Notturno No. 3 (Liebestraum)

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4. Measures 26 – 37

With a simple half-step rise in the melody (D – D-sharp), Liszt takes us from the dominant of A-flat major to the bright key of B major. This key relationship, a favorite device in Romantic-period harmony, is known as an “altered mediant,” the normal, diatonic mediant of C minor being altered to C-flat (re-spelled as B) major. This section is, of course, a “re-orchestrated” version of the opening music. B major is not an easy key to read in, especially when there are complex chromatic chords involved. To decipher these chords, we need a way of thinking about them that...