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"Deuxième année: Italie" ("Second Year: Italy"), S.161, was composed between 1837 and 1849 and published in 1858 by Schott. Nos. 4 to 6 are revisions of Tre sonetti del Petrarca (Three sonnets of Petrarch), which was composed around 1839-1846 and published in 1846.
Sonnet is one of the forms of European poetry, and it is usually written in three traditional formats. These formats include Italian, Spenserian and English. "Italy" is composed in the format of an Italian sonnet. "The sonnet has a good claim to be one of the oldest and most useful verse forms in English. Like the engraving or the string quartet it provides simple yet flexible means to a classic artistic end: the expression of as much gravity, substance and lyrical beauty as a deceptively modest form can bear". Sonnets in this category typically have a general tone that is relatively romantic and have a theme based on love.
Petrarchan is the earliest notable sonnet writer; therefore "Italian sonnet" is also called "Petrarchan sonnet". "Petrarchan sonnet which is the legitimate form, for it alone recognizes that peculiar imbalance of parts which is its salient characteristic". Using musical language, Liszt conveys his personal feelings through the depiction of natural landscape with the fundamental of Petrarchan. "Petrarch Sonnet 104" by Liszt completely grasps the emotional implication of the texture, and Liszt did not compose it in the righteous order of the poem. With a deep comprehension of the context of the poem, Liszt composed his work with a macroscopical horizon. Consequently, performers can interpret this composition in a way as if they have read the poetry works by Petrarch. This composition is an outstanding representative of the works in the late period of Romantic era as it effectively combines music with literature. The following is the poem of "Petrarch Sonnet 104":
I find no peace, but for war am not inclined;
I fear, yet hope; I burn, yet am turned to ice;
I soar in the heavens, but lie upon the ground;
I hold nothing, though I embrace the whole world.
Love has me in a prison which he neither opens nor shuts fast; he neither claims me for his own nor loosens my halter;
he neither slays nor unshackles me;
he would not have me live, yet leaves me with my torment.
Eyeless I gaze, and tongueless I cry out;
I long to perish, yet plead for succour;
I hate myself, but love another.
I feed on grief, yet weeping, laugh;
death and life alike repel me;
and to this state I am come, my lady, because of you.
Sources: wikipedia.org, studymoose.com
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