Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2014
Performance Presentation
A Study of Un Sospiro by Franz Liszt
Jillian Escobar
Faculty Mentor: Tammie Walker
Piano Performance
An Etude is a compositional form designed as a technical study that pushes the musical
and technical proficiency of the performer. Liszt’s Concert Etude No. 3 in D-flat Major,
more commonly known as Un Sospiro, is the third installment in Liszt’s set of Concert
Etudes intended for personal practice and also for concert performance. Un Sospiro
(literally translating to “a sigh”) is a study on cross-handed melodic contouring. The
main theme of the piece, implementing both hands to sing a dramatic melodic line,
challenges the musician to develop and sustain musical phrasing between separated
hands. As well as being a study on phrasing, the etude also demands technical
proficiency regarding arpeggiated accompaniment, where fluid and sweeping
movements give the piece its surreal and airy disposition. This concert etude utilizes a
very impressionistic melody consisting of a rising and descending pentatonic line. This
pervasive melody recurs throughout the piece in different voices, utilizing the skills of
crossing hands, which Liszt incorporates into the piece by adding a third staff to clearly
mark which hand plays the melodic line. He also includes sections of quasi-cadenza
character, where delicate touch and technical dexterity are required, as well as
chromatic and sequential modulations which are used to carry his music through a wide
range of keys. By pairing these technically difficult musical devices and passagework
with memorable and moving melodies and phrases, Liszt transformed his technical
study into music that both the performer and the audience can enjoy.