Annees de pelerinage, Book 2: Italy (Revised Edition) - Piano Solo

The composition and publication of the first two volumes of Liszt's Années de pèlerinage are closely interlinked. Barely a year after returning from Switzerland, Liszt and his companion Marie dAgoult set off in August 1837 on a trip to Italy which was to last over two years.

In the Switzerland volume the composer portrayed first and foremost the nature, landscape and history of the country in his music, whereas the Italy part is devoted to impressions from literature (Petrarch, Dante) and the visual arts (Raffael, Michelangelo).

The total of seven pieces, the high point of which is the Dante Sonata at the end, were composed between 1838 and 1849, but parts were reworked several times before their publication in 1858.

The Venezia e Napoli volume, published three years later as a supplement, is available separately as HN 985. In this revised edition, a manuscript copy of no. 2 with corrections by Liszt (the engravers copy) has also been evaluated for the first time.

The new fingering is by Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi.