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Poetic Images of Nightingale in the Art Song. On Some Aspects of Musical Meaning

100%

Żerańska-Kominek S.

Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology

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2019

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issue 19

117-134

EN

Birds are not only part of nature, but also an important element of culture. The life and behaviour of some bird species has been reflected in literary tradition in the form of poetic images and representations reflecting existential problems and stereotypically associated with specific states of the human psyche. These images and their poetics inspired composers of the Romantic era to create their musical, semantically charged counterparts. A special place in European poetry and music is occupied by the nightingale, which has wide symbolic connotations. My article discusses the musical replicas of the nightingale’s poetic representations in the songs of F. Liszt, J. Brahms, F. Schubert and K. Szymanowski. Each of the presented songs constructs meaning and relates to the poetic images in a different manner, despite the suggested or even expected repeatable nature of the emotional expression and experience symbolically associated with this bird.

2

“Zur Müllerin hin / so lautet der Sinn?” Power Structures in the Performance Tradition of Franz Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise1

75%

Wozonig T.

Kwartalnik Młodych Muzykologów UJ

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2017

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issue 4(35)

5-38

EN

Since the middle of the 19th century, Franz Schubert’s song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise are not only considered as an outstanding contribution to the Lied genre, but also as “romantic” compositions par excellence, whose protagonists might be depicted adequately only by performances of male singers. The “masculine nature” (Carl Lafite) of these thoughts, emotions and actions might be inappropriate for female singers. This attitude, which is still present today (even amongst professional musicians and musicologists), though, contradicts not only the performance practice of the early 19th century, but even Schubert’s handling of his songs. In fact, the idea of these two cycles as “men’s cycles” has only developed in the course of the 19th century, when various impacts such as the general upvaluation of the Lied genre, the transfiguration of the composer, the interpretation of his songs as being a personal statement, and the idea of Werktreue shaped the reception of Schubert’s compositions. These factors led to the consolidation of strong and still valid power structures, in which men are regarded as the norm, whereas women (and other alternative voice categories like countertenors) appear as deviation from this norm. These structures are tightly related to similar conditions and principles which have been outlined in the past decades by the masculinity studies on higher levels of our society. In this paper, I will set out this whole process by delineating the performance practice at Schubert’s time, his own attitude (insofar as it is possible), the various influences of romantic musical aesthetics, and the development of the mentioned performance tradition towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Furthermore, a number of statements from the 21st century will demonstrate that these concepts are still common today, and I will correlate them with some certain principles pointed out by masculinity studies from the last decades.

3

“Zur Müllerin hin / so lautet der Sinn?” Power Structures in the Performance Tradition of Franz Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise1

75%

Wozonig T.

Kwartalnik Młodych Muzykologów UJ

|

2017

|

issue 4(35) Eng

4-37

EN

Since the middle of the 19th century, Franz Schubert’s song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise are not only considered as an outstanding contribution to the Lied genre, but also as “romantic” compositions par excellence, whose protagonists might be depicted adequately only by performances of male singers. The “masculine nature” (Carl Lafite) of these thoughts, emotions and actions might be inappropriate for female singers. This attitude, which is still present today (even amongst professional musicians and musicologists), though, contradicts not only the performance practice of the early 19th century, but even Schubert’s handling of his songs. In fact, the idea of these two cycles as “men’s cycles” has only developed in the course of the 19th century, when various impacts such as the general upvaluation of the Lied genre, the transfiguration of the composer, the interpretation of his songs as being a personal statement, and the idea of Werktreue shaped the reception of Schubert’s compositions. These factors led to the consolidation of strong and still valid power structures, in which men are regarded as the norm, whereas women (and other alternative voice categories like countertenors) appear as deviation from this norm. These structures are tightly related to similar conditions and principles which have been outlined in the past decades by the masculinity studies on higher levels of our society. In this paper, I will set out this whole process by delineating the performance practice at Schubert’s time, his own attitude (insofar as it is possible), the various influences of romantic musical aesthetics, and the development of the mentioned performance tradition towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Furthermore, a number of statements from the 21st century will demonstrate that these concepts are still common today, and I will correlate them with some certain principles pointed out by masculinity studies from the last decades.

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2 Kwartalnik Młodych Muzykologów UJ

1 Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology

2 Wozonig T.

1 Żerańska-Kominek S.

1 2019

2 2017

Poetic Images of Nightingale in the Art Song. On Some Aspects of Musical Meaning

“Zur Müllerin hin / so lautet der Sinn?” Power Structures in the Performance Tradition of Franz Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise1

“Zur Müllerin hin / so lautet der Sinn?” Power Structures in the Performance Tradition of Franz Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise1