Conjugal Fidelity: Constructions of Gender in Liszt's Arrangements for Solo Piano

Abstract

Franz Liszt was one of the 19th century’s most famous musicians, widely seen as a cultural icon and even a sex symbol. Little research has engaged with these aspects of Liszt’s persona from a perspective informed by contemporary thinking on gender. Central to his compositional activities was the arrangement of music for solo piano, an activity bound up in the 19th century in gendered discourses of textual fidelity, genre, and performance. My dissertation proceeds from Liszt’s intriguing comment that transcription requires a degree of ‘conjugal fidelity’ to succeed, in order to situate Liszt’s processes of arrangement within a broader gendered context. I then consider gendered meanings in works from Liszt’s Glanzzeit; first, his transcriptions of 3 Schubert lieder, Gretchen am Spinnrade, Erlkönig, and Ständchen. I will then read the virtuosic Réminiscences de Don Juan in relation to the opera on which it is based, as well as Liszt’s own comments about performing the work, to understand how gender and music interacted for Liszt in the performance of his virtuoso arrangements. The dissertation is informed by, and reflected in, a lecture recital involving some of these pieces, as well as others inspired by the same theme. This research will offer new perspectives on Liszt, and what it means for performers to interpret his works today.