Abstract

One of the most characteristic developments of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was the rise of a new idea of artistic genius. Notions of individuality and human power developing during this time period were explored in literature, poetry, and philosophy. This study examines the orchestral works of Franz Liszt that are directly associated with nineteenth-century symbols of genius. The subjects of the symphonic poems Tasso: lamento e trionfo ; Prometheus ; Orpheus ; and Eine Faust-Symphonie in drei Charaklerbildern and Eine Symphonie zu Dantes Divina commedia connect the music to mythical and literary works and to characters that achieved icon status due to their association with various traits of the Romantic genius. An investigation of this particular repertoire offers further insight into the cultural web of music, aesthetics, literature, philosophy, and the conception of genius during the mid-nineteenth century. ;Within the construct of Michel Foucault's Classic and Modern epistemes, this study traces English and German literary and philosophical works from the eighteenth through the early nineteenth centuries that describe artistic genius, the later ones notably employing musical metaphors in their descriptions. Arthur Schopenhauer's Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung , which contains crucial ideas for the discussion of art and genius, had a direct impact on Liszt and Richard Wagner , as well as on other musicians of the mid-nineteenth century. ;The study of the literary, philosophical, and artistic background of each work's topic character provides a hermeneutic lens through which to interpret each character as a symbol of genius. Each of Liszt's works turns out to interpret a particular characteristic of the genius it symbolizes. Investigation of the conception of genius, the relating of each to the philosophical conception of music, and the demonstration of how these characters fit into those two conceptions reveal an interpretation of these orchestral works that goes beyond representation of characters. They serve as actualizations of the Romantic understanding of genius in musical terms