he avoided many needless and conventional repetitions, he could
not entirely throw overboard the cyclical law of restatement; for
there is not one of hisSymphonic Poemswhich does not re-
peat, at the end, thematic material already heard. Liszt carried
the principle of theme transformation still further than Berlioz;
and, as a German, tended to lay stress rather on the psycholog-
ical aspects of character than on those outward theatric events
which appeal to French taste. The difference is well shown by a
comparison of theDamnation of Faustwith Liszt’sFaustSym-
phony, considered his most inspired orchestral work. Liszt must
not be forgotten as a song-writer, especially for his settings to
Goethe’s poems; which, as Huneker says, are masterpieces and
contain, in essence, all the dramatic lyricism of modern writers,
Strauss included. In these songs the instrumental part is of spe-
cial import; Liszt in pianistic treatment anticipating Hugo Wolf
with his “Songs for Voice and Pianoforte,”i.e., the voice and the
instrument are treated as coequal factors.
[Footnote 245: For stimulating comments seeThe Symphony
since Beethovenby Weingartner, pp. 71-86.]
The works of Liszt selected for analytical comment are the Sym-
phonic PoemOrpheus, theFaustSymphony and the Pianoforte
Étude,Waldesrauschen. The student, however, should become
familiar with several others[246] of the Symphonic Poems, no-
tablyTasso,Les PréludesandMazeppa; with the Pianoforte
Sonata in B minor in one movement, in which Liszt works on
the same plan as Schumann in the Fourth Symphony; with the
descriptive pianoforte pieces and études; and with the songs, of
whichKennst du das Land,Die LoreleiandDu bist wie eine
Blumeare beautiful examples.
[Footnote 246: An enlightening and comprehensive account of
each of these may be found in Niecks’sProgramme Musical-
ready referred to. See also Chapter VII, pp. 141-155 in Vol. VI
of theOxford Historyfor what is perhaps a rather biased point
of view. There is an excellent tabulation of the themes fromLes
Préludesin Mason’sRomantic Composers.]