DESCRIPTION:
Horror show thrills did not originate in Hollywood -- in fact, the "dream" or "nightmare factory" of movie production was anticipated in its most lurid artifacts by nineteenth and early twentieth century opera. Pacts with the devil, the undead, demoniac possession, the strutting Devil himself were part and parcel of early Romanticism, from the lofty philosophical heights of Goethe's Faust (which gave rise to a number of musical works quite apart from the evergreen of Gounod's Faust, Boïto's Mefistofele, and Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand") to Weber's classic Der Freischütz, premiered in 1821, with its stunning Wolf's Glen scene, and Marschner's Der Vampyr in 1828, which influenced the young Wagner. All are possessed by demon-crossed lovers and rife with plot complications turning up again every season in spates of predictable B movies to gorge an apparently inexhaustible appetite. Eugène Scribe, that master of the operatic hot property, cobbled together a libretto potpourri of the genre for the wealthy Meyerbeer who composed the most phenomenally successful operatic spectacle of the century, the first "grand" opera, Robert le diable, premiered at the Opéra on November 22, 1831, to such earth-shaking success that it is credited with making the fortune of that moribund institution. Robert, son of the devil Bertram by a mortal woman, is led into temptation by his father at every turn, though ultimately saved by the love of a good woman (a theme very dear to Wagner). The third act features an epitome of poor taste that thrilled generations of opera-goers as Bertram summons the ghosts of nuns who violated their vows to dance a Valse infernale. Liszt, an avid opera fan, transcribed this waltz in 1841 as Réminiscences de Robert le diable -- Valse infernale, which he performed for the first time at a recital in the Salle Erard on March 27, 1841, creating a furor -- it sold out the same day it was put on sale by his publisher, Maurice Schlesinger. Schlesinger, at that time, was tossing journalistic assignments and musical hackwork to the obscure Richard Wagner, then in perilous financial straits in Paris. At an all-Beethoven fundraising concert on April 25, with Berlioz in command of the orchestra and Liszt the featured soloist, a clamorous audience refused to allow the program to proceed until Liszt at last consented to perform the Valse infernale. Reviewing the event for the Dresden Abendzeitung, Wagner snarled "Some day Liszt in heaven will be summoned to play his Fantasy on The Devil before the assembled company of angels."

(allmusic.net)

Please take note that the audio AND the sheet music ARE NOT mine. Change the quality to a minimum of 480p if the video is blurry.

Original audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvo8lJ1GOdA
Original sheet music: imslp.org