Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke, S514, R181, “Mephisto Waltz No. 1” (1859–62)
This is the solo piano version of the famous first Mephisto Waltz by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886), performed here by the excellent Canadian pianist André Laplante. The work was inspired by an episode from “Faust” by Nikolaus Lenau:
“There is a wedding feast in progress in the village inn, with music, dancing, carousing. Mephistopheles and Faust pass by, and Mephistopheles induces Faust to enter and take part in the festivities. Mephistopheles snatches the fiddle from the hands of a lethargic fiddler and draws from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains. The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded village beauty in a wild dance; they waltz in mad abandon out of the room, into the open, away into the woods. The sounds of the fiddle grow softer and softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song.”