Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Music

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

For generations, musicological consensus has treated Liszt’s signature technique of “thematic transformation” as musical form born out of structural and sonic experimentation. This study argues that the impetus for Liszt to create his signature compositional device of thematic transformation proceeds from the influence of the post-Revolutionary liberal Catholicism of the French Abbé Félicité de Lamennais. By exploring the historical, cultural, and artistic intersections between Lamennais’s texts and Liszt’s manuscripts, this dissertation builds on existing scholarship to replace a conventional analysis of thematic transformation with new religio-philosophical analytical lens through which to view Liszt’s most significant contribution to the historical trajectory of music composition itself.

The historical and theoretical foundations are established by exploring the post-revolutionary identity crisis shared by both men, driven by a deep romantic Sehnsucht and a generational longing for absolute truth. Liszt internalized Lamennais’s philosophies, tracing a humanistic vision to develop his progressive musical language. At the heart of this study is a close analytical reading of four solo piano works conceived during and after Liszt’s immersion in Lamennais’s ideas: Les Morts (S. 516), De profundis: psaume instrumental (S. 691), Lyon (S. 156/1), and Pensée des morts (S. 154 / S. 173/4). Through these analyses, this project demonstrates how Liszt made structural choices in transforming themes and textures to directly reflect Mennaisian theology, specifically in the representation of text in non-texted instrumental music. The author asserts that Liszt reformed musical form via religious inspiration, establishing thematic transformation as a compositional device capable of capturing the shifting spiritual states of human struggle and divine transcendence.

Date

7-12-2026

Committee Chair

Alison McFarland

LSU Acknowledgement

1

LSU Accessibility Acknowledgment

1

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