Légende No. 1: St. François d'Assise: La prédication aux oiseaux, S.175/1, was written around 1863 by Franz Liszt during his time at an abbey. It is based on the religious story of St Francis of Assisi, who preached to the birds.

Form[edit]

This piece mostly relies on the higher quarter of the keyboard, grace notes, trills, and thirds, though there is a chorale-like theme in the middle. Some of the difficulties in performance include switching trills between the left and right hand, quick thirds, arpeggios and switching to play a set of semi-quavers between the left and right hand.

Literary references[edit]

It was mentioned in the first part of Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu.