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Dante's Inferno

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Uploaded by on May 9, 2010

Dante's Inferno
Artwork by Gustave Dore
Music by Franz Liszt

A Symphony to Dante's Divine Commedia, S.109, or simply the "Dante Symphony", is a program symphony composed by Franz Liszt. Written in the high romantic style, it is based on Dante Alighieri's journey through Hell and Purgatory, as depicted in The Divine Comedy. It was premiered in Dresden in November 1857, with Liszt himself conducting, and was unofficially dedicated to the composer's friend and future son-in-law Richard Wagner. The principal themes for the work had been sketched as far back as 1847; however, serious work on the symphony did not begin until mid-1855. Most of it was completed within the next year. Thus, work on the Dante Symphony roughly coincided with work on Liszt's other symphonic masterpiece, the Faust Symphony, which was inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust drama. For this reason, and because they are the only full-scale symphonies Liszt ever composed (though certainly not his only symphonic works), the Dante and Faust symphonies are often recorded together.
Liszt's intention was to compose the work in three movements—one each for the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. However, Wagner persuaded Liszt that no earthly composer could faithfully express the joys of Paradise. Liszt dropped the third movement but added a choral Magnificat at the end of the second. This action, some critics claim, effectively destroyed the work's balance, leaving the listener, like Dante, gazing upward at the heights of Heaven and hearing its music from afar.[1] Moreover, Liszt scholar Humphrey Searle argues, while Liszt may have felt more at home portraying the infernal regions than the celestial ones, the task of portraying Paradise in music would likely have not been beyond his powers.

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  • Capitalism is the wage slavey of immense humanity for the abstract process of capital accumulation and concentration in the hands of a few. A system of perpetual war,poverty,exploitation,envio­­­rnmental destructions,animal cruelty of industrial proportions.A system of suppression of our true humanity and creative potentials, A prison planet of imposition of fear,insecurity and dehumanisation. WE NEED TO SHARE THE EARTH IN COOPERATION FOR OUR COLLECTIVE NEEDS AND WELL BEING......

  • I love how this videos comments are flooded with comments about economics... jk can we talk about the Inferno??

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  • Please enlighten us with your idea of an economy arzoyan.

    Here's my opinion on Capitalism: CAPITALISM is the reason the United States is the greatest nation in the world. Everything you own: iPod's, TV's, vehicles, appliances, and basically everything else that makes up your life is due to Capitalism. A free market, where any individual with an idea and the tenacity to succeed can obtain the American Dream.

    Provide us with "your economy." I can't wait to see what you come up with.

  • @arzoyan What other system of economics has survived longer?

  • @dheycallmeneamz

    I agree. Impressive video and music. More people should watch it

  • not enough views on this video, Love it!

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