UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Politics Without Words: Mendelssohn and His Music in Restoration-Era Prussia (1841-47) A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology by Julius Reder Carlson 2015 © Copyright by Julius Reder Carlson 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Politics Without Words: Mendelssohn and His Music in Restoration-Era Prussia (1841-47) by Julius Reder Carlson Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Raymond L. Knapp, Chair Using hermeneutic analyses of compositions Felix Mendelssohn wrote during the 1840s as points of departure, this dissertation depicts him as a cultural figure who used music to both underwrite and transform the state and identity politics of Restoration-era Prussia and, more broadly, German-speaking Europe. Four musical case studies point to diverse facets of this sociopolitical engagement, contextualizing it within contemporary Prussian politics and the history of German-speaking Jewry. In Chapter 2, a Sir Walter Scott-inflected examination of the narrative of the Scottish Symphony sheds light on Mendelssohn’s investment in a “politics of reconciliation,” a state-sponsored discourse that advocated the integration of minority groups into Prussian modernity through the historicization of difference. In Chapter 3, a Ludwig Tieck- informed hearing of the incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream reveals an effort at !ii state-sponsored cultural appropriation that both glorified and critiqued the Prussian monarchical order. In Chapter 4, comparison of Mendelssohn’s Prussian sacred music with the work of contemporary plastic artists August Reichensperger and Philipp Veit suggests that the composer’s use of historical “Catholic” styles was intended as a form of engagement in nationalist politics, both Prussian and pan-German. In Chapter 5, a rehearing of the opening Allegro of the Violin Concerto is used as a metaphor for the leadership role that Mendelssohn assumed in developing a “German” musical canon, building “German” musical institutions, and assimilating Jewish musicians into “German” musical life. The dissertation concludes, in Chapter 6, with a brief look at Weimar-era anti-Semitic and philo-Semitic reactions to Mendelssohn’s oeuvre, an exploration intended to emphasize the sociopolitical stakes of discourse about music and to invite further research on Mendelssohn reception. !iii The dissertation of Julius Reder Carlson is approved. Olivia Ashley Bloechl Mitchell Bryan Morris David N. Myers Raymond L. Knapp, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 !iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………… vi List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………… viii Acknowledgments ……………………………………………………………………… ix Vita ……………………………………………………………………… xi Chapter 1 Politics Without Words: Mendelssohn and his music in Restoration-Era Prussia (1841-47)……………………………………………………….. 1 Chapter 2 The Politics of Reconciliation: The Scottish Symphony and the Waverley Novels………………………………………………………… 22 Chapter 3 The Politics of Appropriation: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op.61……………………………………………………………………. 54 Chapter 4 The Politics of Religion: Mendelssohn’s Prussian Sacred Music……….. 91 Chapter 5 Beyond Prussia: The German Politics of the Violin Concerto………….. 127 Chapter 6 Epilogue: Das Judentum in der Musik, or Mendelssohn’s Conversion to Judaism………………………………………………………………….. 159 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………... 169 !v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 The German Confederation as it existed for the majority of Mendelssohn’s lifetime…………………………………………………. 10 Figure 1.2 Members of the Mendelssohn and Itzig families mentioned in this text……………………………………………………………………… 13 Figure 2.1 The title page of Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony (1842), “composed and dedicated to her majesty Queen Victoria of England by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.”……………………………………………….. 28 Figure 2.2 The conclusion of the Andante con moto……………………………….. 33 Figure 2.3 The storm of the Allegro un poco agitato……………………………….. 33 Figure 2.4 The human community of the Allegro non troppo………………………. 35 Figure 2.5 The battle scene of the Allegro vivacissimo…………………………….. 35 Figure 2.6 The Männerchor opening of the Allegro maestoso assai……………….. 37 Figure 2.7 The melody of the Allegro maestoso assai (above) and that of Vaterland in deinen Gauen, one of four Männerchor part songs that Mendelssohn wrote for the Leipzig Gutenberg Festival of 1840………………………. 45 Figure 3.1 A gust of wind followed by falling leaves — or perhaps the elves’ reaction to Titania’s and Oberon’s fight (Scherzo)………………………. 63 Figure 3.2 “Hermia searches everywhere for Lysander, and eventually loses herself in the woods.”…………………………………………………………… 64 Figure 3.3 The Notturno horn theme……………………………………………….. 65 Figure 3.4 Courtly fanfares and galloping horses in the Hochzeitsmarsch…………. 66 Figure 3.5 Oberon restores order in the Andante tranquilo of melodrama No.8…… 68 Figure 3.6 Puck leads Demetrius and Lysander “up and down” and then breaks into hysterical laughter (Melodrama No.6)………………………………….. 69 Figure 3.7 The Tieck-Mendelssohn staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Sansoucci, 1843………………………………………………………… 73 Figure 3.8 The Waldhörner (in C and F) from the Overture of Der Freischütz……. 78 Figure 3.9 Mendelssohn’s Notturno theme…………………………………………. 78 !vi Figure 3.10 Weber’s Wolfsschlucht scene, a probable inspiration for Mendelssohn’s Intermezzo No.5…………………………………………………………. 79 Figure 3.11 Oberon resolves conflict, guiding his subjects forwards in tranquil harmony………………………………………………………………… 82 Figure 3.12 “All is well” accompanied by a descent from major to minor mode in “Bundte Schlangen,” No.3……………………………………………… 88 Figure 4.1 Am Neujahrstag, the first of the penitential Sechs Sprüche…………….. 106 Figure 4.2 West facade of the Cologne Cathedral, Meister Arnold c.1280………… 112 Figure 4.3 The centerpiece of Philipp Veit’s The Introduction of Christianity into Germany by St. Boniface (1836)………………………………………… 116 Figure 4.4 Philipp Veit’s depiction of Germania in The Introduction of Christianity into Germany by St. Boniface (1836)……………………… 117 Figure 4.5 An excerpt from Civitas sancti tui as published by the Musical Antiquarian Society in 1842…………………………………………….. 124 Figure 5.1 The cadenza and opening bars of the recapitulation of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto………………………………………………………….. 128 Figure 5.2 The integration of the Allegro and Andante of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto…………………………………………………………………. 133 Figure 5.3 The Leipzig Music Conservatory circa 1850……………………………. 142 Figure 5.4 The “Jewish” theme of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto……………….. 155 Figure 5.5 Excerpt from the Allegro of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.5…………… 156 Figure 5.6 Excerpt from the Allegro of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto…………… 157 !vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Mendelssohn’s five mature symphonies…………………………………….... 27 Table 2 The narrative of the Scottish Symphony……………………………………… 32 Table 3 The “natural” narrative of the Scottish Symphony, section 1……………….... 34 Table 4 The human narrative of the Scottish Symphony…………………………….... 36 Table 5 Narrative similarities between Waverley and the Scottish Symphony……….. 42 Table 6 The structure of the incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op.61………………………………………………………………………….. 61 Table 7 Compositions written by Mendelssohn for the Prussian Agende…………….. 100 Table 8 Heinrich Berl’s Jewish music publications over the course of the 1920s…….. 163 !viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Like most dissertations, this one has incubated for many years, and would not have been possible without the mentors, advisors, and colleagues who have shepherded, counseled, and encouraged me along the way. Raymond Knapp’s confidence in my ideas and abilities, and his unwavering commitment to, and advocacy for, my work, provided me with moral, institutional, and financial support; his detailed, and thought-provoking feedback, intellectual stimulus. My committee members Olivia Bloechl, Mitchell Morris, and David Myers were a source of inspiration, both in written word and private counsel. My interactions with the German and Israeli colleagues that I met during my DAAD research year at the Technische Universität Berlin — Wolfgang Benz, Werner Bergmann, Ulrich Wyrwa, Irina Novak, Irit Dekel, and Judit Frigyesi among them — remained catalysts for thought, despite their geographical, and sometimes temporal, distance. Multiple institutions and funding organizations allowed me the luxury of dedicating my time and energy to research and writing. A Dissertation Year Fellowship and a Charles E. and Sue K. Young Graduate Student Award from UCLA provided me with generous funding for 2014-15. A DAAD Research Grant and a Ciro Zoppo Research Fellowship facilitated archival research at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung. Teaching opportunities in the UCLA Musicology Department and at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music helped me to make ends meet along the way. !ix And, of course, no project would be possible without the love and support of my family and friends. Thank you Shabnam, Daniel, Mischka, Deborah and Andy, Damjan, Barbara, Alex, Myva, Sonja, Raspe, Joy and Paul, and Mom and Dad. !x VITA 2002 B.M., Music History Oberlin College and Conservatory 2005 M.A., Musicology Department of Musicology Universidad de Chile 2005-06 DAAD Research Grant (Germany) 2007-09 Teaching Assistant Department of Ethnomusicology and Department of Musicology University of California, Los Angeles