B minor sonata revisited: Deciphering Liszt, The

Musical Times, Spring 2003 by Brown, David

The case for hearing this Sonata as grounded upon a real-life relationship is based upon four themes. The first (the first subject, ex.2, bars 9-13) has already been scrutinised; the second is the grandioso theme that provides the first part of the second subject. Liszt, it seems, had discovered that the cipher generated by Karolina's full name (baptismal name and surname: ex.3) was the same as his own, except that one interval was a major, not minor, second.6 Liszt evidently saw the possibility this offered: why not construct from it a pitch profile using the same technique as that employed to generate his own cipher scale, though this time it would ascend to ensure that the tune he would invent from it would be very different? Certainly it would be remarkable indeed if the matching pitch structure revealed in exx.4a and b was no more than the product of coincidence. Thus Liszt's and Karolina's personalities, as overtly presented, would contain a twofold

element - motif and structure - that covertly related them.

It might be objected that the implacable forcefulness of Karolina's own theme (ex.4c) makes its identification with a woman (and especially the one whom love had made central to its creator's whole life) implausible. Not so in this case. Karolina was clearly a lady of strong character and independent personality. As her parents' sole heir, she had been schooled by her father in the business of running the huge family domain, becoming an excellent horse-woman well able to cover her territory, and noted for her authoritarian, disputatious disposition. Indeed, her determination to be as she chose within the urban society of Weimar caused her to be publicly ostracised by many (especially the women), as much for her deplorable dress sense, her smoking of cigars, and generally unbecoming social behaviour (like resting her feet on the ledge of her box in the theatre) as for her unblushing cohabitation with Liszt, though they probably forgave her `harsh and barbarian' profile, short and plump stature, and blackish teeth - features the writer, George Eliot, noted when she visited the couple in 1854.

That there was, however, another side to Karolina is patently caught into the tender theme (also in D major: ex.5b) that soon follows. Though this theme was long ago recognised to be a most radical transformation of that brusque, explosive utterance (ex.5a) which had immediately followed the first appearance of Liszt's own theme, it is doubtful whether most innocent listeners who have had no sight of the score will have marked this identity, while few of those who have spotted it and given thought as to why Liszt should have taken the trouble to devise these so different thematic twins are likely to have come up with a plausible answer. But now, placed in context with the other two themes, an overarching significance instantly emerges: while Liszt's and Karolina's own themes are discreet projections of their respective personalities as they might have been perceived by the outside world, these two themes, at root the same, are twin emblems of their mutual love in their private world - one parading a masculine virility, the other breathing a feminine tenderness. Diversity in unity: here was oneness in love and commitment to each other, now that they were, in reality, `one flesh'. For reference, this new theme (ex.5b) will be labelled Karolina's love theme, its earlier incarnation (ex.5a) Liszt's love theme.