Liszt F. Preludes. Symphonic Poem. Pocket Score

The «Preludes» (to Lamartine) is ranked among the summits of the symphonic роеm genre, so very significant for Franz Liszt (1811–1886). It was in 1844, when the «Preludes» music was conceived and partially created as an overture to the male choruses. The composer then resorted to the verses by the French poet Joseph Autran (1813–1877). «Four Elements» was its title, i. е. «Ground, Winds, Waves, Stars». The overture was accomplished in 1848, but it did not undergo the publication. During the period of 1850–1854 Liszt was re-making the composition. Four editions appeared. The ваше time Liszt decided to fasten it to the роет by Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869). The great musician admired this French poet, especially his cycle «New Poetical Meditations», where the excerpt was owed from. Fortunately the роет was of the same паше with the previous one. Actually, the programme of the «Preludes» was based on the роет itself, being the kind of free rendering: «Isn't our life the prelude to the intangible mysterious hymn, whose first awesome note is to be executed by the Death itself? Love is nothing but the magic dawn for every heart. Only there doesn't exist а man, whose first blissful luck was not broken by the blust of wind, whose fascinating illusions were not, but shattered by its severe breath, whose altar weren't cleft by the lethen arrow. Is there any hurt soul, but not yearning for repose and pastorale life, for to suppress memory after such astonishments. However, it's unbearable for а man to enjoy sweet rest given by the Nature, so much captive and charming for the first time. No, it's impossible from the moment of the trumpet's call-up, evoking the thirst for the battle for to acquire impetuous self-consciousness, when flesh revives and feels invigorated».

The composition was firstly performed in Weimar on February 23, 1854. Liszt conducted its premiere. Subsequently, the «Preludes» were arranged for two pianos (1856) and piano in four hands (1857–1859).