Franz Liszt
Transcendental Etudes
S. 139

About Franz Liszt's Transcendental Etudes

Some may be surprised to learn that when revising the 12 Grandes Etudes from 1837 into the Transcendental Etudes, Liszt made several simplifications - they certainly still pose enormous technical demands on the player.
Liszt also added programmatic titles to most of the pieces. The fourth study, Mazeppa, generally thought to be the most difficult piece of the set, is named after an historical person, Ivan Mazepa, page in the court of the Polish King John Casimir, whose fate was made famous by poems of Byron, Pushkin and Victor Hugo.
Mazepa became entangled with the wife of a nobleman, and for this he was punished by being tied naked to the back of a wild horse and dragged all the way to Ukraine.
Liszt later expanded and orchestrated the Étude to become the sixth in his cycle of symphonic Poems.

ID:58
Preview TitleKey Year Level
1. Transcendental Etude: Preludio S . 139 No. 1 in C Major by Liszt piano sheet music AAB 1. Transcendental Etude: Preludio 1 C Major 1851 8+
2. Transcendental Etude: Molto vivace (Fusées) S . 139 No. 2 in A Minor by Liszt piano sheet music AAC 2. Transcendental Etude: Molto vivace (Fusées) 30 A Minor 1851 8+
3. Transcendental Etude: Paysage S . 139 No. 3 in F Major by Liszt piano sheet music AAD 3. Transcendental Etude: Paysage 17 F Major 1851 8+
4. Transcendental Etude: Mazeppa S . 139 No. 4 in D Minor by Liszt piano sheet music AAE 4. Transcendental Etude: Mazeppa 8 D Minor 1851 8+
5. Transcendental Etude: Feux Follets S . 139 No. 5 in B-flat Major by Liszt piano sheet music AAF 5. Transcendental Etude: Feux Follets 33 B-flat Major 1851 8+
6. Transcendental Etude: Vision S . 139 No. 6 in G Minor by Liszt piano sheet music AAG 6. Transcendental Etude: Vision 24 G Minor 1851 8+
7. Transcendental Etude: Eroica S . 139 No. 7 in E-flat Major by Liszt piano sheet music AAH 7. Transcendental Etude: Eroica 11 E-flat Major 1851 8+
8. Transcendental Etude: Wild Hunt S . 139 No. 8 in C Minor by Liszt piano sheet music AAI 8. Transcendental Etude: Wild Hunt 2 C Minor 1851 8+
9. Transcendental Etude: Ricordanza S . 139 No. 9 in A-flat Major by Liszt piano sheet music AAJ 9. Transcendental Etude: Ricordanza 27 A-flat Major 1851 8+
10. Transcendental Etude: Appassionata S . 139 No. 10 in F Minor by Liszt piano sheet music AAK 10. Transcendental Etude: Appassionata 18 F Minor 1851 8+
11. Transcendental Etude: Harmonies du Soir S . 139 No. 11 in D-flat Major by Liszt piano sheet music AAL 11. Transcendental Etude: Harmonies du Soir 6 D-flat Major 1851 8+
12. Transcendental Etude: Chasse-Neige S . 139 No. 12 in B-flat Minor by Liszt piano sheet music AAM 12. Transcendental Etude: Chasse-Neige 34 B-flat Minor 1851 8+

Forum posts about the Transcendental Etudes by Franz Liszt

Ranking Liszt Trascendentals by piabanoch
How would you rank Liszt trascendentals? ...

Unpopular Opinion by imnotapianist
From my experience, playing Bach is harder than playing Liszt. The transcendental etudes are hard but thinking in 4-5 independent voices in ...

Liszt Ricordanza by david_w
I've been learning a few of the Liszt Transcendental Etudes (Nos. 5, 8, 10, 11, 12) and am starting on Ricordanza.  My teacher and...

Etude for college audition by rtheunissen
Which of the following etudes would be a good pick as a first etude in my repertoire (and one I can play for my audition)? If you want to, y...

Opus Clavicembalisticum difficulty by cuberdrift
Popularly known as the hardest piece for piano ever written, what is harder between: 1. OC and all 32 Beethoven Sonatas? 2. OC and all 4 R...

Has Claudio Arrau met his match? by cuberdrift
Astounded and amazed after hearing that Arrau supposedly played Liszt's Transcendental Etudes at 11, I compared him to many videos of v...

Liszt - Études d´exécution transcendante by aszer97
Hey, I' m really into the transcendental etudes, although i know that they are far away from what I'm able to play(at least until ...

Audition Rep: Impressive Etude for Small hands? by dratinistar
So the time has finally come to choose audition repertoire.  :-[I have about 1.5 years before auditioning so ample time to learn someth...

Liszts "Mazeppa" and similar pieces.... by juliaalessandra
So I confess the title is a bit bold but...I have been listening to pieces like the 4th etude (Mazeppa) and others from Liszt and I loooove ...

Advice for learning the transcendental etudes? by recnepspencer
I've set a goal to learn Liszt's 12 transcendental etudes. If anyone has any tips that would be great! I started number 2 less tha...

How accomplished of a pianist would I be if I learned this set of music? by recnepspencer
I want to learn the transcendental etudes because I could do it but it would be a challenge. my piano teacher says I'm advanced but tha...

Which études are harder, Chopin´s or Liszt´s? by rovis77
Which études are harder, Chopin´s or Liszt´s and why?...

Liszt Etudes : Solo Right Hand by abel2
Just a project I've been working on :P I finished the first one and have started the 2nd and 10th. If anyone wants to see, let me know....

Ranking the Liszt Transcendentals! by billyfisher100
In my opinion (most challenging to least challenging): [i][b]In terms of technical difficulty:[/b][/i] Feux-Follets (Nr. 5) (by quite a lo...

liszt études from easiest to hardest by lalo57
So, I'm attempting to enter the Paris conservatoire and am looking for a nice repertoire for the audition. They ask for a chopin étude...