Liszt to Dionys Pruckner that Liszt provided him with a copy. Louis Köhler reviewed the
Sonata after receiving a printed copy from Liszt.
Alkan was a prominent pianist, organist and composer in Paris but no evidence has
turned up to suggest that Liszt ever sent Alkan a copy of his Sonata. Was this because
Liszt did not wish to draw Alkan’s attention to it?
The covering page of the autograph manuscript of Liszt’s Sonata which has come down
to us is entitled, in Liszt’s own handwriting, ‘Grande Sonata pour le pianoforte’ without a
dedication. The covering page of the first edition, issued by Breitkopf & Härtel is
entitled ‘Sonate für das Pianoforte’ with the dedication to Robert Schumann. The
wording is identical with another, unsourced, covering page which was shown in
photographic form in Robert Bory’s pictorial biography. The word ‘Grande’ was omitted
from the covering page of the printed edition, apparently with Liszt’s approval. Was this
done to avoid a similarity of title to Alkan’s Sonata and thus to avoid drawing attention to
other similarities?
Liszt’s writings about twenty-one musicians/composers have come down to us. The
musicians/composers are Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Borodin, Chopin, Czerny, Field,
Franz, Hiller, Mendelssohn, Molsonyi, Paganini, Rubinstein, Schubert, Clara and Robert
Schumann, Smetana, Spohr, Saint-Saëns, Thalberg, Wagner. He never wrote anything
about Alkan’s Sonata or his Quasi-Faust movement.
Liszt made one comment at a masterclass about Alkan that has come down to us. It was
a favourable comment about Alkan’s compositions generally but with no reference to
Alkan’s Sonata or his Quasi-Faust movement.
Were these circumstances part of a desire by Liszt to avoid drawing attention to the
similarities of his Sonata to Alkan’s Quasi-Faust movement?
The Faust legend involves three main characters, Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles,
and musical representation of the Faust legend was a preoccupation of a number of
composers, hence Liszt’s Faust’s Symphony and his Mephisto Waltz. Cortot, in the
Salabert Edition, attached the Faust legend to the Liszt Sonata, as did the author of the
preface to the New Liszt Edition basing his view on thematic similarities with the Faust
Symphony. There was a Dante Symphony and a Dante Sonata. There was a Faust
Symphony so why not a Faust Sonata?
Lina Ramann, who wrote the first major biography of Liszt and questioned the composer
on the origin of his works, stated that the Sonata was not inspired by a programme. Liszt
himself attached titles and programmatic descriptions to about 90 per cent of his output
but did not attach the Faust legend, or any other programme, to his Sonata in any source
that has come down to us. Did Liszt mislead Ramann? Did Liszt secretly attach the
Faust legend to his Sonata but keep this quiet to avoid drawing attention to similarities to
Alkan’s ‘Quasi-Faust’ movement?