Liszt started work on the Via Crucis in 1873 and completed its composition in February 1879. From the beginning he wished that one day it would accompany the Via Crucis celebrated by the Pope in Rome on Good Friday. As was the case in the Baroque Passions, Liszt uses the chorus as a voiceover which comments on the story and invites us to think about the events being celebrated. Following the steps of these “poetics of evocation”, Liszt encourages us to relive the events of the Passion through the musical themes which mark each stage in the dramatic epilogue of Christ’s life.