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The piano/fountain association: From Franz Liszt to Salvador Dali

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posted on 2023-05-22, 16:39 authored by Arabella Teniswood-HarveyArabella Teniswood-Harvey
By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, virtuosity in piano composition rivaled, and was therefore well suited to evoking, the exuberance and theatrical display of Italian fountains. This paper explores the ways in which Franz Liszt (1811-1886), Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and Charles Griffes (1885-1920) convey the visual, kinetic, temporal and sonic qualities of fountains in their respective compositions "Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este" (1877), Jeux D'eau (1901) and "The Fountain of the Acqua Paola" (1916). Compositional devices first presented by Liszt are common to all three works, and become characteristics of this distinctive genre of piano fountain music. Situating the works within the broader cultural and aesthetic context, the paper explores the trajectory of the piano/fountain association from the golden era of Romantic pianism through to the mid-twentieth century. Taking an interdisciplinary approach it considers the above piano pieces and their relationship to the visual, along with artworks by Titian (c.1488-1576) and Salvador Dali (1904-1989) that depict the piano/fountain association. A significant shift in the twentieth century in the symbolism of the piano/fountain association is noted.

History

Publication title

Musical Culture in Sounds, Words and Images: Essays in honor of Zdravko Blazekovic

Editors

A Baldassarre and T Markovic

Pagination

603-618

ISBN

978-3-99012-451-2

Department/School

School of Creative Arts and Media

Publisher

HOLLITZER Wissenschaftsverlag

Place of publication

Wien

Extent

6

Rights statement

Copyright 2018 HOLLITZER Verlag, Wien

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

The performing arts

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