Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Franz Liszt - Ballade No 1 Le chant du croisé – Première Ballade, S170
Performer: Sergio Fiorentino
Composed between 1845 and 1848 (i.e., before Chopin’s death), the Ballade No 1 is a sadly underrated work. The subtitle ‘Le chant du croisé’ (‘croisé’ means ‘crusader’ rather than ‘cross’) suggests an underlying narrative that Liszt declined to elaborate further, but the work is an evocation of the period of the Crusades (which given Liszt’s Catholicism is an apt subject). The initial rising motif alludes strongly to the opening of Chopin’s First Ballade, a debt that must have been conscious on Liszt’s part, while the answering idea is a scherzo-like gesture that seems to confirm the key of D major. The main body of the work, however, is cast as a set of character variations on the crusader’s ‘song’ in D flat major, with a joyfully heroic march as a middle section, replete with ‘rapido con bravura’ scales and other virtuoso intricacies.
Franz Liszt - Ballade No 1 Le chant du croisé – Première Ballade, S170
Performer: Sergio Fiorentino
Composed between 1845 and 1848 (i.e., before Chopin’s death), the Ballade No 1 is a sadly underrated work. The subtitle ‘Le chant du croisé’ (‘croisé’ means ‘crusader’ rather than ‘cross’) suggests an underlying narrative that Liszt declined to elaborate further, but the work is an evocation of the period of the Crusades (which given Liszt’s Catholicism is an apt subject). The initial rising motif alludes strongly to the opening of Chopin’s First Ballade, a debt that must have been conscious on Liszt’s part, while the answering idea is a scherzo-like gesture that seems to confirm the key of D major. The main body of the work, however, is cast as a set of character variations on the crusader’s ‘song’ in D flat major, with a joyfully heroic march as a middle section, replete with ‘rapido con bravura’ scales and other virtuoso intricacies.
![Franz Liszt - Ballade No.2 in b minor, S170a [early version]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PNa9OM_pEzE/mqdefault.jpg "Franz Liszt - Ballade No.2 in b minor, S170a [early version]
As a matter of fact, Liszt never expected the original version of Ballade No.2 to be published, but the original version has long been known. In the later version, Liszt change the ending. Beyond all doubt, the beautiful and quiet coda of the later version is fantastic, but it doesnt mean the original ending is not good. As for me,I even very like the original version. It is an interesting job to explore Liszts creation through different version of works.")
