Semiotic and narrative elements in Franz Liszt’s Vallée d’Obermann

Abstract

Liszt’s Vallée d’Obermann, like many piano works from his Années de Pèlerinage, is explicitly linked to extramusical sources. In this case the inspiration is ostensibly Étienne Pivert de Senancour’s novel Obermann, from which Liszt includes excerpts in the piece’s epigraph. However, epigraphs and perceived extramusical inspirations are not always reliable in understanding musical narrative. Given the uncertain nature of to what extent the narrative content of Obermann influenced Liszt’s composition, this document explores an underlying level of narrative using the analytical model set forth by Byron Almén in A Theory of Musical Narrative (2008). The analysis examines semiotic and narratological elements including the interactions of topics, temporality, narrative implications rooted in harmony, and the expressive function of these elements within Sonata form. Ultimately, the results of these discursive interactions are expressed through the assignation of a narrative archetype based on Northtrop Frye’s “cycle of mythoi.”