Mephisto Waltz No.1 // LISZT

The Mephisto Waltzes are four waltzes composed by Franz Liszt in 1859–62, 1880–81, 1883 and 1885. Nos. 1 and 2 were composed for orchestra, and later arranged for piano, piano duet and two pianos, whereas 3 and 4 were written for piano only. Of the four, the first is the most popular and has been frequently performed in concert and recorded.

Mephisto Waltz No. 1 is the best-known of the series and, together with No. 3, the most praised musically.

Mephisto Waltz No. 1, Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke (The Dance in the Village Inn) is the second of two short works he wrote for orchestra. While the work preceding it, Midnight Procession ("Der nächtliche Zug"), is rarely given (though both works have been recorded together), the waltz has been a concert favorite, with its passion, sensuality and dramatics generating an emotional impact. James Huneker described the work's "langourous syncopated melody" as "one of the most voluptuous episodes outside of the Tristan score."

The Mephisto Waltz No. 1 is a typical example of program music, taking for its program an episode from Faust, not by Goethe but by Nikolaus Lenau (1802–50). The following program note, which Liszt took from Lenau, appears in the printed score:

There is a wedding feast in progress in the village inn, with music, dancing, carousing. Mephistopheles and Faust pass by, and Mephistopheles induces Faust to enter and take part in the festivities. Mephistopheles snatches the fiddle from the hands of a lethargic fiddler and draws from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains. The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded village beauty in a wild dance; they waltz in mad abandon out of the room, into the open, away into the woods. The sounds of the fiddle grow softer and softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song."
(Source: Wikipedia)

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Work Title: Mephisto Waltz No.1 (S.514)
Composer: Franz Liszt
Year of Composition: 1859–62
First Publication: 1862
Dedication: Carl Tausig
Piece Style: Romantic

Midi: Sequences by © piano-e-competition
Artwork: © PianoAdventure
Visualization: Synthesia