Franz Liszt’s Weinen, Klagen Variations for piano, published in 1864, are an important example of his piano technique and mature compositional style. The Weinen, Klagen Variations display Liszt’s skillfulness in motivic manipulation, as he transforms and fragments Bach’s original chromatic bass line from Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Sagen, BWV 12, in a multitude of different ways. Liszt also explores various key areas and occasionally obscures the piece’s tonality, exemplifying the composer’s development of a more chromatic harmonic language by the 1860s. Furthermore, Liszt transforms Bach’s original chaconne form into a larger, multipart narrative form typical of his own piano works.

In addition to Bach’s chromatic bass line, Liszt also borrows the chorale tune from the final movement of BWV 12, Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan. The presentation of the tune, however, begets a variety of influences, including church organ, orchestral program music, and Liszt’s own virtuoso pianism. Liszt’s thorough manipulation of the chorale tune may have influenced Alban Berg’s elaborate treatment of the chorale Es ist genug in his Violin Concerto of 1935.

Works: Liszt: Variationen über das Motiv von Bach: Basso continuo des ersten Satzes seiner Kantate ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’ und des Crucifixus der H-moll Messe (48-64); Alban Berg: Violin Concerto (55).

Sources: Johann Sebastian Bach: Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Sagen, BWV 12 (48-50, 52-53); Liszt: Variationen über das Motiv von Bach: Basso continuo des ersten Satzes seiner Kantate ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’ und des Crucifixus der H-moll Messe (55).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Matthew G. Leone