Narrativity and Intertextuality in Franz Liszt’s Operatic Paraphrases on Vincenzo Bellini’s Operas

Abstract

This article aims to analyze Liszt's relationship with the Italian Opera of the 19th century and proposes an analytical model for an approach to his operatic paraphrases for piano. The theoretical parameters are: (1) the categories of musical intertextuality identified by different musicologists; (2) the thematic typologies identified by Grabócz in Liszt's piano works; and (3) the concept of narrativity in its relation to the structuring of musical form. Applying these premises to a specific case study, Liszt's fantasy about Bellini's La Sonnambula, we tried to show the usefulness of such an approach in the process of understanding the work for performance purposes.