Franz Liszt's final symphonic poem, Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (From the Cradle to the Grave) (1881 - 82), was composed nearly a quarter of a century after the twelve which preceded it. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that Von der Wiege has little in common, musically or spiritually, with those earlier works.

Von der Wiege is divided into three sections, each representing a phase of life: the cradle and childhood, the stormy search for meaning in adulthood, and death and resurrection—"To the tomb: cradle for the future life," as the final section is titled. One cannot help but find a parallel between this work and Richard Strauss' later Death and Transfiguration (1889), which ponders the same philosophical issue.

Von der Wiege's opening is gentle and transparent; a separate but related work for four solo violins, Der Wiege (The Cradle) (1881), illuminates the fragility that Liszt intended to portray. The second section, much like the middle section of the Strauss work, is violent, and at times, seemingly hopeless. The intensely chromatic, slow-paced character of the ending, which cleverly combines themes from the two previous sections, lends an eerie air of incorporeality to the piece; one senses the material world disintegrating in favor of an entirely new kind of existence.



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