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Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

S.198 - Chant du Berceau

Emir Gamsız, piano

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This piece is in the album:

"Classical Lullabies"

Read about the album: Click here.

Read about the composer: Click here.

Read about the pianist: Click here.

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ABOUT THE WORK:

This lullaby is dedicated to Arthur Friedheim (1859-1832) who was a student and secretary of Franz Liszt in his final years. Friedheim was 23. Accompanying Liszt to Rome in the fall of 1882, Friedheim confessed to his master that he was short of money. Liszt, already quite fond of him, said, "Move into this hotel and leave the rest to me. You will select and play for me the few pieces worth hearing among the fifty or more that I have the pleasure of receiving every week; occasionally you will write a few letters about them. You will do some copying, perhaps some arranging. You will be, in short, my personal amanuensis." Until his death in 1886, few people were as close to Liszt as Friedheim.  Among Liszt's eldritch last pieces, the little Wiegenlied bears the inscription "To Arthur Friedheim (Weimar), 18th May 1881, in friendliest remembrance". For Liszt, Wiegenlied possessed a deep significance evidenced by his unusual arrangement of it for four violins and his use of it for the opening of his 13th and final symphonic poem Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (1881-1882).