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).

Genesis

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 inspired by an ode by the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine, Les préludes.

It is important to note that the title, and the reference to Lamartine's poem 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. The evidence provided in 1986 by musicologist Andrew Bonner, has since been agreed upon by other musicologists who have devoted entire books to Liszt's symphonic poems, Keith Johns and Joanne Cormac.

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 two composers: first by Joachim Raff for the manuscripts of 1849-50, then by Hans von Bronsart for the revision in 1853-54, and for minor corrections before publication by Breitkopf in 1856.

Musical analysis

This analysis of the work is limited to a factual observation of the score and the links with the choruses Les quatre élémens, from which all the themes of Les preludes are derived , . For the possibilities of interpretation according to a programme added later, linked to Lamartine or to the preface by Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, see the next paragraph.

The form of Les préludes is characterised by :

• A general form that corresponds to that frequently found in romantic overtures, namely a succession of contrasting episodes that introduce the various musical themes of the work to come, and culminate in a brilliant finale (cf. many Overtures by Beethoven, Weber, Rossini, Berlioz, Wagner...)

• A cyclical form, where a single musical cell gives rise to all the themes, and where themes recur cyclically between the beginning and end of the work (A process also present for example in the overtures of Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser)

The overall plan based on the tempo indications 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.296-343

6. Allegro marziale animato: mm.344–404

7. Andante maestoso: mm.405–419

1. Andante (Introduction)

Example 1: 1st vocal theme from "Les Astres" and beginning 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, as shown in example 1.

"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', which unify all the thematic material of Les préludes, as it already did in the original choruses (cyclic form).

The theme is first presented as a hesitant sketch emerging from silence and returning to silence, in an ambiguous key (aeolian mode) and ambiguous rhythm, the pizzicati and the attacks being systematically on weak beats.

The phrase is then repeated, in a harmonic progression creating increasing tension, accompanied by harp arpeggios, carried by a wind ostinato that leads to a long progressive crescendo, punctuated by statements of the 3-note theme in the trombones.

Note that the Andante indication is more or less respected in performances, many of whom follow a tradition of expanding it into an adagio or even a 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)

Example 2: Three 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 (C-Am-F-Dm-Bb-G-C-Am-F-C-Am-F-C)
• 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 (this addition date from 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)

Example 3: 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 "1st love theme" derives from the original 3-note founding cell, moved to the 3rd degree instead of the first.

Example 4: Love/Spring theme from "La Terre", and 2d love theme in "Les Préludes" (Earthly love)

3b.: mm.70–108

The new theme carried by a combination of horns and violas, marked "espressivo ma tranquillo", derives from a four-part theme sung by the Trees in the chorus La Terre, this time associated with the notion of love linked with spring, or "earthly 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 »

This "2d Love theme" is also an variation around the 3-notes cell, as shown by Taruskin.

In addition, this theme punctuated by harp chords displays the typical sway of a barcarolle, which also seems to originate from Les quatre élémens: an example barcarolle 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 theme is then resumed in a dialogue between winds and strings (mm.79ff), and gives rise to passionate impulses (some editions indicate "poco a poco accelerando"), 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 Scène 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, punctuated by the harp's harmonics, creating an atmosphere of questioning expectation.

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

A characteristic example of the legacy of Sturm und Drang in Liszt's work , this short but intense episode brings together musical material associated with the evocation of sea storms and shipwrecks in the two choruses Les Aquilons (The North Winds) and Les Flots (The Waves), in the service of a highly figurative orchestral writing.

Example 5: Premise 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

Example 6: Theme from "Les Aquilons" and storm in "Les Préludes"

mm. 131-160

The storm breaks out by shattering the rhythmic markers (the first two phrases have 10-beat build in a 4/4 bar), on a key of A minor but marked by great instability .

The thematic material is based on:

• The 3-note cell, repeated, hammered, even distorted (inverted at mm. 140-141).
• An ascending line in raging triplets in the strings, each beat of which is violently accentuated by the brass. This figure derives from the opening line sung by the Winds in the chorus Les Aquilons (Example 6), which contains in particular the following verses:

« Peuple orageux qui des antres sauvages / Sort en fureur, / De toutes parts nous semons les ravages / Et la terreur. [...]
Des vastes mers qui séparent le monde / Troublant les eaux / Sur les écueils nous déchirons les ondes / Et les vaisseaux. »
« Stormy people who from the wilderness / Come out in fury, / On all sides we spread devastation / And terror.[...]
From the vast seas that separate the world / Disturbing the waters / On the reefs we tear the waves / And the ships. »

Many elements of figuralism typical of "storm music" are present: thunderous rolling of the timpani, strident shouts from the woodwinds in the high register, rising orchestral waves that crash with full force, frantic panic (indication "molto agitato ed accelerando"), and an immense chromatic descent in which one might be tempted to see the "sinking ship" evoked by Autran in Les Flots (m. 155).

Example 7: Trumpet motif in "Les Flots" and in "Les Préludes" (Judgement trumpets)

mm. 160-181:

The key then stabilize 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, for which Liszt had very early noted a sketch of orchestration on additional staves, and wich was also present in a close form in the vocal parts :

« 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. »

• Arpeggiated motives played by the strings, which were also present in a close form in the piano introduction.

The 3-note cell, absent for once from the main motif, is nevertheless present in the strings formulas as shown by Taruskin. '

The significance of the trumpet motif, an allusion to the Last Judgement awaiting the sailors, is clear from the text of the chorus whose thematic material was set out just before, 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.»

Even if it is anecdotal, it may be noted 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's 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".

Example 8: Return of the 1st love theme after the storm

5a. Un poco più moderato (mm.182–200)

The calm returns with a reprise of the "1st love theme", 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 divisi 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.

Example 9: Pastoral theme obtained from a variation on the 2nd love theme

5b. Allegretto pastorale (mm. 201-260)

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, as shown in Example 9.

5c: Mes. 260-343... Poco a poco più di moto sino al Allegro marziale

The "1st love theme" and the "Pastoral theme" are now combined, accelerated very gradually with the return to the C major key, 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.

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

6: Allegro marziale animato (Triumphant finale)

This highly virtuosic page continues the principle of thematic transformation:

Example 10: First love theme transformed into a triumphal fanfare

Example 11: "Battle music"

Example 13: Second love theme transformed into a march

Mm. 344-355: The "1st love theme" is transformed into a triumphant fanfare in C major for trumpets and horns (Example 10), accompanied by strings scale-runs, while the bass trombones and tuba and low strings respond with the "theme of the Stars". (Note that the idea of a reprise of the love theme in a victorious statement in C major fortissimo, already existed in the chorus Les Astres, in the instrumental part before the last stanza)

Mm. 356-369: The writing superimposes vivid dotted rhythms in the winds, feverish tremolos in the strings, suddenly accentuated scale-runs, accompanied by a trumpet signal with the appearance of a cavalry bugle, processes traditionally associated with ideas of battle, but in major keys that maintain an enthusiastic and jubilant expression . The "3-note cell" is this time played as a trilled motif by the alti and cello. (Example 11)

Mm. 370-377: The "2nd love theme" is transformed into a triumphal march (Example 13), accompanied by military percussion - or a cavalcade, depending on the tempo adopted (some editions add a tempo di marcia indication, encouraging a momentary broadening of the tempo, others do not, suggesting that the tempo allegro animato be retained). The modulations by thirds lead to a return of the previous fanfare in F# major (the furthest key from C), the tritone relation creating a perceptible harmonic tension.

Mm. 378-404: repetition of the same procedures, on a harmonic path towards a resolution in C major.

There is no description of a "battle" or "victory" in Autran's poems that could have motivated such an demonstrative 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 new 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 by Liszt in the 1840's), Rossini's Guillaume Tell, 1829 (transcribed by Liszt in 1838), Wagner's Rienzi, 1942, Weber's Jubel-Ouvertüre, 1818 (transcribed by Liszt 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 (snare drum, bass drum and cymbals), and followed by a brief coda ending in a plagal cadence.

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 the "idée fixe" motif in the Symphonie Fantatstique, Liszt gives here another exemple of cyclic form, 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 only difference in structure being the exposition and recapitulation of the Andante maestoso.

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 hypothesis have been put forward for this re-ascription, with no certainty: 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, copyright problems linked to the fact that Autran's poems were not yet all published...

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.

Another clue has sometimes been sought in a letter from Liszt to his uncle Eduard List, dated 26 March 1857, where the composer refers to his Preludes as a prelude to his own path of composition. But he later clarifies that this simply signifies the beginning of his interest in cyclical form, without reference to 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.

Many commentators have proposed a division of the work based on the ode by Lamartine, or on the preface by Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, or on the more general philosophical ideas associated with it. Here are 4 examples:

Section	Main (1979)	Johns (1986)	Johns (1997)	Taruskin (2010)
1 (mm.1-34)	The poet's invocation to the Muse	1. Lack	Birth (Dawn of existence)	1. The Question
2 (mm.35-46)	The poet's exclamatory welcome to the muse	2. Awakening of consciousness	Consciousness	(continuation of ″The Question″)
3 (mm.47-108)	Love	3. Love and innocence	Innocent love	2. Love
4 (mm.49-181)	Destiny	4. Storms of life	Hardship, struggle	3. Storm
5 (mm.182-343)	Countryside	5. Consolation of nature	Consolation, Discovery of will	4. Bucolic calm
6 (mm.344-404)	Warfare	6. Self realization	Transcendance	5. Battle and Victory
7 (mm.405-419)	The poet's farewell salute			(Continuation of "Battle and Victory", including the recapitulation of ″The Question″)

The "love", "storm" and "pastoral" sections reach a consensus, and 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 countryside in the choruses "Les quatre élémens".

More, as these are archetypal topi of Romanticism, the suggestion of a text by Lamartine evoking the same archetypes as a programme can work perfectly, 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 shows that there is no consensus on any interpretation.

According to Haraszti, the famous "question" about Life and Death ("What is our life but a series of preludes...") should be considered only as a personal reflection of the Countess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, which Liszt would not have wished to contradict for the sake of their relationship. .

Conversely, Taruskin maintains the reference to this "Question" as a programmatic lead for the introduction, but acknowledges that no section of Lamartine's text can be linked to such a question

According to Johns, the legitimacy of such a Life and Death theme would be more to be sought in a general theme of Autran's poems, and in particular in the first stanza of the poem Les Astres:

« Hommes épars sur ce globe qui roule 

Enveloppé là-bas de nos rayons. 
Peuples errants que la mort chasse en foule 
Et précipite à la tombe où s’écoule 
Le long torrent des générations. »

« Scattered men on this turning globe
Envelopped the by the rays of hope
An errant people which is hunted in crowd by death
And hurried to the tomb

Into wich falls the long torrent of the generations. »

This pessimistic view would justify setting the introduction to Les préludes on the theme of a reflection on death and the futility of existence.

However, there is no musical indication in the introduction such as largo or grave (or elsewhere in the score) which might have reinforced the possibility of such a meaning, but simply andante.

Conversely, for Main, the interpretation is to be found in the beginning of Lamartine's ode. This initially hesitant music, which emerges from silence, gradually unfolds, and finally asserts itself in all its grandeur, is not linked to a question about life and death, but would be a rendering of the poet invoking the muse, and of the poet's exaltation when the muse responds:

« 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 !
[...] I1 descend! il descend!...»

« 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!
[...] He's coming down! He's coming down...»

Even if, contrary to what Main sought to demonstrate, it is now proven that the introduction as well as the rest of the work was not written in reference to Lamartine, and that these links are merely coincidental , the possibility of such an association may have contributed to Liszt's choice to use Lamartine's text as a substitute programme.

All the more so since Autran's poem Les Astres contained a stanza with images very similar to those at the beginning of Lamartine's ode: the night, the silence of the peaks, the heavenly harp:

« 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 would climb the deserted peaks,
You would hear under the eternal vault
An august and solemn music
Which from our choirs pours forth into the air. [...]

"Our golden lyres would sing you the glory/ Of Jehova...»

Since Liszt himself did not leave a more precise clue, all options remain speculative.

Lastly, regarding the "allegro marziale animato" section:

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.

« The one perishes whole; the other on the dust,

Like a trunk whose boughs the axe has cut, Of its scattered limbs sees the shreds fly, And, dragging himself still on the dampened earth, Marks in streams of blood his bloody trail.[...]

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.

If this section were to be entitled 'battle and victory', then it is more of a general idea of the triumph of the romantic artist against adversity, or the achievement of the artist's self-realization, along Hegelian lines , .

But it may also correspond 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, author of a 3-volume biography of Liszt:
"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

At the time of the creation, 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.

Nowadays, opinions remain divided between some music critics, who still accuse certain pages of vulgarity ("If the brass section could not entirely escape vulgarity, that is Liszt's responsibility" M. Berry), and musicologists who praise the inventiveness of the writing ("Ductile and sumptuous, the orchestra demonstrates a variety of colours and movements the likes of which have not been heard since Beethoven", F.R. Tranchefort ), or who, like K. Johns, emphasize the rigour of a structure based on "a complex pattern of key and motivic relationships" .

In any case, Les préludes is undoubtedly "the most popular of Liszt's 13 symphonic poems", as both musicologists and Liszt specialist interpreters such as Leslie Howard have attested.

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.

Recordings

Conductor	Orchestra	Year(*)	Studio/ Live	Label(**)	Timing(***)
Fried, Oscar	Berliner Philharmoniker	1928	Studio	Music & Arts/Pristine	15’10
Mengelberg, Willem	Concertgebouw Orchestra	1929	Studio	Naxos	15’15
Kleiber, Erich	Czech Philharmonic	1936	Studio	Preiser	13’48
Kempen, Paul van	Berliner Philharmoniker	1937	Studio	DG	15’35
Weingartner, Felix	London Symphony Orchestra	1940	Studio	Columbia	14’45
Knappertsbusch, Hans	Berliner Philharmoniker	1941	Studio	Preiser	15’55
Knappertsbusch, Hans	Berliner Philharmoniker	1941	Live (Berlin)	Andromeda/Archipel	16’33
Ormandy, Eugene	Philadelphia Orchestra	1947	Studio	Sony	16’00
Stokowski, Leopold	Leopold Stokowski's Orchestra	1947	Studio	RCA	16’00
Monteux, Pierre	Standard Symphony Orchestra (San Francisco)	1950	Live (California)	Music & Arts	14’38
Otterloo, Willem van	Het Residentie Orkest	1951	Studio	Philips	15’03
Ludwig, Leopold	Berliner Philharmoniker	1951	Studio	Guild	14’27
Celibidache, Sergiu	Wiener Symphoniker	1952	Live (Wien)	Orfeo	17’17
Monteux, Pierre	Boston Symphony Orchestra	1952	Studio	RCA	15’40
André, Franz	Orchestre Symphonique de la Radiodiffusion Nationale Belge	1952	Studio	Telefunken	13’57
Golovanov, Nikolai	USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra	1953	Studio	Music Online	15’10
Paray, Paul	Detroit Symphony Orchestra	1953	Studio	Mercury	15’43
Galliera, Alceo	Philharmonia Orchestra	1953	Studio	Columbia	16’25
Dixon, Dean	Royal Philharmonic	1953	Studio	Westminster	13’33
Furtwängler, Wilhelm	Wiener Philharmoniker	1954	Studio	EMI	15’38
Argenta, Ataúlfo	Orchestre de la Suisse Romande	1955	Studio	Decca	16’25
Mitropoulos, Dimitri	New York Philharmonic	1956	Studio	Columbia	16’33
Silvestri, Constantin	Philharmonia Orchestra	1957	Studio	EMI	15’35
Scherchen, Hermann	Orchester Der Wiener Staatsoper	1957	Studio	Westminster	15’35
Karajan, Herbert von	Philharmonia Orchestra	1958	Studio	EMI	16’07
Fricsay, Ferenc	Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin	1959	Studio	DG	16’38
André, Franz	Orchestre Symphonique de la Radiodiffusion Nationale Belge	1959 (?)	Studio	Telefunken	15’40
Cluytens, André	Berliner Philharmoniker	1960	Studio	Erato	17’55
Doráti, Antal	London Symphony Orchestra	1960	Studio	Mercury	15’43
Benzi, Roberto	Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux	1960	Studio	Philips	15’55
Boult, Sir Adrian	New Symphony Orchestra of London	1960	Studio	RCA	15’10
Rozsa, Miklos	The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra	1960 (?)	Studio	Capitol/Seraphim	16’55
Rozhdestvensky, Gennady	USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra	1960	Studio	Melodyia	15’35
Fiedler, Arthur	Boston Pops	1960	Studio	Mercury	15’23
Bernstein, Leonard	New York Philharmonic	1963	Studio	Sony	16’43
Ančerl, Karel	Czech Philharmonic	1964	Studio	Supraphon	16’38
Mehta, Zubin	Wiener Philharmoniker	1966	Studio	Decca	16’10
Karajan, Herbert von	Berliner Philharmoniker	1967	Studio	DG	17’05
Haitink, Bernard	London Symphony Orchestra	1968	Studio	Philips	15'00
Neumann, Václav	Gewandhausorchester Leipzig	1968 (?)	Studio	Apex	16’17
Paray, Paul	Orchestre National de Monte Carlo	1969	Studio	Concert Hall	15’43
Barenboim, Daniel	Chicago Symphony Orchestra	1977	Studio	DG	15’55
Solti, Sir Georg	London Symphony Orchestra	1977	Studio	Decca	16’48
Masur, Kurt	Gewandhausorchester Leipzig	1978	Studio	EMI	15’03
Neumann, Vaclav	Czech Philharmonic	1979	Live (Prague)	Supraphon	15’18
Solti, Sir Georg	Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	1980	Live (München)	Unitel (DVD)	14’57
Casadesus, Jean-Claude	Orchestre Symphonique de la RTL	1983	Studio	Forlane	15’50
Muti, Riccardo	Philadelphia Orchestra	1983	Studio	EMI	16’33
Ferencsik, János	Hungarian State Orchestra	1983 (?)	Studio	Hungaroton	16’48
Joó, Arpad	Budapest Symphony Orchestra	1984-85	Studio	Hungaroton	15’50
Karajan, Herbert von	Berliner Philharmoniker	1984	Studio	DG	16’48
Conlon, James	Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra	1985	Studio	Erato	16’55
Kunzel, Erich	Cincinatti Pops	1985	Studio	Telarc	15’55
Németh, Gyula	Hungarian State Orchestra	1990 (?)	Studio	Hungaroton	16’15
Fischer, Iván	Budapest Festival Orchestra	1991	Studio	Harmonia Mundi	15’03
Halász, Michael	Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra	1991	Studio	Naxos	16’55
Solti, Sir Georg	Chicago Symphony Orchestra	1992	Live (Salzburg)	Decca	15’03
Plasson, Michel	Dresden Philharmonie	1992	Studio	Berlin Classics	16’27
Järvi, Neeme	Orchestre de la Suisse Romande	1994	Studio	Chandos	15’03
Mehta, Zubin	Berliner Philharmoniker	1994	Studio	Sony	16’07
Sinopoli, Giuseppe	Wiener Philharmoniker	1996	Studio	DG	16’13
Saccani, Rico	Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra	1985-2005 ?	Live	BPO Live	15’35
Barenboim, Daniel	Berliner Philharmoniker	1998	Live (Berlin)	TDK/EuroArts (DVD)	15’55
Frühbeck de Burgos, Rafael	Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin	1999	Studio	BIS	16’00
Oue, Eiji	Minnesota Orchestra	1999	Studio	RR	17’00
Sawallisch, Wolfgang	Philadelphia Orchestra	1999	Studio	Water Lily	16’30
Immerseel, Jos van	Anima Eterna	2003	Studio	ZigZag	15’03
Noseda, Gianandrea	BBC Philharmonic	2004	Studio	Chandos	16’00
Pletnev, Mikhail	Russian National Orchestra	2005	Live (Moscow)	(RNO Archives, Video)	14’10
Barenboim, Daniel	West Eastern Divan Orchestra	2009	Live (London)	Decca	15’43
Kocsis, Zoltán	Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra	2011	Live (Budapest)	Warner	14’17
Gergiev, Valery	Wiener Philharmoniker	2011	Live (Schönbrunn)	DG (CD & DVD)	15’03
Haselböck, Martin	Orchester Wiener Akademie	2011	Live (Raiding)	NCA/Gramola	15’35
Thielemann, Christian	Project Orchestra Franz Liszt	2011	Live (Weimar)	Unitel (DVD)	15’50
Märkl, Jun	Leipzig MDR Symphony Orchestra	2011	Studio	MDR	15’30
Botstein, Leon	American Symphony Orchestra	2011	Live	ASO	15’38
Thielemann, Christian	Staatskapelle Dresden	2016	Live (Dresden)	Unitel (DVD)	15’35

(*) Recording year, not release year.
(**) Label may vary with the reissues. Not all recordings are currently available.
(***) Timing given without blank or applause.
Recordings up to 1956 are in mono, those from 1957 onwards are in stereo.

Interpretations vary considerably from one conductor to another (see timings). Some are vivid and fiery throughout, bringing out Berliozian dazzle (several older versions, but also Kocsis 2011 among recent versions), while others favour poetry, or tragedy, or dreaminess, or Wagnerian grandeur (at the risk of turning allegrettos into andante and andante into adagios). Some emphazise contrasts and breaks between contemplative and virtuoso pages, while others favour unity. Some accentuate the demonstrative and sometimes considered as excessive side of certain pages, while others seek to mitigate them. Some highlight a narrative or descriptive dimension while others seem rather attached to a purely instrumental and architectural conception. Vision can also strongly vary for the same conductor from year to year, or between studio recording and much more lively concert performances (Monteux, Neumann, Solti...).

Version for 2 pianos (transcription by Liszt) :

• Georgia Mangos & Louise Mangos, 1993, Studio, Cédille, 14’03
• Budapest Piano Duet: Tamás Kereskedő & Zoltán Pozsgai, 1995, Studio, Hungaroton, 15’32
• Tami Kanazawa & Yuval Admony, 2007, Studio, Naxos, 15’15
• Martha Argerich & Daniel Rivera, 2010, Live (Lugano), Warner, 15’00
• Marialena Fernandes, Ranko Markovic, 2011, Studio, Gramola, 15’58
• Martha Argerich & Daniel Rivera, 2012, Live (Rosario, Argentina), 15’32
• Leslie Howard & Mattia Ometto, 2016, Live (Padova), Brilliant classics, 14’39
• Giuseppe Bruno & Vincenzo Maxia, ≤ 2019, Studio, OnClassical, 16’50

References

Notes

Sources

• Abraham, Gerald: One Hundred Years of Music: After Beethoven and Wagner, Routledge; 3rd edition, 2017
• 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
• Berry, Mark: PROM 48 – Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz, London, 21.8.2009, concert review, MusicWeb International, 2009.
• Bonner, Andrew: Liszt’s Les préludes et les Quatre Elemens (1986), in 19th-Century Music, 10/2,(1986–87), pp. 95-107
• Cormac, Joanne: Liszt and the Symphonic Poem, Cambridge University Press, 2017
• Haraszti, Emile: Génèse des préludes de Liszt qui n'ont aucun rapport avec Lamartine, in Révue de musicologie 35 (1953), p. 111.
• Howard, Leslie : Les préludes – Poème symphonique, liner notes for Hyperion Records CDA67015, 1996, 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.: The Critical Reception of Liszt's Symphonic and Choral Works in the United States, 1857-1890, Master's Thesis, University of Miami, 2014, accessed 2 January 2015.
• Moortele, Steven Vande: The Romantic Overture and Musical Form from Rossini to Wagner. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Müller-Reuter, Theodor: Lexikon der deutschen Konzertliteratur, 1. Band, Leipzig 1909.
• Raabe, Peter: Liszts Schaffen, Cotta, Stuttgart, Berlin 1931.
• Ramann, Lina: Franz Liszt als Künstler und Mensch, Band 2, Zweite Abteilung (1848-1886), Leipzig 1894.
• Taruskin, Richard: "The symphony later on" & "But what does it really mean?", in Music in the nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010 ISBN 9780195384833, pp. 411-442
• Taruskin, Richard: Liszt and bad taste, Arti Musices 49(1):3-32, 2018
• Tranchefort, François-René: "Franz Liszt - Les Poèmes symphoniques" in Guide de la musique symphonique, Fayard, 1986, p.418-423
• Searle, Humphrey, ed. Alan Walker: "The Orchestral Works", in Franz Liszt: The Man and His Music (New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1970).
• 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.

Orchestral Scores

• 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

External links

• Les préludes (Orchestral version: 3 different editions), (Solo piano version), (Two piano version), (Piano duet version): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project