Liszt's Consolations, also referred to by the title Six Pensées poétiques, reflect an atmosphere of sweetness and serenity. These miniatures portray a Franz Liszt bathed in light, indulging his pen in the ecstasy of contemplation. The source of this set of pieces may have been Lamartine’s poem Une larme, ou Consolation, which contrasts the “pitiless earth” that leaves the poet inconsolable (“Fall, silent tears, On an earth without pity”) with the tenderness of the divine word which can be his only comfort (“It is felt that thy tender word With others cannot mix, O Lord! and that it comforts Only those who could not be comforted”). While this suggests that Liszt finds his “consolation” in the divine word, these works are also arguably a tribute to Chopin, who had died in 1849, the year before the final version of the six pieces appeared in print. Liszt and Chopin, though rivals, were also friends, as Liszt’s Vie de Chopin (1850) attests.

As a source of profound transformation, consolation and even healing, and a means of acceding to a spiritual (not necessarily religious) life, music clearly has a role to play, and the influence it has on each one of us is most intimate and personal. Today, more than ever, listening to music provides us with brief moments of relief and relaxation that are essential to building up our inner world, our emotional individuality. Liszt’s courageous path towards light and serenity, provides a touching and liberating example of a man who assumed his consuming passions and sublimated them in the works he created.
What could be more successful than a life whose fruits continue to bring enjoyment to one’s fellow beings well over a century after their composition?

Beatrice Berrut Piano
Filmed and recorded at Théâtre du Crochetan, Monthey Switzerland
Sound and Picture : Christian Berrut

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