I read recently that Liszt has been a key inspiration to some of the heaviest heavy metal bands around! To portray ‘evil’, the devil and/or death itself seems to be the goal of a sub genre of heavy metal. To my ear – THIS is evil/death/devil done to perfection! Liszt can be ethereal, angelic and spiritual … or dredge up the spirit of dread. I mean if this isn’t the Devils’ theme song! Not surprisingly his life reflected this fascination with the seeming opposites of good and evil. **this is just the first few moments of a 16 minute plus piece ** *
PS – Totentanz:Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre (French), Danza Macabra (Italian and Spanish) or Totentanz (German), is a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one’s station in life, the dance of death unites all. La Danse Macabre consists of the personified death leading a row of dancing figures from all walks of life to the grave—typically with an emperor, king, pope, monk, youngster, beautiful girl, all skeletal. They were produced to remind people of how fragile their lives were and how vain the glories of earthly life were.[1] Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts; the earliest artistic examples are in a cemetery in Paris from 1424.
Totentanz by Franz Liszt
And Again
Franz starts off a bit bombastic, but then lead us into some truly Trancendent piano. The “climax” particularly (* this piece is part of what launched me on my Classical Music quest *)
Sonetto-del-petrarca no. 104
Sonetto del petrarca no. 104