Années de pèlerinage I, S.160

Historical context

Franz Liszt composed a great many works, principally songs and pianoforte pieces, during his wanderings through Switzerland. These were published in 1842 in Vienna, in three volumes, under the general title of ‘Album d’un Voyageur, Compositions pour le Piano’. Foremost among these musical gems are ‘Lyon’, ‘Au Lac de Wallenstadt’, and ‘Les Cloches de G…’, which, according to the book, indicate the powerful influence of Nature on Liszt’s genius and speak of his deep feeling for Nature.

The ‘Album d’un Voyageur’ was later “considerably corrected, increased, and transformed” to reappear under the title ‘Annees de Pelerinage, Suite de Compositions pour le Piano — Suisse et Italie’, as Carl Czerny noted in 1852. Several pieces in ‘Annees de Pelerinage’ were taken from this earlier ‘Album d’un Voyageur’. Louis Kohler reported in 1854 that the ‘Annees de Pelerinage, Suite de Compositions pour le Piano’ (two years — Switzerland and Italy) was scheduled to appear at Schott’s in the course of the summer of that year. Nadine Helbig recalled playing “many things from the Annces de pelerinage” for Liszt, who was “specially pleased” when she played his own sacred music to him.

Drawn from Ledos de Beaufort, Raphaël; Helbig, Nadine, Franz Liszt, the story of his life (1910); Liszt, Franz, 1811-1886; La Mara, 1837-1927; Bache, Constance, 1846-1903, Letters of Franz Liszt (1894) — public domain, archive.org.