Liszt: Orpheus

Liszt: Orpheus

From 1848, Liszt was court conductor in Weimar, which also made him musical director of the court theater. He developed the theater into an important venue for operas, many of which he conducted himself. At the same time, he devoted himself to orchestral music, especially the genre of the symphonic poem, which he developed under the influence of Hector Berlioz.

[Etruskan painting, ca. 430 BCE]

Orpheus was written during the winter of 1854, when the Hoftheater in Weimar was rehearsing under Liszt for a performance of Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice. Liszt decided to write a prelude and an epilogue to be performed before and after the opera. This decision was in keeping with the 19th-century practice of placing works from earlier periods between so-called romantic brackets. The music of the prelude and epilogue has nothing to do with the main work, but only with the character of Orpheus himself. 

After the premiere, Liszt linked a program to his Orpheus music, focusing on the image of Orpheus on an Etruscan vase depicting him as a lutenist; the image shows that Orpheus could do anything with his lute playing, even move stones. For Liszt, Orpheus was a symbol of the ethical power of music and the arts, of their civilizing effect.

Orpheus is an exception among Liszt's orchestral works. There is no sense of turbulence, failure or resurrection, and there is little contrast in the composition. In fact, the work is a delicate flow of honeyed melodies and harmonies, without rapid transitions or tempo changes. The quiet opening with horn, harp, and strings is striking, followed by a long crescendo that ends after the climax in a long decrescendo. The orchestral sound is open and there is plenty of room for solo instruments to shine, with the masterful sound of two harps - representing Orpheus' lute - being most notable. In the fading music at the end of the composition, one can hear Liszt's typical religious devotion.

[Includes translated and edited passages from the open-source Dutch and German Wikipedia articles on Liszt's Orpheus.]

Symphonic Poems