Written in 1862, Évocation à la Chapelle Sixtine literally originated in a vision. When Liszt visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome, musical legends related to the place were evoked in his imagination. Allegri and Mozart appeared before his mind’s eye, and he believed he heard their compositions, Miserere and Ave verum corpus. This vision was to define the dramaturgy of the future work: “I did not merely bring them closer to each other, but bound the two together, as it were. In the Miserere the misery and anguish of men find voice; God’s infinite mercy and benign grace manifests itself and sings in the Ave verum corpus. This touches upon the most sublime mystery and reveals to us the triumph of Love over Evil and Death.” With the Coronation Mass, Liszt sought not only to meet the requirements of the formulary, but also to ensure – as he wrote in a letter – that “the ecclesiastical and the national Hungarian character find clear expression” in it.