Hell and redemption culminating in an eight-part (not including doublings) fugue, the
argument of which is at once cold and deeply exciting. The third movement, with its shy
song-like passages, is something of a balm to the listener still in an uproar from the
previous movement. The temperature of the Grande Sonata takes a sharp dive in a last
movement of unremitting bleakness, emotionally similar to the last movement of the
Chopin Funeral March sonata except for a final, terminally defiant chord.
The unity of the Grande Sonate is reminiscent of the Schubert “Wanderer” Fantasy and
predictive of the Liszt B minor Sonata, which are its chief competitors in the category of
most-original-work-of-the-age.’
Source: ‘The strange case of Charles Valentin Alkan’ by James F. Penrose (‘The New
Criterion on line’ of 11 May 1993). This internet article is in part a review of ‘Charles
Valentin Alkan’ edited by Brigitte François-Sappey (Fayard, Paris). Mme Françcois-
Sappey contributed three essays including a lengthy study of Alkan’s Grande Sonata.
ALTENBURG
Liszt’s first generation of Weimar pupils (1848-1861) studied with him in the Altenburg,
the old house on the hill overlooking the river Ilm. It had been set aside for Liszt’s use
by Maria Pawlowna who was then the grand duchess of Weimar. The Altenburg had
more than forty rooms and contained many of the treasures Liszt had accumulated during
his years as a touring piano virtuoso. Beethoven’s Broadwood piano and his death mask
were housed there.
Liszt did most of his teaching in the small reception room on the ground floor which
contained an Erard grand piano. The music room was on the second floor and it was here
that Liszt held his Sunday afternoon matinées where singers and instrumentalists from the
court theatre would perform songs and chamber music, often with Liszt taking part.
These Altenburg matinées had begun in the 1850s and they soon became regular fixtures
in which Liszt’s pupils were also expected to participate. The music room contained
Viennese grand pianos by Streicher and Bösendorfer, a spinet that had belonged to
Mozart and a piano organ.
Visitors to the Altenburg during the 1850s included Wagner, Berlioz, Brahms, Joseph
Joachim, Joachim Raff, Peter Cornelius, George Eliot and Hans Christian Andersen.
Liszt pupils included Hans von Bülow, Carl Tausig, Dionys Pruckner, Hans von Bronsart
and William Mason.
Liszt’s private studio, where he wrote and composed, was at the back of the main
building in a lower wing. It was in this room in the Altenburg during late 1852 and early
1853 that he wrote his Sonata.
AMERICAN TERMS
American terms