Rewriting the past, composing the future: Schumann and the rediscovery of Bach
Item
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Title
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Rewriting the past, composing the future: Schumann and the rediscovery of Bach
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:ad4ddfd6ddee:11054
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identifier
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11341
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Creator
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Lee, Meebae,
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Contributor
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Richard Kramer
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Date
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2011
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Music | Biographies
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Abstract
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Robert Schumann's conspicuous penchant for contrapuntal texture and idioms, considered the composer's characteristic musical style, is generally ascribed to the German music tradition in which Johann Sebastian Bach is the most central figure; however, concrete musical extrapolation of Bach's influence on Schumann's repertoire has been confined to rather obvious examples such as his fugal compositions or arrangements of Bach's repertoire for solo string instruments. My dissertation explores how Schumann interpreted and translated J. S. Bach's musical legacy into his own musical idiom, using it as a creative force for developing his own musical style. In this study, Schumann's life will be classified into five periods in reference to his different aesthetic, artistic, and historical imperatives, each with the following narrative pattern. The first section of each chapter lays out a chronology of Schumann's activities regarding J.S. Bach and his study of fugue and counterpoint, based on sources such as diaries, letters, and other writings. The second section discusses the significance of the main sources studied or written by Schumann in each period: Friedrich W. Marpurg's Abhandlung von der Fuge; Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier; Luigi Cherubini's Cours de contrepoint et de fuge; and his own Fugengeschichte and Lehrbuch von Kontrapunkt und Fuge. The third part explores how the historical context and sources are related to particular Schumann's compositions: the Impromptus, Op. 5; Scherzo, Gigue, Romanze, and Fughette, Op. 32; his lieder and the Phantasie for piano and orchestra; Vier Fugen, Op. 72; and Symphony in D minor, No. 4, Op. 120. The career-spanning trajectory of the changing aspects of Schumann's pursuit of Bach---from a source of creative inspiration to a medium for achieving objectivity---will be discussed with concrete music examples. Ultimately, a reappraisal of Schumann's work in the context of his study of counterpoint and Bach sheds new light on Schumann's position in the nineteenth-century Bach revival and the role of his music as both a public and personal manifestation of Bach's enduring legacy.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Music
