The oratorio takes the traditional plot of Jesus Christ's life from his birth to his passion and resurrection, using Bible texts, and is thus somewhat reminiscent of another famous religious work, Messiah by George Frideric Handel.
The composition of his most famous oratorio, Christus, occupied Liszt from 1862 to 1866, with shorter or longer pauses.
He finished the score by the end of September 1866, but he wished to make some revisions and corrections, and therefore the work was not completed until the December of that year.
The oratorio is of around three hours in duration and requires significant orchestral and vocal forces, which makes it rather a rarity in concert halls of today, and despite this most of the work is of almost chamber proportions and quite personal in mood.
For the text Liszt uses the Bible, the Catholic liturgy and some ancient Latin hymns; in that sense he did not want to experiment.
This is unlike earlier, baroque and classical oratorios, where the chorus prevails, and the orchestra simply acts as a commentary, providing harmonic texture.
The oratorio lacks recitative sections, although the score is periodically annotated with Latin passages as though explaining what the music is depicting, or the underlying emotional or religious relevance.
In his earlier works Liszt had often used the idea of musical motifs and themes undergoing transformations and modifications in order to achieve greater coherence and inter-connection: in this respect 'Christus' is no exception.
It is a kind of free polyphonic fantasy on the plainchant for Advent 'Rorate coeli', building from a quiet start seamlessly to a climax.
Supported and coloured by the orchestra, they sing of the angels coming among some shepherds, heralding the birth of Jesus Christ (Luke, 2:10-14).
In the 'Song of the Shepherds at the Manger', the pastoral atmosphere reaches its climax in gentle and merry melodies of the oboes, clarinets and bassoons, again based on the perfect-fifth interval.
It is pensive, calm and meditative, the sound not so rich as in Part One, as this movement represents a model of restraint and economy of means.
'The Foundation of the Church', however, 'wakes up' the chorus and Christ's words 'Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram...' (Matthew 16,18) sound firm and decisive.
The music is at first dramatic, as the storm rises huge waves, and the apostles cry to Jesus their pleads of 'Domine, salva nos, perimus!'
'The Entry into Jerusalem' employs soloists, chorus and orchestra, celebrating the arrival of the son of David and King of Israel, and brings Part Two of 'Christus' to a glorious close amidst cries of 'Hosanna!'.
The final part of the oratorio begins with a sombre and pain-filled movement 'Tristis est anima mea'.
So Liszt's greatest oratorio closes, using the full vocal and orchestral forces, with proclamations that 'Christ is risen!'.