AB II-14

Description

Franz Liszt

HYMNE DE L’ENFANT À SON RÉVEIL
POUR TROIS VOIX – DEUX SOPRANI ET UNE ALTO – ET HARMONIUM (OU PIANO)

Poésie de Lamartine

Hymne de l’enfant à son réveil occupies a special place in the group of piano pieces assembled under the title Harmonies poétiques et réligieuses. For there exist no less than six versions of this composition: three for piano and three for choir. The piano works date from 1840 (published in AB II-11), 1847 (published in AB II-10) and 1853 (Part VI of the definitive cycle). The three choral versions date from 1862, 1865 and 1874. Of these only the last was available in print until recently. The present edition represents the first publication of 1862 (‘Rome, 18 Février’). It differs from the other two in three ways:
–  The 1862 version is the only one in which all 18 verses of Lamartine’s poem are set to music. The two other versions include only 14 verses (as do piano versions II and III).
–  The accompaniment (for harmonium or piano) is totally different from those of the other two.
– The music was composed on the original French text. The 1865 version is written on Italian text. The 1874 version can be sung in German (translation by Peter Cornelius) or Hungarian (translation by Kornél Ábrányi).
All of this justifies the publication of this early choral version, realized on the basis of the manuscript in the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv in Weimar (GSA60/C20), of which Evelyn Liepsch, head of the Liszt archives, kindly provided me with a copy.

REVIEW
“During the Franz Liszt Festival, December 2006 in Tilburg, was to be heard the world première of a rediscovered choral work of Franz Liszt: Hymne de l’enfant à son réveil in the version for three-part women’s chorus (two sopranos and one alto) with harmonium or piano. This is the earliest choral version of this work, written in 1862. (…) As the person who was able to accompany this world-première performance on the harmonium I can make two observations. Firstly that Brussee’s publication seems most trustworthy and the printing has been beautifully arranged by Annie Bank. A critical commentary, included at the end of the book, lends to this publication the quality of an Urtext edition. Secondly I can establish that in musical terms this work enriches Liszt’s vocal oeuvre. Pianists will recognize the melody of the main theme, but this choral version can without any doubt be regarded as an independent and complete whole. Vocally, the work makes high demands regarding intonation, partly because the accompaniment is silent for several bars while the choir has to cope with difficult harmonical progressions.”
Christo Lelie, Liszt Bulletin, July 2007. (Translated from the Dutch)

COPYRIGHT, AVAILABILITY and PRICE
© 2006 Annie Bank B.V., Amstelveen, The Netherlands.
34 pages, with a preface in English and critical commentary.
Available through the usual music channels, direct from the publisher, or via AB Music Productions & Editions.
Price: € 12,50.