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Three Concert Études

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Trois études de concert (Three Concert Studies), S.144, are a series of three piano études by Franz Liszt, composed c. 1848. They are intended not only for the acquisition of a better technique, but also for concert performance. The three studies all have Italian names:

  • Il lamento ("The Lament")
  • La leggierezza ("Lightness")
  • Un sospiro ("A sigh")

Un sospiro

Un sospiro
Performed by Martha Goldstein on an 1851 Erard piano
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Un sospiro (Italian for "A sigh") is the third of Franz Liszt's Three Concert Studies. It is also sometimes referred to as Étude No. 39, and is a piano solo in D-flat major. However, it is likely that the title did not originate with Liszt. Although there is no evidence that he actively attempted to remove the subtitle "Un sospiro," none of the editions or subsequent printings of the Trois études published by Kistner during Liszt's lifetime used them; he simply ignored such subtitles in later years, always referring with his pupils to the piece by key.

The étude is a study in crossing hands, playing a simple melody with alternating hands, and arpeggios. It is also a study in the way hands should affect the melody with its many accentuations, or phrasing with alternating hands. The melody is quite dramatic, almost Impressionistic, radically changing in dynamics at times, and has inspired many listeners.

Un sospiro consists of a flowing background superimposed by a simple melody written in the third staff. This third staff—an additional treble staff—is written with the direction to the performer that notes with the stem up are for the right hand and notes with the stem down are for the left hand. The background alternates between the left and right hands in such a way that for most of the piece, while the left hand is playing the harmony, the right hand is playing the melody, and vice versa, with the left hand crossing over the right as it continues the melody for a short while before regressing again. There are also small cadenza sections requiring delicate fingerwork throughout the middle section of the piece.

Towards the end, after the main climax of the piece, both hands are needed to cross in an even more complex pattern. Since there are so many notes to be played rapidly and they are too far away from other clusters of notes that must be played as well, the hands are required to cross multiple times to reach dramatic notes near the end of the piece on the last page.

This étude, along with the other Trois études, was written in dedication to Liszt's uncle, Eduard Liszt (1817–1879), the youngest son of Liszt's grandfather and the stepbrother of his own father. Eduard handled Liszt's business affairs for more than thirty years until his death in 1879.

Franz Liszt is notable for a high degree of difficulty of his music,[citation needed] and "Un Sospiro" is one of the most difficult pieces to perform of Liszt's compositions.[citation needed] The entire piece has 2,835 notes,[citation needed] and most are single-finger notes, not chords. Averaging nearly 7 fingerings per second for a five-minute length of the piece requires extraordinary finger dexterity[citation needed] and high technical ability, and only the most accomplished pianists are capable of tackling "Un Sospiro".[citation needed]

The piece was used as the recurring musical theme in the 1948 Max Ophüls film Letter from an Unknown Woman. It was also featured in the 2009 TV show Kings twice in the pilot. The piece also appeared in the 2011 film The Green Hornet when the character Kato is playing the piano with Lenore on their first date.

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