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Cracking the Linz Circle's Secret Codes: a Singer's Guide to Alternate Interpretations of Schubert Lieder

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Cracking the Linz Circle's Secret Codes: a Singer's Guide to Alternate Interpretations of Schubert Lieder CRACKING THE LINZ CIRCLE'S SECRET CODES: A SINGER'S GUIDE TO ALTERNATE INTERPRETATIONS OF SCHUBERT LIEDER Jane M. Leathers A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF MUSIC December 2006 Committee: Myra Merritt, Advisor Mary Natvig Christopher A. Williams © 2006 Jane M. Leathers All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Myra Merritt, Advisor Building on recent biographical research, this thesis examines coded references with possible connections to homosexuality and/or desire in approximately twenty-five Schubert Lieder. Several recurring images will be identified in the texts of sixteen poets, specifically Bruchmann, Goethe, Hölty, Hüttenbrenner, Klenke, Mayrhofer, Platen, Rochlitz, Rückert, Salis-Seewis, Schiller, Schlechta, Schlegel, Schober, Schubart, and Seidl. Some of these poets were associated with the Linz circle, which was a society of writers formed in 1815 in that city as a club for youth interested in literature. Others formed a small group of Schubert’s friends. Later in Vienna the Linz friends mixed with Schubert’s circle of friends in that city. They were poets, painters, musicians and other intelligentsia who met weekly for poetry readings, both classic and new. Although Goethe was not a part of either circle, he is included in this discussion because Schubert’s settings of his texts often show a concern with these same images. Recurring images that may reference homosexuality or desire include “fishing” and “fishermen,” “roses” and “rosy cheeks,” “brooks” and “streams,” “East wind breezes,” “a thousand [kisses],” “verdant groves” and “driven search.” A chart with alternate meanings for the targeted images will be provided as a reference for the singer. Specific Lieder to be investigated and included on the candidate’s recital are: Heidenröslein, Ganymed, Abendstern, Heliopolis, Der Jüngling an der Quelle and Bei dir allein. An iv awareness of these references in Schubert’s Lieder enhances the singer’s understanding of this composer’s cultural milieu and thus aids in a more informed interpretation. v To my husband, Dr. Timothy D. Leathers, for his selflessness, generosity, and encouragement. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the musicology faculty members on my thesis committee, Dr. Mary Natvig and Christopher A. Williams, for helping me develop and refine my thesis. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I. THE ARGUMENT FOR CODES AND METAPHORS............................... 3 CHAPTER II. FRANZ SCHUBERT’S LITERARY INFLUENCES.................................. 9 CHAPTER III. FRANZ SCHUBERT’S PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS ......................... 20 CHAPTER IV. FRANZ SCHUBERT’S IMAGES .............................................................. 28 Fishing and Fishermen............................................................................................... 28 Roses and Rosy Cheeks ............................................................................................. 31 Brooks and Streams .................................................................................................. 35 East Wind Breezes ..................................................................................................... 37 A Thousand ............................................................................................................ 40 Verdant Groves.......................................................................................................... 43 Driven Search ............................................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................... 49 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 51 APPENDIX. LEATHERS’S LIST ....................................................................................... 57 1 INTRODUCTION Franz Schubert (1797-1828) is the preeminent composer of the German Lied, having composed more than six hundred Lieder in his thirty-one short years. These Lieder are extraordinary in their musical variety because of Schubert’s ability to capture the essence of a poem in song. In his early years, Franz Schubert surrounded himself more with poets, painters, writers, and actors than with other musicians. These personal connections spurred Schubert to respond strongly to the literary aspects of the poetry he set. In recent years, Schubert scholars have developed models for analyzing how recurrent themes and images convey a cultural message in Schubert’s œuvre. Lawrence Kramer, for instance, has outlined a “production model” of subjectivity whereby poetic symbols are carried by the music into the listener’s sense of self, allowing for discovery of radical potential within one’s normal subjectivity.1 This has direct relevance to the performance aspect of Schubert’s songs. Susan Youens has shown that symbolic parallels exist between art and life in Schubert’s works, that Schubert did not ignore the multiple pathologies present in the interpretative heart of his chosen poems.2 Kristina Muxfeldt has studied the way Schubert personalizes the sense of his chosen poems through musical interpretation, often permitting Schubert to represent the psychological state behind the language.3 My thesis is a synthesis of current scholarship concerning potential ambiguities in Schubert’s texts and music. Drawing on these and other scholars’ concepts of understanding a composer through poetic interpretation, I will suggest hidden meanings in Schubert’s choice of texts. Furthermore, I will hypothesize that they contain 1 Lawrence Kramer, Musical Meaning: Toward a Critical History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 7-8. 2 Susan Youens, Schubert, Müller, and ‘Die schöne Müllerin’ (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), xvi. 3 Kristina Muxfeldt, “Schubert Song Studies” (Ph.D. diss., State University of New York, 1991) 2 coded messages intended for the enjoyment of his intimate associates. I believe this knowledge will enhance the singer’s understanding and aid in a more informed interpretation of Schubert’s Lieder. 3 CHAPTER I. THE ARGUMENT FOR CODES AND METAPHORS Since Maynard Solomon’s article, “Franz Schubert and the Peacocks of Benvenuto Cellini,” was first published in 1989, scholars have debated Schubert’s sexual orientation, and its possible significance for understanding his art.4 Edward T. Cone, Kristina Muxfeldt, Susan Youens and Lawrence Kramer have concurred with or at least acknowledged the plausibility of Solomon’s position, that Schubert may not have been exclusively heterosexual.5 Rita Steblin, however, has repeatedly argued against that possibility.6 While it is not the purpose of this thesis to debate the issue of Schubert’s sexuality, I, myself, am convinced that Schubert may have had homosexual relationships. So in light of Susan McClary’s assertion that composers “had complex psychological and sexual lives and that these aspects of their personalities might be relevant to the work they produced,” I maintain that these relationships may have influenced his Lieder.7 Franz Schubert was dependent upon the written word for his inspiration. “It is fair to say that Franz Schubert was one of the first modern composers whose response to poetry and other literature was central to his creativity… .”8 David Montgomery goes on to talk about Schubert’s sonic innovations and his departures from the typical sound envelope in favor of an enhanced tonal language.9 I am interested in Schubert’s literary 4 Maynard Solomon, “Franz Schubert and the Peacocks of Benvenuto Cellini,” 19th-Century Music 12, no. 3 (Spring 1989): 193-206. 5 Edward T. Cone, “Schubert’s Promissory Note: An Exercise in Musical Hermeneutics,” 19th-Century Music 5, no. 3 (Spring 1982): 233-241. Kristina Muxfeldt, “Political Crimes and Liberty, or Why Would Schubert Eat a Peacock?” 19th-Century Music 17, no. 1 (Summer 1993): 47-64. Susan Youens, Schubert’s Poets and the Making of Lieder (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.) Lawrence Kramer, Franz Schubert: Sexuality, Subjectivity, Song (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.) 6 Rita Steblin, “The Peacock’s Tale: Schubert’s Sexuality Reconsidered,” 19th-Century Music 17, no. 1 (Summer 1993): 5-33. 7 Susan McClary, “Music and Sexuality: On the Steblin/Solomon Debate,” 19th-Century Music 17, no.1 (Summer 1993): 83-88. 8 David Montgomery, Franz Schubert’s Music in Performance: Compositional Ideals, Notational Intent, Historical Realities, Pedagogical Foundations (Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press, 2003), 1. 9 David Montgomery, Franz Schubert”s Music in Performance, 2. 4 inspirations, his coding of certain words and phrases to evoke in his audience a nuanced understanding of the text. I will talk about the musical elements he used to highlight these meanings only in a perfunctory way. My goal will be to extract the literary codes that I believe Schubert used to inform and delight his knowledgeable associates. Though not often given credit, Franz Schubert had a particularly apt understanding of the ambiguity prevalent in romantic poetry. For the most part, the poems he chose to set to music are ambiguous, either in use of theme or imagery conveyed. Lawrence Kramer calls the uncertainty produced
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