Called "the crowning achievement" of the group and "one of Liszt's more formidable compositions", it is a substantial work in a single movement that requires about 18 minutes to perform.[2]
The Dante Sonata was originally a small piece entitled Fragment after Dante, divided into two thematically related movements, which Liszt composed in the late 1830s.[3] He gave the first public performance in Vienna, during November 1839.[4] When he settled in Weimar in 1849, he revised the work along with others in the volume, and gave it its present title derived from Victor Hugo's own work entitled the same.[5] It was published in 1858 as part of Years of Pilgrimage.[3]
Composition
The second subject is a derivation of the notes in the first
The piece is divided into two main subjects. The first, a chromatic theme in D minor, typifies the wailing of souls in Hell. D minor is a common key for music relating to death, as evidenced by Liszt's Totentanz[6] and the statue scene of Wolfgang Mozart's Don Giovanni. The second is a beatific chorale in F-sharp major, derived from the first, representing the joy of those in Heaven.[2] The key is also symbolic here, being the signature for other uplifting works of Liszt's, including Benediction of God in Solitude (part of Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses)[7] and Les Jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (Années de Pèlerinage Vol. 3, No. 4).[8]
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