New Paths: Aspects of Music Theory and Aesthetics in the Age of Romanticism

136 Pages·2009·6.61 MB·English

by  Darla Crispin

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NEW PATHS
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This seventh publication in the series
“Collected Writings of the Orpheus Institute”
is edited by Darla Crispin
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NEW PATHS
Aspects of Music Theory
and Aesthetics in the Age
of Romanticism
John Neubauer
Janet Schmalfeldt
Scott Burnham
Susan Youens
Jim Samson
COLLECTED WRITINGS OF THE
O R P H E U S
INSTITUTE
Leuven University Press
2009
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CONTENTS
éêÉÑ~ÅÉ
Fresh tracks, retracings and diverions / éKMT
— John Neubauer
Organicism and Music Theory / éKNN
— Janet Schmalfeldt
Beethoven’s “Bridgetower” Sonata, Op. 47 / éKPT
— Scott Burnham
Intimacy and Impersonality in Late Beethoven:
Contrast and the Staging of Subjectivity / éKSV
— Susan Youens
Of Epigones, Aftermaths, and Achievement:
The Heine Songs of Franz Lachner / éKUR
— Jim Samson
Chopin and the Traditions of Pedagogy / éKNNR
éÉêëçå~äá~ / éKNOV
ÅçäçéÜçå / éKNPR
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FRESH TRACKS, RETRACINGS
AND DIVERIONS
The title New Paths will always be associated with Robert
Schumann’s coinage of the phrase—“Neue Bahnen”—as the title
of his article in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musikfor October NURPwhich
encapsulated his view of the way forward for German music. This
important piece is now remembered for its near-prophetic state-
ment that an as-yet unpublished composer, Johannes Brahms,
would compose a body of musical works that would come to
embody an ideal of musical expression perfectly fitting for its times.
Perhaps less presciently, given the benefit of hindsight, Schumann
also listed in a footnote other “significant talents”, namely Joseph
Joachim, Ernst Naumann, Ludwig Normann, Woldemar Bangiel,
Theodore Kirchner, Julius Schaeffer “not to forget that profound
aspirant to great art C. F. Wilsing”. Niels Gade, C. F. Mangold,
Robert Franz and Stephen Heller are also credited as “bravely
advancing heralds”.
Schumann’s key purpose in this article was to counterpoise his
vision of the future to that of the then editor of the Neue Zeitschrift,
Franz Brendel. Brendel was a strong advocate of the New German
School gathered around Franz Liszt in Weimar. In November NUROI
he had published an article of his own suggesting that a “rosy dawn
of the future” was detectable in Weimar whereas elsewhere was to be
found only “our epoch in its death throes”.1 As the founder of the
Neue Zeitschrift, Schumann clearly felt the need to rebalance the
pro-Lisztian bias of its current editor, but it is far from uncharacter-
istic of history that it is the response we now remember, not the
stimulus that provoked it. With this in mind, it is apt that the five
intriguing and unusual articles grouped here under the title New
Paths each invite us to re-enter the ostensibly familiar territory of
nineteenth-century scholarship in a fresh and re-contextualising
manner. They do this variously: by retracing the historical contexts
within which key musical terms evolved; by illuminating novel
1.Franz Brendel, “Ein dritter Ausflug nach Weimar”, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik,
(NURO), p.OOR.
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Darla Crispin
aspects of well-known compositions; by uncovering little-known
materials pertaining to composers of the canon; or by re-appraising
largely obscure musical figures who merit deeper consideration.
Schumann’s critical writing formed in total a kind of idealistic
artistic manifesto, one in which art was viewed as a means for
human betterment, and one in critical writing itself should form
part of this great enterprise of progress. Little wonder, then, that
music theory and musicology have frequently taken up the term
“New Paths” when reflecting back upon Schumann’s own compo-
sitional and critical life projects. In this collection, however,
Schumann is an éminence grise whose influence is implicit rather
than explicit. The volume does not directly address Schumann,
but is a compilation of post-millennial musings on a broader
range of issues concerning critical theory as it pertains to nine-
teenth-century Western music. It revisits some of the figures of the
canon—Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin, but does so via crit-
icism which is informed by contemporary concerns, especially
those of musical practice. The “New Paths” traced by the various
articles are signposted in a corresponding variety of ways, reflect-
ing the volume’s broad interdisciplinary approach. This is an
approach which lies at the heart of the work of the Orpheus
Institute and informs its full range of activities—postgraduate
education programmes, seminars and research.
Every year, the Orpheus Institute holds its International Orpheus
Academy for Music & Theory. In OMMR, the Academy, brought
together music theoreticians and analysts to share some of their cur-
rent preoccupations about nineteenth century music within a
research environment that focused specifically upon questions con-
cerning musical creation, as part of the wider discourse on “research
in-and-through musical practice”. New Paths collates and records
the contributions of the principal speakers at the OMMRAcademy:
John Neubauer (University of Amsterdam), Janet Schmalfeldt
(Tufts University), Scott Burnham (Princeton University), Susan
Youens (University of Notre Dame) and Jim Samson (Royal
Holloway, University of London). Reflecting the nature of this gath-
ering of individuals, New Paths does not display a uniformly “tra-
ditional” approach to music analysis, but offers a series of insights
that can challenge and surprise us.
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Preface
John Neubauer’s comprehensive text, “Organicism and Music
Theory” forms an ideal opening to the collection. Organicism is a
key trope in the discussion of nineteenth century music; indeed,
as Neubauer points out, the term remains relevant to us, long past
an age in which it was in seemingly perfect alignment with the
musical Zeitgeist. Neubauer provides a searching review of the lit-
erature on organicism, from the writings of antiquity to the pres-
ent day. In doing so, he reminds us of just how central debates
upon the subject have been in music theory, and how important
an evolving definition remains, even in the post-modern age.
In the first of two articles on Ludwig van Beethoven, Janet
Schmalfeldt examines the musical evolution of theSonata for Violin
and Piano Op. 47—the so-called “Kreutzer Sonata”— through the
work of one of Beethoven’s collaborators, the renowned virtuoso
violinist, George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower. In her article,
“Beethoven’s ‘Bridgetower’ Sonata, Op. 47”, as well as providing
Bridgetower with the recognition that would seem to be his due, she
provides specific insights into how the relationship between violin-
ist and pianist/composer was catalytic in the genesis of the work,
and in doing so, raises more general points about the nature of col-
laborations between composers and performers, especially when the
composer is also a performing partner.
In “Intimacy and Impersonality in Late Beethoven: Contrast and
the Staging of Subjectivity” Scott Burnham presents a challenge to
aficionados of Beethoven’s late works, by considering afresh how
these compositions embody the juxtaposition of the monumental
and the personal. By doing so, he asserts that we will find new
ways to read these works, and that these may go beyond the more
generally accepted view of the late works as articulating an aes-
thetic of fragmentation.
Susan Youens interprets the “New Paths” theme as an invitation to
shine a light upon a little-known musical figure. She makes a series
of compelling arguments in support of her view that certain of the
songs of Franz Lachner may stand alongside those of Franz
Schubert as worthy examples of the “early nineteenth-century
architects of sound who sought to extend the limits of the Lied”.
Finally, Jim Samson’s intriguing study of the many influences
imparted to the young Frédéric Chopin through his teacher Józef
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