The Grand Tour : a romantic journey through a performance of Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to investigate the ways in which four major composers of the Romantic period, namely, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt, emulate and reconfigure the Grand Tour through chosen works that I will analyse. In the Introductory Chapter, I provide a historical and cultural background to the actual Grand Tour that commenced at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and which became a source of both attraction and inspiration for poets, artists, composers, and men and women of means. The very short Preamble to the following chapters attempts to justify the choice of works when performed in a recital (as I will do in part fulfilment of my degree), as well as what style one must adopt, and so on.

The second chapter looks at Schubert’s Sonata in A minor D.784, which is one of his later works. I analyse the work from an introspective point of view. This enables me to read it as an intimate, confessional work, one that speaks directly to the performer.

The third chapter deals with Chopin’s Scherzo in Bb minor op. 31. I find in Chopin an element of circumspection that is so difficult to reconcile with the tempestuous Romantic mood. Yet, Chopin exercises this virtue admirably: seething, tumultuous passion is never sacrificed for elegance and control.

The fourth chapter allows me to look at Schumann’s Kinderszenen from a retrospective angle. This makes it possible for me to use the work as a mnemonic trigger that allows insight into the composer’s childhood, in the manner of Blake in The Songs of Innocence and Wordsworth in The Prelude.

Last but not least, the fifth chapter engages with Liszt and his Après une Lecture du Dante, a work that sees the Hungarian master in conversation with the mediaeval Florentine genius, Dante. This allows for a re-inspection of Dante, thus enabling the composer to create an intertextual relationship with the poet.

In all the chapters that deal with the four different composers and their chosen works, I do my best to present a technical and interpretative analysis, discussing methodology, pedagogy, hermeneutics, while also making reference to multiple primary and secondary sources, including recordings.

The brief Conclusion brings the different strands of the four analytical chapters together, thus bringing the pilgrimage to its shrine and the metaphorical Grand Tour to its close.