Liszt and the Symphonic Poem

A fresh evaluation of Liszt's symphonic poems, based on contextual, philosophical and musical evidence.

Joanne Cormac (Author)

9781316632642, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 September 2019

380 pages, 7 b/w illus. 11 tables 77 music examples
24.3 x 16.9 x 1.8 cm, 0.65 kg

'… Liszt and the Symphonic Poem [is not merely a welcome addition to a sparse secondary literature, but instead] offers cohesive, intriguing views of Liszt as a man of the theatre, of his symphonic poems as works of astonishing ambition and breadth and of his pivotal position as an innovator in the tradition of nineteenth-century orchestral music.' Paul Bertagnolli, Nineteenth-Century Music Review

Franz Liszt was preoccupied with a fundamental but difficult question: what is the content of music? His answer lay in his symphonic poems, a group of orchestral pieces intended to depict a variety of subjects drawn from literature, visual art and drama. Today, the symphonic poems are usually seen as alternatives to the symphony post-Beethoven. Analysts stress their symphonic logic, thereby neglecting their 'extramusical' subject matter. This book takes a different approach: it returns these influential pieces to their original performance context in the theatre, arguing that the symphonic poem is as much a dramatic as a symphonic genre. This is evidenced in new analyses of the music that examines the theatricality of these pieces and their depiction of voices, mise-en-scène, gesture and action. Simultaneously, the book repositions Liszt's legacy within theatre history, arguing that his contributions should be placed alongside those of Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Wagner.

Introduction
1. Liszt's activities as Kapellmeister
2. From the lyric to the dramatic: the development of Tasso
3. Prometheus, melodramatic mimesis, and the visual
4. Orpheus, opera and Werktreue
5. Formal innovation and dramatic gesutre in Festklänge
6. Hamlet and melodrama
7. Liszt's Weimar legacy.

Subject Areas: Poetry [DC], Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], Western "classical" music [AVGC]