ABSTRACT
Liszt’s works for piano, separated here for purposes of discussion from his piano paraphrases and transcriptions, remain by far the most familiar part of his corpus. Although considerable difficulties exist for anyone trying to separate the composer’s “original” works from his “arrangements,” “transcriptions,” and “paraphrases”—what, for example, of the Réminiscences de Don Juan, based on Mozart’s themes but inconceivable as the work of anyone other than Liszt?—the present chapter examines those works published originally and exclusively as “original” work. Much of this material-the Sonata in b minor, the “Transcendental” and “Paganini” etudes, and so on-is described under “Mature Piano Pieces.” Works completed before c. 1840 are described under “Earlier Piano Pieces”; works composed during Liszt’s last years are described under “Late Piano Pieces.” Studies of arrangements, paraphrases, and transcriptions for piano as well as other media are described in Chapter 11.
