Franz Liszt (1811-1886) - photo 1
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) - photo 2

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Lot 233
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1109033
Lot 233 | Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Symphonische Dichtungen für grosses Orchester ... 'Les Préludes', Leipzig: Breitkopf and Härtel, [1856], inscribed and signed ('F. Liszt')
Octavo (260 x 162mm). 97 pages, lithographic title-page, letterpress introduction and preface, music engraved throughout with plate number ‘9056’ (occasional faint and insignificant spotting and soiling). Contemporary roan-backed red cloth, covers stamped in blind and upper cover lettered in gilt, white glazed endpapers (extremities rubbed, inner hinges cracked). Provenance: Heinrich Szadrowsky (1828-1878); Sotheby's, 27 November 1987, lot 295.

First edition, inscribed on the occasion of a famous joint-concert with Wagner. Inscribed on title to H. Szadrowsky, Zurich, November 1856, and on facing page 'Fortsetzung folgt!', St Gall, 23 November 1856, annotations in red pencil, apparently by Liszt, inscribed on back fly-leaf in another hand 'Aufgeführt 23 Nov. 56 im 3ten Abonn. Konzerte St Gallen (unter Franz Liszt's Direction) da capo'.

Les préludes is the third of Liszt's thirteen symphonic poems: it began as an overture to The Four Elements, before being revised as a concert overture. The first performance, conducted by the composer, was on 23 February 1854. Liszt's inscription at St Gall on 23 November 1856 is on the occasion of a concert at which the conductors were Liszt (conducting this work and Orpheus), Szadrowsky and Wagner (Wagner's part being Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, which concluded the programme). In the following year, Szadrowsky referred to the annotations in his copy of the work in a footnote to an article in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik (vol. 46, 1857, p.96): 'I would like to take this opportunity to point out a very important mistake that has been left in the printing. The magnificent violin figure on pp.75-78 (bar 2) in the score must all be played fortissimo, instead of fp and p. In the score before me, Liszt marked a powerful ff (ein machtiges ff)' (translation). A repeated ff in this passage is indeed among the annotations in the present score.

See lot 261 for a copy of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony inscribed by Wagner to Szadrowsky on the same occasion.
Place of origin:Germany, Hungary
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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