Csárdás (Liszt)

Csárdás macabre, S.224 (1881–82)#

This is perhaps the best-known of the three csárdás. with the opening in parallel octaves before the famous bare fifths section which is without precedent in Liszt’s output. Still more intriguing is the second-subject stage of the structure; this is either a parody of the Dies irae or a quotation from the Hungarian folk song, “Ég a kunyhó, ropog a nád.” Both theories have their advocates. The composer did not indicate what he meant, though he did write on the manuscript after he had finished it, “May one write or listen to such a thing?” A favorite question of some critics is whether the fifth of the opening bar is a flattened supertonic appoggiatura or as an actual tonic. Such tonal ambiguities become common in Liszt’s late works.

1. Csárdás#

Less known than either of the other dances, this csárdás is a short Allegro beginning as though it would be in A minor. It passes to A major, then ends quietly but unsettled on F minor after much sequential modulation.

2. Csárdás obstinée#

This csárdás begins with a repeated F, essentially taking up where the first dance left off, before an ostinato accompaniment begins. An F major triad in the left hand is contrasted with a falling phrase beginning with an A in the right hand. The piece on the whole is written in B minor-major, Before the coda, the theme is transformed in B major in repeated octaves.

Bibliography#

• Baker, James M., ed. Hamilton, Kenneth, “A survey of the late piano works,” The Cambridge Companion to Liszt (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005). (paperback).
• Howard, Leslie, Notes for Hyperion CDA66811/2, Liszt: Dances and Marches, Leslie Howard, piano.
• ed. Walker, Alan, Franz Liszt: The Man and His Music (New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1970).
• Ogdon, John, “Solo Piano Music (1861-86)”
• Walker, Alan, “Liszt and the Twentieth Century”
• Walker, Alan, Franz Liszt, Volume 3: The Final Years, 1861-1886 (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1996). .