Liszt and the French literary avant-garde of the 1830s
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Date
2013
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Katedra Muzykologii, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PTPN, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM
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Abstract
In France the 1820s and 1830s brought about enormous changes in the perception of literature
and art as a whole. Young poets, encouraged by the success and novelty of Méditations poétiques
by Alphonse de Lamartine, started seeking new possibilities of expression and ways of breaking with
the several-centuries-old tradition. They met with a strong protest from conservative milieu, especially
those linked to Académie française, and this made them fi ght for a new paradigm in literature. They
eagerly experimented with language as sound (Lamartine, Sainte-Beuve) and graphic (Nodier) matter.
They published their texts in the press (Le Globe) and presented them during meetings in artistic
salons, which functioned as a kind of laboratory. Thanks to the support of Charles Nodier they could
publish their poems in the best publishing houses, which largely contributed to their success. The fi nal
victory of the romantics was the premiere of Hernani by Victor Hugo in February 1830.
Franz Liszt, who came to Paris in 1823, was an active participant in the artistic and intellectual life
there. Moreover, he was also a friend of many prominent artists of the epoch, which can be seen in
his letters, writings, and piano music from the early 1830s. A particular example of the relationship
between the composer’s music and literary avant-garde is the piece Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
of 1835. We fi nd there the domination of the sound element, formal freedom, the intertwining of poetical
techniques, experiments with structure, and a strong stress on the word aspect of the oeuvre, for
example through very precise notation of tempo markings.
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Keywords
Franz Liszt, French literature, romanticism, piano music, Alphonse de Lamartine, Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
Citation
Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology 13, 2013, pp. 93-105
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ISBN
ISSN
1734-2406