Fantasie und Fuge über den Choral Ad nos, ad salutarem undam, S.259

Historical context

Breitkopf and Hartel noted in 1851 that Liszt composed this “very long piece” on the chorale “Ad Nos” from Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète during the winter of 1850-51. He had long intended to dedicate a work to Meyerbeer, and finally found a suitable composition in this piece. Liszt suggested it be published as No. 4 of his Illustrations du Prophète, and it was indeed published in that form by Breitkopf and Hartel.

The work quickly found its way to audiences. Joachim Raff recalled in 1856 that Winterberger performed the “Prophete” Fugue on the organ in Holland, before an audience of two thousand people, achieving “immense success.”

Drawn from Ledos de Beaufort, Raphaël; Helbig, Nadine, Franz Liszt, the story of his life (1910); Liszt, Franz, 1811-1886; La Mara, 1837-1927; Bache, Constance, 1846-1903, Letters of Franz Liszt (1894) — public domain, archive.org.