Franz Liszt composed his

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

of the Sarabande and

Chaconne A chaconne (; ; es, chacona, links=no; it, ciaccona, links=no, ; earlier English: ''chacony'') is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short rep ...

from Handel's

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

Almira ''Almira, Königin von Castilien'' ("Almira, Queen of Castile", HWV 1; full title: ''Der in Krohnen erlangte Glücks-Wechsel, oder: Almira, Königin von Castilien'') is George Frideric Handel's first opera, composed when he was 19 years old. I ...

'' for piano solo (S.181) in 1879 for his

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

student

Walter Bache Walter Bache (; 19 June 184226 March 1888) was an English pianist and conductor noted for his championing the music of Franz Liszt and other music of the New German School in England. He studied privately with Liszt in Italy from 1863 to 1865, ...

to play at a Handel festival in England. The ''Almira'' transcription is noted by critics as one of the most striking of Liszt's late concert arrangements as well as his only setting of a baroque piece from his late period. Liszt's decision to set Handel was probably due at least in part to please British audiences, for whom Handel was still the preeminent national composer and before whom Bache would likely appear.Baker, 103. Nevertheless, the choice of subject matter was surprising, not only by being Handel instead of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

but also from being taken from a Handel opera which was virtually ignored at the time.Howard, 7. In his most recent baroque transcription prior to ''Almira'', that of Bach's Fantasie and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 dating from 1867, Liszt follows the original almost exactly. With ''Almira'', Liszt deviates considerably. While retaining the original contour of Handel's melodies, he changes the order of dances (in the opera the chaconne is followed by the sarabande), then adds introductory, transitional and

developmental Development of the human body is the process of growth to maturity. The process begins with fertilization, where an egg released from the ovary of a female is penetrated by a sperm cell from a male. The resulting zygote develops through mitosi ...

material along with his own varied treatment of the dances themselves.Hinson, 65–66. The result of Liszt's work is a highly unified double-set of

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individua ...

— one set of variations on the sarabande followed by a separate set on the chaconne — nearly becoming an independent work in the process. (

Humphrey Searle Humphrey Searle (26 August 1915 – 12 May 1982) was an English composer and writer on music. His music combines aspects of late Romanticism and modernist serialism, particularly reminiscent of his primary influences, Franz Liszt, Arnold Schoen ...

in fact catalogued the work as an independent composition.) The sarabande dominates the piece, functioning much like a Bach chaconne as variations on a harmonic progression, while the chaconne itself is of the balletic variety, having nothing to do with the repeated bass lines of the work. This work is said by some to anticipate Ferruccio Busoni's late-romantic settings of Bach in its overall grandeur, especially in the major key transformation of the sarabande at the work's conclusion.

Notes

References

* Baker, James M., ed. Kenneth Hamilton, "A survey of the late piano works", '' The Cambridge Companion to Liszt'' (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005). (paperback). * Hinson, Maurice, ''The Pianist's Guide to Transcriptions, Arrangements, and Paraphrases'' (Indiana University Press).

* Howard, Leslie, Notes for Hyperion CDA66371/2, ''Liszt at the Opera I'', Leslie Howard, piano.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarabande And Chaconne From Handel's Opera Almira Compositions by Franz Liszt Compositions for solo piano Variations 1879 compositions