Comment, disaient-ils? [1842-1859]

S’il est un charmant gazon [1844-1859]

Oh! quand je dors [1842-1859]

Enfant, si j’étais roi [1844-1859]

If there was one literary figure among Liszt’s contemporaries comparable in his own field to the composer in his, it was Victor Hugo - a poet of equivalent virtuosity, similarly tireless creativity and, though not always for the same reason, of equal celebrity status in the world at large. Liszt go to know Hugo during the years he spent in Paris in the 1830s and was inspired by him in several ways, not least in the two symphonic poems, Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne and Mazeppa, based on his writings. The six Hugo songs, which date mainly from the early 1840s, are necessarily less sensational but, particularly in the 1859 revisions, they display a remarkable affinity of temperament between the music and the words. While they might seem unduly self-conscious in comparison with, say, the most inspired of Fauré’s songs, they are no less authentic Hugo settings for that.

Taking a hint from the poet’s use of the word “alguazil” (bailiff) in the third line, Liszt sets Comment, disaient-ils as a miniature Spanish scena, colouring the piano part with simulated guitar figuration and adding a touch of flamenco decoration to the vocal line at the end. S’il est un charmant gazon is a delightfully lyrical inspiration, its contrasts in harmony and rhythm discreetly integrated with the recurring, serenely melodious material of the opening bars. Oh! quand je dors is more overtly artful but as a setting of a poem that is not too modest to allude to Petrarch - a literary idol for both Hugo and Liszt - it is scarcely more exaggerated in expression than is appropriate to the text. Whenever the words gave him legitimate encouragement, Liszt always liked to introduce the maximum of colour variety in his songs. Enfant, si j’étais roi, with its splendid regal gestures in the first stanza and its ominous rumblings from the underworld in the second, is an extreme but irresistibly effective example.

Enfant, si j’étais roi [1844-1859]

S’il est un charmant gazon [1844-1859]

Oh! quand je dors [1842-1859]

If there was one literary figure among Liszt’s contemporaries comparable in his own field to the composer in his, it was Victor Hugo - a poet of equivalent virtuosity, similarly tireless creativity and, though not always for the same reason, of equal celebrity status in the world at large. Liszt go to know Hugo during the years he spent in Paris in the 1830s and was inspired by him in several ways, not least in the two symphonic poems, Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne and Mazeppa, based on his writings. The six Hugo songs, which date mainly from the early 1840s, are necessarily less sensational but, particularly in the 1859 revisions, they display a remarkable affinity of temperament between the music and the words. While they might seem unduly self-conscious in comparison with, say, the Schubert songs he admired so much, they are no less authentic Hugo settings for that.

Taking a hint from the poet’s use of the word “alguazil” (policeman) in the third line, Liszt sets Comment, disaient-ils as a miniature Spanish scena, colouring the piano part with simulated guitar figuration and adding a touch of flamenco decoration to the vocal line at the end. Whenever the words gave him legitimate encouragement, Liszt always liked to introduce the maximum of colour variety in his songs. Enfant, si j’étais roi, with its splendid regal gestures in the first stanza and its ominous rumblings from the underworld in the second, is an extreme but irresistibly effective example. S’il est un charmant gazon is a delightfully lyrical inspiration, its contrasts in harmony and rhythm discreetly integrated with the recurring, serenely melodious material of the opening bars. Oh! quand je dors is more overtly artful but as a setting of a poem that is not too modest to allude to Petrarch - a literary idol for both Hugo and Liszt - it is scarcely more exaggerated in expression than is appropriate to the text.