Organist Clara Gerdes Bartz plays Franz Liszt's Mephisto Waltz no. 1, S. 514

Recorded on the Newberry Memorial Organ at Woolsey Hall, Yale University
E.M. Skinner, IV/197, 1928
Filmed July 16, 2021
Liszt's first Mephisto Waltz, composed between 1859 and 1862, was conceived as both a piano and an orchestral work by the composer. In my transcription, I borrow elements from both versions and use many of the color stops of the Newberry organ as a means of evoking (and expanding!) the piece's original orchestral palette.
Some background on the "program", or story behind the piece:
Throughout his life, Franz Liszt was fascinated by the story of Faust and he found ways to incorporate its themes many of his works. This waltz, the first of four, is highly programmatic (as is often the case with Liszt’s music), taking as its “storyline” an excerpt from Nicholas Lenau’s retelling of the old legend. In the story, Faust and his diabolical companion Mephistopheles come upon a celebration in a rural inn; they wander inside and Mephistopheles regales the guests with his violin playing, whipping everyone up into a frenzy (In the music, Liszt simulates this with the open fifths in the piece’s first few bars). This eventually gives way to a slower, languorous theme, marked dolce amoroso. At this point in the story, Faust retreats into the forest with a woman from the gathering, and the two give themselves over to mutual desire. After a time the opening material returns as though portraying Mephistopheles chasing Faust in relentless pursuit of his soul.
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