Overview
Introduction
Liszt made several settings of all or part of the Ave Maria. Fortunately, they are each in a different key, which helps with identification! The E major piece is not connected with a vocal work, and, although the rhythm fits the opening of the text the ecclestiastical connection remains general. The subtitle ‘The Bells of Rome’ may not be Liszt’s, but the bell effects are specifically indicated. The piece was composed for the piano method of Lebert and Stark. The Ave Maria (d’Arcadelt) was issued with the Alleluia, although the key is really the only thing the pieces share. The Alleluia is based on material from the choral work Cantico del sol di San Francesco d’Assisi, whilst the Ave Maria is Jacques Arcadelt (c1505–1568) twice removed. Louis Dietsch (1808–1865) produced the piece in 1842 as an Arcadelt discovery, but was subsequently shown to have adapted the text of the Ave Maria to Arcadelt’s three-voice chanson ‘Nous voyons que les hommes’. Liszt added the rocking accompaniment in his transcriptions for piano and for organ. The D major Ave Maria was one of nine motets issued in 1871. This transcription (also the one for organ) is very straightforward, but the D flat version is extended with a florid variation. The tiny G major piece is adapted from a late vocal work, and the B flat version in the Harmonies poétiques is adapted from Liszt’s first choral setting of the text.
A deeply religious man, Franz Liszt wrote several piano pieces with the title of "Ave Maria." In fact, two of them date from the same year and appear consecutively in Humphrey Searle's catalogue of Liszt's works: S. 182, the work known as "Ave Maria (The Bells of Rome), and the instant one.
Both the Allelujah and the Ave Maria originated for other media than piano solo. It is likely that Liszt grouped them together for publication (they appeared in print in 1865) because of their religious nature and because they are both in the same key of F. They share no musical material, but their expressive means balance each other well.
The Allelujah is a four-minute piece that rises to a great peal of pianistic glory. It was adapted by Liszt from part of his work for chorus, baritone, and orchestra called Canto del Sol di San Francesco d'Assisi (Hymn to the Sun of Saint Francis of Assisi). The Allelujah is musically fairly simply -- a heartfelt theme is given increasingly elaborate treatment on the piano until it sound like a myriad of bells pealing in praise. This also tracks the literary content of the original Canto del Sol as Liszt analogizes the rising and the spreading glory of the sun to the rising of his Allelujah.
The other movement (which is practice is often played first of the pair) is based on music of Jacques Arcadelt (1505-1568). The French Renaissance composer did not write it as an Ave Maria, for it was a secular chanson. It was not fitted out with a religious content until one Louis Dietsch (1808-1865) set the words of the Latin Ave Maria to Arcadelt's melody, in which form it became popular.
Liszt's treatment of Arcadelt's music is quiet and seems simple, though in actuality Liszt keeps up a steady patter of notes against the melody, like a halo around the notes that he took from a copy of the "Ave Maria." It is one of Liszt's most charming piano productions. It is also available in Liszt's own effective organ transcription.
