Gretchen’s figure in Liszt’s musical interpretation

Domokos, Zsuzsanna (2013) Gretchen’s figure in Liszt’s musical interpretation. Studia Musicologica, 54 (4). pp. 389-396. ISSN 1788-6244

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Abstract

The salvation role of Gretchen, embodying the “Ewig-Weibliche,” has already been mentioned by several scholars analyzing Liszt’s “Faust” Symphony. According to them, Liszt found the most direct models to the characterization of the female protagonist of his work in Wagner’s operas. This interpretation can be made more differentiated in the view of another musical quotation of the “Gretchen” movement of the Symphony. I would like to go further on the basis of some concrete musical analogies, following the genesis of the composition and Liszt’s writings. I seek to answer the following questions: How much is Goethe’s Gretchen preserved in Liszt’s work? What are the influences of Gretchen’s contemporary musical characterizations known by Liszt, related to his own work? Last but not least, what kind of connections do exist between the Gretchen of the “Faust” Symphony and the other female characters in Liszt’s works?

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