Overview

A Symphony to Dante’s Divine Comedy, S.109, or simply the “Dante Symphony“, is a choral 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 conducting himself, and was unofficially dedicated to the composer’s friend and future son-in-law Richard Wagner. The entire symphony takes approximately 50 minutes to perform. It premiered on 7 November 1857.^[1]

Some critics have argued that the Dante Symphony is not so much a symphony in the classical sense as it is two descriptive symphonic poems.^[2] Regardless, Dante consists of two movements, both in a loosely structured ternary form with little use of thematic transformation.^[3]