Franz Liszt, originally Liszt Ferencz in Hungarian, (1811-1886) studied composition with Antonio Salieri
with influence from Berlioz and Pagannini. He wrote “Les Preludes” in Weimar in 1847 based on themes from an earlier
choral composition. It is a tone poem with the program of describing life as a series of musical preludes.
Edwin Grasse (1884-1954) was born in New York City, became blind after one month of life, and demonstrated
absolute pitch at age two and a half. He was known primarily as a concert violinist but he produced a dozen organ pieces. His
transcription of this well-loved symphonic work calls for the resources of a large orchestral organ. Difficult.
Compare with the Kraft transcription.