Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
Set of piano pieces by Franz Liszt
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Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies), S.173, is a cycle of piano pieces written by Franz Liszt at Woronińce (Voronivtsi, the Polish-Ukrainian country estate of Liszt's mistress Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein) in 1847, and published in 1853. The pieces are inspired by the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine, as was Liszt's symphonic poem Les Préludes.[1]
Structure
The ten compositions which make up this cycle are:
- Invocation (completed at Woronińce);
- Ave Maria (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
- Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude ('The Blessing of God in Solitude', completed at Woronińce);
- Pensée des morts ('In Memory of the Dead', reworked version of earlier individual composition, Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1834));
- Pater Noster (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
- Hymne de l'enfant à son réveil ('The Awaking Child’s Hymn', transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
- Funérailles (October 1849) ('Funeral');
- Miserere, d'après Palestrina (after Palestrina);
- La lampe du temple (Andante lagrimoso);
- Cantique d'amour ('Hymn of Love', completed at Woronińce).
Reception
Critic Patrick Rucker wrote in 2016 that "in Liszt's engagement with the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine, there is a naked intensity, an urgent, in-your-face, lapel-grasping earnestness that one doesn't find, say, in the Années de pèlerinage."[2]
