Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
# Harmonies poétiques et religieuses

Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies), S.173, is a cycle of piano pieces written by Franz Liszt at Woronińce (Voronivtsi, the Polish-Ukrainian country estate of Liszt’s mistress Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein) in 1847, and published in 1853. The pieces are inspired by the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine, as was Liszt’s symphonic poem Les Préludes.

## Structure

The ten compositions which make up this cycle are:

* Invocation (completed at Woronińce);
* Ave Maria (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
* Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (‘The Blessing of God in Solitude,’ completed at Woronińce);
* Pensée des morts (‘In Memory of the Dead,’ reworked version of earlier individual composition, Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1834));
* Pater Noster (transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
* Hymne de l’enfant à son réveil (‘The Awaking Child’s Hymn,’ transcription of choral piece written in 1846);
* Funérailles (October 1849) (‘Funeral’);
* Miserere, d’après Palestrina (after Palestrina);
* La lampe du temple (Andante lagrimoso);
* Cantique d’amour (‘Hymn of Love,’ completed at Woronińce).

## Reception

Critic Patrick Rucker wrote in 2016 that “in Liszt’s engagement with the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine, there is a naked intensity, an urgent, in-your-face, lapel-grasping earnestness that one doesn’t find, say, in the Années de pèlerinage.”

