Liszt: Scherzo in G minor, S.153

Introduction

The piano piece in G minor, long known as Scherzo (thanks to Busoni’s edition of 1927) but not so entitled by Liszt, dates from 1827. However, the piece is not so much a Scherzo as a Bagatelle, in the Beethovenian sense, and it is easy to read into its craggy jauntiness a homage to Beethoven: in the sprung rhythms and awkward leaps, in the clever manipulation of the diminished seventh (such a characteristic of his later work) and in the throwing of the theme across the keyboard, the old master is evoked. But it is probably coincidental that the piece dates from around the time of Beethoven’s death.