Romanticism and Film: Franz Liszt and Audio-Visual Explanation

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The relationship between Romanticism and film remains one of the most neglected topics in film theory and history, with analysis often focusing on the proto-cinematic significance of Richard Wagners music-dramas. One new and interesting way of examining this relationship is by looking beyond Wagner, and developing a concept of audio-visual explanation rooted in Romantic philosophical aesthetics, and employing it in the analysis of film discourse and representation. Using this concept of audio-visual explanation, the cultural image of the Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt, a contemporary of Wagner and another significant practitioner of Romantic audio-visual aesthetics, is examined in reference to specific case studies, including the rarely-explored films Song Without End (1960) and Lisztomania (1975). This multifaceted study of film discourse and representation employs Liszt as a guiding-thread, structuring a general exploration of the concept of Romanticism and its relationship with film more generally. This exploration is supported by new theories of representation based on schematic cognition, the philosophy of explanation, and the recently-developed film theory of Jacques Rancire. Individual chapters address the historical background of audio-visual explanation in Romantic philosophical aesthetics, Liszts role in the historical discourses of film and film music, and various filmic representations of Liszt and his compositions. Throughout these investigations, Will Kitchen explores the various ways that films explain, or make sense of things, through a Romantic aesthetic combination of sound and vision.

Reviews

With topics ranging from the archaeology of film music to the representational politics of musicians biopics, Romanticism and Film is an expansive and theoretically savvy addition to the study of the relationship between film and musical aesthetics. * Carlo Cenciarelli, Lecturer, School of Music, Cardiff University, UK *
A very high order of organisation...[this volume] addresses a real need in film musicology. * Charles Francis Leinberger, Professor of Music, The University of Texas at El Paso *
This carefully researched book is an important contribution to understanding the intersections between Romantic culture and the history of film. The author has cleverly chosen Liszt as a central focus. This provides a coherent thread through diverse topics such as the uses of Romantic music in film, cinematic representations of Romantic figures, and the impact of Romantic ideals on filmmaking. Romanticism and Film will provoke you to rethink the relevance of Romanticism today." * David Dennen, Assistant Professor of English, Chihlee University of Technology *

Author Bio

Will Kitchen is Teaching Fellow in Film Studies at the University of Southampton, UK. He is Academic Editor for the journal Romance, Revolution and Reform.