Liszt's symphonic poems and the 'new manifestation of the human spirit'

A preference for "absolute" music has surfaced in twentieth-century musical scholarship, and it has produced a large body of work that marginalizes the verbal programs of nineteenth-century programmatic compositions. In regards to Franz Liszt, this bias ignores the composer's own views of the program, as expressed in both his prose writings and his musical compositions. This dissertation consequently examines Liszt's conception of program as it evolves in essays from the 1830s--50s (including "De la situation des artistes," a document not available in English); the study then reevaluates the relationship between music and verbal program in selected symphonic poems.; Several large issues surface during the course of this investigation. First, the program is an indispensable component of Liszt's art. Although his early articles present the program as a means of ensuring that the composer's intentions are not misunderstood, later it becomes mandatory for a composer desiring to communicate specific affective content to the entire audience. The compositional project that ultimately matured into the fourth Transcendental Etude and the symphonic poem Mazeppa bears witness to this changing conception: Liszt first assigns the Mazeppa-program as an acknowledgment of affective content already present in earlier versions of the work, but he later reshapes the pieces in response to the needs of its program.; Furthermore, in his prose Liszt maintains that music must be "humanitaire." Music, like all the arts, must serve humanity, and it is program music that best fulfills this social mission by offering moral and ethical instruction to the mass audience. At the same time, Liszt's humanitarian agendas alter the programs and musical materials of his compositions. In Heroide funebre and Hunnenschlacht, the composer strives to create verbal programs, as well as thematic materials and musical structures, that appeal to a wide segment of the population.; Finally, the emphasis Liszt gives to the Romantic hero in his prose writings and program music stems from his belief in "musique humanitaire." Because the composer interprets the hero as a reflection of the animus of the nineteenth century---i.e., a "new manifestation of the human spirit"---Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo presents a portrait of the title figure that parallels contemporary literary conceptions of the hero. Even Liszt himself emerges as a Romantic hero in the Lettres d'un bachelier es musique and, as the creator of "musique humanitaire," in the symphonic poem Orpheus.; Liszt's prose works offer insight into his intentions and his art. Analysis of these writings, together with examination of selected symphonic poems, reveal that his programs and music are inseparably intertwined. And in Liszt's opinion, their interconnection is a necessary response to the humanitarian concerns of the Romantic era.