THE MODES OF MUSIC IN THE WORKS OF GEORGE SAND

George Sand has recently profited from a renewal of critical interest. Her numerous novels are slowly being re-edited and critics are beginning to treat more than just the rustic novels. Very few critics, in past and present studies, have touched on the subject of musicality in Sand\u27s writing. I discuss here the remarkable sensibility that George Sand had for music and the degree to which she used it in her works. Chapters I and II deal chiefly with structural influences of music on Sand\u27s writings. In her early work Le Contrebandier, she borrowed the rondo form that Liszt had used in the piano piece that inspired Sand\u27s short story. My comparison leads to a discussion of transference of structure from one art form to another. Les Sept cordes de la lyre draws its form from the actual construction of the musical instrument that lies at the center of the work. A close examination of the lyre enables Sand to contemplate the process of the musical performance and the role of the instrument in bringing music, and the listener, to life. Chapter III takes up the problem of the musician, his training and his attitude toward the public. Sand adamantly refuses to place any importance in a musician with simply technical accomplishment; she demands an artist know his art intimately. Sand\u27s ideal musician must learn to create a timeless space that belongs only to music; he must recreate this space at each performance in order to communicate his music to the public. Folk music does not appear in Sand\u27s rustic novels as much as one might expect. Chapter IV studies this surprising phenomenon and possible explanations. An exhaustive study of the musical elements in Consuelo and La Comtesse de Rudolstadt constitutes Chapter V. Sand\u27s masterpiece offers a musical composite as complex as its philosophical message. Musical citations, musical instruments, aesthetics, religion and the growth of the musician conduct the reader through this rich novel that coherently intertwines Gothic and philosophic aspects with the growth of a musician. George Sand, who regretted not having been a musician herself, fills her universe with the ideas and people of musical dreams. My thesis demonstrates that, for a large majority of Sand\u27s writings, an analysis of the musical elements leads to a complete interpretation