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Liebestraum No. 3
Liszt
ARSM 5 min 69 BPM target
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Liebestraum No. 3 is the third of a set Liszt conceived as lieder and published as piano nocturnes in 1850. This one is transcribed from his song "O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst". It is still a song in everything but name, a single long-breathed melody restated in ever-warmer harmony over an accompaniment that must never compete with it.
The two cadenzas carry the piece. They are written as though the singer had broken into pure ornament, and they only work if the widely spaced arpeggios sound improvised rather than practised. The second is the harder of the two, and it fails the moment it sounds like an étude.
Cantabile governs everything else, from voicing the melody to keeping the accompaniment warm and subordinate. Rubato has to shape the phrases without losing the pulse. Here is the accessible side of Liszt, with no thunder and no display, and it teaches the bel canto touch his harder music assumes. Played with restraint, it is unforgettable.
About this edition
Liebestraum No. 3, S. 541. Typeset by Dimitris Thomopoulos, from IMSLP[1], licensed CC BY 3.0[2]. Cropped and de-skewed for display.
From the journal
The plan covers the whole piece, and the order changes as you practise it.
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