The piece
In 1850 Liszt published three nocturnes for piano, the Liebesträume, transcriptions of his own songs. The third, in A-flat major, comes from the song O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst, on a poem by Ferdinand Freiligrath: "Love, as long as you can love". This easy version, arranged for Noctave after the Kistner edition (around 1903), keeps the theme as Liszt first presents it, then his last verse, with the melody's slow descent, and the closing bars.
The melody is in the right hand, an octave higher than at the start of the piece, where Liszt himself places it in his last verse. Its long notes often repeat: the C of the first bar comes back on the fourth beat; play it again softly, without an accent. The left hand plays the bass and then four eighth notes of the chord, below the tune; the pedal changes with each bar and each new bass. Count the six beats carefully: the time signature is 6/4, twice three quarter notes.
