Dante Sonata

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A work for solo piano by Franz Liszt. The full title is Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata (After a Reading of Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata). Published 1856 as part of the second volume of Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage)

As its name indicates, this work of program music was inspired by the reading of The Divine Comedy. One can easily identify musical elements that relate to hell (the famous Tritone interval used as an opening figure) and to heaven (the F# tonality). This does not mean that this piece is limited to a descriptive evocation of heaven and hell: Liszt rather uses these elements to build a classical sonata.

This sonata is one of Liszt's masterpieces, second only to the great Sonata in B minor.

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