Graham Pont
Arrangements of Bach’s music by the great pianist Franz Liszt are well-known but most Handelians would be surprised to learn that Liszt also took inspiration from their favourite composer. In an article published in Göttinger Händel-Beiträge (1), Christiane Wiesenfeldt notes that Liszt performed works by Handel at Vienna in April-May 1838 and again in March-April 1846. He also conducted performances of Messiah at Weimar and Aachen in 1850 and of Judas Maccabaeus at Weimar in May of the Handel centenary year 1859.
In June 1879 Handel’s first opera Almira was performed at Leipzig: it is not known if Liszt attended the performance but he did acquire a copy of the vocal score of Almira that was arranged by the Austrian composer Johann Nepomuk Fuchs and published at Leipzig in the summer of 1879. In Act I of Almira there are two dance movements, a Chaconne and a Sarabande (HWV 1: 3& 4). By September 1879 Liszt had produced ‘un morceau de concert pour piano’: an elaborate paraphrase which was published later that year under the title ‘Sarabande und Chaconne aus dem “Almira” von G.F. Händel, für Pianoforte zum Konzertvortrg bearbeitet’ (Kistner, Leipzig, 1879). The work was dedicated to Liszt’s English pupil Walter Bache. It received its premiere public performance by Alfred Reisenauer at Leipzig in May 1883 and a few months later was performed at London by Walter Bache.
The original publication is now very rare: the only recorded copies are held by the Liszt Foundation in Budapest and the Library of the University of Berne, which has kindly supplied the copy reproduced here. Note that in his introduction to the Sarabande (bars 1-4) Liszt has indicated signs of articulation in both hands and the pianoforte pedalling that are inconsistent with Handel’s opening bars (5ff.) and with the staccato chords of bars 13ff. The contrast of three forms of articulation for thematically related passages is very Handelian.
Although Handelians (including me) have been generally unaware of this work, it is well-known to Lisztians: there are several performances available (about 11 minutes long) on YouTube. While the dances are blown up with characteristic virtuoso fireworks, Liszt’s treatment of Handel strikes me as quite sympathetic, at least when he stays close to Handel’s original text. I just wonder what Handel himself would have made of it.
The Sarabande and Chaconne from Almira was not the end of Liszt’s involvement with Handel. The Australian Liszt authority Dr Leslie Howard is editing an unpublished medley for the pianoforte which includes melodies from Handel’s Messiah, as well as ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘God save the Queen’.
Note
(1) ‘Eine Laune des “anbetundswürdigen Fingerhelden”? Liszts Variationen über Sarabande und Chaconne aus Händels Almira’, Göttinger Händel-Beiträge, XIII (2010), pp.63-78. The article includes copies of Liszt’s much-corrected autograph of the Sarabande and Chaconne.