An Analysis of Liszt’s Totentanz

1. Background & History of Liszt

a. 1811-1886; Hungarian
b. virtuoso pianist, composer, conductor; influential to the development of
thematic transformation, symphonic poems, impressionistic music & atonal
music
2. Background & History of Totentanz
a. Music ideas, how Liszt was influenced (Dies Irae)
i. In Liszt’s 30-40s (or Weimar Years because he lived in Weimar for a
long time), he built a large interest of religion, and also death
ii. Fascination with death
iii. Not only were his compositions filled with these themes (Dante
Symphony/Sonata, Faust Symphony), Liszt literally worked for the
church in his 50s [explain some of the background of the
Symphonies and Sonata]
iv. History of Dies Irae [Dee-es Ee-reah]: Latin poem; first set to melody
as a Gregorian chant; the text was also used by other composers, like
Mozart in his Requiem (but has different melody); in Liszt’s Totentanz,
it’s based on the Gregorian chant [plays the chant] [post the pic of
the main themes/melodies that Liszt will use and transform]
b. Style (Piano + Orchestra, Symphonic Poem, Thematic Transform)
i. As with many Liszt pieces, the Totentanz that we’re going to analyze &
listen today is not the first version (first version)
ii. Piano + Orchestra
1. Is not a piano concerto/not regarded as a piano concerto by
Liszt; it’s more of a symphonic poem with piano
iii. Symphonic poem
1. idea brought by Liszt, which is a symphonic piece that is a kind
of program music: program music is the opposite of absolute
music [give examples of absolute music and program
music]
2. Theme of Totentanz: the name “Totentanz” means “Dance of
the Dead”, which is based on the Day of Judgement → mood
is dark, about death
3. Talk briefly about Liszt’s 13 Symphonic poems: Describing
people (Hamlet, Orpheus) /Nationalism (Hungaria)
iv. Thematic transformation [explain throughout the piece]
1. Similar to variations, it is a way to take a theme, then
transforming it to produce different music
2. In Totentanz, Liszt uses the simple melody of the Gregorian
chant Dies Irae to produce a 15-minute long piece
3. Difference is that thematic transformation
a. Not a sibling of the theme, but rather has its own life;
despite having the main theme, will sometimes include
new materials
b. Based around program music
3. Analysis:
a. Different parts: Since Totentanz is (essentially) a theme & variations, can
split it into different parts according to the var.
i. → analyse the thematic transformation; talk about Liszt’s use of
thematic transformation; making music using “old” materials
b. PLAY PART 1-2 TOGETHER
i. Part 1-2:
1. Show that the orchestra is playing the theme (melody of the
first few lines of the Dies Irae chant), this sets up the mood and
theme of the piece
2. The use of key signature: D minor: Liszt associates keys with
different themes, in this case, D minor is associated with death
→ can be seen in other pieces, such as Dante Symphony,
which is about Dante’s venture into the cycles of hell (and also
Dante Sonata); in other cases, Liszt associates Ab major with
love → can be seen in Liebestraum and the Gretchen part of
Faust Symphony; associates E major with religious matter,
such as some pieces in the Third Year of Years of Pilgrimage
(the third year was written when Liszt was heavily influenced
by Christianity; he was a Christian and worked in the churched,
received minor orders)
3. Point: It is the orchestra that is playing the melody: a common
misconception is that Liszt only plays the piano, focuses the
most on piano, etc; but he actually sees the orchestra also as
important → Liszt became a conductor later in his life, and he
treats the orchestra as an instrument; treats the conductor not
as a person who keeps the tempo of the orchestra, but rather,
a musician who plays the orchestra as an instrument →
significantly influenced & changed the roles of conductor in an
orchestra (also one of the influences of Liszt!)
4. The piano is only acting as an accompaniment at the
beginning
c. PLAY PART 3-5 TOGETHER
i. Part 3
1. Variation 1, show that there is new music material, but also has
the main themes within → the main theme is everywhere,
sometimes it’s very clear, but sometimes it’s subtle and you
don’t even notice it’s there
2. Notice arrows → after the orchestra part, the piano plays,
which the piano melody is very similar to the orchestra’s part
→ communication between the two parts, orchestra and piano;
shows a connection between them, rather than two separate
parts; can be seen in the two/three Liszt piano concertos too
3. Point: Style of Liszt’s piano concerto: the piano has a
“communication” with the orchestra [show and explain
examples from Liszt’s pcs 1-3] *Doesn’t happen much with
Chopin concertos*
ii. Part 4
 1. Variation 2: Show score: can see that the theme is within the
music, but just by listening to it, won’t hear the theme exposed
directly
iii. Part 5
1. Variation 3: Toccata-like, which is a feature of this type of dark
and death-related music; can be seen in pieces like Dante
Sonata as well
d. PLAY PART 6-7 (STOP BEFORE KEY CHANGE)
i. Part 6
1. Variation 4: Canon-esque, counterpoint → Liszt is actually
quite good at counterpoint and writing fugues (Bach’s
influence, example of Piano Sonata in B)
ii. Part 7
1. Example of Liszt - can write really angelic and beautiful
phrases!!!!! → Bring more attention to this !!!!!!!!!!!
2. Brings out how key change part
iii. Part 8
1. Key change back to D minor → about to go back to the dark &
toccata-ish theme (a hint)
2. Brings out point about composition
iv. Part 9
1. Toccata-ish theme back again
2. Can hear the Dies Irae theme in it clearly
v. Part 10
1. Fugue (bring out counterpoint again)
2. Toccata-ish