Vincent d’Indy’s concept of l’épopée musicale: a study in genre theory
Vincent d’Indy’s concept of l’épopée musicale: a study in genre theory

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the concept of l’épopée musicale (the epic in music) as interpreted by Vincent d’Indy (1851 – 1931), framing it as an implicit ideal model for a family of genres belonging to l’art de la parole – from oratorio and cantata to musical drama and vocal symphony. The stable characteristics of this model pertain primarily to the extramusical layer of artistic meaning, as d’Indy views l’épopée musicale as the heir to the literary epic and an acceptor of its essential features, especially those related to philosophical content and narrative structure. However, since the development of narrative in the epic follows a particular logic of organizing the artistic time, l’épopée musicale likewise reproduces this logic through the development of sounding material – a feature that emerges as the fundamental commonality among all epic works, regardless of their specific genre attribution.

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