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Liszt used the fifth and eighth numbers of the eleven pieces in Lassen’s music to Hebbel’s drama Nibelungen, which has some story-line in common with Wagner’s ‘Ring’. In both cases, Liszt extends the original material. Kriemhild, somewhat transformed into Gutrune in Wagner, is memorable in the Nibelungenlied for despatching the villain Hagen after the death of her husband Siegfried. Bechlarn (Pöchlarn in the Nibelungenlied) is the location where the noble minstrel Volker sings a public serenade of tribute to Gotelind. Lassen’s Serenade, in Liszt’s hands, is of a touching and naive simplicity.

Goethe’s masterpiece has attracted a great many composers, and Lassen’s contribution is a substantial one. His Faust score has some sixty-four numbers to it. The ‘Easter Hymn’ (Lassen’s Part 1, No 2), the hearing of which interrupts Faust’s resolve to kill himself, is straightforwardly transcribed, but the Hoffest (‘Court Celebration’) is Liszt’s own combination of two numbers (2 and 3) from Part Two of Lassen’s work. Here Liszt greatly varies and elaborates Lassen’s themes in an introductory march and a very gallant and ornamental Polonaise.

from notes by Leslie Howard © 1992