7 research outputs found
The ‘Faust’ or ’Lucifer’ Sonata? On Liszt’s idea of programme music as exemplified by his Piano Sonata in B minor
The musicological tradition places Liszt’s Sonata in B minor within the sphere of compositions inspired by the Faustian myth. Its musical material, its structure and its narrative exhibit certain similarities to the ‘Faust’ Symphony. Yet there has appeared a different and, one may say, a rival interpretation of Sonata in B minor. What is more, it is well-documented from both a musical and a historical point of view. It has been presented by Hungarian pianist and musicologist Tibor Szasz. He proposes the thesis that the Sonata in B minor has been in fact inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost, with its three protagonists: Adam, Satan and Christ. He finds their illustrations and even some key elements of the plot in the Sonata’s narrative. But yet Milton’s Paradise Lost and Goethe’s Faust are both stories of the Fall and Salvation, of the cosmic struggle between good and evil. The triads of their protagonists - Adam and Eve, Satan, and Christ; Faust, Mephisto and Gretchen - are homological. Thus both interpretations of the Sonata, the Goethean and the Miltonian, or, in other words, the Faustian and the Luciferian, are parallel and complementary rather than rival. It is also highly probable that both have had their impact on the genesis of the Sonata in B minor
The ‘Faust’ or ’Lucifer’ Sonata? On Liszt’s idea of programme music as exemplifi ed by his Piano Sonata in B minor
The musicological tradition places Liszt’s Sonata in B minor within the sphere of compositions
inspired by the Faustian myth. Its musical material, its structure and its narrative exhibit
certain similarities to the ‘Faust’ Symphony. Yet there has appeared a diff erent and, one may say, a rival
interpretation of Sonata in B minor. What is more, it is well-documented from both a musical and
a historical point of view. It has been presented by Hungarian pianist and musicologist Tibor Szász.
He proposes the thesis that the Sonata in B minor has been in fact inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost,
with its three protagonists: Adam, Satan and Christ. He fi nds their illustrations and even some key
elements of the plot in the Sonata’s narrative.
But yet Milton’s Paradise Lost and Goethe’s Faust are both stories of the Fall and Salvation, of the
cosmic struggle between good and evil. The triads of their protagonists – Adam and Eve, Satan, and
Christ; Faust, Mephisto and Gretchen – are homological. Thus both interpretations of the Sonata,
the Goethean and the Miltonian, or, in other words, the Faustian and the Luciferian, are parallel and
complementary rather than rival. It is also highly probable that both have had their impact on the
genesis of the Sonata in B minor
Zrozumieć współczesność
Księga poświęcona Profesorowi Hieronimowi Kubiakowi w 75. rocznicę urodzin.
Tom ofiarowany przez przyjaciół i uczniów
Music as the game of being : considerations about George Steiner’s view on music
In his monograph on Heidegger and essay about music, George Steiner proposes
a thesis on a direct analogy between music and Being. He writes that "Being, in
Heidegger’s sense, has similarly to music its own history and meaning, dependence
on a human as well as dimensions transcending mankind". Thus, Being
is supposed to be something like the music of all existence, while music itself
is supposed to be the discovering of Being. Steiner also states in his treatise on
music that according to Greek mythology, ancient primeval violence, transcendence,
otherness and non-human nature are inherent in music. Music is capable
of depicting the experience of existence in its essence (G. Steiner Martin Heidegger
Chicago 1987 and G. Steiner Über Musik in: Errata. Bilanz eines Lebens
München 1999)