Liszt's interest in the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri dates to the early 1830s, when the composer was introduced to the work by his then-mistress Marie D'Agoult. By 1837, Liszt had completed Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata (better known as the "Dante" Sonata) and had already begun to plan a large orchestral work on the same subject. However, these plans did not come to fruition until some time after, during the composer's years as a conductor in Weimar.

Composed at the same time as the Faust Symphony (1854 - 57), the "Dante" Symphony (1855 - 56) was originally planned as a work in three movements, one for each section of Dante's original: "Inferno," "Purgatorio," and "Paradiso." However, Richard Wagner, Liszt's eventual son-in-law, convinced Liszt that it was foolish for a mortal to seek to represent the glories of Paradise. Reconsidering his original plan, Liszt substituted a choral Magnificat for the proposed "Paradiso" movement. As a result of this radical change, many feel, the basic structure of the Symphony was irreparably damaged; it is largely to this perceived flaw that the work owes its absence from the general repertory.

The opening movement of the symphony is a large-scale ternary form in which the composer endeavors to portray the characters and torments of Dante's Hell. At several points in the score, Liszt includes lines of Dante's text beneath the musical phrases—the text having been set to music as though it were to be sung, even though the first two movements of the work are purely instrumental—to clarify the musico-poetic intent. Thus, the Symphony opens with the inscription above the gates of Hell:

Per me si va nella citta dolente

Per me si va nell'eterno dolente

Per me si va tra la perduta gentre.

This is proclaimed in a terrifying fanfare by the low brass and double basses, while the high brass responds with the phrase, "Abandon all hope, you who enter." As this opening section of the first movement progresses, the music reaches a tumultuous, raging climax in which one senses Liszt's profound understanding of the emotional context of his subject. The middle section of the movement is devoted to portraying the sad tale of the lovers Paolo and Francesca—later, the inspiration for Tchaikovsky's symphonic fantasia Francesca da Rimini (1876). In stark contrast to the brass-dominated texture of the opening, Liszt now gives the vital melodic material to the violins and flutes, for which he provides a sensitive harp accompaniment. After a shimmering harp cadenza, the maelstrom of the opening resumes—here marked "blasphemous and sardonic"—and the movement comes to a thunderous, concussive conclusion.

As Liszt moves to the second movement, "Purgatorio," the music becomes less sinister. A delightful introduction, representing Dante's emergence from the dark bowels of Hell into a world of light and stars, bridges the first movement with the second. As the souls move through Purgatory, the music proceeds to a solemn fugue based on a subject that owes much to the descending melodic motion so prevalent in the first movement. After the myriad imitative voices have accumulated to produce an impassioned climax, the gentle tones of the women's voices usher in the final Magnificat. The Symphony ends quietly and reflectively. Although Liszt was later persuaded to replace this ending with a more traditional fortissimo statement, this second conclusion is less frequently performed and should not in any case be considered definitive.





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