Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (Two Episodes from Lenau’s Faust, S. 110, No. 2: Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke) [Alf:36-A164302]

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) composed a total of four Mephisto Waltzes (Mephisto-Walzer) between 1859 and 1885. MEPHISTO WALTZ No. 1, written between 1859 and 1862, remains the most popular of the four, and it was written originally for orchestra, though it was later arranged in various ways for piano(s). The first waltz is actually part of a larger two movement work titled ZWEI EPISODEN AUS LENAUS FAUST, S. 110, No. 2: DER TANZ IN DER DORFSCHENKE - ERSTER MEPHISTO-WALZER (TWO EPISODES FROM LENAU’S FAUST, S. 110, No. 2: THE DANCE IN THE VILLAGE INN - FIRST MEPHISTO-WALTZ). The first episode, titled DER N„CHTLICHE ZUG (MIDNIGHT PROCESSION), is played rarely. The scene takes its program from Nikolaus Lenau's 1836 Faust drama (as opposed to the more commonly used Goethe version). In it, Mephistopheles and Faust pass a wedding feast at a village inn. When Mephistopheles entices Faust to join the dance, he snatches a fiddle from one of the musicians and plays on it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains, all while the amorous Faust whirls a village beauty in wild abandon out of the inn and into the woods. Instrumentation: 3(3rd dPicc).2.2.2: 4.2.3.1: Timp.Perc(2): Hp: Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set).