Art, Religion, and Art Religion in Liszt's Piano Music

Experience the Event

Presented by de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture

Discover the profound intersection of faith and music in the life of Franz Liszt. A recent event featuring musicologist Nick Chung and pianist Isaac Parlin explored how the composer’s deep Catholic faith shaped his masterpieces, challenging the narrative of 19th-century art as a substitute for religion.

Men and women of faith continue to draw on the wisdom, wonder, and beauty of the evergreen Catholic tradition to inform a particular mode of understanding and engaging with the world around them. Inspired by a sacramental vision of reality, the Catholic arts in particular grapple with the mystery and meaning that permeate the created order, giving shape and expression to the transcendent.

At its 24th annual Fall Conference, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture considered the idea of the Catholic imagination, its enduring and inexhaustible nature, and how it continues to illumine our modern world. With a particular focus on the literary arts, the conference explored unique expressions of the Catholic imagination in more than 150 presentations, performances, and discussions across the disciplines, including philosophy, theology, ethics, law, history, and the natural and social sciences, as well as the creative domains of film, music, theater, and the visual arts.

For 2024’s Fall Conference, the de Nicola Center was pleased to partner with the Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference, which aims to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the richness and variety of contributions by Catholic artists; to explore the critical and theoretical foundations of the Catholic imagination; and to foster community and collaboration among writers and readers who share a knowledge of and respect for the Catholic tradition.

Meet the Moderator: Nicholas Teh

Nicholas Teh is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. His primary research area is the philosophy of physics, especially questions concerning the philosophical and mathematical foundations of gauge symmetry, spacetime theories, and quantum field theory. He is also interested in the philosophy of modeling (at various scales) as well as approaches to scientific representation that are inspired by the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition. His broader interests include the philosophy of art (especially during the medieval to renaissance transition in Florence) and the foundations of economics and finance.

Previously, he held postdoctoral research fellowships at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge and the Quantum Group at the Oxford University Comlab. Before that, he read for a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Meet the Speaker: Isaac Parlin

Isaac Parlin is pursuing a Master of Music in piano performance at The Juilliard School, where he studies under the guidance of Jerome Lowenthal and Yoheved Kaplinsky. Isaac holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Russian Language and Culture from Columbia University, where he was awarded the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts upon graduation.

Meet the Speaker: Nicholas Chong

Nicholas Chong is Assistant Professor of Musicology at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, where he also served as a postdoctoral fellow in Columbia’s undergraduate Core Curriculum, teaching a “great books” seminar called “Contemporary Civilization.” Chong specializes in the history of Western art music during the long nineteenth century in Germany and Austria.