Transcendental Etude No. 11 (Liszt)
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Transcendental Etude No. 11 in D-flat, "Harmonies du Soir" is the eleventh etude of the set of twelve Transcendental Etudes by Franz Liszt. This etude is a study in harmonies, broken chords played in quick succession, full octave jumps, chromatic harmonies, chord variations, and performance as a whole.
This piece is considered one of the most artistic of the etudes, along with Chasse-neige.
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[edit] Visual Image
As the piece begins a man is sitting outside, listening to the evening melodies drifting in the air, be it bells from a church nearby or singing in some far-off choir. As he listens to opening melodies he begins to fall asleep, evident in the sprawling, lazy arpeggiated sequences in the piece. After he falls asleep he dreams and his dreams are influenced by the melodies he hears sitting out in the evening, and wanders off into a dreamland where he is surrounded by the euphony of the bells and choirs engulfing him in the night, during the passionate climax of the piece. Soon he begins to wake up and after he wakes he sits again and listens slowly to the melodies drift away.
[edit] Innovations
Experiments in tonal ambiguity and 'impressionistic' sonorities mark this as a forward-looking work.
[edit] Origin
Unlike the other etudes, Harmonies du Soir, which is the eleventh Transcendental Etude, was rooted from the seventh Etudes in Twelve Exercises, which was a study in alternating hands. However, the similarities in melody are apparent.
[edit] External links
- Transcendental Etudes was available at the International Music Score Library Project.
