Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178

Historical context

Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178, was dedicated to Robert Schumann, a gesture J.W. von Wasielewski noted in 1857 was made three years prior, in return for Schumann’s dedication of his great Fantasia in C major to Liszt. The Sonata was published by Hartel in 1854, the same year Louis Kohler reported Liszt’s specific intention in the second motive, contrasting with previous hammer-blows.

However, the work’s initial reception was not universally warm. Peter Cornelius, in 1859, recounted Gumprecht’s vivid description of the Sonata as a “work of ill odours” and an “Invitation to hissing and stamping.” Despite such strong contemporary reactions, “the book” suggests that “Competent judges in after years will have to decide the exact merits of works such as his Sonata in B minor.”

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.