Franz Liszt was barely 20 years old when he first read Dante s Divine Comedy, but it left a lasting impression on him throughout his entire life that only a truly impactful creation can have on the human soul. This is what inspired the Dante Sonata which Liszt premiered in Vienna in 1837. Stemming from this, he created a revised version entitled Apres une lecture du Dante, Fantasia quasi Sonata which appeared in 1856 within the second cycle of his Années de pelerinage (Years of Pilgrimage).

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