Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 12/09/2009, uploaded on 03/11/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Aptly named Tarantella di bravura, Liszt crafted this virtuosic piano piece in 1848 from two selections from the opera La muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici) by the French composer Daniel Auber. Lauded as the earliest example of French grand opera, La muette de Portici was given its premiere at the Paris Opéra in February 1828. It had a lasting impact on operas for the remainder of the 19^th century, and its nationalistic theme even sparked the Belgian Revolution in 1830. The grand elements of the opera, from the five-act structure, elaborate stage effects and epic struggles set against a historical background, became the norm for operas. Furthermore, the opera even had an impact on a young Richard Wagner, who was earnestly searching for a new form of music drama. Thus, it is no surprise that Liszt should pay respects to such a prominent piece in his usual fashion by crafting its melodies into a transcription for solo piano.

The tarantella on which most of Liszt’s transcription is based comes from Act III of the opera. Liszt gives it a dramatic introduction of driving rhythms and impetuous chords before closing on the dominant. The dance itself is treated to virtuosic variations with opportunities for the display of showmanship at every turn. It is pieces such as this that often drew scorn from Liszt’s contemporaries, branding him as a composer of trivial music of no great artistic depth. Following the variations, Liszt closes the piece with a coda fashioned from the victory chorus of Act IV. Here, the grandiose music actually hides Liszt’s ingenious ability to combine themes together as the tarantella melody appears side-by-side with the chorus, and creates an exhilarating close to this virtuosic showpiece.       Joseph DuBose

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Tarantelle di bravura, S 386                 Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt composed the Tarentelle di bravura d'après la tarantella de 'La muette de Portici', S.386, R.117 in 1846.  As its full name implies, Liszt composed this after hearing La muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici), an important early 19^th Century French opera by Daniel Auber, now mostly forgotten.  Tarantella (or tarantelle in Italian) refers to a number of different southern Italian couple folk dances characterized by a fast upbeat tempo.      Alessandro Taverna