Liszt Quoting Beethoven's “Archduke” Trio and Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus

Domokos, Zsuzsanna (2025) Liszt Quoting Beethoven's “Archduke” Trio and Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. STUDIA MUSICOLOGICA: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 66 (1-2). pp. 103-113. ISSN 1788-6244

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Abstract

In the Liszt catalogs of works, Liszt's transcriptions are understood to be both compositions, in which Liszt faithfully transcribes a work from one medium to another, usually to the piano, and arrangements, including a group of fantasies and paraphrases on themes taken from popular works, mostly operas by other composers. Usually, the piano scores (partitions de piano) of orchestral works, are also classified to the category of transcriptions, as in the case of Beethoven's symphonies. However, whatever the group of works in question is, they all have in common the fact that in each case Liszt usually indicates the title of the original work and the name of its composer in the title of the transcription. There are, however, two exceptions in Liszt's oeuvre, where he incorporates the borrowed complete work or movement into his own independent composition, making it an integral part of the piece. In one case, the title of the new Liszt work no longer refers to the actual original composition. This quotation is the Andante cantabile movement of Beethoven's Piano Trio in B♭ Major op. 97, which Liszt reworked in his two Beethoven cantatas (1845/1870) without making any specific reference to the trio in the title of his work. The other Liszt work, which incorporates a complete work by another composer, is his composition À la Chapelle Sixtine , which quotes Mozart's Ave verum corpus motet, but in this case the subtitle of Liszt's work indicates Mozart's original composition. What is the reason for Liszt's different treatment of these two compositions when compared to his other transcriptions, and why could they become more of his own? How does he rework the borrowed works, and what is their specific message in his interpretation? This study addresses these questions.

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