Page 67 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
P. 67
doi: https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-299-2.67-76
“Catholic” Programme Music?
Franz Liszt’s Religiosity in the Focus
of the Viennese Press (1857–1900)
Bianca Schumann
Univerza na Dunaju
University of Vienna
Hardly any debates polarised the Viennese concert-going public in the 19th
century more than the one concerning the aesthetic value of symphonic pro-
gramme music. The Viennese press provided the arena for this great battle:
across a variety of newspapers, numerous critics crossed swords in frequent-
ly polemical tones over this musical genre, which became established in the
1850s. As I discovered while writing my dissertation1 – which critically ex-
amined about 1000 specially compiled music reviews published by about 150
authors in 35 Viennese periodicals covering 116 performances of 45 different
symphonic programme music compositions between 1855 and 1900 – com-
position and performance reviews were rarely limited in their argumenta-
tion solely to the evaluation of the musical texture. Reviewers also questioned
both the aesthetic value of the main musical genres as well as the composers’
individual artistic ability. In such author-focused discussions, aspects such as
national identity2 or religious convictions also often came to the fore.
1 Bianca Schumann, “Umstrittene Tongemälde. Die Rezeption symphonischer Pro-
grammmusik in Wien (1855–1900)” (Dissertation, University of Vienna, 2022).
2 Bianca Schumann, “Ein ‘deutscher’ Franzose? Die Rezeption von Camille Saint-
-Saëns’ symphonischer Programmmusik im Wiener Pressediskurs (1876–1889),” Ad
Parnassum: A Journal of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Instrumental Music 17,
no. 34 (2019): 103–27; Bianca Schumann, “Zwischen Ost und West: Franz Liszts nati-
onale Identität in der Wiener Musikkritik (1857–1900),” Studia Musicologica 61, no.
3–4 (2020): 367–79; Bianca Schumann, “‘Slawische’ Programmmusik? Bedřich Sme-
tanas und Antonín Dvořáks Nationalität im Fokus der Wiener Presse (1887–1918),”
Journal of Music Criticism 6 (2022): 39–75.
67
“Catholic” Programme Music?
Franz Liszt’s Religiosity in the Focus
of the Viennese Press (1857–1900)
Bianca Schumann
Univerza na Dunaju
University of Vienna
Hardly any debates polarised the Viennese concert-going public in the 19th
century more than the one concerning the aesthetic value of symphonic pro-
gramme music. The Viennese press provided the arena for this great battle:
across a variety of newspapers, numerous critics crossed swords in frequent-
ly polemical tones over this musical genre, which became established in the
1850s. As I discovered while writing my dissertation1 – which critically ex-
amined about 1000 specially compiled music reviews published by about 150
authors in 35 Viennese periodicals covering 116 performances of 45 different
symphonic programme music compositions between 1855 and 1900 – com-
position and performance reviews were rarely limited in their argumenta-
tion solely to the evaluation of the musical texture. Reviewers also questioned
both the aesthetic value of the main musical genres as well as the composers’
individual artistic ability. In such author-focused discussions, aspects such as
national identity2 or religious convictions also often came to the fore.
1 Bianca Schumann, “Umstrittene Tongemälde. Die Rezeption symphonischer Pro-
grammmusik in Wien (1855–1900)” (Dissertation, University of Vienna, 2022).
2 Bianca Schumann, “Ein ‘deutscher’ Franzose? Die Rezeption von Camille Saint-
-Saëns’ symphonischer Programmmusik im Wiener Pressediskurs (1876–1889),” Ad
Parnassum: A Journal of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Instrumental Music 17,
no. 34 (2019): 103–27; Bianca Schumann, “Zwischen Ost und West: Franz Liszts nati-
onale Identität in der Wiener Musikkritik (1857–1900),” Studia Musicologica 61, no.
3–4 (2020): 367–79; Bianca Schumann, “‘Slawische’ Programmmusik? Bedřich Sme-
tanas und Antonín Dvořáks Nationalität im Fokus der Wiener Presse (1887–1918),”
Journal of Music Criticism 6 (2022): 39–75.
67
