Schumann's Dichterliebe and Early Romantic Poetics: Fragmentation of Desire (Cambridge Studies in Music Theory and Analysis, Series Number 18)

Schumann's famous song cycle Dichterliebe of 1840 is one of the most enigmatic works in the Western musical repertoire. This book employs Romantic poetics and recent critical thought to help explain the mysterious magnetism of this essentially fragmentary work. A musico-poetic analysis demonstrates the voice of the "Other" and presents Schumann as the "second poet of the poem" when setting Heine's famous Lyrisches Intermezzo. Methodologically, the analysis attempts to synthesize philosophical, literary-critical, music-analytical and psycho-analytical modes of thought. Publisher Description (unedited Publisher Data) Counter This Book Offers A Theory Of Romantic Song By Re-evaluating Schumann's Dichterliebe Of 1840, One Of The Most Enigmatic Works Of The Repertoire. It Investigates The Poetics Of Early Romanticism In Order To Understand The Mysterious Magnetism And Singular Imaginative Energy That Imbues Schumann's Musical Language. The Romantics Rejected The Ideal Of A Coherent And Organic Whole And Cherished The Suggestive Openness Of The Romantic Fragment, The Disconcerting Tone Of Romantic Irony And The Endlessness Of Romantic Reflection - Thereby Realising An Aesthetic Of Fragmentation. Close Readings Of Many Songs From Dichterliebe Show The Singer's Intense Involvement With The Piano's Voice, Suggesting A 'split Self' And The Presence Of The 'other'. Seeing Schumann As The 'second Poet Of The Poem' - Here Of Heine's Famous Lyrisches Intermezzo - This Book Considers Essential Issues Of Musico-poetic Intertextuality, Introducing Into Musicology A Hermeneutic That Seeks To Synthesise Philosophical, Literary-critical, Music-analytical And Psycho-analytical Modes Of Thought. I. Early Romantic Forms Of Difference -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The Romantic Fragment -- 3. Romantic Irony -- 4. Reflection, Language And Music -- 5. Theories Of Song: Schumann's 'higher Sphere Of Art' -- Ii. Heine's Signature Of Modernity: The Lyrisches Intermezzo -- 6. Introduction -- 7. Heine, The Romantics And Disenchantment -- 8. Endings, Cuts, Cyclicity -- 9. Heine's Imago Of A Woman -- 10. The Genesis Of The Buch Der Lieder -- Iii. The Poetics Of Dichterliebe -- 11. Introduction -- 12. Schumann's Reception Of Heine And The Buch Der Lieder -- 13. Musico-poetic Analysis -- I. The Romantic Concept Of 'poetic Time' In Dichterliebe -- Ii. Sehnen Und Verlangen Fulfilled In A Romantic Fragment -- Iii. Romantic Reflection On A Tonal Metaphor For The Amorous: The Diminished-seventh Chord In Dichterliebe -- Iv. The Ironic Glance Back: The Last Postlude. Beate Julia Perrey. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 226-237) And Index. This book employs Romantic poetics as well as more recent critical thought to examine Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe of 1840, one of the most enigmatic works in the Western musical repertoire. The book attempts to introduce into musicology a hermeneutic that seeks to synthesize philosophical, literary-critical, music-analytical and psycho-analytical modes of thought. So, what is Poetology, as the aesthetic and literary theory of early German Romanticism was originally called?