Crime, punishment, and opera: the power of music to influence emotion and opinion

Abstract

I have long held a love for both music and literature, and I believe that the combination of the two can help to better elucidate different features of both. Through the creation of a song cycle based upon Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, I am endeavoring to convince my audience to sympathize with the protagonist Raskolnikov, an often-hated character. I believe that by combining music and literature, I will be able to make a greater point about the power that music has to influence both emotion and opinion.