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Among Franz Liszt’s symphonic poems, Hunnenschlacht (“The Battle of the Huns,” 1857) and Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (“From the Cradle to the Grave,” 1883) were inspired by the visual arts. With these works, Liszt attempted to translate painterly figurations into music; this intention is particularly embodied in his symphonic transformation of Wilhelm Kaulbach’s monumental fresco, Hunnenschlacht. Liszt was attracted by the idea of religious devotion and at the same time identified himself with the Huns. This paper considers the ways in which Liszt expressed the narrative plot and imitated the visual qualities of the Hunnenschlacht fresco by deploying innovative instrumental techniques and a progressive formal structure. This work illustrates Liszt’s interest in combining different art forms, and the prominent use of an apotheosis is an expression of the Beethovenian symphonic model. Liszt shared with early-nineteenth-century Romantics such as E. T. A. Hoffmann an interest in synaesthesia, associating colors with sounds. In Hunnenschlacht, he used the graphic illustration of the fresco as his primary source, yet he also attempted to convey the various tone colors associated with the figures. This interpretative process is explained in his preface to the score, in which Liszt describes the lights and colors associated with the Huns, the Romans, and the Cross. The peculiar treatment of instrumentation, including the use of wooden and sponge drum sticks, organ, unusual combinations of instruments, and an audacious treatment of dynamics, vibrantly depict the distinct colors or lights that envelop the principal figures in the painting.
ABSTRACT
This contribution argues that Zhu Quan’s (1378–1448) apotheosis must be interpreted as a paratextual discourse on authorship. Substantiating this claim, this article discusses how the extant editions of the Divine Pivot Ready to Hand construct the king’s divine authorship. In its three sections, the article examines the physical, paratextual and ritual dimensions of his apotheosis. Focusing on the last chapter of the Pivot, it demonstrates that calendars serve as a material cum textual media through which to posit Zhu Quan’s divine status. In a dialogue with the field of ritual studies, the article explains to what degree Zhu Quan’s calendars may be interpreted as an act of ritual textualisation.
This paper examines a painting by the prominent Biedermeier painter Josef Danhauser, Liszt at the Piano, a unique visual document of the Romantic generation’s cultic relationship and collective memory surrounding the virtually holy predecessor, Beethoven. It demonstrates the Beethoven reverence of (1) the commissioner Conrad Graf, a piano maker, who gave an instrument to Beethoven, (2) the painter Danhauser, who took the death mask of the German composer, and (3) Liszt, who considered himself the artistic heir to Beethoven. Although it is a well-known and thoroughly researched painting, its re-examination is still worthwhile. Focusing on aspects of cultural history, the contemporary reception of the painting should be reconsidered from a synthesizing point of view utilizing the results of art historical iconography and musicology. As a kind of cultural study, the paper attempts to demonstrate the background and motives that lead to the creation of the painting. I shall place the painting in the wider context of the history of ideas which is represented by the art-religious experience Liszt and his Paris companions gained from Beethoven’s music. An evaluation of the narrower, historical background — the Beethoven cult triggered by the piano concerts given by Liszt in Vienna in 1839–1840 — will also be discussed.
The imperial cult played important role throughout the whole antique world. It reached Rome with Caesar. In the centuries following him the divinity of the emperors were accepted by the whole population of the empire. The cult — in the eyes of the Roman population — assured the wellbeing of the state and its inhabitants. The only exception were Christians (together with Jews), who on the bases of their faith regarded emperor worship as idolatry. This is why, they became, in the eyes of the contemporary Roman population, atheists and the enemy of the state. This paper deals with the new results of the research of the imperial cult of Rome and its relationship with Christians.
Lucanus Cornelia-alakja a nyelvi és motivikus utalások szerint Vergilius és Ovidius mitikus nőalakjainak rokona, de motivikus szinten sokat köszönhet Propertiusnak és Seneca tragédiáinak is. Lucanus Cornelia-narratívájában meglehetős bizonyossággal tételezhető tudatos nyelvi és motivikus utalás egyrészt Catullus Ariadnéjára, másrészt Ovidius több, hosszabb-rövidebb Ariadne-narratívájára. A tanulmány áttekinti az Ariadne-történetre való lehetséges utalásokat Lucanus eposzában. Rómában, ahol az Ariadne-történet legtöbbet emlegetett része a naxosi epizód volt, a krétai királylány alakjához kapcsolódott a katastérismos képzete: az ’Ariadne Naxoson’-történet Corneliával való összekapcsolása ezért mitológiai metaforája lehet a megistenülés képzetének. Cornelia tehát erényes asszonyként éppúgy kiérdemeli a megistenülést a férjével kapcsolatban, mint Pompeius a maga férfiúi állapotában.
mysteries. The hero, who returns twice to Hades and receives an apotheosis, shows the hope of an afterlife to the faithful Mithras-worshipper. Hercules can also, in a certain sense, be identified with Mithras himself. The twelve Labors, and the scenes that
national costumes to be displayed. The Mont Cenis Tunnel was the subject of international collaboration, as was the final image depicting the Dances of the Nations, that is, the Apotheosis of Light. Overall, the work, which stands for the presentation of
statesmen such as Lajos Kossuth as a celebration of the nation, and the funeral of Ferenc Deák as an apotheosis of dualism since Empress Elisabeth of Austria herself knelt at the catafalque of that great statesman ( Lakner, 1993 ). This broader concept of
as possible. 60 The book to which Csáktornyai may be referring is the ‘Piis manibus’, which begins with the ‘Divi Stephani Bathorei Apotheosis’. It is interesting to note lines 180–184 which describe the symptoms that caused Báthory's death. It is
's political epic, and scholars have remarked on its incongruity. 110 Johnson expresses the problem very well: “The imagery of Platonic transfiguration and of Stoic celestial apotheosis… is at odds with the historical celebrations that it introduces, for it
