Franz Liszt's sonata narratives: large-scale forms at the Weimar Court

This thesis critically examines the concept of narrative in music by analysing the large-scale, sonata-form instrumental works of Franz Liszt, composed during his tenure as <i>Hofkapellmeister im außerordentlichen Dienst</i> between the years of 1848 to 1861 at the Weimar Court Theatre. Drawing primary attention to the theoretical models of the new <i>Formenlehre</i>, including William Caplin’s theory of formal functions, James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s Sonata Theory, and their nineteenth-century complements in Schmalfeldt, Horton, and Vande Moortele, the analyses co-inhabit both empirical and hermeneutic approaches, endorsing the multi-variate methodologies of musicology alongside the literary models of narratology and transtextuality.<br/><br/>Following a conceptual introduction to narrative theory and detailed review of narrative’s adoption in musicology, the thesis builds a theoretical model for the analysis of large-scale forms in nineteenth-century instrumental music. Key case studies comprise the most important of Liszt’s sonata-form works from this period, including <i>Après une lecture du Dante (Fantasia quasi Sonata)</i> and the Piano Sonata in B Minor; the symphonic poems <i>Les Préludes</i>, <i>Orpheus</i>, <i>Prometheus</i>, and <i>Tasso: Lamento e Trionfo</i>; and “Mephistopheles” from <i>Eine Faust-Symphonie</i>; each of which are analysed here under the rubric of the new <i>Formenlehre </i>for the first time, demonstrating the suitability of Liszt’s inclusion in the field, and endorsing the sonata principle as the foundational structure of his large-scale forms. No less than thirty compositions from Liszt’s Weimar years provide supplementary analytical insights, among further examples from lesser-studied nineteenth-century composers. The thesis arrives at a conceptual framework for the analysis of large-scale sonata forms as narrative processes, guided by the frames of transtextuality, and motivated by an aesthetic dialogue between composer and listener.<br/><br/><i>Thesis embargoed until 31 December 2026</i>.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral Thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Queen's University Belfast

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Whitelaw, Bryan

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Tomita, Yo
• Robb, David

• Franz Liszt
• sonata theory
• narrative
• hermeneutics
• transtextuality
• music theory and analysis
• sonata form

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/8ebef998-c7c8-4d18-aa71-a67238bc7a1c

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/8ebef998-c7c8-4d18-aa71-a67238bc7a1c