Liszt's Mephisto Waltz, most editions show an extra one for the right hand in the middle passages.
But is the original edition with three staves?
Liszt Mazeppa.
Debussy? Romantic? More than 2 staves is also found in Medtner sonatas.
Debussy is of course not romantic. But my aim was to find out when the idea of using more than 2 staves arose, so I wrote romantic, but I meant 'before Debussy'. I guess we don't find any 18th c. music with 3 staves.
Scriabin's Sonata No.10, Op.70 uses 3.
And also no.5 (briefly) and no.8 and 9.
So does Schumann's Romanze and Liszt's 'Apres une Lecture de Dante'.
Phil
Schumann? Really? In that case it is the earliest example.
Liszt's 'Apres une Lecture de Dante' didn't have three staves the last time I looked. I mean the original edition, the way the composer planned the score.
Among the Lyapunov Transcendental Etudes, No.5 in E major, 'Nuit d'ete', uses three staves for the majority of the piece, while No.3 in B major, 'Carillon', also uses three staves for much of the piece and even goes up to four staves for the coda (although the lowest stave is used only for the repeated lowest B on the keyboard, instructed to be played 'quasi gran campana' - 'like a large bell').
'La cathedrale engloutie' from preludes I by Debussy uses only 2 staves, but the score would be clearer with three staves, because of a similar passage with low bass notes. In preludes II there are consistently three staves, even if it is not necessary all the time.
Thanks for all the replies!
