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The 21st Annual Week of Italian Language in the World
Many composers have been inspired by Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, one the greatest masterpieces of Italian literature.
Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (“After a reading of Dante: A Fantasia, almost a Sonata”), also known as The Dante Sonata, is a musical work in one movement composed by Franz Liszt in 1849 and clearly inspired by Alighieri’s poem. First published in 1856 as part of the second volume of the Années de pèlerinage or “Years of Pilgrimage”, it is considered one of the most difficult piano pieces ever written.
The Dante Sonata was originally a small musical piece, composed by Liszt in 1830, and divided into two thematic movements. It was first performed in Vienna in November 1839 but, upon moving to Weimar in 1849, Liszt revised the sonata by giving it its current title, derived from Victor Hugo’s eponymous poem.
The piece begins with the metaphorical sound of the trumpets announcing Dante’s descent into hell, recreating the groans and desperation of the damned souls encountered by Dante. The central part of the piece describes the tormented love between Paolo and Francesca, as recounted in Canto V of The Divine Comedy.
There are two interpretations of the sonata. According to some musicologists, the work also contains references to Dante’s Paradise, because in the final part we finally see the light and, hence, Heaven itself. Others see it as the complete opposite: the rapid chromatic octave section at the end of the piece represents the three heads of Satan in Dante’s Inferno and hence Liszt would be referring only to Hell, as also Victor Hugo does in his poem.
ONLINE EVENT
Link to “Istituto Italiano di Cultura” Washington DC
https://iicwashington.esteri.it/iic_washington/it/gli_eventi/calendario/2021/10/streaming-liszt-dante-fantasia.html
The 21st Annual Week of Italian Language in the World is organized
Under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic