The Key Characteristics of Franz Liszt’s Late Piano Works

Abstract

Many of Franz Liszt’s piano works have been analyzed and discussed in depth and in different ways, yet the piano music of his final period awaits exploration and initiation into the standard repertory. In this document, I discuss two main categories into which Liszt’s late works often fall: death and despair. I introduce biographical evidence from Liszt’s last years (1860–1886), which might explain why these two categories had such a strong hold over his mental and musical world. I also focus on the key characteristics of Liszt’s late works: that is, why certain keys, as opposed to others, were chosen to express particular moods. Through the analysis of four pieces: Nuages gris (1881), La lugubre gondolas II and I (1883), and Unstern! (1881), I discuss pertinent musical ideas and characteristics to demonstrate Liszt’s manifestation of death and despair in his compositions.