# Karol Tausig



## Aramis

A figure known for me and possibly to our members-pianists since long time. But what inspired me to start this thread now is piece of his I've stumbled on just a moment ago:






Now, that's pretty solid portion of romantic piano madness! 

To balance this post, here is something less wild and more lyrical, a beautiful nocturne:


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## kv466

Learned him early on from my good buddy, Earl! I love his Bach transcriptions and those of his own professor, Liszt.


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## cimirro

Nice to see someone remembered Tausig here:
The complete works by him, 13 CDs, is being recorded by Acte Prealable with me,
the first one is already in the market; CD AP0359
the others will follow in the next months.

here is one track from my CD - Reminiscences of Halka Op.2 b




I suggest reading the score to understand why he was known as top virtuoso together with Liszt and Anton Rubinstein.

Best


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## cimirro

Regarding Tausig works there is an interesting fact:
he changed his composing methods twice, and the list of works available on internet are always incomplete or wrong
We have 3 periods:

- First (1850-1855) - influenced by his repertoire before meeting Liszt
Op.1a - Impromptu 
Op.2a - Introduction and Tarantella
Op.3a - Nocturne "L'Esperance"
Op.4a - Serenate (lost work, or never composed since it is mentioned only in one book which is full of mistakes)
Op.5a - Reverie
Op.6a - Le Ruisseau - Etude

- Second (1855-1870) - influenced by his contact with Liszt (greatest influence so far), Bülow, Wagner, Cornelius & Brahms
Op.1b Das Geistershiff - symphonic ballade nach Strachwitz
Op.2b Reminiscences de Halka - Fantasie de Concert after Moniuszko Opera
Op.3b Hernani-Gallop (lost or never published - few places mentioned it)
no opus - Ungarische Zigeunerweisen (1864) *
no opus - Tägliche Studien (Daily Studies) **

*** In this period he also wrote 2 Symphonic works - one inspired by "Manfred", one with text by Schiller about love (a kind of "Liebesymphonie" as he caled) and a Fantasy for piano and orchestra, which sometimes is called "Polonaise" and sometimes "piano concerto"

- Third (1870-1871) - his "new style"
Op.1c - Two Concert Etudes

* interesting to mention the Ungarische Zigeunerweisen is an Hungarian Rhapsody, and so the themes are not by Tausig. They are gypsy songs.
** The book "Daily Studies" is still known by some pianists and students. From this book there is a set of 10 Preludes, only 6 were made by Tausig, the others were made by Heinrich Ehrlich - so it is a mistake to say "Tausig's ten preludes" as we usually read on internet.

All these available works above were recorded in the CD AP0359 








Best


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