SKU: BT.EMBZ20017A
English-German-Hungarian.
In 1845 Franz Liszt embarked on a project to compose an Italian opera based on Lord Byron’s tragedy, Sardanapalus (1821). It was central to his ambition to attain status as a major European composer, with premieres variously planned for Milan, Vienna, Paris and London. But he abandoned it half way through, and the music he completed has lain silently for 170 years. Liszt’s difficulty in obtaining a libretto meant that composition only began in April 1850. He completed virtually all the music for Act 1 in an annotated piano-vocal score of 111 pages, contained within his N4 music ‘sketch book’. The unnamed librettist was an Italian poet and political prisoner, seemingly living under house arrest, and a close acquaintance of Cristina Belgiojoso. His libretto survives as underlay in the N4 sketchbook and has been critically reconstructed and translated. Sardanapalo is Liszt’s only mature opera. While he consistently referred to it in French, as Sardanapale, the published title of the Italian opera would almost certainly have used the Italian name, hence this forms the title of the first edition. There are three solo roles and a chorus of concubines. The manuscript was previously thought to be fragmentary and partially illegible, but it was finally deciphered to international acclaim in March 2017. Liszt’s score offers a richly melodic style, with elements from Bellini and Verdi alongside glimmers of Wagner and the symphonic poems ahead: a unique mixture of Italianate pastiche and mid-century harmonic innovation. It remains quintessentially Lisztian. The opera sets Byron’s tragedy about war and peace in ancient Assyria: the last King, effeminate in his tastes, is drawn to wine, concubines and feasts more than politics and war: his subjects find him dishonourable (a ‘man queen’) and military rebels seek to overthrow him, but are pardoned, for the King rejects the ‘deceit of glory’ built on others’ suffering: this leads only to a larger uprising, the Euphrates floods its banks, destroying the castle’s main defensive wall, and defeat is inevitable: the King sends his family away and orders that he be burned alive with his lover, amid scents and spices in a grand inferno. As Byron put it: ‘not a mere pillar formed of cloud and flame, but a light to lessen ages.’ For his part, Liszt told a friend that his finale ‘will even aim to set fire to the entire audience!’ This critical edition includes a detailed study on the genesis of Liszt’s Sardanapalo in English, German, and Hungarian, the libretto in the original Italian as well as in English, German, and Hungarian translation, several facsimile pages of Liszt’s manuscript, and a detailed Critical Report.
SKU: AP.44353
ISBN 9781470623111. UPC: 038081499741. English.
For novice and intermediate musicians, Alfred's Piano Play-Along series makes possible the satisfying experience of playing popular songs along with professionally recorded backing tracks. Incorporating vocal melody and signature instrument parts from classic recordings, these custom arrangements also sound great completely on their own, and will have you rocking out from the comfort of your living room in no time. The sound-alike backing tracks on the included DVD-ROM come in two formats: play-along MP3s that can be loaded onto your computer, smartphone, or iPod; or, if you access them via our exclusive TNT 2 Custom Mix software, you can mix the vocals and instruments in the track to your liking, slow the audio down without changing the pitch, change keys, and loop parts for practice! Titles: Do You Want to Know a Secret (The Beatles) * I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles) * Let's Spend the Night Together (The Rolling Stones) * Ruby Tuesday (The Rolling Stones) * (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones) * She Loves You (The Beatles) * She's Not There (The Zombies) * Tell Her No (The Zombies) * Time of the Season (The Zombies) * You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (Dusty Springfield).
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