Obermann the epistolary novel by the French Romantic Senancour inspired Liszt to write the first volume in his collection Années de Pèlerinage (HN 173). A wanderer is searching for his ideals in the solitude ofthe Swiss mountains. The composer was able to identify with these ideas to such a great degree that he prefaced the eighth piece ( Le Mal de Pays ) with an extract from the novel s 38th letter. It is this text which alsoaccompanies our edition of the sixth piece Vallée d Obermann . To aid comprehension we have also included translations of the French orginal into German and English. Now the most important composition in the Années I is also available in a separate Henle urtext edition.
