One of the pages from the original manuscript of the sonata.

Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor (dedicated to Robert Schumann) is widely considered to be his greatest work for the instrument, and one of the seminal works of the Romantic piano literature. Composed in 1853, the Sonata is notable for being constructed from a small number of motivic elements that are woven into an enormous musical architecture. The motivic units are continuously transformed throughout the work to suit the current musical context. A theme that in one context sounds menacing and even violent, is then transformed into a hauntingly beautiful melody. This technique helps to bind the sonata's sprawling structure into a single cohesive unit, although the architectural powers of the musician need to be highly developed to achieve this in performance. Image File history File links One of the pages from the original manuscript of Liszts Piano Sonata in b minor. ... Image File history File links One of the pages from the original manuscript of Liszts Piano Sonata in b minor. ... Franz Liszt (Hungarian; Liszt Ferenc) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist and composer. ... Robert Schumann (June 8, 1810 – July 29, 1856) was a German composer and pianist. ... Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. ... This article is about the modern musical instrument. ... Sonata (From Latin and Italian sonare, to sound), in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to cantata (Latin cantare, to sing), a piece sung. ... Music theory is the name for a branch of study that includes many different methods for analyzing, classifying, and composing music and the elements of music. ... In music, a theme is the initial or primary melody. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ...

Broadly speaking, the Sonata has four movements although there is no gap between them. Superimposed upon the four movements is a large sonata form structure, although the precise beginning and endings of the traditional development and recapitulation sections has long been a topic of debate. Most analysts agree that the development begins roughly with the slow movement and the recapitulation with the scherzo fugue. In using this structure, Liszt was obviously influenced by Franz Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy, a work he greatly admired, performed often and arranged for piano and orchestra. Schubert used the same limited number of musical elements to create a broad four movement work, and used a fugal 4th movement. In music, a movement is a large division of a larger composition or musical form. ... Sonata form refers to both the standard layout of an entire musical composition and more specifically to the standardized form of the first movement. ... In music theory, the third major section of a movement written in sonata form. ... Section can be: A cross section (in the common sense or the physics sense) In mathematics: A conic section A section of a fiber bundle or sheaf A Caesarean section In UK law, Section 28 In the fictional Star Trek universe, Section 31 A military unit A section (land) is... A scherzo (plural scherzi) is a name given to a piece of music or a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony. ... In music, a fugue is a type of piece written in counterpoint for several independent musical voices. ... Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828), was an Austrian composer. ...

The Sonata has had many champions over the years, and has been performed by virtually every major 20th century pianist. Pianists as diverse as Alfred Brendel and Vladimir Horowitz have performed it, and it seems to be one of the few works that appears in every repertoire. This may be because the sonata's considerable technical and interpretive challenges place it as one of the most difficult and rewarding works a pianist can undertake. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... A pianist is a person who plays the piano. ... Alfred Brendel Alfred Brendel (born January 5, 1931) is a Bohemian pianist. ... Vladimir Horowitz (ru: Владимир Самойлович Горовиц) (October 1, 1903 – November 5, 1989) was a classical pianist. ...

The quiet ending of the sonata may have been an afterthought; the manuscript, the only copy of which is available in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City, contains a crossed-out ending section which would have ended the work in a loud flourish instead. (Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848-1861, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989, page 156. This is in the middle of an extensive analysis of the sonata, pp. 149–157.) The Pierpont Morgan Library, originally the private library of J.P. Morgan, was converted to a public institution in 1924 as a memorial by his son, John Pierpont Morgan (1867-1943). ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, and is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture. ... Alan Walker (born 1930) is an English writer on music who presently teaches at McMaster University, where he chaired the Department of Music from 1971 until 1980. ...

External links

Piano Society - Free recording of Liszt's Piano Sonata.