Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (French for After a Reading of Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata; also Dante Sonata) is a piano sonata in one movement, completed by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt in 1849. It was first published in 1856 as part of the second volume of Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). This work of program music was inspired by the reading of Dante Alighieri's most famous epic poem, Divine Comedy. It is consi...
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Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (French for After a Reading of Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata; also Dante Sonata) is a piano sonata in one movement, completed by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt in 1849. It was first published in 1856 as part of the second volume of Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). This work of program music was inspired by the reading of Dante Alighieri's most famous epic poem, Divine Comedy. It is considered to be one of the most difficult pieces in the standard repertoire.
Called "the crowning achievement" of the group and "one of Liszt's more formidable compositions", it is a substantial work that requires about 18 minutes to perform.
The Dante Sonata was originally a small piece entitled Fragment after Dante, divided into two thematically related movements, which Liszt composed in the late 1830s. He gave the first public performance in Vienna, during November 1839. When he settled in Weimar in 1849, he revised the work along with others...
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