liszt's work

Beginning of the storm

4a. Allegro ma non troppo, mm. 109-130:

An ominous chromatic motif, again derived from the 3-note cell, evokes the first tremors of wind or waves, which quickly intensify, carried by swirling string tremolos.

4b. Allegro tempestuoso

mm. 131-160

The storm erupts in a chaos of 7th harmonies, without a stable tonal centre , where the only identifiable thematic material is the 3-note cell, repeated, hammered, distorted (stated in reverse mode, mm. 140-141), always in favour of highly figurative writing. Violent accents, the ebb and flow of orchestral waves, thunderous rolling of the timpani, strident shouts from the woodwinds in the high register, frenetic rhythms (indication "molto agitato ed accelerando"), up to an immense chromatic descent in which one might be tempted to see the "sinking ship" evoked by Autran in Les Flots (m. 155).

Trumpets motif associated with the storm in "Les flots" and in "Les préludes" (Judgement trumpets)

mm. 160-181:

The key then settles into A minor, with music derived directly from the introduction to the chorus Les Flots:

• A trumpet motif in repeated notes, which was already present in the piano part, and for which Liszt had already noted a sketch of orchestration on additional staves.
• Arpeggio patterns in the strings, also present in the piano introduction,

The repeated note motif also appeared in a close form in the vocal line of the following lines:

« Nous aimons voir briller dans l’ombre / l’éclair aux ardents javelots / Nous aimons le vaisseau qui sombre / en jetant à la grève sombre / le dernier cri des matelots »
"We like to see the lightning shining in the shadows / with its fiery javelins / we like the sinking ship / throwing to the dark shore / the last cry of the sailors. »

The significance of the trumpet motif, an allusion to the Last Judgement awaiting the sailors, is clear from the text of the other chorus in the cycle, which evokes storms, Les Aquilons:

« Avec fracas promenons les tempêtes / Au firmament / Nous mugissons ainsi que les trompettes / Du jugement.»
« With noise let's walk the storms / In the firmament / We roar like the trumpets / Of judgment.»

Note that the music of Les quatre élémens was largely composed during Liszt's stays in port cities: Marseille, Valencia, Malaga, Lisbon , places where stories of shipwrecks were very real.

5. Un poco più moderato - Allegretto Pastorale (Pastoral scene)

The succession of a storm description and a bucolic evocation is an already proven musical effect (see Beethoven 6th Symphony). Moreover, such a juxtaposition also appears in the text of the chorus Les Aquilons (even if the music associated with country nature is here different from that in Les préludes).

« Avec fracas promenons les tempêtes / Au firmament / Nous mugissons ainsi que les trompettes / Du jugement.
Brises du soir, vents de l’aube naissante / Faibles et doux / […] Vous effleurez de vos ailes bénies / Les fleurs des champs»
« With a roar let's drive the storms / Into the firmament / We howl like the trumpets / Of judgment.
Evening breezes, winds of the dawning dawn / Weak and gentle / [...] You touch with your blessed wings / The flowers of the fields".

5a. Un poco più moderato

The calm returns with a reprise of the "theme of heavenly love", which was also the last theme heard just before the storm, revealing a cyclical construction in which the storm was the central point. First freely intoned by the oboe classically associated with pastoral evocations, the theme is then adorned with the soft light of a combination of divided violins and harp.

Note that Liszt insists on a progressive slowing of the pulse (poco rallentando, un poco più moderato), thus seeking to preserve a certain rhythmic continuity despite the change in character.

Pastoral theme obtained from a variation on the 2nd love theme

5b. Allegretto pastorale

An new a graceful theme appears and gives rise to playful exchanges between the various wind soloists and the strings, while the new tonal centre stabilises in A major.

This "Pastoral theme" is in fact a reprise of a decorative line that derives from the 2d Love theme in the Love Section.

5c: Mes. 260-344... Poco a poco più di moto sino al Allegro marziale

The "Earthly love theme" and the "Pastoral theme" are now combined, accelerated very gradually with the return to the key of C major, and progressively amplified by a colourful orchestration with increasingly military overtones (tuba and timpani mes. 316), which serves as a transition to the next section.

No parallel can be established between any verse of the poems of Autran (nor any part of Lamartine's ode), and this joyful and exuberant progression, whose raison d'être seems especially musical, in order to make a transition to the Finale.

It should be noted that, given the performance difficulties raised by the long acceleration and then the tempo equivalence suggested in the score, the choice of tempi and the risk-taking here vary greatly according to the conductors and orchestras, as the discography attests.

6: Allegro marziale animato (Triumphal March)

This highly virtuosic page, bringing together strings scale-runs, brass fanfares, sharp dotted rhythms in the woodwind section, continues the principle of thematic transformation:

1st Love motif transformed into a triumphal fanfare

The "theme of Heavenly love" is now transformed into a triumphant fanfare (mm. 346 ff.)

2d Love motif transformed into a march

The "theme of Earthly love" is transformed into a military march, or a cavalcade depending on the tempo chosen (mm. 370 ff.: some editions of the score have a "tempo di marcia" indication which may encourage a momentary widening of the tempo, others do not, suggesting it should be played "a tempo": both options can be heard in recordings)

There is no description of a "battle" or "victory" in Autran's poems that could have motivated such an extensive page. With the exception of a brief evocation of the navy in the chorus Les Flots, which Liszt accompanied with a marching rhythm, but which lasts only a few seconds.
« C’est nous qui portons sur cîmes / les messagers des Nations / Vaisseaux de bronze aux flancs sublimes… »
« We carry on the crest / the messengers of the Nations / Bronze vessels with sublime sides...»

Moreover, as said before, no episode was added between the 1850 Ouverture des Quatre élémens and the final version, making the idea of a battle episode inspired by Lamartine impossible.

On the other hand, the use of triumphant music with military accents as a finale is a fairly common procedure in opera overtures and concert overtures of this period. See: Berlioz's Les Francs-Juges, 1828 (transcribed by Liszt in 1833), Benvenuto Cellini, 1838 / Ouverture d’un Carnaval Romain, 1844 (transcribed in the 1840's), Rossini's Guillaume Tell, 1829 (transcribed in 1838), Wagner's Rienzi, 1942, Weber's Jubel-Ouvertüre, 1818 (transcribed in 1846)...

7: Andante maestoso (Recapitulation)

After more or less pronounced ritardendo (the indication varies from "poco" to "molto ritardendo" depending of the editions of the score), the andante maestoso is entirely re-exposed, as the conclusion of a cyclic construction, with reinforced dynamics and additional percussion, and followed by a brief coda.

Musical unity

Despite the sequence of highly contrasting episodes, the work is unified by several musical processes.

• First, the principle of thematic transformation, as it has been described above. After Berlioz and his "idée fixe" motif in the Symphonie Fantatstique, Liszt gives here another exemple of cyclical structure, where all themes derive from the same cell and are interconnected. It has been noticed that the beginning of the Symphonie en ré mineur by César Franck (1888), a famous example of a cyclical work, uses a three-note cell very similar to the founding cell of Les Preludes.

• The unity is also ensured by the harmonic structure : each section has a key centre based on a principle of thirds around the initial key :

1. & 2: Key centre = C major
3. Key centre = C major then E major (a third above C)
4. Unstable section then A minor (a third below C)
5. Key centre = A major then return to C major
6. & 7. Key centre = C major

• Unity is finally ensured by a rhythmic continuity :

The first half of the work, from the introduction to the end of the Love section, is unified by a same andante tempo, with only variations in dynamics and expression, and a few agogic indications.

In the second half, the allegro of the Storm is gradually slowed down — but not to much — to a pastoral allegretto that is also indicated allegro moderato, then gradually accelerated to an allegro marziale animato, before the return of the initial andante maestoso, without any tempo rupture.

The work is thus animated by a continuous forward movement, with only a brief suspension just before the storm.

Similarity of structure with other works

Richard Taruskin pointed out that the sections of Les préludes "[correspond] to the movements of a conventional symphony if not in the most conventional order". He adds that "[t]he music, whilst heavily indebted in concept to Berlioz, self-consciously advertises its descent from Beethoven even as it flaunts its freedom from the formal constraints to which Beethoven had submitted [...] The standard "there and back" construction that had controlled musical discourse since at least the time of the old dance suite continues to impress its general shape on the sequence of programmatically derived events." A similarity can be observed in particular with Beethoven's 6th Symphony, with a musical storm followed by a pastoral evocation, and with the martial finale in C major of Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

The structure of Les Preludes is even closer to that of an overture that Liszt transcribed for piano a few years earlier, Rossini's Guillaume Tell Overture (Transcription S. 552, 1838): an andante introduction with strings ascendant motifs interspersed with rests, a tender development, a storm section, a pastorale section, and a triumphant military finale.

The programme

The full title of the piece, "Les préludes (d'après Lamartine)" refers to an Ode from the Alphonse de Lamartine's Nouvelles méditations poétiques of 1823. The final version thus no longer contains any reference to Autran or to the Chorus cycle Les quatre élémens. Moreover, it seems that Liszt took steps to obscure the origin of the piece, and that this included the destruction of the original overture's title page, and the re-ascription of the piece to Lamartine's poem. Lamartine's ode does indeed contain several similarities with some sections in Autran's poems: an amorous elegy, a sea storm, a bucolic scene, which, as long as one sticks to archetypal images without being too careful about the detail and order of the sequences, can serve as a vague programme.

Several reasons have been mentioned for this re-ascription, with no certainty: copyright problems linked to the fact that Autran's poems were not yet all published, reject by Liszt of a poetry which it would have finally judged too weak with the profit of a more famous author, influence of Liszt's companion Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein and her taste for Lamartine (Liszt having then complied more or less willingly), need to integrate Les préludes into the collection of Poèmes Symphoniques which are all accompanied by a literary support..., ,

The 1856 published score includes a text preface, which however is not from Lamartine.

What else is our life but a series of preludes to that unknown Hymn, the first and solemn note of which is intoned by Death?—Love is the glowing dawn of all existence; but what is the fate where the first delights of happiness are not interrupted by some storm, the mortal blast of which dissipates its fine illusions, the fatal lightning of which consumes its altar; and where is the cruelly wounded soul which, on issuing from one of these tempests, does not endeavour to rest his recollection in the calm serenity of life in the fields? Nevertheless man hardly gives himself up for long to the enjoyment of the beneficent stillness which at first he has shared in Nature's bosom, and when "the trumpet sounds the alarm", he hastens, to the dangerous post, whatever the war may be, which calls him to its ranks, in order at last to recover in the combat full consciousness of himself and entire possession of his energy.

The earliest version of this preface was written in March 1854 by Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. This version comprises voluminous reflections of the Princess, into which some lines of quotations from the ode by Lamartine are incorporated. It was drastically shortened for publication in April 1856 as part of the score; there only the sentence, "the trumpet sounds the alarm" and the title "Les préludes", survive from Lamartine's poem.

A different version of the preface was written for the occasion of a performance of Les préludes on 6 December 1855, in Berlin. In the 1855 version the connection with Lamartine is reduced to his alleged query, "What else is our life but a series of preludes to that unknown Hymn, the first and solemn note of which is intoned by Death?" However this sentence was actually written not by Lamartine, but by Princess Wittgenstein.

For the occasion of a performance of Les préludes on 30 April 1860, in Prague a further version of the preface was made. This version was probably written by Hans von Bülow who directed the performance. It is rather short and contains no reference to Lamartine at all. According to this version, Les préludes illustrates the development of a man from his early youth to maturity. In this interpretation, Les préludes may be taken as part of a sketched musical autobiography.

In a letter to his uncle Eduard List dated 26 March 1857, Liszt refers to his Preludes as "a prelude to his own path of composition", i.e. the beginning of his interest in cyclical form, as he makes clear in the rest of the letter . But this gives no further indication of any "hidden programme".

The first symphonic poem

With the first performance of the work a new genre was introduced. Les préludes is the earliest example for an orchestral work that was performed as "symphonic poem". In a letter to Franz Brendel of 20 February 1854, Liszt simply called it "a new orchestral work of mine (Les préludes)". Two days later, in the announcement in the Weimarische Zeitung of 22 February 1854, of the concert on 23 February, it was called "Symphonische Dichtung".

The term "symphonic poem" was thus invented. And with it, the question of the extent to which recourse to a programme or to extra-musical ideas is necessary - or not - in order to apprehend the work, a question that remains relevant today.

Some commentators, such as Alexander Main, have attempted to establish a very precise correspondence between the different sections of the Préludes and the different sections of Lamartine's ode, trying to derive clues that the musical work was written after Lamartine - a theory now invalidated by the discovery of the 1849-1850 manuscript, as mentioned above .

Other commentators have proposed a division of the work based on the preface by Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, or on the philosophical ideas associated with it. Here are two examples:

Section	Johns (1997)	Taruskin (2010)
1 (mm. 1-34)	1. ″Lack″	1 .″The Question″
2 (mm. 35-46)	2. ″Awakening of consciousness″	(continuation of ″The Question″)
3 (mm. 47-108)	3. ″Love and innocence″	2. ″Love″
4 (mm. 49-181)	4. ″Storms of life″	3. ″Storm″
5 (mm. 182-344)	5. ″Consolation of nature″	4. ″Bucolic calm″
6 (mm. 345-405)	6. ″Self realization″	5. ″Battle and Victory″
7 (mm. 406-420)		(continuation of "Battle and Victory", including the recapitulation of ″Question″)

The "love", "storm" and "bucolic" sections do not raise any concerns about interpretation, as they are based on musical themes that were explicitly associated with poetic images of love, storm and nature in the choruses "Les quatre élémens". And as these are archetypal topi of Romanticism, the suggestion of a text by Lamartine evoking the same archetypes can also work, as well as any literary or pictorial work from the same period on the same subjects:

Love Elegy under the Stars:

Friedrich: Mann und Frau in Betrachtung des Mondes, 1835

Storm and shipwrecking:

Turner: The Shipwreck, 1805

Calm of nature:

Durand: Forenoon, 1847

In contrast, the diversity of proposals for the introduction and the first andante maestoso illustrates the fact that there is no consensus on any interpretation. As mentioned before, the "Question" about Death and the futility of existence ("What else is our life but a series of preludes..."), can be seen as Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein's personal thoughts and nothing else . Taruskin himself acknowledges that there is no section in Lamartine's text that can be linked to such a "Question" . Note also that this introduction doesn't have an adagio nor largo indication, like if it was a reflection on death, but simply andante.

If a literary support were to be found for this music, which emerges from silence, develops accompanied by the harp, and then shines forth in all its glory, the poem Les Astres by Autran already contained verses that could have inspired it:

« Quand vient la nuit vous couvrir de son aile
Si vous montiez sur les sommets déserts,
Vous entendriez sous la voûte éternelle
Une musique auguste et solennelle
Qui de nos chœurs s’épanche dans les airs. [...]
Nos lyres d’or vous chanteraient la gloire/ De Jéhova...»

« When night comes to cover you with its wing
If you climbed the deserted peaks,
You would hear under the eternal vault
An august and solemn music
Which from our choirs pours out into the air. [...]
Our golden lyres would sing you the glory/ Of Jehova...»

However, the music for these verses in the chorus Les Astres is different from the music of the introduction of Les Preludes, making such an association just as speculative as the previous one.

Some commentators consider another possible association between the beginning of Les préludes and the beginning of Lamartine's ode, not on the theme of Death and futility of life, but on the theme of the invocation of poetic genius:

« La nuit, pour rafraîchir la nature embrasée,
De ses cheveux d’ébène exprimant la rosée,
Pose au sommet des monts ses pieds silencieux [...]»
« Que ce calme lui pèse ! Ô lyre! ô mon génie !
Musique intérieure, ineffable harmonie,
Harpes, que j'entendais résonner dans les airs
Comme un écho lointain des célestes concerts,
Pendant qu'il en est temps, pendant qu'il vibre encore,
Venez, venez bercer ce cœur qui vous implore.
Et toi qui donnes l'âme à mon luth inspiré,
Esprit capricieux, viens, prélude à ton gré ! »

"The night, to refresh nature ablaze,
Of her ebony hair expressing the dew,
Places its silent feet on the summit of the mountains [...]".
« How this calm weighs on him! O lyre! O my genius!
Inner music, ineffable harmony,
Harps, which I heard resounding in the air
Like a distant echo of celestial concerts,
While it is time, while it still vibrates,
Come, come and cradle this heart that implores you.
And you who give soul to my inspired lute,
Whimsical spirit, come, prelude as you please! »

Several common points can indeed be found between these verses by Lamartine and those by Autran quoted above: the night, the solitude of the summits, the celestial harp... Even if the music was not inspired by Lamartine and it is only a coincidence, the 'possibility' of such an association may have contributed to Liszt's choice to use Lamartine's text as an alternative programme.

Lastly, the attribution of a literary support to the final "allegro marziale" is problematic. There is nothing close to a "battle and victory" in Autran's poems. Lamartine does describe a battle in his ode, but it is actually a bloody mass grave, littered with mutilated corpses, the sight of which prompts the poet to withdraw from the world.
« Suddenly the sun, dispelling the cloud,
Shines with horror on the scene of the slaughter;
And its pale ray, on the slippery earth,
Uncovers to our eyes long streams of blood,
Broken steeds and chariots in the quarry,
Mutilated limbs scattered on the dust,
The confused debris of arms and bodies,
And flags thrown on heaps of the dead. »

Except for two verses evoking earlier a trumpet signal, it is difficult to draw a parallel between this gruesome massacre and Liszt's glorious music in C major.

This final section might be more related to a more global idea of the romantic artist's triumph, or the artist's self-realization , . Or, more prosaically, to the kind of brillant ending that could be expected in an Overture in these years (cf. Berlioz Benvenuto Cellini, 1838, Wagner Rienzi, 1842), or simply to Liszt's taste for martial finales (cf. his Piano Concerto No.2).

According to the musicologist Alan Walker:
"Liszt's prefaces could just as well be called "programmes written after the music", with the same logic or validity. [...] Posterity has probably overestimated the importance of the extra-musical ideas in Liszt's symphonic poems [...] We should not follow them slavishly, for the simple reason that the music do not follow them slavishly either."

Critical reception

The critic Eduard Hanslick, who believed in 'absolute music', lambasted Les préludes. In an 1857 article, following a performance in Vienna, he denounced the idea of a 'symphonic poem' as a contradiction in terms. He also denied that music was in any way a 'language' that could express anything, and mocked Liszt's assertion that it could translate concrete ideas or assertions. The aggrieved Liszt wrote to his cousin Eduard "The doctrinaire Hanslick could not be favourable to me; his article is perfidious". Other critics, such as Felix Draeseke, were more supportive.

Early performances in America were not appreciated by conservative critics there. At an 1857 performance of the piano duet arrangement, the critic of Dwight's Journal of Music wrote:

What shall we say of The Preludes, a Poésie Symphonique by Liszt [...] The poetry we listened for in vain. It was lost as it were in the smoke and stunning tumult of a battlefield. There were here and there brief, fleeting fragments of something delicate and sweet to ear and mind, but these were quickly swallowed up in one long, monotonous, fatiguing melée of convulsive, crashing, startling masses of tone, flung back and forth as if in rivalry from instrument to instrument. We must have been very stupid listeners; but we felt after it as if we had been stoned, and beaten, and trampled under foot, and in all ways evilly entreated.

Nevertheless, the work is more recently rated by Leslie Howard as "easily the most popular of Liszt’s thirteen symphonic poems."

Arrangements

In the beginning of 1859 Les préludes was successfully performed in New York City. Karl Klauser, New York, made a piano arrangement, which in 1863 was submitted to Liszt. In a letter to Franz Brendel of 7 September 1863, Liszt wrote that Les préludes in Klauser's arrangement was a hackneyed piece, but he had played it through again, to touch up the closing movement of Klauser's arrangement and give it new figuration. Liszt sent Klauser's revised arrangement to the music publisher Julius Schuberth of Leipzig, who was able to publish it in America. In Germany, due to the legal situation of that time, Breitkopf & Härtel as original publishers of Les préludes owned all rights on all kinds of arrangements. For this reason, in 1865 or 1866 Klauser's arrangement was published not by Schuberth but by Breitkopf & Härtel.

Besides Klauser's arrangement there were further piano arrangements by August Stradal and Karl Tausig. Liszt made his own arrangements for two pianos and for piano duet. There were also arrangements for harmonium and piano by A. Reinhard and for military orchestra by L. Helfer. In recent times Matthew Cameron has prepared his own piano arrangement of Les préludes.

Uses in Media

• The closing fanfare of Les préludes was used for news bulletins by the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft during the Nazi regime. The fanfare would cue the announcer to say, "Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt..." ("The supreme command of the armed forces announces...") before relating the Nazis' latest victory. Germans were so conditioned by the militaristic usage of Les préludes that there was a de facto ban on the piece after the war.
• Albert Speer related that he was called into Adolf Hitler's salon during dinner. He had the piece playing and stated "You'll hear that often in the near future because it is going to be our victory fanfare for the Russian campaign. Walther Funk chose it. How do you like it?" Hitler had chosen different musical fanfares for each of the previous victories.
• Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe uses the same concluding fanfare from Les préludes over its iconic opening titles and as a heroic theme during many scenes.
• Parts of Les Preludes were used as background music during scene changes in the 1940s radio series The Lone Ranger.
• The music is used for the intro and outro of the Tom and Jerry episode Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl.
• Les Preludes is used throughout Juzo Itami's "ramen western" film Tampopo.

Year's end tradition at Interlochen

A performance of Les préludes concludes each summer camp session at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. In the past, the piece has been conducted by the president of the institution (although this was never a tradition or requirement), and is performed by the camp's large ensembles in the oldest building on the ICA grounds - the Interlochen Bowl - which dates from 1928.

Some recordings

(The date given is the recording date, not the release date)

Mono

• Oskar Fried, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1928, Studio, Music & Arts
• Willem Mengelberg, Concertgebouw Orchestra, 1929, Studio, Naxos
• Erich Kleiber, Czech Philharmonie, 1936, Studio, Preiser
• Felix Weingartner, London Symphony Orchestra, 1940, Studio, Columbia
• Hans Knappertsbusch, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1941, Studio, Preiser
• Hans Knappertsbusch, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1941, Live, Andromeda/Archipel
• Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1947, Studio, Sony
• Leopold Stokowski & His orchestra, 1947, Studio, RCA
• Pierre Monteux, Standard Symphony Orchestra, 1950, Live (California), Music & Arts
• Wilhelm van Otterloo, Het Residentie Orkest, 1951, Studio, Philips
• Leopold Ludwig, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1951, Studio, Guild
• Sergiu Celibidache, Wiener Symphoniker, 1952, Live (Vienna), Orfeo
• Pierre Monteux, Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1952, Studio, RCA
• Franz André, Orchestre Symphonique de la Radiodiffusion Nationale Belge, 1952, Studio, Telefunken
• Nikolai Golovanov, USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1953, Studio, Music Online
• Paul Paray, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, 1953, Studio, Mercury
• Alceo Galliera, Philharmonia Orchestra, 1953, Studio, Columbia
• Dean Dixon, Royal Philharmonic, 1953, Studio, Westminster
• Wilhelm Furtwängler, Wiener Philharmoniker, 1954, Studio, EMI
• Ataúlfo Argenta, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 1955, Studio, Decca
• Dimitri Mitropoulos, New York Philharmonic, 1956, Studio, Columbia

Stereo

• Constantin Silvestri, Philharmonia Orchestra, 1957, Studio, EMI
• Hermann Scherchen, Wiener Staastoper, 1957, Studio, Westminster
• Herbert von Karajan, Philharmonia Orchestra, 1958, Studio, EMI
• Ferenc Fricsay, Radio Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, 1959, Studio, DG
• Franz André, Orchestre Symphonique de la Radiodiffusion Nationale Belge, ≤1959, Studio, Telefunken
• André Cluytens, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1960, Studio, Erato
• Antal Doráti, London Symphony Orchestra, 1960, Studio, Mercury
• Roberto Benzi, Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux, 1960, Studio, Philips
• Sir Adrian Boult, New Symphony Orchestra of London, 1960, Studio, RCA
• Gennady Rozhdestvensky, USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1960, Studio, Melodyia
• Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops, 1960, Studio, Mercury
• Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic, 1963, Studio, Sony
• Karel Ančerl, Czech Philharmonie, 1964, Studio, Suprafon
• Zubin Mehta, Wiener Philharmoniker, 1966, Studio, Decca
• Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1967, Studio, DG
• Bernard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra, 1968, Studio, Philips
• Václav Neumann, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, ≤1968, Studio, Apex
• Paul Paray, Orchestre National de Monte Carlo, 1969, Studio, Concert Hall
• Daniel Barenboim, Chicago Symphony, 1977, Studio, DG
• Sir Georg Solti, London Symphony Orchestra, 1977, Studio, Decca
• Kurt Masur, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, 1978, Studio, EMI
• Vaclav Neumann, Czech Philharmonie, 1979, Live (Prague), Supraphon
• Sir Georg Solti, Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, 1980, Live (Munich), Unitel (DVD)
• Jean-Claude Casadesus, Orchestre Symphonique de la RTL, 1983, Studio, Forlane
• Riccardo Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1983, Studio, EMI
• János Ferencsik, Hungarian State Orchestra, ≈1983, Studio, Hungaroton
• Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1984, Studio, DG
• Arpad Joó, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, ≤1985, Studio, Hungaroton
• James Conlon, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, 1985, Studio, Erato
• Erich Kunzel, Cincinatti Pops, 1985, Studio, Telarc
• Iván Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra, 1991, Studio, Harmonia Mundi
• Michael Halász, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1991, Studio, Naxos
• Sir Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1992, Live (Salzburg), Decca
• Michel Plasson, Dresden Philharmonie, 1992, Studio, Berlin Classics
• Neeme Järvi, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 1994, Studio, Chandos
• Zubin Mehta, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1994, Studio, Sony
• Giuseppe Sinopoli, Wiener Philharmoniker, 1996, Studio, DG
• Daniel Barenboim, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1998, Live (Berlin), TDK/EuroArts (DVD)
• Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, 1999, Studio, BIS
• Eiji Oue, Minnesota Orchestra, 1999, Studio, RR
• Wolfgang Sawallisch, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1999, Studio, Water Lily
• Jos Van Immerseel, Anima Eterna, 2003, Studio, ZigZag
• Gianandrea Noseda, BBC Philharmonic, 2004, Studio, Chandos
• Mikhail Pletnev, Russian National Orchestra, 2005, Live (Moscou), Archives RNO
• Daniel Barenboim, West Eastern Divan Orchestra, 2009, Live (London), Decca
• Zoltán Kocsis, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, 2011, Live (Budapest), Warner
• Valery Gergiev, Wiener Philharmoniker, 2011, Live (Schönbrunn), DG (CD & DVD)
• Martin Haselböck, Orchester Wiener Akademie, 2011, Live (Raiding), NCA/ Gramola
• Christian Thielemann, Project Orchestra Franz Liszt, 2011, Live (Weimar), Unitel (DVD)
• Christian Thielemann, Staatskapelle Dresden, 2016, Live (Dresde), Unitel (DVD)

(The differences in conception and tempi can be considerable, with some conductors being particularly cursive and pulling the work towards Berliozian dazzle (Kleiber 1936, Kocsis 2011 among others), while others favour poetry, or dreaminess, or Wagnerian grandeur (Fricsay 1959, Karajan 1967 among others).)

References

Notes

Orchestral Score

• Liszt: Les préludes, Breitkopf, 1885
• Liszt: Les préludes, Breitkopf, 1908, edited by Franz Liszt-Stiftung
• Liszt: Les préludes, Breitkopf, 1908, edited by Otto Taubmann, reprinted by Kalmus

(Each have slight different tempi or phrasing indications)

Poems

• Autran, Joseph: La Terre, Les Aquilons, Les Flots, Les Astres, in Liszt: Choral Works for Male Voices, CD Hungaroton/HCD 31923.
• Lamartine, Alphonse: Les Préludes, in Œuvres complètes de Lamartine (1860)/Tome 1/Les Préludes, Wikisource, last accessed 13 august 2022

Musicological sources

• Berlioz, Hector: Lettre à Joseph d'Ortigues - Prague, 16 avril 1846, in The Project Gutenberg eBook of Correspondance inédite de Hector Berlioz, last accessed 13 august 2022
• Bonner, Andrew: Liszt’s Les préludes et les Quatre Elemens (1986), in 19th-Century Music, 10/2,(1986–87), pp. 95-107
• Haraszti, Emile: Génèse des préludes de Liszt qui n'ont aucun rapport avec Lamartine, in Révue de musicologie 35 (1953), p. 111.
• Howard, Leslie (1996). Les préludes – Poème symphonique, liner notes for Hyperion Records CDA67015, accessed 2 January 2015.
• Johns, Keith T.: A structural analysis of the relationship between programme, harmony and form in the symphonic poems of Franz Liszt, Thesis, University of Wollongong, 1986.
• Johns, Keith T: The Symphonic Poems of Franz Liszt, 2d edition, Pendragon Press, 1997 (1st edition: 1987).
• Main, Alexander : Liszt après Lamartine: Les Préludes, Music & Letters, 60/2 (1979), pp. 133-148
• Modollel, Jorge L. (2014). The Critical Reception of Liszt's Symphonic and Choral Works in the United States, 1857-1890, Master's Thesis, University of Miami, accessed 2 January 2015.
• Müller-Reuter, Theodor: Lexikon der deutschen Konzertliteratur, 1. Band, Leipzig 1909.
• Raabe, Peter: Liszts Schaffen, Cotta, Stuttgart, Berlin 1931.
• Taruskin, Richard (2010). Music in the nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195384833.
• Walker, Alan: Franz Liszt, The Virtuoso Years, revised edition, Cornell University Press 1987.
• Walker, Alan: Franz Liszt, The Weimar Years (1848–1861), Cornell University Press 1989.

External links

• Les préludes (Orchestral version), (Solo piano version), (Two piano version), (Piano duet version): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project