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In 1853 a writer for the London-based periodical Fraser's Magazine remarked that Berlioz's “heroic temperament” could be “read legibly in the noble style of his compositions. His own life forms to these works the most interesting accompaniment and commentary.” The linking of life and work in Berlioz's case is nothing unusual. However, a particular set of circumstances unique to London meant that critics based in that city persistently used Berlioz's biography to further their own agendas while also promoting his music. In this article, I argue that, when writing about Berlioz's London performances, critics employed biographical ideas and narratives that enabled them to use the composer as a means to shape local debates about the future of London's orchestral institutions: the Philharmonic Society and its latest “rival”: the New Philharmonic Society. Biography proved a powerful rhetorical device from which Berlioz profited and is central to our understanding of his critical reception in London. It was used to introduce, to persuade, to simplify, to generate sympathy, admiration, and outrage. However, I reveal that in later visits biographical narratives overshadowed the coverage of Berlioz's music. In some articles, Berlioz was reduced to a rhetorical device to be employed to give strength to criticisms of either the old Philharmonic or the new, with the critic offering little insight into Berlioz's music. Biography had given Berlioz a foothold in musical London, but it could not win him the lasting success he craved.

The ways in which biographers mythologize their subjects’ lives (and the way they mythologize their own lives) have long been a topic of research in life-writing. Even though several musicologists ...

This paper introduces two ongoing projects where audio augmented reality is implemented as a means of engaging museum and gallery visitors with audio archive material and associated objects, artworks and artefacts. It outlines some of the issues surrounding the presentation and engagement with sound based material within the context of the cultural institution, discusses some previous and related work on approaches to the cultural application of audio augmented reality, and describes the research approach and methodology currently engaged with in developing an increased understanding in this area. Additionally, it discusses the project within the context of related cultural and sound studies literature, presents some initial conclusions as a result of a practice-based approach, and outlines the next steps for the project.

This article brings the concepts of intertextuality and subjectivity into dialogue in order to advance our understanding of both and to generate new readings of two pieces that are rich in intertextual relationships and also raise complex questions about subjectivity: Liszt’s Deux Polonaises. I argue that, not only are intertextuality and subjectivity codependent, intertextuality also influences the way subjectivities behave and their characteristics. Furthermore, the performer has a fundamental influence on how subjectivities are expressed, challenging our understanding of who retains authorial control. The Deux Polonaises are also related to a literary intertext: Liszt’s F. Chopin, written in the wake of Chopin’s death. This book offers fascinating insight into the potential meanings behind the intertextual references and the play of subjectivities within the pieces, and connects the Deux Polonaises to the emotive historical and political context of their composition. It opens up multiple meanings that are related to contemporary conceptions of the polonaise, and the symbols of Polish cultural Romanticism with which the genre was intertwined.

This chapter focuses on depictions of the creative process in a particular type of biographical source: biopics of classical and popular composers. Biopics reach broader audiences than traditional musicological texts and provide a window into how the creative process is understood in the popular imagination. This chapter outlines the main motifs that are usually associated with music creative processes in film. It compares depictions of classical composers with popular musicians, arguing that over time the two have converged as popular musicians have begun to be treated as artists rather than professional entertainers. Simultaneously, the chapter analyzes some of the cinematic conventions that are commonly used in the depiction of the creative act, particularly visual techniques such as flashbacks and overlays, and the manipulation of the soundtrack. These techniques idealize the creative act as a product of the mind, emphasizing its subconscious aspects rather than the practical techniques of composition.

Liszt composed the symphonic poem Hamlet towards the end of his tenure as Kapellmeister of the Weimar Court Theatre, a time when he regularly conducted operas, concerts, incidental music and variety performances. It was also a time when he frequently came into contact with artists, writers, musicians and actors. One actor in particular left a memorable impression: Bogumil Dawison. Dawison's style was unusual at the time; his performances were noted for their aggression, expressiveness and energy, and many praised the flexibility of his voice and face. Dawison aimed for a realistic approach in response to Goethe's Classicism, but the result was closer to the melodramatic style that was gaining in popularity at the time. His portrayal of Hamlet was particularly innovative, and it captured Liszt's imagination shortly before he composed the symphonic poem inspired by Shakespeare's tragedy.The relationship between the world of the theatre (particularly spoken theatre) and the symphonic poems has never before been explored in Liszt scholarship, yet, as this article reveals, spoken theatre had a significant influence on Hamlet. Indeed, this article will draw new stylistic and conceptual parallels between this symphonic poem and both melodrama as a genre and its related ‘melodramatic’ style of acting. The article argues that Dawison's influence can be traced in Liszt's approach to this work and that a ‘melodramatic reading’ can enable us to interpret some of its more puzzling aspects.

Hamlet, the last of Liszt’s Weimar symphonic poems, stands out from the others in the sheer detail of its references to the text of Shakespeare’s play. This paper considers how Liszt revised the symphonic poems in order to tighten the relationship between music and drama against the context of his encounter with a renowned and innovative Shakespearian actor, Bogumil Dawison. It demonstrates that the revisions made to Hamlet concerned incorporating extra ’scenes’ from the play using techniques associated with incidental music. Liszt also added programmatic instructions directly related to Dawison’s portrayal. All of this allows us to reconsider the position of Hamlet within the symphonic poems, as a forerunner to the highly programmatic Two Episodes from Lenau’s Faust and the melodramas that Liszt would compose immediately afterwards.

Throughout his life Liszt projected diverse identities, which were sometimes embraced by the public, and sometimes questioned. These “contradictions” in his character have been the subject of much confusion and debate, and one aspect in particular still has scholars perplexed: Liszt9s national identity. Writers have come down on all sides, declaring Liszt was “really” Hungarian, French, German, or “cosmopolitan,” yet the role of language in projecting these identities has so far been overlooked. This article maps Liszt9s fluctuating proficiency and frequency of use of a variety of languages onto his biography. It identifies clear patterns that suggest his linguistic “reconstructions” were a means of deliberately adapting his identity as appropriate. It draws patterns from a wide range of Liszt9s letters in order to establish why and how he used a device commonly referred to in sociolinguistics as “codeswitching.” This is a concept whereby bilingual speakers switch language mid-conversation or mid-sentence. The article argues that Liszt switched language to bring forward certain identities to certain recipients. It concludes by considering how “codeswitching” may also relate to his music, by applying the concept to the symphonic poem Heroide funebre .

Current studies of burlesque position it as a subversive genre that questioned cultural and social hierarchies and spoke to diverse audiences. Central to this interpretation are burlesque's juxtapositions of high and low culture, particularly popular and operatic music. This article problematizes this view, proposing that mid-Victorian burlesques lost their satirical bite. Demonstrating little concern for the tastes or interests of the poorer or the most elite members of the audience, they specifically targeted the bourgeoisie. The article places three mid-Victorian burlesques in the wider context of the commercial development of the West End following the 1851 Great Exhibition. It proposes that this broader context, and not the genre's perceived social role, provides the key to understanding the impulses driving the musical choices. It argues that juxtapositions of ‘high’ and ‘low’ music were far from subversive; rather they were included for commercial reasons, offering variety – but variety within strict bourgeois limits.

Franz Liszt was preoccupied with a fundamental but difficult question: what is the content of music? His answer lay in his symphonic poems, a group of orchestral pieces intended to depict a variety of subjects drawn from literature, visual art and drama. Today, the symphonic poems are usually seen as alternatives to the symphony post-Beethoven. Analysts stress their symphonic logic, thereby neglecting their 'extramusical' subject matter. This book takes a different approach: it returns these influential pieces to their original performance context in the theatre, arguing that the symphonic poem is as much a dramatic as a symphonic genre. This is evidenced in new analyses of the music that examines the theatricality of these pieces and their depiction of voices, mise-en-scène, gesture and action. Simultaneously, the book repositions Liszt's legacy within theatre history, arguing that his contributions should be placed alongside those of Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Wagner.