Raphael, the Virgin Mary, and Holy Matrimony: Recontextualizing Franz Liszt's Sposalizio

Calella, Michele (2018) Raphael, the Virgin Mary, and Holy Matrimony: Recontextualizing Franz Liszt's Sposalizio. Studia Musicologica, 59 (1-2). pp. 3-20. ISSN 1788-6244 (print); 1789-2422 (online)

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Abstract

Sposalizio, the piece opening the “Italian year” of Franz Liszt's Années de pèlerinage (first published in 1858), is one of the most analyzed and interpreted compositions in this piano cycle. Much attention has been paid to its connection with the painting of the same title by Raphael, which was printed as an internal title page for the piece's first edition at the explicit request of the composer. This connection has inspired many studies on the relationship between image and music, reinforcing the notion of Sposalizio as a musical realization of Raphael's painting as seen by Liszt for the first time in February 1838 at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. Adopting a critical view of the hermeneutical tradition, which has an impact on the interpretation of the piece still today, and assuming that its composition began in Weimar only around 1848, the article proposes an alternative reading of the piece. By connecting pictorial and musical elements, Sposalizio seems to evoke several cultural discourses and practices fundamental to Liszt's artistic and biographical background, such as Raphael's image as a genius, the revival of Marian devotion, and marriage as a sacrament of the Catholic Church.

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