Richard Wagner’s Aesthetics and the Musical Turn of Symbolism

Li Guohui

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2022, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1) : 21-31.

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Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2022, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1) : 21-31.
Issue in Focus:Aethetics Studies

Richard Wagner’s Aesthetics and the Musical Turn of Symbolism

  • Li Guohui
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Abstract

Wagner’s musical aesthetics, because of its concentration on reverie, appeals to symbolists from Baudelaire onward. Such aesthetics informs the musical turn of symbolism. Unlike Wagner’s music which has a foothold in the musical sound and its structure, symbolist literature, inherently an art of language, puts emphasis on feeling and experiencing the world, employs the language of rationality, and produces symbolic imageries, all of which makes it impossible for symbolists to integrate musical features into poetry but to create new forms of expression. Abstracting the spirit of music, symbolist poets have developed such conceptualization as symbolic music, which refers to the suggestive power of images, and the theory of emotional music, which involves the spontaneity of images and impressions. Although symbolist musical turn differs from Wagner’s model, it is informed by the latter and has regarded it as the main reference.

Key words

Richard Wagner / symbolism / musical turn / emotional music

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Li Guohui.

Richard Wagner’s Aesthetics and the Musical Turn of Symbolism [J].

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2022, 42(1): 21-31

Funding

 the General Project of National Social Sciences Fund (18BWW083) and the Major Project of the National Social Sciences Fund (15ZDB086)
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