Transcendental Études

Études d'exécution transcendante Transcendental Études
Piano études by Franz Liszt
Portrait of Liszt (1839)
Catalogue	S.139
Year	1837 (1837)
Based on	Étude en douze exercices, S.136
Dedication	Carl Czerny
Published	1852 (1852)
Movements	12

The Transcendental Études (French: Études d'exécution transcendante), S.139, are a set of twelve compositions for piano by Franz Liszt. They were published in 1852 as a revision of an 1837 set (which had not borne the title "d'exécution transcendante"), which in turn were – for the most part – an elaboration of a set of studies written in 1826.

History

The genesis of the Transcendental Études goes back to 1826, when 15-year-old Liszt wrote a set of youthful exercises called the Étude en douze exercices (Study in twelve exercises), S.136.^[1] These pieces were not particularly technically demanding. Liszt then returned to these pieces for thematic ideas, elaborating on them considerably, in the composition of the Douze Grandes Études (Twelve Grand Studies), S.137, which were published in 1837.

The Transcendental Études, S.139, are revisions of the Douze Grandes Études. The fourth was altered and published alone as Mazeppa in late 1846,

When revising the 1837 set of études into their final "Transcendental" versions, Liszt added programmatic titles in French and German to all but two of the pieces,^[3] Études Nos. 2 and 10. In his edition of the work, Ferruccio Busoni respectively called them Fusées (Rockets) and Appassionata, and these titles are occasionally used in modern performance. However, these alternate titles were never approved by Liszt himself, and, generally, in scholarly reference, in performance, and in authoritative urtext editions like those published by G. Henle Verlag, these two études are referred to only by their performance indications: Molto vivace and Allegro agitato molto, respectively.^[3][4][5]

Liszt's original idea was to write

Very few pianists have recorded the 1837 set, and even fewer have recorded the 1826 set (which really are works of Liszt's juvenilia). Leslie Howard is the only pianist to have recorded all three sets on a major label for international release, as part of his series of recordings for Hyperion of the complete solo piano music of Liszt.

Other works with a similar title

• Sergei Lyapunov, 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, Op. 11 (1897–1905)
• Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, Études transcendantes (100) (1940–44), commonly known as 100 Transcendental Studies
• Brian Ferneyhough, Études transcendantales for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble (1982–85)

Selected recordings of the complete set

References