Liszt, who served as Kapellmeister at the Weimar court from 1848 onwards, dedicated himself to promoting Wagner's works in the city. Following the performance of Tannhäuser on February 16, 1849, he achieved the complete premiere of Lohengrin on August 28, 1850, amidst the celebrations of Goethe's 101st birthday, despite the composer's absence due to his exile in Switzerland. These arrangements, undertaken several years later in 1854, can also be regarded as new initiatives for the dissemination of Wagner's works. Indeed, Liszt later reflected on these arrangements from the 1850s as “a modest propaganda for Wagner's sublime creative spirit, carried out by a humble piano” (to Breitkopf & Härtel, hereafter “B&H,” November 23, 1876).

The overall title of the first edition, published by B&H in 1849, the same year of completion, is Two Pieces, but the score is divided into two volumes: Volume 1 contains “Festive and Wedding Song,” and Volume 2 contains “Elsa's Dream” as the first piece and “Lohengrin's Reproach” as the second, thus consisting of “three” individual short arrangements. Liszt's approach in these pieces—“Festive and Wedding Song,” “Elsa's Dream,” and “Lohengrin's Reproach”—is remarkably similar. All arrangements respect the original melodic lines and harmonies, with Liszt's characteristic extreme virtuoso treatment being restrained. Furthermore, as a strategy to establish Wagner's seamless scenes as independent arrangements, Liszt added his own preludes and postludes (or one of them) before and/or after the extracted scenes.

Volume 1: Festive and Wedding Song

The “Festive” in the arrangement's title is based on the Prelude to Act III of the original opera, which begins with a brilliant brass fanfare. Liszt added a 10-measure prelude at the beginning, whose motif is derived from the motif in the Prelude to Act III. Following the “Festive” section is the “Wedding Song” from Scene 1 of the same act, with more prominent pianistic ornamentation in the second strophe than in the first. Afterward, it returns to the Prelude (up to measure 49 of the original). The 5-measure postlude, also added by Liszt, corresponds motivically to the prelude. (Thus, this arrangement is structured with a double frame: “Liszt's own prelude” → “Prelude” → “Wedding Song” → “Prelude” → “Liszt's own postlude.”)

Volume 2: Elsa's Dream and Lohengrin's Reproach

The first piece in Volume 2 of the first edition, “Elsa's Dream,” is a 60-measure miniature. Liszt first used the opening 16 measures of Act I, Scene 2 of the opera as a substitute for the prelude to this arrangement. From measure 17, it jumps directly to approximately 80 measures later in the same scene (Scene 2 of the original), initiating the “Elsa's Dream” section following a two-octave chromatically ascending flute passage. The postlude concludes quietly with four measures of simple chords.

The “Elsa's Dream” section chosen by Liszt begins at the point where the dream's content is narrated in Wagner's libretto, omitting the preceding prayer to God and the onset of slumber. Moreover, Liszt does not always trace Elsa's vocal melody, often focusing on instrumental melodies. “Elsa's Dream” features regular rhymes, and the melody accompanying these lyrics is understood to hold particular significance. However, Liszt reproduces only the “ab” of the “ababcdcd” rhyme scheme, and thereafter treats the orchestral part as the main melody instead of the vocal melody. After a brief period, it returns to Elsa's melody. In Liszt's arrangement, a portion of Elsa's dream is omitted from the scene where she narrates it; however, Liszt aims to reproduce the beauty of the dreamlike state on a single piano, rather than the specific content of Elsa's dream itself.

The second piece included in Volume 2, “Lohengrin's Reproach,” is based on Act III, Scene 2 of the original Lohengrin (the part where Lohengrin gently soothes Elsa, beginning with “Atmest du nicht mit mir die süßen Dürfte?” – “Are you not breathing the sweet scents with me?”). It is a miniature of almost the same scale (63 measures) as the first piece, “Elsa's Dream,” with no added prelude except for a 6-measure postlude, and both the melodic lines and harmonies are based on the original. As evidence that the melodic line has not been altered, German lyrics are inscribed on the melodic line of Lohengrin's vocal part.

Among Liszt's arrangements of Wagner's works, only two pieces have lyrics accompanying the vocal melodic line: “Lohengrin's Reproach” and “O du, mein holder Abendstern” (O, you, my gracious evening star), based on Wolfram's aria from Tannhäuser. This implies that in other arrangements (excluding the Tannhäuser Overture, which has no lyrics in the original), the melodic lines are altered or expanded, making it impossible to transcribe the lyrics note-for-note. (Of course, there is also a strong possibility that Liszt believed that the inclusion of lyrics was not necessary in piano arrangements.)

The autograph manuscript is housed in the archives of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv (shelfmark: GSA 60 / U55).