Musi 331 Assignment 1. Peter Crane

The use of motific devices and other musical elements to convey the poetic program in Franz

Liszt’s Prometheus.

In 1847 Franz Liszt retired from the life he had so successfully lead, that of the travelling

piano virtuoso. The court at Weimar had offered him the position of Kapellmeister and at the

age of thirty five he saw the opportunities that a settled lifestyle in a cultured city could offer.

Liszt had long been a writer of music for the piano but with the position at Weimar came an

orchestra. He was now in a position to rise to a fresh challenge and this was to be a composer

of symphonic music.

Shortly after settling in to his position at Weimar Liszt began developing a form of

symphonic work which he labeled the Symphonic Poem. The works may best be described as

‘one-movement orchestral compositions, programmatically conceived.’1

It is apt use of the term as a poem is a concise work generally, alive with meaning and

intent and one which makes use of a variety of literary devices to imbue the work with the

maximum impact in the most directed way. In seeking the poetic content in the work

Prometheus it is appropriate to consider Liszt’s own commentary as outlined in his preface to

the score: Symphonic Poem, No.5 Prometheus – Franz Liszt.

1 Alan Walker, “Liszt, Franz: Symphonic Poems, ”New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2

nd ed.(online

version, 2001, accessed 17.08.09),

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy.une.edu.au/subscriber/article/grove/music/48265pg15

Liszt notes that the Prometheus myth is ‘full of mysterious ideas….hopes void of

fulfillment.’2 He allows the literary weight of the legend by saying the myth has ‘always

stimulated….our strongest instincts,….’. He writes that “It is ….for music to assimilate those

feelings…. : Audacity, Suffering, Endurance and Salvation – bold striving towards the highest

destiny to which the human spirit can aspire….cries of anguish and tears of blood….silent faith

in a liberator….finally the accomplishment of the work of grace….Suffering and

Apotheosis….triumphing through….perseverance….constitutes the musical character of

the….work.’

This then, is the poetic content within the composition and it is by both an examination

of the score and an experiencing of a performance that we can evaluate whether Liszt’s music

does reflect the poetic within and what means he has employed to achieve this.

The introduction is marked ‘Allegro energico ed agitato assai’. The cellos, basses and

timpani begin a tremolo which rises to a crescendo and at bar 5 Ex.1 is

played.

This chord is comprised of tremolo strings on F, trombones on B, Horns on E and trumpets on

A. The chord built on fourths is unstable with the flatted fifth F to B. The staccato fig.1 also

based on fourths emphasizes the tension. The key signature is given as C major indicating the

2 Franz Liszt, Preface to the score of Prometheus (London: Ernst Eulenburg Ltd, 1975).

Ex

chord to be an unprepared F major 7 flat five. Bars 7 to 12 have the tremolo rise to F sharp with

the same fig.1 overlaid. Liszt has positively introduced the piece with a virtually full orchestra

on an unstable chord and while it may be seen as an opening fanfare if viewing the piece from a

purely musical perspective, there is sufficient tension to allow the poetic allusion to

Prometheus’, indeed mankind’s, restiveness.

Section A at bar 13 is marked ‘Maestoso…’ and is a somber C minor chord in the horns

with a rising and falling semi quaver figure in the strings. The chord in bar 15 is A flat minor and

the string figure is effectively a whole tone run which ends on G sharp, the major seventh of the

A flat minor. Bar 17 continues the mood with E augmented on the horns and the strings playing

E whole tone. Bar 18 has the C rise to C sharp in the horns with the same string whole tone

figure. Bar 19 has the chords change to diminished, with G sharp diminished in the horns and

the strings playing G sharp diminished for one bar then repeating the run an octave higher only

to cascade down the diminished scale to the note F.

This A section has continued the emotional travail by use of a symmetry as follows –

Cminor, Abminor, Eaugmented, G#diminished and coming to rest on F at bar 26. The tension

is highlighted by the quick change at bar 18 instead of each phrase being 2 bars long and the

switch to the diminished sound from the augmented chords which had used whole tone scales

in the strings. The descending diminished semiquavers in the strings presage a feature used

throughout whereby the rhythm is displaced by a semiquaver in order to increase the tension

and heighten the metaphor of man’s condition of trial or unease. But this myth also

encompasses hope and in bar 27, noted Andante (Recitativo), the woodwinds introduce a

section of repose and consolidation. No horns are used and the viola is muted to convey a

feeling of peace among the trials. When the line is repeated with horns the mutes are

employed and the music is allowed to come to rest at bar 47, 5 bars after section B. The motion

in this part sees the lines invariably leading down melodically.

The return of the Allegro appassionato at bar48 on the chord of E7b9 has the violins

running the F diminished semiquaver scale, again with the rhythm displaced by a semiquaver

for one bar and the resolving chord of A minor in bar 49 has the E chromatic scale displaced by

a quaver – Ex.2

Bar 52 has the run played twice but only in half length to emphasize the tension. The

section continues rising in pitch until at the section C, bar 62, a new figure emerges –

Ex.3

The battle between hardship and hope may be seen here as the rising figure in the flute

and piccolo contrasted by the gentle but insistent falling figures of the other instruments. The

battle is restated a fourth higher signaling a lift in intensity and as the two forces lock in chords,

Ex

Ex.

the strings rise and fall in a tremolo figure in a classic maelstrom metaphor –

In bar 78 at the letter D fig. 1 is reintroduced but with a rising last two notes indicating

the possibility of success in the struggle, but the contest is far from over. Letter E returns the

diminished run down starting on A, seen previously as fig.2 at bar 48. This highlights the

furthering of the struggle and this is repeated three semitones higher on C at bar 107 and again

three semitones higher on E flat at bar 112 and again on G flat at bar 113 to climax at bar 115 in

a classic diminished tension-building device.

At bar 116 a reprieve is provided by the quasi Recitativo and at letter F a new motif is

introduced which is not encumbered by the fraught emotional nuances of the previous

sections. Bar 129 affords a key change up a semitone to D flat/B flat minor and the notion of

real hope is introduced with all instruments rising at the conclusion at bar 159.

At bar 160, letter G, there is a section in fugue which has been the object of some

speculation in relation to its meaning. It is based on a figure of falling and rising thirds.3

Commentators have seen the section as referring to Prometheus’ brother who was more

concerned with the ordinary as opposed to heroic role of mankind in the myth, or the fugue

may reflect the earthly concerns of man in general as indicated by the weave of the fugue. At

3 Humphrey Searle, Franz Liszt: The Man and His Music, ed. Alan Walker (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1970), 292.

Ex.

the letter I, bar 206, the fugue undergoes a key change to A major. If the idea of the human

condition reflected in the fugue is viable, then there is a brightening of the tone from this key

change. Bar 214 has the key change up three semitones to C major.

In bar 225, letter J, Ex.1 is reintroduced but in its reinvigorated and optimistic form.

The Fig.1 is now joined to fig.2 and is no longer the ominous sounding introductory fanfare. It

follows from the gradual brightening of the previous sections with all instruments on a rising

melodic path. The flute and piccolo particularly reflect this.

The Andante (Recitivato) returns after the climax at bar 249 and it is noteworthy that

although there is a feeling of calm the predominant melodic lines are downwards. This could be

a reflection of the lowering of tension in a section marked Andante or it could foreshadow the

return of the struggle. At bar 269 the question is answered with the reintroduction of fig.2 the

F diminished figure in Allegro Appassionato and as before the rhythmic displacement of a

semiquaver reinforces the urgency of the motif.

The concluding stages of the work see the reintroduction of the motifs and their

variations. These variations are significant as the fig. 1 motif concludes the piece after having

been put through a series of modifications or challenges to its integrity which it survives to

emerge triumphant at the concluding bars of the finale at bar 443.

Ex

The composition is the work of a man who was a piano virtuoso. In this short symphonic

format Liszt was able to draw on his considerable knowledge of scalar and chordal modeling to

evoke the poetic via the musical and this was his intention as recorded in his preface to the

work. He uses diminished and whole tone scales to simulate tension. The string section is

charged with the responsibility of playing semiquavers off the beat and in double forte staccato

in numerous passages. The use of repetition in diminution is called on to heighten tension

particularly in the diminished sections. The motifs are used throughout the work in a variety of

guises and this is noted as a feature of Liszt’s composing in general, serving as they do as a

unifying element.4 The composition does indeed evoke the imagery of the artist as Prometheus.

The struggle to surpass the ordinary by its challenge begins in the opening bars and continues,

now intense, now reflective, until at the final bars the difficult theme of the introduction

returns to claim victory for Prometheus, the artist and perhaps mankind.

References

Walker, Alan. Franz Liszt: The Man and His Music. Edited by Alan Walker. London: Barrie &

Jenkins, 1970.

Weiss, Piero, and Richard Taruskin. Music in the Western World. 2nd

ed. Belmont: Thomson

Schirmer, 2006.

Sitwell, Sacheverell. Liszt. London: Cassell & Company Ltd, 1955.

Searle, Humphrey. The Music of Liszt, 2nd

ed. New York: Dover Publications, 1966.

Walker, Alan. Liszt. London: Faber and Faber, 1971.

4 Ibid., 281.

Liszt, Franz. Preface to the score of Prometheus. London: Ernst Eulenburg, 1975.

Walker, Alan. “Liszt, Franz,*15: Symphonic Poems.” Grove Music Online,accessed 17.08.09.

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/48265pg15.

Williamson, John. “The Revision of Liszt’s ‘Prometheus’”, Oxford Journals: Music & Letters,

Vol.67, No. 4 (Oct.,1986), pp381-390.Accessed 17.08.09. http://www.jstor.org/stable/735136