Volume I of Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage, entitled Suisse, is based on impressions he gathered during an extended sojourn in Switzerland in 1835/36. The most important piece of the collection, first published in 1841, is undoubtedly Vallée d’Obermann, which offers a vast richness of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic variations on the basis of two contrasting themes. The technically and artistically demanding composition owes its title not to a scenic valley in Switzerland, but to the epistolary novel of the same name by French poet Étienne de Senancour. Set in Switzerland, it presents an emotionally torn hero who articulates his weltschmerz in a dialogue with nature.
The musical text of this separate edition of Vallée d’Obermann is preceded by an excerpt from Senancour’s novel, which may provide impulses that are just as important for the interpretation as are Francesco Piemontesi’s fingerings.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
