113. Suggestions Diaboliques

It was said of Franz Liszt that – in contrast to the angelic Frédéric Chopin – he was a devil at the piano, so violent was his playing (though, after a turbulent life, he did eventually receive minor orders!). As a composer, Liszt drew on demonic themes on several occasions – for example, when writing the Faust Symphony or the four Mephisto Waltzes. In the former, he alluded to one of the literary works beloved by the Romantics, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s drama Faust; in the latter, to Nikolaus Lenau’s poem Faust, which is less well-known today. The first of the waltzes was originally titled The Dance in the Village Inn and, like many of Liszt’s works, exists in both piano and orchestral versions. It depicts a scene in which a demon disguised as a hunter, together with Faust, visits an inn where guests are reveling. Mephistopheles takes up a violin and turns an ordinary dance into an ominous orgy. In his Reminiscences of Mozart’s Opera “Don Giovanni”, Liszt portrays the titular hero – who is also, in a sense, demonic – as a man who, for his sins, especially pride and a lack of remorse, is dragged into hell. Likewise, Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor – a one-movement yet powerful and multifaceted work – may have been inspired by the story of Faust or, as other interpreters suggest, John Milton’s Paradise Lost? And even if (as another group of scholars would have it) it is a purely musical drama, it is hard to deny that the Sonata possesses at least one devilish trait – its difficulty.

– Dominika Micał (pisanezesluchu.pl)