Franz Liszt's "Dante Sonata": The origins, the criticism, a selective musical analysis, and commentary. Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Yeagley, David Anthony. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 07:33:28 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/186883 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UM! films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedtbrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely. event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UM! directly to order. U-M-I University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. MI48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9601018 Franz Liszt's "Dante Sonata": The origins, the criticism, a selective musical analysis, and commentary Yeagley, David Anthony, D.M.A. The University of Arizona, 1994 Copyright @1994 by Yeagley, David Anthony. All rights reserved. V·M·I 300 N. Zeeb Rd Ann Arbor, MI 48106 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 FRANZ LISZT'S DANTE SONATA: THE ORIGINS, THE CRITICISM, A SELECTIVE MUSICAL ANALYSIS, AND COMMENTARY by David Anthony Yeagley Copyright © David Anthony Yeagley 1994 A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF MUSIC In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS WITH A MAJOR IN PERFORMANCE In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1994 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the document prepared by David Anthony Yeagley entitled Franz Liszt's Dante Sonata: The Origins, the Criticism, A Selective Musical Analysis, and Commentary and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts ~g r;;-u~l 71 Date _:>-<~3 !~ __ )c! Date ' D~~ ~-0~ fi Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this document is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the document to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this document prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the requirement. Director Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This document has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this document are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED:, /)~ '/ U":7 ~~ 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Having entered upon this document project in complete nescience of computor skills, I am forever indebted to the CCIT User Support Department of the University of Arizona. At the time of my project, 1993-1994, Barbara Hoffman and Mike Alcorn were the executers of this program. The program involves labs containing sophisticated, updated computor equipment for use by students of the University, regardless of the students' level of computor skills. The program also provides highly skilled student monitors in each lab, available to answer innumerable questions from students-often of the most basic, frustrating nature. The quality and character of these student monitors was notably professional, always helpful, and remarkably patient. Without these special monitors, I could never have hoped to complete my Doctorate. Cetainly, I must acknowledge the kind women in the Graduate College Degree Certification office, notably Maria Telles and Carol Buttery, supervisor. I also must mention Patricia Bailes, in Graduate Student Programs, who more than once provided the solution to a. critical problem. I am very grateful to Jocelyn Reiter, Director of Graduate Studies at the School of Music, and Lyneen Elmore, secretary. Their direction and assistance, under stressful circumstances, was salvific. Of course, I am most thankful to the director of my program, Mr. Nicholas Zumbro. His personality, breadth of learning and experience, and acute sense of deep values, I found inspirational at a personal level. I also am grateful to other faculty members who were part of my program, and who contributed to my experience as a musician and as a human being. I especially thank Daniel Asia, Leonard Pearlman, John Brobeck, James Anthony. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 6 PREFACE ....................................................................................................................... 8 I. THE ORIGINS' OF THE DANTE SONATA .......................................................... 10 II. THE CRITICISM ..................................................................................................... 14 The Musical Effects .......................................................................................... 14 The Idea of Religious Music ............................................................................ 19 ill. SELECTIVE MUSICAL ANALYSIS ................................................................... 27 1. The Dotted Rhythm Notation .................................................................... 29 2. Tri-tone Relations ........................................................................................ 33 3. Chromatic Melodic Descent ....................................................................... 35 4. Harmonic Mediant Relations ..................................................................... 37 5. The Chorale Theme ..................................................................................... 39 6. Whole-tone Harmonizations ..................................................................... 40 IV. COMMENTARY: The Sonata and the Comedy_ ................................................. 48 AFTERWORD ............................................................................................................... 58 APPENDIX A: Translations ....................................................................................... 62 APPENDIX B: The Musical Score of the Dante Sonata ........................................... 65 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 90 6 ABSTRACT The earliest European Christian (Catholic) music was exclusively vocal. Western music's Renaissance (c.1400-1600) brought about independent instrumental music. However, the idea that religious sentiment could be expressed non-vocally, in non-liturgical contexts, on instruments not associated with religious circumstance, was developed by Liszt (1811-1886). Though Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote non-liturgical music regarded ~s "spiritual," (e.g., the late piano sonatas, the late string quartets), Liszt sought to establish a category of music specifically religious, apart from vocal, liturgical associations. Liszt invented such music at the piano, an instrument incorporating the variety of sounds, gestures, and harmonies he considered evocative of religious sentiment. The Dante Sonata is such a composition. Ex(;€pt for a brief, early moment in the Dante Sonata, the score is void of scales and arpeggios--very basic pianistic musical gestures. The score instead comprises innovative harmonies, creative use of octaves, chords, and original concepts of notation and rhythm. However, scales, arpeggios, indeed the gamut of 19th century pianism, are used by Liszt in other "religious" piano solos. The Legendes de St. Fran~ois contain substantial use of scales and arpeggiated figures. Other Catholic works, e.g., Pater noster, Vexilla Regis Prodeunt, Ave Maria, and numerous death-oriented works, though not virtuosic, are not limited in pianistic style. The Harmonies Poetiques et Religious (1845-1852, Nrs. 1-10) contain pieces with both limited and non-limited