Via crucis

Via Crucis is one of the most outstanding religious masterpieces from Liszt s late creative period, and it depicts the story of the fourteen stations of Jesus' suffering. The work was not released during the composer s lifetime due to its unusual and daring new sonorities. Based on his own dating, Liszt completed the composing process on February 26, 1879 in Budapest. The piece was originally written as fifteen short movements for solo vocalists, choir, and organ or harmonium, and its text was compiled by Liszt's partner, Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, using biblical excerpts, two medieval Latin hymns and two German Lutheran chorales.

This volume, edited by Imre Mezo, contains German, English and Hungarian prefaces, as well as critical notes in English, which reveal valuable details about the history of the work.