The Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S.259, is a piece of organ music composed by Franz Liszt in the winter of 1850 when he was in Weimar.[1] It was dedicated to Giacomo Meyerbeer, who was the composer of the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", which Meyerbeer first incorporated in the Act I of the opera Le prophète, and on which Liszt later based his organ composition. The Fantasy and Fugue was given its premiere on October 29, 1852. The revised version was premiered in the Merseburg Cathedral on September 26, 1855, with Alexander Winterberger performing. The whole work was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1852, and the fugue was additionally published as the 4th piece of Liszt's operatic fantasy "Illustrations du Prophète" (S.414).[1] A piano duet version by Liszt appeared during the same time (S.624).
Contents |
The piece consists of three sections:
The piece opens with the "Ad nos" theme and then turns quiet and contemplative. The theme returns and eventually a climax is reached. A second climactic passage follows, after which this section ends.
The Adagio serves as a development section, beginning quietly, the theme moving to major keys now from the minor keys of the preceding section. The piece brightens a bit in the latter half of this section.
The Fugue serves as the finale, but also, within the sonata-form, as the recapitulation and coda. Elements from the previous sections appear again. The piece ends with a triumphant coda, on full organ.[2]
A typical performance lasts nearly half an hour.
Ferruccio Busoni prepared a piano arrangement which was published in 1897 by Breitkopf & Härtel.[3][4] Alan Walker, Liszt's biographer, said that it "represents one of the pinnacles of twentieth-century virtuosity."[5] Liszt performed at least once his own piano transcription, of which Walter Bache, his student, made an account in 1862. Liszt never seems to have notated such a version.