Funérailles is subtitled "October 1849". This has often been interpreted as a sort of funeral speech for Liszt's friend Frédéric Chopin, who died on 17 October 1849, and also due to fact that the piece's left-hand octaves are closely related to the central section of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53, written seven years earlier.

However, Liszt said that it was not written with Chopin in mind, but was instead meant as a tribute to three of his friends who suffered in the failed Hungarian uprising against Habsburg rule in 1848. They were Prince Felix Lichnowsky, Count László Teleki and the Hungarian Prime Minister, Count Lajos Batthyány. Batthyány was executed on 6 October 1849 for his part in the uprising, Lichnowsky was beaten to death by an angry mob, and Teleki was forced to live in exile for more than ten years.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Harmonies poétiques et religieuses: Funérailles, S.173 No.7

Composer: Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Year of Composition: 1849
Year of Recording: 1991
Performer: Krystian Zimerman (piano)

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