Romain Rolland et L'Heroisme: une Perspective Musicale (Romain Rolland and Heroism: A Musical Perspective)

The importance of heroism in the life of Romain Rolland, French author, historian and musicologist has previously been investigated as has been his love of music. The fact that Rolland preferred composers he considered heroic such as Beethoven and Handel led the author of this thesis to believe that there may be a link, as yet unexplored, between Rolland's formulation of heroism and music. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that musical influences and the life of certain composers played a central role in the fashioning of Rolland's concept of heroism. The first chapter, Rolland's musical formation covers the formative years of Rolland's life, outlining the development of his musical taste and also his interest in heroism. The influence of his mentor, Malwida von Meysenbug is examined, as is his search for a role model heroic figure. Beethoven, the second chapter, discusses the influence of this composer in Rolland's life and enumerates the musician's heroic qualities which Rolland adapts for the formulation of his own fictional hero. The biography The Life of Beethoven written by the author is also examined. The third chapter, Other heroic musicians investigates Rolland's musicological works in order to highlight heroic qualities found in other composers admired by Rolland. In his most famous work Jean-Christophe, Rolland creates his own heroic figure based on characteristics gleaned from his study of musicians. The character of his protagonist is examined in detail in the fourth chapter, Jean-Christophe. Many composers are criticised by the author for lacking an heroic nature. In order to develop fully the concept of Rolland's hero, a close examination of these 'non-heroic' composers is made in the fifth chapter, The insincerity of musicians. So inspired was Rolland by Beethoven that in writing Jean-Christophe, the author endeavoured to write his own literary 'Heroic Symphony'. The sixth chapter, Rolland's heroic symphony investigates how the author 'musically' structured his novel. The final chapter, Romain Rolland, the hero-prophet discusses how Rolland absorbed many of the heroic qualities that he read about, believing that it was his mission to lead an heroic life and to write inspirational works for his readers