A Century of Schubert Lieder Transcriptions For Piano

Copyright
by
Tzu-Yun Chen
2003
The Treatise Committee for Tzu-Yun Chen Certifies that this is the approved
version of the following treatise:
A Century of Schubert Lieder Transcriptions for Piano
Committee:
Rebecca A. Baltzer, Supervisor
Lita Guerra, Co-Supervisor
K. M. Knittel
David Renner
Anton Nel
Donald Aynesworth
by
Tzu-Yun Chen, B.F.A., M.M.
Treatise
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
The University of Texas at Austin

May 2003
UMI Number: 3110722
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Acknowledgements
Foremost, the sincerest gratitude I want to express is to the members of my
committee for their hard work and obvious dedication to students. Especially I would
like to thank Professor Lita Guerra, my piano teacher who has worked diligently with me
over the last four years, for her many words of wisdom and encouragement. With her
internal love of Franz Schubert, Ms. Guerra gives me the most motivation to establish
this project. My thanks and appreciation go also to Dr. Rebecca Baltzer, my academic
advisor who gave me invaluable assistance during this project. With Dr. Baltzer’s
inexhaustible patience, she helped me to make this project possible.
Finally, a special word of gratitude goes to my family. Thanks to my wonderful
parents – who gave me the most creativity and encouragement to support my long
academic journey.
iv
Publication No._____________
Tzu-Yun Chen, D. M. A.
The University of Texas at Austin, 2003
Supervisors: Rebecca A. Baltzer and Lita Guerra
The realization and re-creation of the art song as a piano piece represented the Romantic
concept of music as the highest of arts. Franz Schubert’s magnificent melodies have
always attracted the most transcribers and arrangers.
Besides Franz Liszt and Leopold Godowsky, who were the most well-known for
utilizing the treasure of those marvelous Schubertian Lieder, there were several other
composers who shaped their talent into this type of artistic re-creation. Those composers
illustrated their essential merit and their personal touches in creating a new vision of the
“song without words.” They include Liszt’s contemporary Stephen Heller, and, among
more recent pianists and composers, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alfred Cortot, and Gerald
Moore.
This treatise introduces and discusses the following Schubert song transcriptions
by Liszt, Heller, Godowsky, Rachmaninoff, Cortot, and Moore: Auf dem Wasser zu
singen, Die Forelle, Wohin?, Litanei, Heidenröslein, and An die Musik.
v
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements................................................................................................ iv
Abstract ....................................................................................................................v
List of Tables ....................................................................................................... viii
List of Music Examples ......................................................................................... ix
Introduction..............................................................................................................1
Chapter 1: Historical Background of the Piano in Nineteenth-Century ..................3

The Impact of the Industrial Revolution on the Piano Industry......................3
Piano Performance Practice in Piano Arrangements ─ Artistic Vision
versus Public Demand............................................................................4
The Influence of Virtuosity as a Romantic Ideal and the Benefit to
Pianists for Playing Concerts .................................................................5
Chapter 2: Terminology...........................................................................................7
Chapter 3: Composers as Transcribers ..................................................................12

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) ...............................................................................13
Stephen Heller (1811-1888)..........................................................................21
Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938)..................................................................25
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) ...............................................................28
Alfred Cortot (1877-1962)............................................................................30
Gerald Moore (1899-1987) ...........................................................................31
Chapter 4: Analysis of Selected Music Examples .................................................34

Text Treatment in Schubert Lieder Transcriptions.......................................34
Liszt and His Schubert Lieder Transcriptions ..............................................36
Auf dem Wasser zu singen....................................................................39
Different Approaches to the Same Song.......................................................45
Die Forelle ...........................................................................................45
Wohin? .................................................................................................52
Litanei ..................................................................................................60
vi
Single Examples of Transcription.................................................................65
Cortot's Heidenröslein .........................................................................65
Moore's An die Musik ..........................................................................66
Conclusion ....................................................................................................67
Bibliography .........................................................................................................69
Vita .......................................................................................................................73
vii
List of Tables
Table 1: Catalogue of Liszt's Schubert Song Transcriptions ..........................17
Table 2: Catalogue of Heller's Schubert Song Transcriptions ........................24
Table 3: First Publication of Godowsky's Schubert Song Transcriptions ......27
Table 4: Revised Edition of Godowsky's Schubert Song Transcriptions .......28
Table 5: Liszt's Winterreise.............................................................................38
Table 6: Liszt's Schwanengesang....................................................................38
Table 7: The Comparison of Three "Wohin?" Transcriptions ........................60
viii
List of Music Examples
Example 1: Moore, An die Musik, mm. 7-9 .........................................................34
Example 2: Rachmaninoff, Wohin?, mm. 1-6......................................................36
Example 3: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 1-4.........................................40
Example 4: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 9-12.......................................41
Example 5: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 35-38.....................................42
Example 6: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 85-88.....................................43
Example 7: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 97-105...................................44
Example 8: Schubert, Die Forelle, mm. 1-8..........................................................46
Example 9: Heller, Die Forelle, mm. 1-19 ............................................................47
Example 10: Heller, Die Forelle, mm. 73-84 ........................................................48
Example 11: Liszt, Die Forelle, mm. 1-5 ..............................................................49
Example 12: Liszt, Die Forelle, mm. 11-14 ..........................................................50
Example 13: Liszt, Die Forelle, mm. 94-95 ..........................................................51
Example 14: Liszt, Die Forelle, mm. 109 .............................................................52
Example 15: Schubert, Wohin?, mm. 1-3 ..............................................................53
Example 16: Heller, Wohin?, mm. 1-3...................................................................53
Example 17: Rachmaninoff, Wohin?, mm. 1-3 .....................................................54
Example 18: Godowsky, Wohin?, mm. 1-2 ...........................................................55
Example 19: Godowsky, Wohin?, mm. 3-5 ...........................................................55
Example 20: Rachmaninoff, Wohin?, mm. 80-82..................................................56
Example 21: Godowsky, Wohin?, mm. 78-81(85) ................................................57
Example 22: Liszt, Wohin?, mm. 88-97.................................................................58
Example 23: Heller, Wohin?, mm. 129-145...........................................................59
Example 24: Liszt, Litanei, mm. 1-2......................................................................61
Example 25: Godowsky, Litanei, mm. 1-2 ............................................................62
ix
Example 26: Schubert, Litanei, mm. 3-8 ...............................................................63
Example 27: Godowsky, Litanei, mm. 15-20 ........................................................64
Example 28: Cortot, Heidenröslein, mm. 28-37....................................................65
Example 29: Moore, An die Musik, mm. 34-39 .....................................................67
x
Introduction
Songs are some of the most amazing things in the world. They allow us to
express, to imagine, to experience life that we have never had. In a similar way,
the song transcription is one of the most creative achievements in the solo piano
repertoire.
Some two years ago, I accidentally discovered a rare recording including
some Schubert Lieder and Schubert Lieder piano transcriptions and paraphrases,
recorded by pianist Paul Stewart. It was like a hidden treasure in the enormous
piano repertoire, shining quietly and waiting to be discovered.
My love and enthusiasm for collaborative performing made me eager to
work on this project. In addition to those two reasons, there are more elements of
reward in this project: 1) my love of Schubert, 2) the rarity of acknowledgement
of the Lieder transcription, which is not as well known as solo piano repertoire, 3)
my constant curiosity about piano transcriptions which are derived from other
instruments.
In piano transcriptions, the virtuoso type can be separated from
transcriptions that have only the purpose of representing the original musical text
as literally as possible on the piano. A fine virtuoso piano transcription may in
fact focus on utilizing the material of the original to create a new, independent
musical composition for the medium of the solo piano. An artistic intention can
be indicated and demonstrated, although the presentation merely transfers the
original idea to the piano.
1
This project will introduce most of the Schubert Lieder Transcriptions
from the nineteenth to twentieth century. The chosen works are seldom
programmed in concerts and recordings.
2
Chapter 1: Historical Background of the Piano in Nineteenth-
Century Society
THE IMPACT OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ON THE PIANO INDUSTRY
The Industrial Revolution made music a public phenomenon and provided

a great market for the music industry – for public concerts, musical instruments,
and musical compositions. The importance of concerts in the 19th century is not
only the musical demand, but also their social function. The concert halls opened
performances for people who could not attend and enjoy such things before.1 In
the 18th century, the aristocracy was the major audience who attended concerts.
The feature of audience of the 18th century is different from the one of the 19th
century. Artistically sophisticated can be the signature mark of the music
audiences of the 18th century. It is quite distinctive that audiences of the 19th
century were livelier. They liked to be entertained, as did ones in the 18th century.
In addition to that, they had a taste for brilliant entertainment and were pleased by
the stunning virtuosity of the performers. Hence, the music industry was
stimulated by the flourishing music audience. The number of commercial
concerts rose and that made the market an extremely competitive one. To sum up
the evidence, virtuosic performance was directly affected by this circumstance.
Paris hosted two foremost institutions during the early years of a growing
Romantic ideal: one was the Paris Opéra, which provided the stimulation for
many musical transcriptions.2 The other was the piano-building industry. The
piano is one of the major representative instruments in the 19th century with its
better mechanical functions. The “double escapement,” one of the magnificent
inventions for piano, was invented by Sébastien Erard, the great French piano
builder. It was completed in 1821 and provided greater speed and delicate stroke
1William Weber, Music and the Middle-Class (London: Croom Helm Ltd., 1975), 30-4.
2Dan P.Gibbs, “A Background and Analysis of Selected Lieder and Opera Transcriptions of
Franz Liszt” (DMA diss., North Texas State U., 1980), iii.
3
responsiveness on the piano so that rapid repeated notes became an attractive
effect in piano composition of the time. (A seven-octave piano with the new
mechanism was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exposition of 1823. When
Liszt gave his sensational Paris début at the age of twelve, he played on one of
Erard's new instruments. He was so impressed by the clarity, precision, speed,
sonority, and sensitivity of touch made possible by the new instrument's
repetitition action, that he was inspired to compose Huit variations Op. 1, which
he dedicated to Sébastien Erard.)3
PERFORMANCE PRACTICE IN PIANO ARRANGEMENTS – ARTISTIC VISION VERSUS

PUBLIC DEMAND
The growing musical audience in the nineteenth century, the bourgeoisie,
resulted in the need for a new type of music. As the political power of aristocracy
gradually vanished in the 19th century, the private patronage of music also
drastically declined. The musicians, who no longer had any specific sponsorship
from the aristocracy, had much greater freedom in both social and musical status.
However, they had to face the straitened circumstance which made them lose their
former financial steadiness. In the 19th century, transcription and paraphrase
worked as more than one factor in western music society. When music became a
domestic art widely spread all over the European continent, a large amount of
music was needed not only for the aristocracy, but also for the amateur adults and
young children. According to data from Leon Plantinga’s article “The Piano and
the Nineteenth Century,” music publication throughout the 19th century was
dominated by piano works.
Of the twenty-two musical publications of Artaria & Comp. of Vienna in

1800, all but two required participation of the piano. In the same year
some seventy-three publications of new music were reviewed…in the
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, sixty-three of them involved (explicitly
3 Ibid, 3.
4
or implicitly) the piano… Of the many hundreds of instrumental offerings
listed for the years 1844-51, about eighty-four percent involved the piano.4
In conjunction with the vital publishing industry, on the other hand,
composers in the 19th century found another new outlet for their composition.
Not only did composers write serious music for professionals, but they made the
piano transcription one of the most popular music genres which flourished during
the sublime period of the Romantic era. Virtuosos could demonstrate their
intellect and splendid keyboard talent. In an age before the invention of record,
transcriptions also allowed people to access music more easily, whether

instrumental, orchestral, operatic, or vocal repertoire. This genre is an illustration
of ingenious imagination and virtuosic performance.
THE INFLUENCE OF VIRTUOSITY AS A ROMANTIC IDEAL AND THE BENEFIT TO

PIANISTS FOR PLAYING CONCERTS
Even though the growth of the solo piano recital happened in the 19th
century (Liszt introduced the first solo recital during his tour in Italy in the 1830’s
with his extraordinary piano technique), the earliest recognized appearance of the
solo piano at a public concert took place in 1768.5 According to Plantinga, the
development of the piano as a public instrument “coincided exactly with the
growth of a bourgeois ‘public’ and from its first known appearance in a solo role
at a public concert in mid-1768.”6 On 2 June 1768, J.C. Bach played a concert at

the Thatched House in London. “It (the concert) was announced in the Public
Advertiser… What Bach seems to have played that evening was a square piano –
a most unlikely instrument for public performance. Later in the same year the
piano made its Paris debut in a solo role at the Concert spirituels.”7
4 Leon Plantinga, “The Piano and the Nineteenth Century” in Nineteenth-Century Piano Music,
ed. R. Larry Todd (New York: Schirmer Books, 1990), 4.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid., 13.
5
With the development of piano building in the 19th century, the
composers and pianists learned about the potential of this instrument – it was able
to accept more of the possibilities of transformation more than any other
instrument. In consequence, in the age before music was widely spread by the
radio and sound recordings, people could still be reached by those great
transcriptions in order to be acquainted with eminent composers such as
Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, Verdi, and Mendelssohn.
6
Chapter 2: Terminology
There are several musical terms which describe the various types of
reworked compositions from the originals, such as arrangement, transcription,
paraphrase, reminiscence, fantasia, and variations. These terms are associated
with different levels of reproducing from the different media. There are some
overlapping characteristics between arrangement and transcription. The term
“transcription” is commonly used somewhat incorrectly as an “umbrella” term.
Moreover, it often appears interchangeably with arrangement or even
paraphrase. 8 In fact, it is a matter the degree to which the original form is
transferred, enhanced, reworked, or borrowed. In order to apply those terms
correctly in a way, this chapter will list what those definitions are in the reliable
research tools, and it will cross examine three terms — arrangement, transcription,
and paraphrase — to generalize a guideline for this project.
In The New Grove Music Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the entry of
arrangement does not mention excessively the relation between transcription and
paraphrase:
The word ‘arrangement’ might be applied to any piece of music based on

or incorporating pre-existing material…the word may be taken to mean
either the transference of a composition from one medium to another or
the elaboration (or simplification) of a piece, with or without a change of
medium. In either case some degree of recomposition is usually involved,
and the result may vary from a straightforward, almost literal transcription
to a paraphrase which is more the work of the arranger than of the original
composer.9
The entry arrangement is written beside another term, transcription, in
The Oxford Dictionary of Music. In this case, those two terms are considerably
related to each other. Arrangement is described as follows:
8Gibbs, Transcriptions of Franz Liszt, 2.

9Malcolm Boyd, “Arrangement,” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley
Sadie (London: Macmillan, 2001), vol. 2, 65-6.
7
Adaptation of a piece of music for a medium other than that for which it
was original composition. Sometimes “Transcription” means a rewriting
for the same medium but in a style easier to play. (In the USA there
appears to be a tendency to use “Arrangement” for a free treatment of the
material and “Transcription” for a more faithful treatment.)10
There is a brief description of transcription in the subtitle arrangement in
The Harvard Dictionary of Music. However, it mostly mentions the basis of
arrangement which provides a broader view in both history and theory than the
former:
The adaptation of a composition for a medium different from that for

which it was originally composed, usually with the intention of preserving
the essentials of the musical substance; also the result of such a process of
adaptation…. Numerous works from the 18th and 19th centuries were
arranged for piano, often, in the case of operas, orchestral works, and
some chamber music, to aid the study and dissemination of the
works. Some such arrangements, however, notably those of Liszt, were
clearly intended to have artistic merit in their own right as well as to serve
as vehicles for the display of virtuosity by performers… There are also
numerous examples from the 18th century to the present of composers
arranging their own works for a new medium of performance. The terms
transcribe and transcription are sometimes used interchangeably with
arrange and arrangement. Often, however, the former imply greater
fidelity to the original…11
In The New Grove, transcription is described as “a subcategory of
notation… Transcriptions are usually made from manuscript sources of early (pre-
1800) music and therefore involve some degree of editorial work. It may also
mean an arrangement, especially one involving a change of medium.” 12 It
focuses on the ethnomusicology editing process rather than recomposing practice.
In The Oxford Dictionary of Music, transcription is expounded as
“Arrangement of music composition for a performing medium other than original
10 Michael Kennedy, “Arrangement,” The Oxford Dictionary of Music (New York: Oxford
University Press Inc., 1994), 33-4.
11 Don Michael Randel, “Arrangement,” The New Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge: The
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986), 53.
12 Ter Ellingson, “Transcription,” The New Grove, vol. 25, 692.
8
or for same medium but in more elaborate style.”13 It is responding to the entry of
arrangement which does not have a specific definition for transcription.
The entry on transcription in The New Harvard Dictionary of Music has
a more specific description by giving examples. It is described as follows: “The
adaptation of a composition for a medium other than its original one, e.g., of vocal
music for instruments or a piano work for orchestra; also the resulting work.”14
There is a concurrent usage of 19th-century paraphrase in these three
dictionaries. Liszt’s paraphrase works have been mentioned the most. Also terms
like fantasia and reminiscence can be found in these entries.
In The New Grove, the entry of paraphrase mentions paraphrase as:
In the 19th century the ‘Paraphrase de Concert’, sometimes called

‘Réminiscences’ or ‘Fantaisie’, was a virtuoso work based on well-known
tunes, usually taken from popular operas. Liszt in particular wrote such
paraphrases for piano, including ‘Grande paraphrase de la marche de
Donizetti’(1847) and Totentanz: Paraphrase über das Diesirae (1849).15
In The Oxford Dictionary of Music, paraphrase is defined as: “In the 19th
century, term applied to works based on existing melodies or compositions,
especially as a vehicle for virtuosity. Thus, Liszt’s many ‘paraphrases’ for piano
of arias from Italian operas.”16
The entry of paraphrase in The New Harvard provides more details about
this genre:
In the 19th century, a solo work of great virtuosity in which popular

melodies, usually from operas, were elaborated (as in Liszt’s Rigoletto:
Paraphrase de concert, 1860); such pieces could also be classed Fantasia
or Reminiscences and were distinguished from works attempting to be
faithful transcriptions.17
13 Kennedy, “Transcription,” The Oxford, 898.

14 Bruno Nettl, “Transcription,” The New Harvard, 866.
15 Richard Sherr, “Paraphrase,” The New Grove, vol. 19, 69-70.
16 Richard Sherr, “Paraphrase,” The Oxford, 608.
17 Kennedy, “Paraphrase,” The New Harvard, 654.
9
Leonard B. Meyer, an American musicologist and writer on aesthetics,
explained those three terms in his book Music, the Arts, and Ideas as well. He
thought an arrangement contains greater change than a transcription: it “… in
general involves significant additions or changes in the original. EX: Haydn’s
Scottish songs.” 18 He also considered that transcription “is different from

original work and it should represent it as accurately as possible. EX: Brahms’s
orchestration “Variations on a theme by Haydn…” 19 As well, he asserted
“transcription and arrangement often blend into paraphrase.”20 Meyer said that
paraphrase
should be distinguished from both transcription and arrangement…the

difference between paraphrase and other forms of ‘imitation’ of existing
work is the merit of a transcription or of an arrangement as measured by
its ability to reproduce the character and ‘tone’ of the original; the merit of
a paraphrase depends not upon its faithfulness to a model but upon its
inherent interest as a work in its own right.21
These three terms: arrangement, transcription, and paraphrase, can all
be employed to denote an adaptation from the original medium. The difference
among them is the level to which the original composition is altered.
Arrangement (the general term) can be treated as an “umbrella” term, which
covers various types of composed works from pre-existing compositions. It can
be more elaborate than the original, or it can be simplified from the original. In
comparison to the paraphrase, the transcription is more literal, and more faithful
to the original medium. Of the three, the freest is paraphrase, which contains
more liberal transformation from the original composition.
18 Leonard Meyer, Music: the Art and Ideas (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967),
196.
19 Ibid., 196.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid., 196-197.
10
How did the pianist-composers of the 19th and 20th centuries make use of
these terms? We can use Franz Liszt to examine these issues. If we look at
Liszt’s thematic catalogue from 1877, we can see that he strictly adhered to these
designations quite precisely, while staying true to the original terms. For instance,
the term “transcription” (or transcrit pour, or übertragen für) is largely applied to
his song transcriptions. The terms “paraphrase,” “fantasie,” “reminiscences,” and
“illustrations” are used for works freely based on operatic melodies (for example:
Reminiscences de Norma, Rigoletto Concert Paraphrase). Liszt used such terms

as “Klavierauszug,” “Klavierpartitur,” or “partition de piano” for piano
reductions of orchestral works (for example: the term Klavierauszug is used for
his piano transcriptions of Beethoven’s nine symphonies).22
Stephen Heller applied terms like “Caprice brillant” or “Improvisata” for
most of his paraphrases to differentiate them from other transcriptions. In his
works with either of those two subtitles, many elaborate ideas can be found in the
music. In another case, Godowsky used “freely transcribed” for his Schubert
Lieder transcriptions, and “freely transcribed and adapted” for the Sonatas for
Unaccompanied Violin by J. S. Bach. French pianist Alfred Cortot used
“adaptation pianistique” to categorize his version of the Schubert song

Heidenröslein. The same situation can be found in Gerald Moore’s transcription.
“Adapted for piano by” is used by Moore with an explanatory note, “In any
broadcast or public performance, the arranger’s name must be included in the
program.” 23 There does exist an inconsistency in the statement by using
“arranger” in this circumstance. However, the term “arranger” might be simply
applied under the “umbrella” function rather than “transcriber” in Moore’s case,
since his An die Musik is a transcription, not an arrangement.
22 Gibbs, Transcription of Franz Liszt, 4.

23 Gerald Moore, To Music, (London: Oxford University Press, 1948), 2.
11
Chapter 3: Composers as Transcribers
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was the son of a schoolmaster who was
educated as a chorister of the Imperial Court Chapel in 1804 (under the Viennese
Court orchestra conductor, Antonio Salieri) and later qualified as an elementary
school teacher. Schubert spent his life mostly in Vienna, enjoying the company
of friends. However, his massive musical composition was little known beyond
the circle of his friends. He never held any position in the musical establishment
or attracted any kind of patronage. His final years were disturbed by illness. He
died in 1828, leaving much invaluable treasure to music lovers.
In the history of music, no Lieder composer ever displayed true genius of
melodic writing in quite the same way as Schubert. Among his compositions, his
art songs or Lieder comprise the largest portion of his works, and his remarkable
gifts are most widely remembered today through his prolific composition of songs.
Also his talent is most notably expressed in songs, and his sensitive musicality for
melody can be found throughout his compositions.
Schubert’s magnificent melodies have always attracted the most
transcribers and arrangers. Among Lieder transcriptions and paraphrases, those
based on Schubert’s Lieder occupy a great portion. Transcribing music for piano
was considered a marvelous opportunity. Pianists could play any kind of role
desired when they transcribed a piece of music: they could be the whole orchestra,
the excellent clarinetist, the Lieder singer, or even a prima donna. For song
transcriptions and paraphrases, the piano can greatly surpass the physical
limitations of breathing, which was often a problem for singers. It was at times
difficult for singers to sing a long phrase on a single breath to match a musical
idea. As pianists were not confronted with this kind of technical issue, they could
easily make a pianistic phrase to match the vocal line.
12
Besides Franz Liszt and Leopold Godowsky, who were well known for
utilizing the treasure of marvelous Schubertian melodies, there were several other
composers who shaped their talent in this wonderful re-creation. Those
composers (Liszt, Heller, Godowsky, Rachmaninoff, Cortot, Moore, and more)
illustrated their essential merit and their personal touches in creating a new vision
of the art.
FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886)
Liszt is one of the greatest experts at transcribing music in the 19th

century. Not only did he transcribe his own works, but he also did many
transcriptions of the works of other great composers such as Mozart, Beethoven,
Schubert, Meyerbeer, and Wagner. By doing so, not only did he enrich his own
repertoire for performing purposes, he also fulfilled his desire to perform all kinds
of music on one single instrument – the piano.
Liszt’s piano arrangements can be broadly classified into two large
categories. The first category includes literal transcriptions that do not
substantially alter the originals. For example, he transcribed Beethoven’s nine
symphonies and Wagner’s famous opera overtures such as that for Tannhäuser.
These made great works accessible to individual musicians. Besides these, he
transcribed many Lieder of other composers, including for example Schubert,
Schumann, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Lassan. He transcribed his
own Lieder as well. Liszt’s transcriptions “are usually so literal that they have
been called the gramophone record of the 19th century.”24 Paraphrase, on the
other hand, is quite different from transcription; this was created along with the
term ‘Réminiscence’ by Liszt himself. He composed fantasias that are
24 Alan Walker, “Liszt”, The New Grove, vol. 14, 768.
13
paraphrases of melodies from favorite operas, such as Mozart’s Don Giovanni,
Bellini’s Norma, and Halévy’s La Juive.
Liszt transcribed around 150 songs for piano, of which over a third are
Schubert’s Lieder. Schubert’s music fascinated Liszt during his entire life. In
addition to transcribing nearly 60 songs of Schubert, he also transcribed
Schubert’s Mélodies hongroises (d’après Schubert), the Waltz “Soirée de
Vienne,” Schubert’s march for piano solo, and the Wanderer Fantasy for piano
and orchestra, etc. However, he totally stopped transcribing Schubert’s songs

after 1846 (about the time he stopped concertizing), ending with the Müllerlieder.
After that, he focused on songs of Beethoven, Schumann, Lassen, Franz, and
others, never turning back to his earlier idol.
Those two great composers, Schubert and Liszt, never met each other
during their lifetimes. The Italian composer and theorist Antonio Salieri was one
link between them as a mutual teacher. Salieri had Schubert as one of a number
of famous pupils in Vienna, while he served as Court Kapellmeister to the
Emperor of Austria for thirty-six years. Schubert was his student for four years
(1813-1817). In addition to Czerny, Liszt’s other teacher was Salieri. The other
connection between Schubert and Liszt arose in the year 1822 – in the form of the
Diabelli Variations. The Viennese publisher Anton Diabelli submitted a waltz
theme to 51 European composers for each to write a single variation. Liszt was
the youngest composer in this project (at the age of eleven), appearing together
with Czerny, Cramer, Moscheles, Beethoven, Schubert, and others.
By 1828, the year of Schubert’s death, Liszt was living in Paris, where he
knew a violinist, Chrétien Urhan, who led the Paris Opéra Orchestra. Urhan was
very enthusiastic about Schubert’s music. He introduced this neglected master to
the attention of the Parisians by composing two string quartets based on themes of
Schubert. Furthermore, Urhan composed a set of piano studies based on Schubert
14
songs. Liszt played them at their premiere. Alan Walker notes that “it was this
shadowy figure [of Urhan] who confirmed the young Liszt in his love of
Schubert’s songs and helped make of him a Schubertian for life.”25 In addition to
those connections with Schubert, Liszt edited a volume of Schubert’s piano works,
and he even conducted the first performance of Schubert’s opera Alfonso and
Estrella in Weimar (June 24, 1854).26
In 1838, a severe storm damaged Liszt’s homeland of Hungary. When
Liszt learned of the catastrophe, he hurried to Vienna and gave eight charity
concerts for the victims between April 18 and May 25. This series of charity
concerts made a massive sum of 24,000 Gulden. This revenue was donated to the
Hungarians and made it the largest single donation from a private source.27 Liszt
had not been in Vienna since his childhood, and his return to the land of
Beethoven and Schubert had a profound effect on him. For an emotional moment
like this, his Schubert Lieder transcriptions were almost spontaneously produced.
Liszt’s first effort happened right after his arrival in Vienna; he transcribed 28
Lieder, including Auf dem Wasser zu singen, Erlkönig, Ave Maria and Horch,
horch, die Lerch. He played them in at least four of the eight charity concerts.28
The audiences adored them, and a dozen of those works were immediately
published by Diabelli. They are: 1, Sei mir gegrüsst, 2, Auf dem Wasser zu singen,
3, Du bist die Ruh, 4, Erlkönig, 5, Meeresstille, 6, Die junge Nonne, 7,
Frühlingsglaube, 8, Gretchen am Spinnrade, 9, Ständchen von Shakespeare
(Horch, horch, die Lerch), 10, Rastlose Liebe, 11, Der Wanderer, 12, Ave Maria.
25 Alan Walker, “Liszt and the Schubert Song Transcriptions,” The Music Quarterly 75 ( October
1991): 251.
26 Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years 1848-1861 (New York: Cornell University Press,
1993), 243.
27 Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years 1811-1847 (New York: Cornell University Press,
1993), 254.
28 Walker, “Song Transcriptions,” 249.
15
This set was published in the order shown above in 1838 and remains the most
readily available of Schubert’s song transcriptions, as well as the most widely
performed of all the Liszt song transcriptions. In this set of transcriptions,
Diabelli printed the poems separately inside the front covers. Liszt immediately
protested that this was useless and that the transcriptions must be reprinted with
the words underlying the notes. In 1839, those works were published again by
Haslinger with the new format at Liszt’s insistence. When Liszt first began to
transcribe songs of Schubert for his charity recitals in Vienna in the year of 1838,
this marked the birth of this special kind of repertoire29 for piano solo, of which
Liszt remained the leading exponent.
The publisher Haslinger commissioned Liszt to produce more song
transcriptions because of the extensive admiration the first set received. In 1839,
Liszt transcribed twelve songs from Winterreise. During the year 1840, he
produced four transcriptions from Geistliche Lieder. In 1846, he worked on
groups from Müllerlieder and Sechs Melodien (including Die Forelle). Liszt
transcribed 56 of Schubert’s Lieder, including the entire Schwanengesang (14
songs), half of the Winterreise (12 out of 24 songs), and some of Die schöne
Müllerin (six out of 20 songs), as well as some of the great songs which do not
belong to the three major song cycles. He was primarily concerned with bringing
new music into the performing repertoire, and he made the piano transcription the
most widely used and successful medium for accomplishing this.
In the year 1901, Breitkopf and Härtel began publishing a collected edition
of Liszt’s music. This enormous project was finished in 1936, thirty-five years
later, the fiftieth anniversary of Liszt’s death. But the Schubert song transcriptions
were completely excluded without any explanation. Not until the middle of the
29 Piano transcriptions and paraphrases based on Schubert Lieder.
16
twentieth century were these great works rediscovered and revealed by another
group of scholars and pianists.
These transcriptions serve three functions. First, they promoted
Schubert’s reputation, which was little known outside of Vienna at the time.
Second, they enhanced piano performing techniques, establishing special
technical problems of spacing and timbre. And third, they enlarged Liszt’s
performing repertoire. Pieces like Erlkönig and Ave Maria are effective
showpieces. Liszt not only performed those transcriptions in Vienna, but also in
many other European cites such as Budapest, Leipzig, Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg,
and London.30
The following table provides a list of Liszt’s complete Schubert song
transcriptions.
Table 1: Catalogue of Liszt’s Schubert Song Transcriptions
Set Title Date of Work Poet

Composition/ Number
Publication
Selected Songs Sey Mir gegrüßt 1838/1838 R Friedrich

(First published: (D. 741) 243/1 Rückert
Vienna, Diabelli)
Auf dem R Friedrich von
Wasser zu 243/2 Stolberg
singen
(D. 774)
Du bist die Ruh R Friedrich
(D. 776) 243/3 Rückert
Erlkönig R Johann
(D. 328) 243/4 Wolfgang von
Goethe
Meeresstile R W. von
(D. 216) 243/5 Goethe
30 Walker, “Song Transcription,” 251.
17
Die junge R J. N. Craigher
Nonne 243/6 de Jachelutta
(D. 828)
Frühlingsglaube R Johann
(D. 686) 243/7 Ludwig
Uhland
Gretchen am R W. von
Spinnrade 243/8 Goethe
(D. 118)
Ständchen von R Translated
Shakespeare 243/9 (from English
(Horch, horch! to German) by
die Lerch!) August
(D. 889) Wilhelm von
Schlegel
Rastlose Liebe R W. von
(D. 138) 243/10 Goethe
Der Wanderer R G. P. Schmidt
(D.493) 243/11 von Lübeck
Ave Maria R Translated
(D. 839) 243/12 (from English
to German) by
Adam Storck
Schwanengesang Die Stadt 1838/1838 R Heinrich
(First published: (D. 957/1) 245/1 Heine
Vienna, Haslinger)
Das R
Fischermädchen 245/2
(D. 957/2)
Aufenthalt R
(D. 957/3) 245/3
Am Meer R
(D. 957/4) 245/4
Abschied R
(D. 957/5) 245/5
In der Ferne R
(D. 957/6) 245/6
Ständchen R
(D. 957/7) 245/7
Ihr Bild R
(D. 957/8) 245/8
Frülings- R
sehnsucht 245/9
(D. 957/9)
Liebesbotschaft R
(D. 957/10) 245/10
18
Der Atlas R
(D. 957/11) 245/11
Der R
Doppelgänger 245/12
(D. 957/12)
Die Taubenpost R
(D. 957/13) 245/13
Kriegers R
Ahnung 245/14
(D. 957/14)
Winterreise Gute Nacht 1839/1840 R Wilhelm
(First published: (D. 911/1) 246/1 Müller
Vienna, Haslinger)
Die R
Nebensonnen 246/2
(D. 911/23)
Muth R
(D. 911/22) 246/3
Die Post R
(D. 911/13) 246/4
Erstarrung R
(D. 911/4) 246/5
Wasserfluth R
(D. 911/6) 246/6
Der R
Lindenbaum 246/7
(D. 911/5)
Der Leyermann R
(D. 911/24a, 246/8
24b)
Täuschung R
(D. 911/19) 246/9
Das Wirthshaus R
(D. 911/21) 246/10
Der stürmische R
Morgen 246/11
(D. 911/18)
Im Dorfe R
(D. 911/17) 246/12
Geistliche Lieder Litaney 1840/1841 R From the
(First published: (D. 343) 247/1 Feast of All
Leipzig, Schuberth) Souls;
Johann Georg
Jacobi
Himmelsfunken R Johann Peter
(D. 651) 247/2 Silbert
19
Die Gestirne R Friedrich
(D. 444) 247/3 Gottlieb
Klopstock
Hymne R Helmina von
(D. 797)31 247/4 Chezy
Selected Songs La Rose 1833/1838 R 241 Friedrich von
(D. 745) (First Schlegel
published:
Vienna,
Haslinger)
Lob der 1838/1838 R 242 August
Thränen (First Wilhelm von
(D. 711) published: Schlegel
Vienna,
Haslinger)
Die Forelle (2) 1846/1846 R 248 Christian F.
(D. 550) (Published: D. Schubart
Vienna,
Diabelli)
Der 1838/1838 R 244 Johann
Gondelfahrer (First Mayrhofer
(D. 808) published:
Vienna,
Spina)
Sechs Melodien Lebewohl32 1844/1844 R K.F.G. Wetzel
von Franz (D. 578) 248/1
Schubert
(First published:
Paris, Richault)
Des Mädchens R Friedrich von
Klage 248/2 Schiller
(D. 191)
Das R Johann
Zügenglöcklein 248/3 Gabriel Seidl
(D. 871)
Trockne R Wilhelm
Blumen 248/4 Müller
(D. 795/18)
Ungelduld (1) R Wilhelm
(D. 797/7) 248/5 Müller
Die Forelle (1) R Christian F.
(D. 550) 248/6 D. Schubart
31 This transcription is not based on a solo song. Its source is from Schubert’s incidental music to
Rosamune, Princess of Cyprus, section No. 4, “Geisterchor.”
32 This piece is not composed by Schubert, but Richarlt’s edition didn’t give the name of the
actual composer. A. H. von Weyrauch is the actual composer who composed Lebewohl.
20
Müllerlieder Das Wandern 1846/1846 R Wilhelm
(First published: (D. 795/1) 249/1 Müller
Vienna, Spina)
Der Müller und R
der Bach 249/2
(D. 795/4)
Der Jäger R
(D. 795/14) 249/3
Die böse Farbe R
(D.795/17) 249/5
Wohin? R
(D. 795/2) 249/6
Ungefuld (2) R
(D. 795/7) 249/7
Liszt was the first pianist who gave public solo recitals in the 19th century.
This gesture was transferring the idea of public concerts from the aristocracy of
the 18th century to the bourgeoisie of the 19th century. Correspondingly, Liszt’s
Schubert Lieder transcriptions also played a role of transporting a private resource
– the songs – into a public display: piano solo repertoire. More of the personal
touch, Liszt even re-arranged the complete Schwanengesang as his own cycle.
These transcriptions now exist as a part of the solo piano repertoire, although they
were first produced as a charity purpose for an unexpected devastation. Hence,
Liszt’s foremost accomplishment leaves a great inspiration to other transcribers
afterward.
STEPHEN HELLER (1813-1888)
Stephen Heller is a fine composer nearly forgotten today. Even if his
name is not famous, and his piano work is not as often performed in piano recitals
as that of his contemporaries, Stephen Heller, a pianist and a composer of
Hungarian birth, is still worthy of discussion in this chapter, particularly when we
are talking about Schubert song transcriptions.
21
Stephen Heller was a compatriot and exact contemporary of Liszt. Among
those composers who transcribed Schubert’s Lieder, he was the only one who met
Schubert personally. He went to Vienna to take composition lessons with Czerny
at an early age. But as soon as his father found out he was unable to afford these
expensive lessons, Heller went to Anton Halm33 instead for composition lessons.
Through Halm, Heller met Beethoven and Schubert.
Heller’s father arranged for his son to have a concert tour after 1828 – the
year he made a successful début. It took two years to travel through Hungary,
Transylvania, Poland, and Germany, and the tour ended in Augsburg. Finally
Heller collapsed from nervous exhaustion and remained in Augsburg to rest. His
intention of staying only for few weeks for recovery became a long-term
residence. During an eight-year residence in Augsburg from 1830 to 1838, Heller
developed a more mature and individual compositional style.
Numerous Lieder to words of Goethe, Heine, and other German poets
were Heller’s first Augsburg compositions. However, these works were not
published and were lost. Heller’s four compositions which were published during
the Augsburg years are his first substantial works.34 These works are Introduction,
Variations et Finale (Zampa), Op. 6; 3 Impromptus, Op. 7; Rondo Scherzo, Op. 8;

and the Sonata in D minor, Op. 9. He submitted some of his compositions for
criticism to Schumann, who evaluated them enthusiastically in the Neue
Zeitschrift für Musik. Heller soon turned out to be one of Schumann’s favorite
‘Davidsbündler.’35 His first recognition as a composer was by Schumann in the

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, in which he discussed Heller’s Introduction,
Variations et Finale, Op. 6. Later on, Schumann even invited Heller to assist as
33 Adolf Henselt and other 19th-century virtuosos were pupils of Anton Halm.
34 Ronal Earl Booth, Jr., “The Life and Music of Stephen Heller” (Ph. D. diss., U. Iowa, 1969), 62.
35 Ronald Earl Booth/Matthias Thiemel, “Heller,” The New Grove, vol. 11, 344.
22
the Augsburg correspondent for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik and gave him the
nom de plume “Jeanquirit.”36 Heller’s Augsburg reviews were published in the

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik from 1836 through 1838. In Paris, where he settled in
1838 and remained for the rest of his life, he made a living as a piano teacher, a
composer, and a music critic (for the Gazette musicale)37.
Stephen Heller composed more than 160 works. They include a relatively
large amount of solo piano music, and these works vary in difficulty. All of his
publications were for solo piano, with the exception of two works for piano and
violin. The reputation of his piano works nowadays is mainly based on a good
quantity of piano Études (Opp. 45, 46, and 47, which are still published by
Schirmer), which conceal his musical ability in other genres of piano music.
Those works belonged to the early part of his career, when he composed for
aspiring pianists. A large number of his works are little known, such as his sets of
variations and cycles of character pieces similar to those of Schumann (some of
which are miniature in scope). Other compositions contain a lyrical quality.38
Heller spanned the musical period from early Romantic virtuosos such as Chopin
and Liszt to late Romantic composers such as Rachmaninoff. Heller held a
position as a transitional composer, and his later works contain aspects of both
French Impressionism and German Romanticism. They were written with rich
harmony, wide-ranging melodies, vital rhythmic patterns, and highly expressive
use of appoggiaturas. Nevertheless, his contemporaries such as Hans von Bülow
“failed to appreciate the singularity of his style, and rejected him as he gradually
became more isolated from the mainstream.”39
36 Hippolyte Barbedette, “Stephen Heller: His Life and Works” (Ph. D. diss., U. Iowa, 1969), ix.
37 Ibid., x.
38 Ibid., xiii.
39 Booth, “Heller,” The New Grove, vol. 11, 345.
23
Along with those by Liszt, Heller’s early transcriptions and paraphrases
helped introduce the French to Schubert’s Lieder. Heller transcribed almost as
many of Schubert’s Lieder as Liszt, but Heller’s transcriptions are closer to
paraphrase style, or even variation. He used an original motive of Schubert’s and
then added more of his own ideas to make a fantasia-like work.
Table 2: Catalogue of Heller’s Schubert song transcriptions (the total number of

Stephen Heller’s Schubert song transcriptions is 55)
Opus Title Date of Place of

number Composition Composition
33-36 Mélodies de Schubert 1844 Berlin
Die Forelle
(La truite, Caprice brilliant)
Erlkönig
(La roi des aulnes, Ballade de Schubert)
Die Post
(L’éloge des larmes, Morceau de salon)
Lob der Tränen
(La poste, Improvisata)
55 Lieder von Schubert 1845 Berlin
(La fontaine, Caprice brillant, mélodie de
Schubert)
Wohin?
Liebesbotschaft
Die Nebensonnen
Der Müller und der Bach
Die Liebe Farbe
15 mélodies de Schubert 1846 Paris
30 Lieder von Schubert, übertragen 1846 Cologne
68 Horch, horch die Lerch’, Ständchen von 1847 Berlin
Schubert
(Caprice brillant, mélodie de Schubert)
Stephen Heller garnered musical ideas from Schumann, Mendelssohn, and
Chopin, and we can see certain resemblances to all three of these great masters in
his music. In addition to that, he built his own individual style. His music was
not of distinctive proportions in the 19th-century solo piano repertoire, and it did
24
not reach great depth. Nevertheless, it was basically music with decent principles
and great personal touch. The renowned French pianist Isidore Philipp (who had
met Heller through Saint-Saëns and arranged to have piano lessons with him)
once mentioned in an article about Heller: “His music occupies a distinctive and
important place in the literature for the piano. It is music replete with imagination,
charm, and sincerity.”40
LEOPOLD GODOWSKY (1870-1938)
An American pianist and composer of Polish birth, Leopold Godowsky

was born in Soshly (then Poland, now Lithuania) in 1870. He received
unconventional piano training in his early music instruction, even though he
began composing at the age of five and started concertizing at the age of nine. He
studied briefly in the Berlin Hochschule für Musik with Ernst Rudoff until 1884.
After 1884, he left for the United States, made his first appearance in Boston, and
toured North America afterwards. In 1891, Godowsky joined the staff of the New
York College of Music, and later held teaching positions in Philadelphia and
Chicago.41 In the early 20th century, Godowsky took up residence in Berlin and
taught there. From 1909-1914, he was the director of the Klaviermeisterschule of
the Akademie der Tonkunst in Vienna.42

In 1928, Godowsky began a series of recordings in London. However, in
1930, only a few hours after recording Chopin’s Scherzo No. 4 in E major, he was
incapacitated by a stroke that caused him to be partially paralyzed. From then
until his death in 1938, he could never play in public again.43
40 Isidore Philipp, “Some Recollections of Stephen Heller,” The Music Quarterly 21 (October
1935), 436.
41 1891-93: Head of piano department at the Gilbert Raynolds Crombs’s Broad Street
Conservatory, Philadelphia. 1893-1900: Head of piano department at the Chicago Conservatory.
42 Charles Hopkins, “Godowsky,” The New Grove, vol. 10, 73.
43 Lino R. Rivera, “Transcriptions, Arrangements, Paraphrase, and Metamorphoses for Piano
Solo” (DMA diss., U. of Maryland, 1997), 7.
25
While staying in Paris from 1886 through 1890, Godowsky became a
protégé of Saint-Saëns. He also started to have a great interest in other composers’
works: songs, operatic, instrumental, and orchestral works. He transcribed twelve
of Schubert’s Lieder during the summer and fall of 1926. This work was finished
on August 20th, 1926. It was published in the following year and was revised in
1937 into two volumes published by Carl Fischer. Godowsky viewed the
transcription as a vehicle for composing a new piece. He expanded upon the
original by adding in his own ideas to it. People were fascinated by Godowsky’s
talent for transcribing. His compositional technique was more focused on the
intimate, and on the independence of the hands and fingers. This is apparent in
the complicated polyphonic aspect that can be found in his compositions. His
music not only shows virtuoso characteristics, but also contains unusual depth of
insight. His approach involved what amounts to the creation of a new piece using
another composer’s work as an impetus. He explained,
My aim in transcribing these twelve songs of Schubert was not merely to

transplant them from the voice to the material, to comment upon and
interpret songs as a composer would treat a theme when writing free
variations… The songs of Schubert will not cease to be sung,
notwithstanding all transcriptions. A transcription, an arrangement, or a
paraphrase, when conceived by a creative mind, is an entity, which in its
own worth may prove a masterpiece.44
In those twelve free transcriptions, Godowsky tried to keep all the notes
and structures from the original compositions and added his own counterpoint and
harmonies derived from the originals. His mastery of both contrapuntal writing
and of 19th-century harmony can be easily seen in those compositions. The rich
contrapuntal texture, often chromatic, is evident in his works.
44 Leopold Godowsky, Schubert Songs: Freely Transcribed for the Piano, (New York: Carl
Fischer, 2001), 2.
26
The table listed below shows the first publication of Godowsky’s Schubert
song transcriptions. In the revised edition of 1937, the two-volume edition was
arranged in another order and published by Carl Fischer in 1937. 45

Table 3: First publication of Godowsky’s Schubert Lieder Transcriptions
No. Title Place and Date of Dedication

Composition
1. The Brooklet (Wohin?) Evanston, IL Sergei

D. 795 No. 2 July 14, 1926 Rachmaninoff
2. Wandering (Das Wandern) Evanston, IL Isidore Philipp
D.795, No. 1 July 17, 1926
3. Hedge Rose (Heidenröslein) Evanston, IL Prince
D.257 August, 1, 1926 Mahommed
Mohiuddin
4. Good Night (Gute Nacht) Evanston, IL Berthold Neuer
D.911, No.1 July 29, 1926
5. Morning Greeting New York Joseph Gahm
(Morgengrüss) August 20, 1926
D. 795 No. 8
6. Cradle Song (Wiegenlied) New York Dr. A. I. Ringer
D. 498 August 15, 1926
7. The Trout (Die Forelle) New York Cora Neuer
D. 550 September 6, 1926
8. The Young Nun (Die junge New York David Saperton
Nonne) September 15, 1926
D. 828
9. Litany (Litanei) S.S. Beregaria, Rabert Braun
D. 343 between New York
and Cherburg
September 25, 1926
10. Love’s Message Paris Hans Heniot
(Liebesbotschaft) October 15, 1926
D. 957 No. 1
11. To Mignon (An Mignon) Paris Hermann
D. 161 October 28, 1926 Wasserman
12. Impatience (Ungeduld) Paris Gertrude Huntley
D. 795 No. 7 November 7, 1926
45Erica Schulman, in paraphrases and transcriptions [database on-line] (2001, accessed 12

January 2003); available from http://www.godowsky.com/Compose/schubert.html; Internet.
27
The order of the 1937 edition is as follows:46
Table 4: Revised edition of Godowsky’s Schubert Lieder Transcriptions
Volume I Volume II
Wohin? from Die schöne Müllerin Wiegenlied
(D.195, No.2) (D.498)
Gute Nacht from Die Winterreise Morgengrüss from Die schöne
(D.911, No.1) Müllerin
(D.795, No.8)
Das Wandern from Die schöne An Mignon
Müllerin (D.161)
(D.795, No.1)
Die junge Nonne Liebesbotschaft from
(D.828) Schwanengesang
(D.957, No.1)
Litanei Heidenröslein
(D.343) (D.257)
Die Forelle Ungeduld from Die schöne Müllerin
(D.550) (D.795, No.7)
Godowsky created a new vision of Schubert’s Lieder. Being an excellent
pianist of his time, he had more liberty based on his prodigious ability on the
piano to build up a thicker texture upon the originals. Multiple voices and
complex harmony are two significant features in his Schubert Lieder
transcriptions, which presented a diverse interpretation different from those of

Liszt and Heller.
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Sergei Rachmaninoff was born into a Russian aristocratic family in 1873.
Rachmaninoff was a student at the Moscow Conservatoire from 1885 to 1892,
spending his first five years there under the strict pedagogic supervision of the
Conservatoire piano teacher Nikolai Zverev, who only focused on the
development of Rachmaninoff’s piano technique. He never encouraged
46 Leopold Godowsky, The Godowsky Collection Vol.2, (New York: Carl Fischer, 2001), 1.
28
Rachmaninoff to compose. Rachmaninoff studied counterpoint with Sergei
Taneyev and harmony with Anton Arensky.47 Later he became a protégé of Pyotr
Tchaikovsky and a close friend to Alexander Scriabin. In 1892, Rachmaninoff
graduated with honors, and was awarded the Great Gold Medal for his one-act
opera Aleko, based on Pushkin’s poem Tsïganï (‘The Gypsies’). This award was
previously only given to Arseny N. Koreshchenko and Taneyev.48
After the year 1921, Rachmaninoff divided each year into two big portions
of performing. One half of the year was spent in the United States, the other in
Europe. After leaving Russia for good in 1917, he was traveling within Europe
and the United States and trying to take care of his family and make a living.
Being a composer did not provide enough income for his family. The career of
being a conductor “did not appeal to him, and he never liked teaching. So he
turned to the piano.”49 Thus Rachmaninoff turned over a completely new leaf in
his musical life. He had to create a virtuoso appearance and build up his concert
programs. After figuring out that he had nine months free of all commitments of
piano performances at the end of 1925, Rachmaninoff immediately turned himself
to composition. He was primarily worked on producing another piano concerto,
Piano Concerto No. 4. Alongside this, he also transcribed the exquisite piece
Wohin?. Rachmaninoff, who was a remarkable Russian composer, pianist and
conductor, made a relatively small but important contribution to the genre of
piano transcription. Among Rachmaninoff’s transcription works, he only
transcribed one of Schubert’s Lieder, which is Wohin? (1925).
As one of the last great representatives of Russian late Romanticism,
Rachmaninoff manifests a lot of influences in his music from Tchaikovsky,
47 Harold C. Schonberg, The Great Pianists: from Mozart to the Present (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1987), 392.
48 Ibid., 393
49 Ibid., 397.
29
Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian composers. His music contains a prominent
lyrical quality, ingenious strucure, and rich orchestral colors. His extremely
individual and chromatic voice is clear throughout all his transcriptions. For this
work, Rachmaninoff applied his richest imagination to one of Schubert’s most
sublimely simple creations. It is truly a dazzling transformation of this famous
Schubert song.
ALFRED CORTOT (1877-1962)
Alfred Cortot was a French pianist and conductor. He was a remarkable

and unusual pianist. He was first taught by his sister. When he tried to get into
the Paris Conservatoire in 1866, he failed the entrance exam. But eventually he
studied piano with Émile Decombes, who was one of Chopin’s last pupils, on an
unofficial basis. He then studied with Diémer, in whose class he won a premier
prix in 1896. And he gave an impressive début in 1897 at the Concerts Colonne.
After graduating from the Conservatoire, Cortot soon emerged into the musical
life of Europe, and not only as a great pianist, but also a conductor. He was
appointed as a choral coach at Bayreuth in 1898, later, as an assistant conductor.
He worked there under Felix Mottl and Hans Richter until 1901. This experience
brought him the opportunity to prepare and develop his career as a successful
conductor. He was less than 30 years old by the time he had become one of the
major figures in French musical life. From 1907 to 1923, he was a leading piano
professor of the Paris Conservatoire and had the best piano class there. In
addition to teaching, he also wrote books and treatises, edited music, performed,
and recorded.50
Being active as a conductor, Cortot’s performances as a concert pianist
were unavoidably limited. His keen understanding and intimate interpretation of
50 Ibid., 406-7.
30
Romantic music are the basis Cortot’s fame. He was an enthusiastic advocate of
the new French piano music of his day. Moreover, Cortot’s specialty was
Chopin’s music. He made editions of most of Chopin’s piano music (and some
by Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Weber); they are “editions de travail,”51

which include technical exercises related to the music and his personal
interpretations. The Rational Principles of Piano Technique, published in 1928,
contains Cortot’s general thoughts about piano technique.
Alfred Cortot’s straightforward version of Heidenröslein, published in
1953, is delightful indeed, though there is a felicitous and unexpected modulation
down the interval of the third in the third verse. Heidenröslein is his only
Schubert song transcription. It is simple, yet has a very stylish affect.
GERALD MOORE (1899-1987)
British pianist Gerald Moore was one of the greatest collaborative artists
in the twentieth century. Moore was perhaps the first and greatest pianist in the
twentieth century to make his reputation as an accompanist rather than as a soloist.
He was a very successful accompanist appearing on platforms behind every major
singer and instrumentalist of the twentieth century.
From an early age, Moore played two kinds of roles ─ as a piano soloist
and as an accompanist. In 1921, he began as a recording artist with HMV, a
collaboration that continued for many years. In 1925, he started to work with the
English tenor John Coates, from whom he claimed “to have learnt his art and
craft.”52 From then, Moore raised the importance of piano collaborative art by
accompanying eminent instrumentalists and singers with keen observation and
delicate interpretation.
51 Martin Cooper/Charles Timbrell, “Cortot”, The New Grove, vol. 6, 512-3.

52 William S. Mann/R, “Gerald Moore,” The New Grove, vol. 17, 79.
31
Although an outstanding performer of duo-sonata repertoire, Gerald
Moore never formed any permanent partnership for such work. In his later years,
he intensively focused on his favorite repertoire of the song. His performances
with Fischer-Dieskau are among the immortal masterpieces of collaboration,
especially in the German Lieder repertoire of Schubert, Wolf, and Richard Strauss.
A large number of them were recorded.53

During World War II, Moore was invited by pianist Myra Hess to give
lectures in her lunchtime National Gallery concerts. He gave annual lecture tours
of the USA beginning in 1954. He also gave masterclasses on the interpretation
of songs all over the world.54 Along with those activities, Moore wrote books
based on his performing career. His books include The Unashamed Accompanist,
(1943), Singer and Accompanist (1953), and Am I too loud? (1962), among others.
In his farewell recital in 1967, the final encore was his Schubert Lieder
transcription of An die Musik. This adaptation is based on the one that was
originally made for the B.B.C.’s program, “Music Magazine.” It was used, as
listeners will recognize, to introduce and conclude this program. It served as his
valedictory. He stated, “The music remains as Schubert wrote it: I hope that in
this new form it will make new friends.”55

In his An die Musik, the original voice line is printed in somewhat larger
type. On the score, Moore indicated “… when the quaver accompaniment moves
from one hand to the other, the smoothness of its progress should not be disturbed,
and it must always be more subdued than the singing tune in the treble or the
bass.” 56 This transcription shows a very careful concern about performance
53 Ibid.
54 Ibid., 79-80.
55 Paul Stewart, An Die Musik: Schubert Songs and Piano Transcriptions, CBC Records /Les
Disques SRC MVCD 1106, 1998, CD.
56 Moore, To Music, 2.
32
practice. In this case, even if there is no original text printed on the score, we can
still track the voice line almost literally. This is one of the most literal Schubert
Lieder transcriptions, and Moore kept most of the musical ideas from the original
music. According to the original music, the space between the two layers of voice
and piano accompaniment is relatively close for transcribers to manage on one
instrument.
Besides the Schubert Lieder transcribers whom are introduced in this
chapter, there were still some other composers who arranged and transcribed
Schubert Lieder in different ways. For example, Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961)
transcribed Du bist die Ruh and Meeresstille (those two pieces are the
transcriptions of the Liszt transcriptions) for the left hand. 57 Hector Berlioz
(1869-1803) arranged Erlkönig (Le roi des Aulnes, 1860) into an orchestral piece.
Percival Garratt (1877-1953) also transcribed the same piece into a two-piano
version. It is quite appealing to observe the transformation of Schubert Lieder
transcriptions from Liszt to Moore. During a hundred years, no matter what
alteration had been done, the essential meaning is still carried on.
57Maurice Hinson, The Pianist’s Guide to Transcriptions, Arrangements, and Paraphrases

(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990), 121-2.
33
Chapter 4: Analysis of Selected Music Examples
TEXT TREATMENT IN SCHUBERT LIEDER TRANSCRIPTIONS
The realization and recreation of the song as a piano piece represented the
Romantic concept of music as the highest of arts. For Romantics, song
transcriptions and paraphrases are capable of expressing emotions beyond words,
and they are intended to enhance the poetic expression.
Since those Lieder transcriptions are derived from songs, the poems are
tightly associated with the music itself. It is a vital obligation for pianists to be
familiar with the texts, so that they can interpret the transcriptions accordingly.
Among transcribers, Liszt was the only one who insisted on printing the texts
underlying the notes. The other composer who followed a path similar to Liszt’s
is Godowsky. But unlike Liszt, Godowsky has a complete song scheme
(including a hint of piano introduction and postlude) with both German and
English texts in each Schubert song transcription. The rest of the transcribers
studied here (Heller, Rachmaninoff, Cortot, and Moore) did not emphasize the
text by printing it out in the music. However, they all found some other way to
show the flow of the melody. For example, Moore used bold print for the melody
in his An die Musik (see Example 1).
Example 1: Moore, An die Musik, mm. 7-9.
In Rachmaninoff’s Wohin?, he indicates a particular articulation to
emphasize the melody and leaves other elements unarticulated. Even though
34
Rachmaninoff’s articulation is somewhat unfaithful to Schubert’s original layout,
the essential music does not lose a bit (see Example 2).
To indicate the phrases of the text, Schubert included a lot of short slurs
on the voice line. But in most of the transcriptions, the original articulations in
both the voice and the piano accompaniment were altered by composers to some
degree, and they established their own articulations which are suitable for the
piano. However, to suit the piano performance, it is necessary to make the
melodic line longer by using longer slurs because there is no text support to
transform the phrases. In addition to slurs, every composer added extra
articulation marks such as accent, staccato, and tenuto to create more color and
expression in the vocal lines. Besides, those composers slightly changed the
melody to adjust the articulation for the piano. Sometimes they changed rhythm;
sometimes they added more notes (like grace notes) to smooth out the leaps.
With this treatment, they could simply add more contrapuntal ideas to the music
to make the texture even thicker.
35
Example 2: Rachmaninoff Wohin?, mm. 1-6.
LISZT AND HIS SCHUBERT LIEDER TRANSCRIPTIONS
The frequent doublings, mingling of major and minor, wide-ranging
melodies, and intensively expressive use of appoggiaturas can be observed in
Liszt’s Schubert song transcriptions. They are a significant indication of Liszt’s
sublime appearance as the greatest piano virtuoso of the 19th century.
In Liszt’s first group of Schubert Lieder transcriptions, Der Erlkönig is
one of the great favorites. The Erlkönig is also one of Schubert’s most brilliant
works, an amazingly mature piece composed when Schubert was only eighteen
years old. Liszt’s transcription of Erlkönig derived from the original setting but
gave more dramatic intensity in his transcription. In Gretchen am Spinnrade, the
ostinato figuration is present continuously, yet the melody is varied in density and
register, to convey the dramatic context. In the Ave Maria, Liszt changes
36
Schubert’s beautiful prayer into a “veritable ecclesiastical proclamation.” 58
Liszt’s prayer transmits a somewhat more diverse character than Schubert’s.
Liszt selected six out of twenty songs from Die Schöne Müllerin by
merging the music of the third and fourth songs in a ternary form. The six songs
which were selected by Liszt – Das Wandern, Der Müller und der Bach, Der
Jäger, Die böse Farbe, Wohin?, and Ungeduld (third version) – are arranged,
transposed, and combined in such a way as to show a common thread.59 The
transcriptions display a symmetrical key relationship: B-flat major, G minor, C
minor, C major/C minor, G major, B-flat major. The two songs Der Jäger and
Die böse Farbe are merged as a large ternary form. The last song, Ungeduld, is
transposed back to B-flat major in order to recall the first key of this set. There is
a tight connection in their text about a brook in songs 1, 2, and 5, with a lively
nature in all of them. In Liszt’s setting, each poem was printed before each
transcription and no longer printed over the melody in the score.
Die Winterreise was Schubert's finest song cycle, composed in 1827.
Liszt selected 12 of Schubert’s 24 original songs to make his own Die Winterreise.
In Liszt’s setting, he kept Schubert’s original keys with three exceptions: Die
Nebensonnen (transcribed from A major to B-flat major), Muth (transcribed from
A minor to G minor), and Wasserfluth (transcribed from F-sharp minor to E
minor). By transposing those keys, Liszt arranged a structural plan for harmonic
relationships between pieces. The key relationships are built on:
58 Robert Lynn Edwards, “A Study of Selected Song Transcriptions by Franz Liszt” (DMA diss.,
U. of Oregon, 1972), 63.
59 Cristina Capparelli Gerling, “Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt: A Posthumous Partnership,” in
Nineteenth-Century Piano Music: Essays in Performance and Analysis, ed. David Witten (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1997), 213.
37
1, major or minor third relationship
2, dominant-tonic relationship
3, parallel major and minor key relationship
Table 5: Liszt’s Die Winterreise
Liszt’s Song Title Schubert’s Liszt’s Key

number number
1 Gute Nacht 1 F major
2 Die Nebensonnen 23 B-flat major
3 Muth 22 G minor
4 Die Post 13 E-flat major
5 Erstarrung 4 C minor
6 Wasserfluth 6 E minor
7 Der Lindenbaum 5 E major
8 Der Leiermann 24 A minor
9 Täuschung 19 A major
10 Das Wirtshaus 21 F major
11 Der stürmische Morgen 18 D minor
12 Im Dorfe 17 D major
Schubert composed Schwanengesang in the summer of 1828, just a few
months before his death. The fourteen songs of Schubert’s Schwanengesang are
settings of poems by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), Ludwig Rellstab (1799-1860),
and Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804-1875). It was published by Tobias Haslinger in
1829, Vienna.
Table 6: Liszt’s Schwanengesang
Liszt’s Song Title Schubert’s Key

number number
1 Die Stadt 11 C minor
2 Das Fischermädchen 10 A-flat major

3 Aufenthalt 5 E minor
4 Am Meer 12 C major
5 Abschied 7 E-flat major
38
6 In der Ferne 6 B minor
7 Ständchen 4 D minor
8 Ihr Bild 9 B-flat minor

9 Frühlings-sehnsucht 3 B-flat major
10 Liebesbotschaft 1 G major
11 Der Atlas 8 G minor
12 Der Doppelgänger 13 B minor

13 Die Taubenpost 14 G major
14 Kriegers Ahnung 2 C minor
In the published edition of the Schubert song transcriptions, the original
song, complete with text and translation of the text in both German and English, is
printed juxtaposed with the piano transcription. This is a unique layout for
transferring Liszt’s idea of printing text with piano transcriptions altogether in a
different way.
Auf dem Wasser zu singen
Auf dem Wasser zu singen is another one of the very best, and almost
literal, of the Schubert song transcriptions, in which Liszt integrated all the keen
details of the original song. In the original song, Mässig geschwind (Allegro
moderato) is the tempo marking. However, in the Liszt edition, besides Mässig
geschwind (which he indicated as Modérément vite) for the principal tempo
marking, he also added Con delicatezza as an expression marking which is a very
personal touch.
In the prelude, nothing is greatly altered. There is only one newly added
voice in the tenor register, which is a repeated note to support the “Wasser” figure
on the top (mm. 1-4). Another very “Lisztian” and 19th-century Romantic touch
can be found at the very beginning of the piece, the term a piacere, which means
“with pleasure.”
39
Example 3: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 1- 4.
One very typical transcription technique can be discovered in this piece –
register variation. With the rising melodic appearance, the expansion of sonority
culminates in the final stanza. Basically, Liszt was trying to play around three
layers, of which two are derived from Schubert’s set: the “Wasser” figure and
regular accompaniment figure. Alone he added one new idea of a repeated-note

pattern which is increased to a thicker texture later on in the piece. Liszt set the
melody in the baritone register, where the melody is played mostly by the left
hand with a harmonic support underneath (see mm. 9-12).
40
Example 4: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 9-12.
To accomplish this with the baritone, the soprano has the “Wasser”
character with the tenor singing the repeated-note-pattern which appears initially
in the prelude. When the music drives into the second verse, the principal voice is
lifted up to the tenor register (see mm. 35-38), which is played frequently as an
inner voice among the three layers. The accompaniment is changed back to the
original accompaniment figure. And the “Wasser” figure still floats upon the
soprano register. The whole texture is thickened at this point. Finally, the
soprano gets the chance to sing the melody for the first time. Meanwhile, the
“Wasser” figure moves down into the lower register to the tenor.
41
Example 5: Liszt, Auf Wasser zu singen, mm. 35- 38.
In addition to those three verses, Liszt created another “verse” of his
own – a very pianistic, showy kind of strophe, which is a rare case among Liszt’s
Schubert song transcriptions. It is a song-without-words moment. Nonetheless,
he did not abandon any of the ideas of Schubert. The excitement is enflamed by
the two-octave range and the up-and-down-figure of arpeggios in the left hand.
And the range is enlarged to the very end to make a highly virtuosic sound. Here,
Liszt added more expression marks as molto agitato, and sempre marcato il canto
to hint that there is more room for showing personal expression beyond the text.
42
The musical texture turns to a sublime point that becomes very emotional
and aggressive. This gesture certainly adds to the cumulative effect (mm. 95-107).
The virtuosic gestures, such as big leaps and split octaves, are used massively
here at the very end.
As usual, as in most of Liszt’s Schubert song transcriptions, there are
climaxes in the coda section. In this piece, too, the “Wasser” figure is kept
through the entire piece and carried out to fff and to finish the piece.
43
44
DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE SAME SONG
The common transcription technique can be generalized as follows:
1. Changing keys.
2. Placing the melody in different registers (register variation).
3. Varying the original melodic lines and accompaniments
(accompaniment variation).
4. Modifying the original harmonies (harmony variation).
5. Thickening the musical texture.
6. Enlarging or condensing the original song structure.

7. Inserting additional musical periods (expanding prelude,
postlude, or adding a cadenza).
The piano accompaniment in Schubert’s original Lieder already contains
inventive techniques of word painting. In addition, it is usually challenging and
demanding technically. While both hands are so busy dealing with notes, patterns,
phrases, harmonies, and so on, how does one combine the elaborate vocal melody
into the accompaniment texture? How does one avoid the tediousness with the
verse-repetitions of strophic song layout? And most importantly, how does one
utilize the sonority and range of the new medium – the piano, and provide the
absent elements of melody and words, without producing gaudy, tacky, or cheap
effects which would be disrespectful and a sacrilege of the original? Transcription
technique has been extended by means of various composers’ styles to create
independent character pieces.
Die Forelle
In Stephen Heller’s Die Forelle, we can sense more personal ideas than in
the other transcriptions. Although Heller kept the basic framework of Schubert’s
45
original song, a lot of his own creative ideas can be discovered throughout the
piece.
In Die Forelle, we cannot help but think about the “trout” figure
immediately (see Example 3).
Example 8: Schubert, Die Forelle, mm. 1-8.
The original tempo marking of Etwas lebhaft (Poco animoto) was made faster
(Poco vivace) in Liszt’s version, and Allegretto molto vivo e grazioso in Heller’s
version.
Heller opens the piece with a very 19th-century, stylish, perky
introduction instead of the original, recognizable “trout” introduction. The
atmosphere Heller set up for the opening is like a curtain-call, which is relatively
freer than other Die Forelle transcriptions and fills the imagination right from the
beginning (see Example 4). It creates a sense of freshness for audiences and the
excitement of exploring a new interpretation of Die Forelle.
46
Example 9: Heller, Die Forelle, mm. 1-19.
In contrast to Liszt, Heller did not follow Schubert’s strophic scheme
thoroughly in this particular song. A large portion of the melody is given to the
left hand in Heller’s Die Forelle, while the right hand is busy playing different
figurations. He only uses one verse to expose the A section. Right after this, he
starts to show his talent for paraphrasing music. He keeps developing the melodic
motifs to assemble the following sections. There is even a fantasy-like section
inserted before the main melody comes back again. It is a simple melody which
is varied from the main melody (see Example 5) with a tender character and
timbre. This section has a transitional function and is transposed to B-flat minor,
derived from the previous section (B-flat minor as well), with the embellished
melody and an arpeggiated figure in the accompaniment.
47
Example 10: Heller, Die Forelle, mm. 73-84.
In Liszt’s version of Die Forelle (1846, the second version), surprisingly,
he tried to accomplish some different ideas that he never attempted before. He
took more liberties with this transcription than with any other one. It contains
even more elaborate ideas than Heller’s Die Forelle transcription. Liszt
unexpectedly did not apply any text in the score as he did for most of his Schubert
song transcriptions, including the entire set of Schwanengesang. First of all, he
composed a flashy, chromatic introduction rather than the simple five-measure

introduction in the original song. However, the original form is well maintained
and also the original key of D-flat major. Liszt modified the trout motif
chromatically and developed it throughout the whole introduction (see Example
6).
48
Example 11: Liszt, Die Forelle, mm. 1-5.
There is a cascading motion of a pentatonic figure at the ending of the
introduction (see Example 12). It is a very typical 19th-century pianistic, virtuoso
proclamation which is not quite suitable for the trout temperament. It is a
moment for a pianist to explore the brilliant timbre of the instrument regardless of
the perky, tender nature.
49
Within this piece, there are three cadenza-like interpolations which are
seldom found in his Schubert song transcriptions. The first one happens on the
repetition notes of the phrase “Er macht das Bächlein tükkisch trübe” (with guile
he made the water muddy). Harmonically the whole cadenza stands on the
subdominant (diminished seventh) of V (see Example 13). This gives a strong
indication of a stirring, muddy, and highly chromatic water figure. The three
cadenza-like interpolations definitely provide Liszt’s Die Forelle with a showy,
flourished paraphrase nature.
50
The second “cadenza” comes at the very end of the song, and it focuses on
the word “Betrogne” (betrayed). It remains on V9 of D-flat major. And certainly

it is a more pianistic ending than that in the original presentation. The texture is
relatively thicker than the previous cadenzas by two melodic lines (parallel 6ths
and 7ths played alternatively). It is rather short, yet has more of a melodic nature
inside.
51
Example 14: Liszt, Die Forelle, m. 109.
Wohin?
For another famous song of Schubert from Die Schöne Müllerin, Wohin?,
we can find other more colorful transcriptions. Stephen Heller, Godowsky, and
Rachmaninoff all transcribed this song. In the original song, the key is G major.
All three of the composers kept the tonality to pursue Schubert’s imaginative
creation. The original tempo marking Mässig is altered slightly in
Rachmaninoff’s version (Allegretto) and in Godowsky’s version (Allegretto
mormorando), since both of the transcriptions were written on the fast side. The
suggested tempo in Heller’s version is one in which one eighth-note equals 88,
which is relatively slower than the other two transcriptions, with an expression
marking of Avec grace.
In Schubert’s prelude, a broken chord of I6 in the right hand resembles a

“Wasser” figure along with a rhythmically ostinato-like bass (see Example 15),
which extends throughout the whole piece.
52
Example 15: Schubert, Wohin?, mm. 1-3.
All three composers tried to imitate the floating water as Schubert did in various
ways. The split arpeggiated I chord in left hand, in Heller’s Wohin?, is the closest
one to Schubert’s water figure (see Example 16). It is very pure, evoking the
Schubertian nature.
Example 16: Heller, Wohin?, mm. 1-3.
On the other hand, we can certainly observe more chromatic action in both
Rachmaninoff’s and Godowsky’s versions. In Rachmaninoff’s version, ninth,
eleventh, and thirteenth chords are frequently applied throughout the piece. In the
prelude, Rachmaninoff immediately modifies the harmony from sustaining a plain
I chord into a busy harmonic progression (see Example 17). Rachmaninoff’s
Wohin? is imaginatively decorative, almost obscuring the firmly diatonic melodic
line with a highly chromatic embellishment.
53
Features in Rachmaninoff’s Wohin? include many non-chord tones to
make unexpected harmonic progressions, chromatic scales to make passing
chords that fill in the spaces between diatonic chords, and many borrowed chords
to increase the intensity of harmonic progression.
Example 17: Rachmaninoff, Wohin?, mm. 1-3.
In comparison, Godowsky’s transcription of Wohin? shows a significantly greater
multi-textured design. In the prelude, a lot of ninth chords are applied to the
original tonic chord color (see Example 18).
54
Example 18: Godowsky, Wohin?, mm. 1-2.
We can discover many layers within Godowsky’s music. The fingers are
always busy dealing with several voices in the same time. Visually, we receive a
picture of a heavily constructed layout of music. In the following example, there
are chromatic scales, a wide range of broken-chord accompaniment, and
unpredictable inner voices running around. The stream is not as tranquil as in the
original, but it is rather bright and vivid.
Example 19: Godowsky, Wohin?, mm. 3-5.
55
In Rachmaninoff’s version of Wohin?, he transcribes it very faithfully and
the musical scheme is well kept, with only two extra measures of a delicate,
graceful ending. His is a very pianistic gesture in ending a piece – a rising
chromatic phrase with unpredictable patterns.
Example 20: Rachmaninoff, Wohin?, mm. 80-82.
Unlike Rachmaninoff’s straightforward postlude, Godowsky had designed
two kinds of coda for ending the lovely Wohin?. The first coda is relatively short,
but it recalls part of the beginning motif in the inner voice. It is a very delicate
response. The other version is indicated as optional for the performer to add this
coda instead of the final measure. It shows a concept of coda similar to that of
Liszt’s Wohin?. Rather than repeating the whole final period, Godowsky chooses
to repeat the first phrase of the song to be a mini-version of reminiscence. The
ascending figure from the vocal melody is evoked again in the very last two
measures (see Example 21).
56
Example 21: Godowsky, Wohin?, mm. 78-81(85.)
In Liszt’s ending of Wohin?, after the voice repeats “frölich nach, frölich
nach” (blithely on, blithely on!), it is hard for Liszt to stop right away. He
continues by attaching a piano version of the final phrase as a last statement.
57
Example 22: Liszt, Wohin?, mm. 88-97.
Heller’s Wohin? has the subtitle of Caprice Brillant, which hints at the
paraphrase potential. Basically, besides keeping Schubert’s original framework,
Heller added numerous personal touches by using different figurations in this
work. However, in the cadenza, we can find hardly any connection to the original
music. All of the cadenza section is Heller’s idea of how to build up a cadenza,
one with lots of chromatic figurations.
58
Example 23: Heller, Wohin?, mm.129-145.
The total length of Schubert’s Wohin? is 81 measures. The Heller setting is more
than twice as long as the original (179 measures). The cadenza treatment is
applied in this piece, not once, but twice.
59
There are three transcriptions of Wohin?, done by Liszt, Rachmaninoff,
and Godowsky. 60 We can see how these three composers altered the original
through the following comparison.
Table 7: The Comparison of three Wohin? transcriptions.
Liszt Rachmaninoff Godowsky

Melody Stays in one hand for Evenly spread into Treatment like
treatment a period of time two hands, but Rachmaninoff’s
(using register primary focus is on
variation technique) the tenor register
Quality of Diatonic: Chromatic: Chromatic:
Accompaniment Pretty much follows Different from Ideas similar to
Schubert’s Schubert’s; contains Rachmaninoff’s,
accompaniment more neighbor notes plus some arpeggio
figure in broken triad accompaniment
chords (the most
complicated
accompaniment)
Text Printed above the No text printed Printed separately
Arrangement piano part (with vocal melody
and text)
Key G major G major G major
Tempo marking Moderato Allegretto Allegretto
mormorando
Time Signature 2/4 2/4 2/4
Measure 97 81 81
Numbers
Harmony Pretty much follows Uses 9th chords Progressions
Progression Schubert’s pace based on Schubert’s similar to
original triads and Rachmaninoff’s,
has new harmonic but even more
progression chromatic
Litanei
In the soulful Litanei, there are three verses in the song. It is, again, a
good example from which to learn how different composers transformed a
60 Heller’s Wohin? is a paraphrase so that it is not included in the transcription comparison.
60
strophic song into a piano piece. Schubert’s tempo marking Langsam, andächtig
was well kept in Liszt’s version as Adagio religioso. The original key is E-flat
major, which Liszt did not change. In his transcription, since it is a prayer61 and
rather repetitive, Liszt adopted only one verse (the first one) and did a treatment
similar to that in Auf dem Wasser zu singen. He added one more section, which is
basically another verse in the song, for a pianist’s moment to express a song
without words. Technically, Liszt’s Litanei has two verses: one is with text, the
other is not.
Example 24: Liszt, Litanei, mm. 1-2.
Unlike the density in Schubert’s original introduction of Litanei, Liszt
placed two hands into a four-octave space to make a very transparent effect (see
Example 19). In the first verse of Liszt’s Litanei, one of his significant
composing techniques, “Three-Hand-Technique,” was applied here. The
transparent image is the significant feature of Liszt’s Litanei.
The spiritual, religious performance indication of Langsam, andächtig is
omitted and substituted with Adagio cantabile in Godowsky’s Litanei. In the
61 The Litanei is from All Souls’ Day (Auf das Fest “Aller Seelen”).
61
musical structure, Godowsky actually adhered to Schubert’s path in Litanei.
Although he chose F major instead of E-flat major for his Litanei, it is still in the
flat-key circle with a brighter and a warmer color.
Godowsky’s idea for the introduction is somewhat closer to Schubert’s;
however, the texture is much thicker than the original. Even though Godowsky’s
music is highly texturized, we can never find Liszt’s “Three-Hand-Technique” in
Godowsky’s Schubert song transcriptions. Consequently, it is hard to get a clean
layout of music and it is usually difficult to read those transcriptions in terms of

following the melody in the first place.
Example 25: Godowsky, Litanei, mm. 1-2.
Godowsky did not abandon any of the verses and tried to give different
interpretations for those three identical verses. He starts in the baritone register in
the first verse, which is played mostly with the right and left-hand thumbs while
other voices have harmonic accompaniments (see Example 20). Later he places
the main melody in the tenor register and lastly in the soprano register to give
brightness and intensity to the music.
62
The chromatic harmony already existed in Schubert’s original song (see
Example 26). The harmonic activity becomes vigorous due to the chromatic
descending line in the bass. The secondary dominant chords (mm. 5-6), an
augmented sixth chord (m. 6), diminished seventh chords, and half-diminished
seventh chords (mm. 8-9) beautifully enrich the music’s intensity.
Example 26: Schubert, Litanei, mm. 3-8.
Godowsky has a very exquisite taste for using borrowed chords, diatonic
seventh chords, and augmented sixth chords to enrich the harmonic density (see
Example 27). Godowsky even builds 9th and 13th chords onto the original chords
for adding chromatic timbre. Therefore, the addition of harmony in Godowsky’s
version does not sound too drastically disturbing. In this way, the whole musical
63
texture is spontaneously increased and provides an innovative sonority which is
entirely different from Schubert’s.
Example 27: Godowsky, Litanei, mm. 15-20.
Moreover, even for an interlude, Godowsky did not forget to let it glow.
He added a new short melody as a counter-melody from the original piano
accompaniment. Additionally, he gradually enhanced the harmonic intensity in
the two interludes as he did in the song verses.
To play Godowsky’s piano pieces requires exclusively the action of the
fingers to play the unexpected patterns. For example, there is almost no way that
64
the regular broken chords can be found in Godowsky Schubert song transcriptions.
There is always a little twist hidden in the arpeggiated patterns. Also he relies
absolutely on the weight of the arms to obtain a full, gorgeous sonority.
SINGLE EXAMPLES OF TRANSCRIPTION
Cortot’s Heidenröslein
The Heidenröslein is numbered as Op. 3, no. 3, d’après Goethe, in
Cortot’s works. This is a very strict song transcription of Schubert’s original. The
key is kept (G major), and the tempo marking Lieblich (lovely, charming) appears
on the music with an additional term of amabile (charming, gracious, amiable),
which indicates a similar meaning. The original three verses in the song were
preserved by Cortot. A turning point between the second and third verse, when
the music is transposed into E-flat major from G major unexpectedly, makes this
piece quite exquisite.
Example 28: Cortot, Heidenröslein, mm. 28-37.
65
It is a flat-six key relationship between the second stanza and the third
stanza. Cortot used a common tone E-flat to transpose the key from G major to
E-flat major in measure 32. The stanza is duplicated and varied in E-flat major
and returns back to G major. This is a very conventional composition device of
Schubert’s; he liked to use this unfamiliar key relationship rather than the circle of
fifths to make an unexpected effect.
The other composer who also transcribed the Heidenröslein is Godowsky.
He varies all three of the verses from the original, and as always, he thickens the
harmonic texture to make it highly chromatic with diatonic seventh chords,
secondary dominant chords, and augmented sixth chords. The sonority of his
Heidenröslein certainly shows an extremely flowery quality.
Moore’s An die Musik
Gerald Moore transcribed the unforgettable An die Musik for an encore in
his farewell recital in 1967. This piece is one of the most literal Schubert song
transcriptions, with two verses in D major. Not even any added or varied
harmony can be found in this piece.
In the second verse, Moore merely doubled the melody in the right hand
and let the left hand continue to play the original accompaniment. Unlike other
arrangers, Moore did not switch the main melody from register to register. The
right hand obligatorily plays the melody throughout the whole piece. It is nothing
fancy, but faithful. It is just like the character of an accompanist, and this piece
reflects the attempt of Moore’s to transcribe “music’s national anthem.”
66
Example 29: Moore, An die Musik, mm. 34-39.
CONCLUSION
Throughout the whole piano solo repertoire, it is easy to neglect the
portion of transcriptions, especially the song transcriptions. They are a re-
creation which represents the romantic conception of expressing emotions beyond
words. Among the song transcriptions, the Schubert song transcriptions play a
great role in producing a delightful, effective solo piano genre.
Great pianist-composers such as Franz Liszt, Stephen Heller, and Leopold

Godowsky created a large number of Schubert Lieder transcriptions. Those
works by Liszt and Heller helped to promote Franz Schubert’s fame, which was
rarely known outside Vienna then. During Liszt’s later years, his pupils even
brought those transcriptions to his Weimar masterclasses. Sometimes Liszt would
sit down and play them, which gave unforgettable memories to his pupils.62
If we try to survey this genre completely, it is like walking through an art
gallery. Although the themes are similar, all the different painters from the past
62Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Schubert Song Transcriptions, Series III, (New York: Dover,
1995), xii.
67
show a diversity of personalities. They present enlightenment, pleasure, and
gratification to people. These nearly forgotten works need to be re-evaluated and
given a new outlet by pianists. We should remember Gerald Moore’s valediction
in his farewell recital, “The music remains as Schubert wrote it; I hope that in this
new form it will make new friends.” 63 Not many pianists are aware of these
hidden treasures. Indeed, there are countless piano solo pieces waiting to be
performed. In the meantime, we should devote more effort to presenting these
great song transcriptions for audiences. We ought to share the joys of Schubert’s
Lieder with the world, and make more new friends.
63Paul Stewart, An Die Musik: Schubert Songs and Piano Transcriptions, CBC Records/Les
Disques SRC MVCD 1106, 1998, CD.
68
Bibliography
BOOKS
Chasins, Abram. Speaking of Pianists… New York: Alfred A. Knopf,

1957.
Barbedette, Hippolyte. Stephen Heller: His Life and Works. Trans. by

Robert Brwon-Borthwick. Detroit: Detroit Reprints in Music,
1974.
Brendel, Alfred. Alfred Brendel on Music. Chicago: A Capella Books,

2001.
Fishcer-Dieskau, Dietrich. Schubert’s Songs – A Biographical Study.

Trans. by Kenneth S. Whitton. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.
Gerling, Cristina Capparelli. Nineteenth-Century Piano Music: Essays in

Performance and Analysis. Ed. by David Witten. New York:
Garland Publishing, 1997.
Hinson, Maurice. The Pianist’s Guide to Transcriptions, Arrangements,

and Paraphrases. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
McKay, Elizabeth Norman. Franz Schubert – A Biography. Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1996.
Meyer, Leonard B. Music, the Arts, and Ideas. Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press, 1967.
Reed, John. Schubert. London: J.M. Dent & Songs Ltd., 1987.
_________. The Schubert Song Companion. New York: Universe Books,

1985.
Schonberg, Harold C. The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present.

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.
Todd, R. Larry, ed. Nineteenth-Century Piano Music. New York:

Schirmer Books, 1990.
69
Walker, Alan. Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847. New York:
Cornell University Press, 1993.
___________. Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848-1861. New York:

Cornell University Press, 1993.
Weber, William. Music and the Middle-Class: the Social Structure of

Concert Life in London, Paris and Vienna. London: Croom Helm,
1975.
Youens, Susan. Schubert’s Poets and the Making of Lieder. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1996.
ARTICLES
Philipp, Isidore. “Some Recollections of Stephen Heller.” The Musical

Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 4 (October 1935), 432-436.
Walker, Alan. “Liszt and the Schubert Song Transcriptions.” The

Musical Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 4 (Winter 1991), 248-262.
DISSERTATIONS
Edwards, Robert Lynn. “A Study of Selected Song Transcriptions by

Franz Liszt.” D.M.A. diss., University of Oregon, 1972.
Gibbs, Dan P.. “A Background and Analysis of Selected Lieder and

Opera Transcriptions of Franz Liszt.” D.M.A. diss., North Texas
State University, 1980.
Booth, Ronald Earl Jr.. “The Life and Music of Stephen Heller.” Ph.D.
diss., University of Iowa, 1969.
Millan, Sachania. “The Arrangement of Leopold Godowsky: An

Aesthetic, Historical, and Analytical Study.” Ph.D. diss., Christ’s
College, University of Cambridge, 1997.
Kozlovsky, Michel. “The Piano Solo Transcription in the Romantic

Period: Three Examples from Liszt, Godowsky and Busoni.” Ph.D.
diss., Indiana University, 1983.
70
Cloutier, David. “A Comparison of the Transcription Techniques of
Godowsky and Liszt as Exemplified in their Transcriptions of
Three Schubert Lieder.” D.M.A. doc., Performance practice:
North Texas State University, 1987.
Arrigo, Robin J. “Transcription of Vocal Literature for Solo Instrument

and Piano Accompaniment: A Unique Challenge for
Accompanists.” D.M.A. doc., University of Miami, 1998.
Rivera, Lino R. “Transcriptions, Arrangements, Paraphrases, and

Metamorphoses for Piano Solo.” D.M.A. doc., University of
Maryland, 1997.
MUSICAL SCORES
Cortot, Alfred. Heiden-Röslein. Paris: Foetisch Frères, 1947.
Escandón, Teresa. Jorge Bolet Memorial Editions: Transcriptions of Famous

Lieder. Miami: CPP/Belwn, Inc., 1994.
Godowsky, Leopold. Collection Volume II: Transcriptions, Arrangements and

Cadenzas. New York: Carl Fischer, 2001.
Heller, Stephen. Adieu. Chicago: Root & Cady, 1865.
Heller, Stephen. Die Forelle. Op. 33. New Hampshire: Musica Obscura Editions,
2002.
Heller, Stephen. Die Post. Op. 35. New Hampshire: Musica Obscura Editions,
2003.
Heller, Stephen. Erlkönig. Op. 34. New Hampshire: Musica Obscura Editions,
2002.
Heller, Stephen. Éloge des Larmes. New Hampshire: Musica Obscura Editions,
2002.
Heller, Stephen. Wohin?. Op. 55. New Hampshire: Musica Obscura Editions,
2002.
Liszt, Franz. The Schubert Song Transcriptions for Solo Piano: Series I, II, III.
New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1995.
Moore, Gerald. To Music. London: Oxford University Press, 1948.
71
Rachmaninoff, Sergei. The Piano Works of Rachmaninoff: Transcriptions.
Miami: Warner Bros. Publications, 1970.
Schubert, Franz. 200 Songs: Volume I. New York: International Music Company,
1961.
Schubert, Franz. Lieder, Gesang und Klavier. New York: C. F. Peters, 1985.
72
Vita
Tzu-Yun Chen was born in Chang-Hua, Taiwan, the daughter of Chin-Chan Chen
and Chiau Lee. After receiving the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in
composition from National Taipei University of the Arts, Taipei in 1997, she
entered Auburn University and received the degree of Master of Music in piano
performance, in August 1999. In the same year she entered the School of Music
of The University of Texas.
Permanent address: No. 6, 160 Lane, Lo-Yang Road, Taichung, 407, Taiwan,
R.O.C.
This treatise was typed by the author.
73

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A Century of Schubert Lieder Transcriptions for Piano

Rebecca A. Baltzer, Supervisor

Lita Guerra, Co-Supervisor

Tzu-Yun Chen, B.F.A., M.M.

The University of Texas at Austin

for the Degree of

Doctor of Musical Arts

The University of Texas at Austin

ProQuest Information and Learning Company

Foremost, the sincerest gratitude I want to express is to the members of my

inexhaustible patience, she helped me to make this project possible.

Finally, a special word of gratitude goes to my family. Thanks to my wonderful

The University of Texas at Austin, 2003

Supervisors: Rebecca A. Baltzer and Lita Guerra

always attracted the most transcribers and arrangers.

singen, Die Forelle, Wohin?, Litanei, Heidenröslein, and An die Musik.

List of Tables ....................................................................................................... viii

List of Music Examples ......................................................................................... ix

Chapter 1: Historical Background of the Piano in Nineteenth-Century ..................3

Chapter 3: Composers as Transcribers ..................................................................12

Chapter 4: Analysis of Selected Music Examples .................................................34

Table 1: Catalogue of Liszt's Schubert Song Transcriptions ..........................17

Table 2: Catalogue of Heller's Schubert Song Transcriptions ........................24

Table 3: First Publication of Godowsky's Schubert Song Transcriptions ......27

Table 4: Revised Edition of Godowsky's Schubert Song Transcriptions .......28

Table 5: Liszt's Winterreise.............................................................................38

Table 6: Liszt's Schwanengesang....................................................................38

Table 7: The Comparison of Three "Wohin?" Transcriptions ........................60

Example 1: Moore, An die Musik, mm. 7-9 .........................................................34

Example 2: Rachmaninoff, Wohin?, mm. 1-6......................................................36

Example 3: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 1-4.........................................40

Example 4: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 9-12.......................................41

Example 5: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 35-38.....................................42

Example 6: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 85-88.....................................43

Example 7: Liszt, Auf dem Wasser zu singen, mm. 97-105...................................44

Example 8: Schubert, Die Forelle, mm. 1-8..........................................................46

Example 9: Heller, Die Forelle, mm. 1-19 ............................................................47

Example 10: Heller, Die Forelle, mm. 73-84 ........................................................48

Example 11: Liszt, Die Forelle, mm. 1-5 ..............................................................49

Example 12: Liszt, Die Forelle, mm. 11-14 ..........................................................50

Example 13: Liszt, Die Forelle, mm. 94-95 ..........................................................51

Example 14: Liszt, Die Forelle, mm. 109 .............................................................52

Example 15: Schubert, Wohin?, mm. 1-3 ..............................................................53

Example 16: Heller, Wohin?, mm. 1-3...................................................................53

Example 17: Rachmaninoff, Wohin?, mm. 1-3 .....................................................54

Example 18: Godowsky, Wohin?, mm. 1-2 ...........................................................55

Example 19: Godowsky, Wohin?, mm. 3-5 ...........................................................55

Example 20: Rachmaninoff, Wohin?, mm. 80-82..................................................56

Example 21: Godowsky, Wohin?, mm. 78-81(85) ................................................57

Example 22: Liszt, Wohin?, mm. 88-97.................................................................58

Example 23: Heller, Wohin?, mm. 129-145...........................................................59

Example 24: Liszt, Litanei, mm. 1-2......................................................................61

Example 25: Godowsky, Litanei, mm. 1-2 ............................................................62

Example 27: Godowsky, Litanei, mm. 15-20 ........................................................64

Example 28: Cortot, Heidenröslein, mm. 28-37....................................................65

Example 29: Moore, An die Musik, mm. 34-39 .....................................................67

Some two years ago, I accidentally discovered a rare recording including

piano repertoire, shining quietly and waiting to be discovered.