Sonata had gone through the development of Baroque and Classical Era and reached the high point in the beginning of 19th century. Liszt¡¦ s Piano Sonata in B minor is an important work. It is also an arguable piece in the sonata literatures. Its musical form or content are both the issues of which is considered to carry on the past musical heritage and opened up the future. This thesis starts from the introduction of the composing background of Piano Sonata in B minor. It then focuses to the significance of this work in Romantic Era. After that, many pianists¡¦ and scholars¡¦ view points are collected and analyzed for discussing how this work has the characteristics of absolute music and program music. The relationship between Liszt¡¦s Faust Symphony and this sonata is also explored. Finally, the structure of this sonata is analyzed for understanding how the technique of thematic transformation works in this piece.

Goethe's Faust and Nabokov's Humbert both are erudite, middle-aged European scholars who, experiencing a convergence of academic and existential ennui, set eyes upon a young girl and instantly are consumed with lust. In both works the girls' widowed mothers die as a result of the protagonists' lustful intentions; a cross-country flight ensues; the once-respected scholars are wanted for murder; and Gretchen and Lolita each suffer from their sexual and emotional objectification. But the connections between Goethe's play and Nabokov's novel extend far beyond plot points, or even their decidedly different receptions in early 19th century Germany versus mid-20th century America. Each incorporates thematic elements of temptation, sin, moral versus societal law, and perhaps, most important, damnation versus possible redemption. Combined, these striking thematic and textual similarities raise the compelling argument that Nabokov consciously and deliberately was reworking the Faust legend for a modern American audience. Moreover, this hidden compositional structure to a novel that many have called one of the greatest works of twentieth century American literature was one of Nabokov's most jealously guarded secrets, one he took deliberate measures to ensure never would be uncovered. And until now, that has been the case.Part of the reason may lie in Nabokov's often kaleidoscopic use of Goethe's famous play. In Goethe's version of the legend, for instance, the wager for Faust's soul between the Lord and Mephisto is rendered explicitly in the "Prologue in Heaven" scene. In Lolita, however, this soul-battle is rendered implicitly. Humbert makes repeated references to the dual forces of "God" or "winged gentlemen of the jury," for example, or else to the demonic element personified by what he calls "McFate." At any moment, he fears one or the other may steal from him his life's deepest hunger: to possess a nymphet. Through an examination of both primary and secondary texts, this dissertation connects and illustrates the hidden structure of Goethe's Faust in Nabokov's Lolita. Furthermore, it is argued that this structure allowed Nabokov to rhetorically address issues of deepest concern to him, most notably the future immortality of the human soul.

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From Heaven, Through the World, to Hell is a theatrical piece which makes reference to various versions of the Faust legend. There are two versions of the piece: the full version for actress-singer, CD, computer, and four chamber ensembles (piano quintet, baroque trio, jazz quartet and modern ensemble), and the solo version for actress-singer, CD, and computer. The work explores the Faust legend within a technological musical theatre framework, and makes extensive use of live computer interaction using the Max/MSP programming environment. The singer interacts with the computer using an infrared sensor, allowing her to trigger as well as shape many of the sounds in the piece through physical gestures. This piece was written for g.e.m.s. (the Group of the Electronic Music Studio) as part of the McGill University Faculty of Music composer-in-residence program between 1998--1999.

This dissertation is devoted to the stage history of Goethe’s Faust I in Imperial Russia with the goal of initiating academic discussion of this previously ignored topic. The significance of this study lies not only in the fact that it enlarges our comprehension of the play’s treatment in the Russian context, but more importantly in its direct implications for earlier studies of Russian literature in relation to Goethe’s Faust. The dissertation records analytically dramatic productions of the play before 1917 and provides a bibliography of their production, performance and reception processes. The central premise of the dissertation is that theatre is a social phenomenon, informed by the contemporary setting in which it is produced and received. With this in mind, five distinctive adaptations are investigated with the goal of identifying the peculiarities of the play’s treatment and highlighting the influences of the socio-historical factors surrounding it. In particular, this study considers the dependence of the adaptation on contemporary theatrical conventions and explores the relationship between theatre, culture and the state in Imperial Russia. It argues that a successful adaptation of Goethe’s Faust I in Imperial Russia was delayed until the flourishing of ‘directorial theatre’, which in turn opened new possibilities for future theatrical explorations of the play. The analysis describes strategies of cultural appropriation and affirms the conformity and sensitivity of theatre to the state.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between German Expressionist film and Hegel’s system of aesthetics. Through an analysis of the aesthetic qualities of Hanns Ewers’ The Student of Prague (1913) and F.W. Murnau’s Faust, I believe we have evidence to believe that the subjectivity that German Expressionist film sought to capture is aligned with the ‘interiority’ that Hegel believes Romantic art expresses. Further, I will consider whether these two films indicate that film as an artistic medium falls within Hegel’s characterization of Modern art. I believe that because both Student of Prague and Faust use elements of Romantic art in an effort to convey the melancholy spirit, and that the melancholy spirit is reflection and product of a uniquely modern Germany, these films indicate that film as a medium fulfill the requirements Hegel sets for Modern art.

La confrontation des utopies et de la Weltanschauung goethéennes avec les différents modes d’expression, dans les œuvres de fictions de Robert Musil et d’Italo Svevo, de la crise de la conscience européenne du début du XXème siècle et la rencontre, notamment, de l’âge d’or du roman de formation « heureux » qu’incarne l’œuvre de Goethe et de l’indétermination qui caractérise les œuvres de Svevo ou de Musil, permettent de mesurer l‘évolution de la conception de l’individu et du processus d’individuation ainsi que de sonder la nature des nouveaux enjeux qui accompagnent la permanence de préoccupations telles que les questions du Moi, de destin et de hasard, de morale, ou d’esthétique. D’autre part, il s’agit d’observer comment les idéaux et fantasmes mythiques (tentations faustiennes, désir de savoir absolu, idéal communautaire, mythe de l’androgyne primordial) qui habitent déjà la spiritualité goethéenne retrouvent une place dans le contexte crépusculaire de la crise européenne de l’individualité ou dans la figuration littéraire d’un monde en déclin, sans échapper cependant au caractère lucide et ironique des plumes respectives de Musil et de Svevo. / On the one hand, the comparison of the Goethean utopias and Weltanschauung with the various modes of expression, in the works of fictions of Robert Musil and Italo Svevo, of the crisis of the European consciousness of the beginning of the XXth century and the meeting, in particular, between the golden age of the "happy" novel of formation that the work of Goethe embodies and the indetermination which characterizes the works of Svevo or Musil, allow to measure the evolution of both the conception of the individual and the process of individuation as well as to sound the nature of the new stakes which accompany the permanence of concerns such as the questions of the Me, the fate and the chance, the morality or the aesthetics. On the other hand, it is a question of observing how the ideals and the mythical fantasies (Faustian temptations, desire for absolute knowledge, ideal community, myth of the primitive androgyne) which already live in the Goethean spirituality find a place in the crepuscular context of the European crisis of the individuality or in the literary representation of a world in decline, without escaping however the lucid and ironic character of the respective styles of Musil and Svevo.

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Alfred Schnittke was a prolific and nuanced musical figure of the twentieth-century, contributing significantly to the fields of musical philosophy and composition. One of his most researched contributions, that bridges both disciplines, is his definition and implementation of the compositional technique, polystylism. His 1971 essay, "Polystylistic Tendencies in Modern Music," served as the first serious discussion of the term, providing a narrower definition, differentiating it from other techniques, and discussing its importance in the oeuvre of twentieth-century artists. Schnittke is also known for his fervent desire to overcome the gap between Ernstmusik (serious music) and Unterhaltung (music for entertainment). This lifelong pursuit, combined with polystylism, lead him to create an eclectic catalogue that championed the ideas it was pioneering. However, there is little research done on the 1947 literary work that served as a creative catalyst to all these ideas: Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus: The Life of German Composer Adrian Leverkühn as told by a Friend. In contrast to other telling's of the Faust legend, Mann's version features a composer-protagonist, Adrian Leverkühn, who sells his soul for twenty-four years of creative musical-genius. During this time, Leverkühn composes numerous successful works, even developing a new system of musical composition. Mann's telling regularly goes into lengthy detail when describing these musical works, compositional techniques, and extramusical associations. To ensure that these musical topics were technically and theoretically sound, Mann chose the philosopher and music critic, Theodore Adorno, to be the primary editor and consultant when writing Doctor Faustus. Exploring and unpacking these connections to Mann's Doctor Faustus exposes numerous hidden layers, even codes, within Schnittke's compositions. Through a close examination of Schnittke's first completed composition, Fuga (1953), many of these Mann influences and hidden layers can be observed and analyzed.

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