From Schumann’s Waldszenen to Wagner’s Lohengrin: Textual Analysis of Romantic Music in Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

Abstract

Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel that integrates the philosophical implications of aestheticism and new hedonism within the Victorian-era society, providing a trajectory for a transformation of personality and identity. Within the novel’s narrative exists an alternative artistic value grounded in classical music, referenced by Wilde’s use of music by Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin, and Wagner. The study employs textual analysis to examine the contexts of the main characters and their communications in the novel from the perspective of the classical music played, performed, and discussed. The study argues that Wilde’s use of classical music within the text serves as a hidden art form, paralleling painting and expanding interpretative meaning about characters’ mentalities and identities defined through the works and composers in the novel. Musical interpretations for character transformations, particularly for Dorian Gray, and symbolic connotations are discussed throughout the research, illustrating Wilde’s perception of chosen composers, stylism, and their musicological role in The Picture of Dorian Gray.