David Stewart <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>The trouble is that Liszt was one of the more influential figures of the
>time.  He explored much in the way of orchestration, harmony and invented
>the Symphonic Poem, which also created with it the idea of thematic
>metamorphosis..

Ah, but did he? The biography of Cesar Franck which I'm in the process of
reading avers that Franck's "Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne" was begun in
1847, probably after discussions with Gounod.  Liszt's 'symphonic poem' of
the same name (and same literary source) was begun somewhat later (although
he conceived of it earlier) but was successfully performed in 1849 and
published in 1852.  At this point, Franck, as usual lacking confidence
and direction, basically gave up the work and his potential claim to have
invented the form which so occupied Saint-Saens, Liszt and many other
mid-century Romantics.  It wasn't till the 1870s that anyone even knew
of Franck's version.

Relative qualities of the pieces aside, what do listers feel about the
potential claims of these two composers to have invented the symphonic
poem? To quote Laurence Davies in "Franck" from Dent's 'Master Musician
Series', "What this conveys to the musicologist is embarrassingly difficult
to make clear.  Questions of precedence and even plagiarism can easily
arise."

Tim Mahon
Alexandria, VA
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