Liszt's Oratorio "The Legend Of St. Elisabeth "

[THEHORN]

I recently discovered a major work of Franz Liszt on CD which is not at all well known : his oratorio "The Legend of St . Elisabeth " , which I recently borrowed on interlibrary loan .
It's the story of saint Elisabeth of Hungary , a 12th century( I believe ) saint who was brought from her native Hungary as a child to Thuringia in east central Germany with the goal of her eventually marrying the landgrave Ludwig of Thuringia , the son of. the landgrave Hermann when she grew up . The text by an author whose name I don't recall off hand is in German , but it has was performed in Budapest in a Hungarian translation with the composer conducting .
In Wagner's Tannhauser , Hermann is the uncle of Elisabeth, not her father-in-law . In the oratorio , the marriage takes place , is quite happy and the couple has children . But everything takes a turn for the worse when the landgrave Ludwig is killed. while. fighting in the crusades . Poor Elisabeth is summarily exiled for life from the famous Wartburg castle where she has been living by her cruel mother-in-law Sophie and is not allowed to keep her children . But she overcomes her profound grief and achieves fame with her piety and humility , her work for the poor and her miracles .
At the end of the oratorio she dies. and the emperor Frederick of the Holy Roman Empire gives the Eulogy at her funeral . The chorus acclaims Elisabeth with a Latin hymn Liszt wrote this work in the early 1860s and the work was performed in Hungary and various German cities. with success . Liszt's music eschews the flashiness of some of his piano and orchestral works and is full of. quiet dignity and eloquence . There is an almost ecstatic quality to parts of the oratorio , especially the exultant final chorus .
The performance , on a 1984 Hungaroton CD , is. superlative , and the conductor is the late Hungarian Arpad Joo , leafing the Hungarian State orchestra and various choruses all f whom. give their all to it . Eva Marton sings the title role of St. Elisabeth with great dignity and. quiet fervor . I have not heard the previous HUngaroton recording conducted by Janos Ferencsik or the recent one on CPO with Carl St.Clair and the Staastskapelle, Weimar .
This obscure Liszt oratorio is well worth hearing ! The two Hungaroton recordings may not be still available , but the more recent CPO recording. is probably easier to find .

[Lance]

I never got the CD recordings of this oratorio but did have a Hungaroton recording on LP. Thank you for giving us a heads-up on this. I'll give it a re-hearing! Gives me a chance to put the LP player in motion again!

[barney]

I don't have this work. Thanks for putting it on my radar. I very much like the sound of what you describe.

[maestrob]

Thanks, Robert!

The Hungaraton label has actually recorded this work twice, once with Eva Marton. They are now selling used for $79 & $139! Some investment!

Both are available as downloads from Presto at more reasonable prices.





CPO has a more recent (2007) 2CD set that looks like this, also available from Presto:

[barney]

But are they actually selling or just listed? I've got a used flower pot I'm happy to list for $12,789.50, but I might not get any bids.

[Belle]

I know nothing about this oratorio; never even heard of it!!

Friday at the supermarket check-out, standing in line (for ages), I was talking to a Hungarian-Australian couple who had been here 38 years. We talked about Orban, Budapest and the spouse leaned over and cooed; "Franz Liszt; my favourite composer". She said, "Oh yes, he's wonderful" and I retorted, "he's the only composer he knows at all, actually!".

The spouse sniffed and continued packing the trolley!!