The Consolations, S. 171a/172 (German: Tröstungen) are a set of six solo piano works by Franz Liszt. The compositions take the musical style of nocturnes with each having its own distinctive style. Each Consolation is composed in either the key of E major or D♭ major. E major is a key regularly used by Liszt for religious themes.

There exist two versions of the Consolations. The first (S. 171a) was composed by Liszt between 1844 and 1849 and published in 1992 by G. Henle Verlag. The second (S. 172) was composed between 1849 and 1850 and published in 1850 by Breitkopf & Härtel, containing the familiar Consolation No. 3, Lento placido, in D♭ major.

The source of the title Consolations may have been Lamartine's poem "Une larme, ou Consolation" from the poetry collection Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies). Liszt's piano cycle Harmonies poétiques et religieuses is based on Lamartine's collection of poems. Another possible inspiration for the title are the Consolations of the French literary historian Charles Sainte-Beuve Sainte-Beuve's Consolations, published in 1830, is a collection of Romantic era poetry where friendship is extolled as a consolation for the loss of religious faith.

The Consolations are also referred to as Six pensées poétiques (Six poetic thoughts), a title not used for Breitkopf's 1850 publication but for a set published shortly thereafter, in the same year, by the Bureau Central de Musique in Paris.

The Consolations, S. 171a, consist of six solo compositions for the piano.

1. Andante con moto (E major)

2. Un poco più mosso (E major)

3. Lento, quasi recitativo (E major / C-sharp minor)

4. Quasi Adagio, cantabile con devozione (D♭ major)

5. Andantino (E major) – "Madrigal"

6. Allegretto (G major)

Composed between 1844 and 1849, they are Liszt's first version of the Consolations and were first published in 1992 by G. Henle Verlag. The manuscripts are located at the Goethe and Schiller Archives in Weimar.

The third Consolation is an arrangement of a Hungarian folksong that would be later reused by Liszt in his Hungarian Rhapsody No.1, S.244/1. The fifth Consolation is the earliest of the compositions and dates from 1844. In an early manuscript, the fifth Consolation is entitled “Madrigal”. Liszt dedicated the Madrigal to a friend of his, a Weimar Intendant named M. de Ziegäser.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolations_(Liszt)