Liebesträume

Liebesträume (German for Dreams of Love, singular Liebestraum), is a set of three solo piano works (S/G541) by Franz Liszt, published in 1850. Often, the term Liebestraum refers specifically to No. 3, the most famous of the three. Originally the three Liebesträume (notturni) were conceived as songs after poems by Ludwig Uhland and Ferdinand Freiligrath. In 1850 two versions appeared simultaneously as a set of songs for high voice and piano, and as transcriptions for piano two-hands.

The two poems by Uhland and the one by Freiligrath depict three different forms of Love. Uhland's Hohe Liebe (Exalted Love) is saintly, or religious, love: the "martyr" renounces worldly love and "heaven has opened its gates". The second song evokes erotic love: "Gestorben war ich". "Dead" is a metaphor here; Uhland refers to what is known as "la petite mort" in French ("I was dead from love’s bliss; I lay buried in her arms; I was wakened by her kisses; I saw heaven in her eyes"). Freiligrath's poem for the famous third "notturno" is about unconditional mature love: "Love as long as you can! The hour will come when you will stand at the grave and mourn" ("O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst").

Liebestraum No. 3

The piece is the last of the three that Liszt wrote and can be considered as split into three sections, each divided by a fast cadenza requiring dextrous fingerwork and high degree of technical ability.

The same melody is used throughout the entire piece, each time varied, especially near the middle of the work, where the climax is reached.

At the end, the piece dies down into a final chorded section, and has a broken chord for an ending, usually played slowly as if they were individual notes, rather than rippled.

In popular culture

• The Melachrino Orchestra Conductor: George Melachrino recorded the piece in London on December 9, 1945. It was released by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalogue numbers B 9527, EA 3736 and TG 105.
• The Baltimore, MD based experimental band Animal Collective sampled Liebestraum No. 3 in A Flat Major for the song "Cuckoo Cuckoo" of their 2007 album Strawberry Jam
• Liebestraum No. 3 in A Flat Major was featured in an episode of the popular Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog.
• It was published with version 2 of the scorewriter Sibelius as an example score.
• It made two important appearances in the film All About Eve.
• Spike Jones recorded an unforgettably frantic cover of Liebestraum No. 3 early in his career.
• Liebestraum No. 3 is played by a character in the film Lost in the Desert and from this becomes an important theme in the soundtrack.
• Victor Borge played a version for his album Caught in the Act. When he announced he was about to play it, the audience applauded. He stopped them with "Don't be too happy about it...I hate that number! Can't stand it. I play it with both hands; that way I get through with it a little faster!"
• It has been used in the anime series Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning.
• It was used in a cutscene in the video game Haunting Ground.
• It is played by Ryotaro Tsuchiura in the special episode of the anime Kin'iro no Corda.
• It appeared in the movie Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector as the song to which Larry's female partner kept switching his truck radio.
• In 1975, songwriter/performer Richard O'Brien and his wife Kimi recorded a version of the song, with new lyrics by O'Brien, as their proposed third single as vocal duo, Kimi and Ritz. However, it was never released.
• In December of 2004 it was played at the memorial service of Gene A. Dwyer, a multi-instrumentalist who played in many famous bands of the 1930's, 40's, and 50's. Though Dwyer was known more for his work with big band and jazz music, he enjoyed the classics, and Liszt in particular.
• It is currently used in many test portfolios, and comes recommended in The Royal Conservatory of Music 's level 10 Piano Repertoire.

External links

Sheet music

• Free scores by Liebesträume at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Sheet music of Liebestraum No.3 on Cantorion.org

Recordings

• Kunst der Fuge: MIDIs from Piano Rolls. Real recordings by Otto Higel, Leo Ornstein, Josef Lhevinne, Eugene d'Albert, Katsuhiro Oguri
• Liebesträume: 3 Notturnos, various recordings
• Recording of Number 3 in A-flat performed by the pianist Alberto Cobo
• Recording by Serg van Gennip