Franz Liszt (1811-1886): Die Legende von der Heiligen Elisabeth

[UnsungMasterpieces]

A few months ago I was looking at the list of compositions by Franz Liszt. His works all have an S. number. S.1 is an opera Liszt wrote when he was 13/14, called Don Sanche. Since he studied with Ferdinando Paer at the time, it's been suggested that the opera wasn't composed by Liszt at all, but by Paer himself.

But that's not important right now. S.2 in the catalogue is Die Legende von der Heiligen Elisabeth, an oratorio that lasts about 2 and a half hours. When I started listening, I wanted to hear it all. I could hear the sound of Wagner clearly in its instrumentation, orchestration, etc., especially when the Crusaders start singing. But a great difference between Wagner & Liszt is that Liszt used more choirs then Wagner did. But anyway, Liszt has done a marvellous job on it!

It was written between 1857 and 1862, the same period his daughter Cosima married Hans von Bülow. Cosima would marry Richard Wagner years later.

So, all in all, very interesting work, and it definitely doesn't deserve the status of "unsung."

[adriano]

You are perfectly right. It is a wonderful cantata. To my knowledge it has been recorded 4 times already, which means that it could be considered as "quite sung". There once was an excellent Hungaroton recording from the 60s, conducted by Janos Ferencsik (reissued on CD). The three more recent CD recordings are less exciting...

[UnsungMasterpieces]

Yes, hadrianus, you're right. But, as you may have noticed, it's relatively unsung considered with Wagner, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Bruckner, etc., but perhaps I should edit that in.

[eschiss1]

Maybe 3.5 times, since the recording I have, on Koch Schwann, was substantially cut.  (Don't know if they were Liszt-approved cuts.) Rather good recording/performance, anycase, at least good enough to make one wish one had the whole thing (yes, it really is a good, memorable cantata/oratorio/...)- but in the end NLA as with the rest on that label.

[Jonathan]

Interestingly, I was listening to Liszt's own piano transcriptions of 3 pieces from St. Elisabeth earlier on today.  I also have a recording of the full version and it is an interesting and neglected work.

[adriano]

On ths occasion it may also be interesting to consider Liszt's "Christus" and (his definitely unsung) "Sonnenhymnus des heiligen Franziskus", which was recorded in 1983 by Schwann...

[alberto]

"Christus" should still be available in the Erato (now Apex-Warner) 1987 recording conducted by James Conlon : almost three hours of music.

[Jonathan]

Agreed, another sorely neglected work.

People in the UK might wish to know that there is a possibility that 'Die Legende von der Heiligen Elisabeth' might be performed this year.  More news when I know more...