Research Liszt "Second Ballade," Said

Franz Liszt’s second ballade was composed in1853and published by Kistner inLeipzig. It was dedicated to Count Charles de Linange，who was the half-brother ofQueen Victorias. It was written in B-minor，the same tonality as his piano sonata. Thesonata and the ballade were composed and published in the same year. Liszt’sB-minor sonata has drawn an enormous amount of scholarly attention and hasbecome standard repertoire. Yet, the B-minor ballade has been somewhat neglected.Most pianists are familiar with the four ballades by Chopin, but few know that Lisztwrote two.This document is intended to guide students, teachers, and performers towardpreparation and performance of Liszt’s second ballade. Therefore, I have decided towrite this document from the viewpoint of a pianist who is learning this piece by himor herself. With that idea, pertinent questions needed to be answered such as: Whatbackground information do I need to know? What is the overall structure of the work?What details do I need to pay attention to in order to understand. Liszt’intentions?How should I overcome technical difficulties in certain passages? Each chapter isdesigned to answer these questions, respectively.In chapter I, a formal analysis provides the performer with an overall picture ofthe work through the realization of the whole structure. A stylistic analysis assists inunderstanding the composer’s unique use of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmicelements, thus giving details on the foreground level. There are also more elements toconsider such as phrasing, articulation, dynamics, pedaling, and fingering, which areall included in the interpretative analysis given in chapter II. In the last chapter, threerepresentative technically difficult passages are cited to provide practical,step-by-step solutions using carious practice techniques and Gyorgy Sandor’smethodology to identify and apply basic physical motions.