F. Liszt. Manuscript of "Deux transcriptions (d'après Rossini)", annotated by the composer for the printer, [c.1852]

LISZT, FRANZ

Manuscript Stichvorlage of "Deux transcriptions (d'après Rossini)", for piano solo LWV A 141, ANNOTATED AND CORRECTED BY THE COMPOSER THROUGHOUT, SIGNED ("F Liszt"), 

in the hand of Joachim Raff, with Liszt's autograph note to the publisher on the inside of the wrapper ("1r titre (sur la couverture), qui sevirà pour les deux morceaux: Deux Transcriptions (d'après Rossini) pour le piano part F. Liszt-- / 1 Air du Stabat Mater / 2. La Charité") in pencil, notated in brown ink for piano on six systems per page, with Liszt's autograph dynamics, expression marks, pedal markings, some clefs and corrections added mainly in pencil, occasionally in ink, including "sempre con pedale", "una corda", "tre corde", "più dolce", "espressivo", "colla parte", "crescendo", and others, marked up by and for the engraver, including Schott's plate numbers to titles ("11618.1" and "11618.2"), 

17 pages, including 2 titles (one partly coloured) and the composer's note, large 4to (c.36 x 30.5cm), thick hand-ruled 12-stave paper, contemporary black cloth wrapper inscribed by Liszt, later (c.1900) ownership inscription to page 1 ("This music was bought at the Liszt house in Weimar, Germany & was said to be a manuscript of his"), [Weimar, c.1852], spine defective, the covers secured with black ties, some browning, ink stains and fingerprints from the engraver

These two characteristic Rossini transcriptions by Liszt include his creative re-interpretations of the famous tenor aria 'Cujus Animam' from the Stabat Mater (1842) and 'La Charité', no.3 from Trois choeurs religieux (1844), a piece for women's voices and piano that prefigures Rossini's later Petite messe solennelle. Liszt treats the vocal melodies, particularly in 'La Charité', to his full panoply of pianistic techniques, arranging them in the inner parts, using the thumbs, whilst surrounding them with decoration and harmonic elaboration. Liszt's original composition draft for the 'Cuius animam' transcription is in the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv in Weimar, together with a partly-autograph manuscript of 'La Charité' (and also sketches for both transcriptions). The present manuscript contains Liszt's final word for the publisher of both works.

Sotheby's is pleased to acknowledge the assistance of Professor Rena Mueller and Evelyn Liepsch (Goethe- und Schiller Archiv, Weimar) in our description of this lot.

LITERATURE:

LWV A 141; Raabe 238; Searle 553