In the final years of his life, Franz Liszt turned to writing works that were more experimental and "private" than any he had previously undertaken. Given the propensity of this music—written more for the composer himself than for his adoring public—it isn't too surprising that the choral masterpiece Via Crucis: Les 14 Stations de la Croix (1878 - 79) didn't receive its first performance until 1929. Via Crucis is a stunning work for soloists (representing Christ, Pontius Pilate, and weeping women), chorus, and organ composed on text drawn from the Bible, liturgical hymns, and a few German chorales.

In this work, the more striking elements of Liszt's advanced language—melodic lines built of chromatically filled-in intervals, set against augmented and diminished triads derived from the whole-tone scale—are employed not as abstract experiments, but rather to produce a tormented effect surpassing anything possible from the use of "traditional" harmonic procedures alone. Long, sparse unison passages only serve to intensify this harmonic stress.

A passionately devout man, Liszt spent his later years in Rome trying to breathe new life into sacred music. While his experiments with grand, religious oratorio failed to have the widespread effect he so desired, Liszt's more intimate works from the period, like Via Crucis or the grim, austere late piano music, never fail to have a powerful emotional impact on audiences.



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