Description
Book SynopsisIn 1923, the twenty-seven-year-old Paul Hindemith published a composition for voice and piano, entitled Das Marienleben, based on Rainer Maria Rilke's poetic cycle of 1912. Twenty-five years later, the composer presented a thoroughly revised, partially rewritten version. The outcome of this revision has been highly controversial. Ever since its first publication, musicologists have argued for or against the value of such a decisive rewriting. They do so both by comparing the two compositions on purely musical grounds, and by attempting to assess whether the more strictly organized tonal layout and dynamic structuring of Marienleben II is more or less appropriate for the topic of a poetic cycle on the Life of Mary. This study is the first to analyze the messages conveyed in the two versions with an emphasis on their implicit aesthetic, philosophical, and spiritual significance. Acknowledging the compositions as examples of musical ekphrasis (“a representation in one artistic medium of a message originally composed in another medium”), the author argues in exhaustive detail that the young Hindemith of 1922-23 and the mature composer of 1941-48 can be seen as setting two somewhat different poetic cycles. This volume is of interest for musicologists and music lovers, scholars of German literature and lovers of Rilke’s poetry, as well as for readers interested in the interartistic relationships of music and literature.
Table of ContentsIntroduction. The “Life of Mary”. Rilke and Christian Devotion. Ekphrasis in Rilke's Work: Poems on Depictions of Mary and Jesus. Hindemith: From Expressionism to the Ethos of Art. Outline of the Poetic and Musical Cycles on the “Life of Mary”. Geburt Mariä (no. 1). Die Darstellung Mariä im Tempel (no. 2). Mariä Verkündigung (no. 3). Mariä Heimsuchung (no. 4). Geburt Christi (no. 7). Vor der Passion (no. 10). Pietà (no. 11). Stillung Mariä mit dem Auferstandenen (no. 12). Vom Tode Mariä I (no. 13). Vom Tode Mariä II (no. 14). The Five “Picturesque” Songs. Conclusion: Hindemith's Ekphrastic Response to Rilke's Marien-Leben. Bibliography. List of Illustrations. Indes of Names. Index of Literary and Musical Works Cited. About the Author.
