Throughout his life, Liszt's imagination was almost obsessed with notions of death and mourning. He composed many works on these topics, such as Pensée des morts, Funérailles, the two versions of La lugubre gondola, and Totentanz (Dance of Death), based on the Gregorian Dies irae sequence depicting the horrors of the Last Judgement. The latter project matured over a period of several decades, beginning in 1830, when Liszt heard the premiere of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, whose finale includ...