THE EVOLVING ROLE OF MUSIC IN THEODOR STORM’S NOVELLAS by Marie-Thérèse Renée Ferguson A thesis submitted to the Graduate Program of the Department of German in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada April 2015 Copyright ©Marie-Thérèse Ferguson, 2015 Abstract The texts of Theodor Storm (1817-88) engage with the role of the artist and works of art in society during the latter half of the nineteenth century. While the role of painting and writing has already been analyzed in this regard, the function of music in Storm’s work has not been hitherto researched to any great degree. Musicians, however, feature prominently among the artists he portrays. They encounter various artistic and personal difficulties that this dissertation analyzes both through close readings and from a literary-historical perspective. The analysis focuses on three novellas entitled Ein stiller Musikant (1875), Zur “Wald- und Wasserfreude” (1879), and Es waren zwei Königskinder (1884), which illustrate the changing role of music in the lives of the protagonists. In order to show the development of economic and social changes that took place after the 1848 Revolution and during the Gründerzeit, the texts are analyzed in chronological order. This thematic study argues that the reflection on music can be interpreted as a specialized reflection on the topic of the artist in general, which, in itself, is a prominent theme in Romanticism. Taking into account how Romantic notions of life and art lost their appeal both during and as a result of the forces of industrialization, the study shows how music, first presented as a nurturing and comforting force in the Biedermeier era, becomes progressively less important, and, in the end, loses its appeal as artistic salvation. The novellas use music as a literary technique in order to comment on education, both musical and academic, with particular emphasis on girls’ education. In addition to transcending gender and social barriers, as well as establishing a continuity of sorts between the past and the present, music also serve as a psychological tool to suggest or express feelings or a state of mind. In the same vein, physical features and instruments are used in the characterization of the ii protagonists, while also reflecting ethnic stereotypes common to both literature and greater society at the time. iii Acknowledgements Embarking on a program of graduate studies was an idea that lay at the back of my mind for a long time. For starters, I want to thank Dr. Patrick O’Neill and Dr. Pugh who, by accepting me into the graduate program of the German Department at Queen’s University, made this incredible journey possible. Thank you, in particular, to Dr. Christiane Arndt, my Doktormutter, for her judicious guidance and positive feedback that kept me going. My thanks also go to Dr. Jill Scott and Prof. Dr. Werner Nell (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg) for their advice and continuous support. I also want to thank Dr. Jean-Jacques Hamm (Queen’s University) for his useful remarks, along with Dr. Patricia Minnes (Queen’s University) for her unfailing trust in me from the start. Thank you to Dr. Margaret Maliszewska for helping me with the administrative side of my project, and to Nathalie Soini, M.A., who helped me navigate the perils of the template and much more. My gratitude also goes to the staff of the Stauffer Library and the Music Library, as well as the School of Graduate Studies for their kindness and help along the way. To Dr. Petra Fachinger and Dr. Bill Reeves, thank you for giving me confidence at the beginning of my journey. Vielen Dank to Frau Elke Jacobsen, archivist at the Theodor-Storm-Gesellschaft in Husum, who made me feel very welcome during my stay and whose help has been invaluable. Many thanks also to Dr. Karl Ernst Laage for granting me an interview while I was researching my project in Husum. And, of course, thank you to my colleagues in the German Department (in alphabetical order): Pia Banzhaf, Rebecca Hügler, Maria Irchenhauser, Steffi Kullick, Eva Sattelmayer, Corina Szarka, and particularly to Andrea Speltz for her help with a difficult comprehensive exam. iv Special thanks go to my friends Dr. Monika Holzschuh and Linda Dong for their support, and to Dr. Joan Gladwell for proofreading my dissertation and giving me precious advice on the pitfalls of the English language. Finally, I want to thank my children Anne and Thomas Ferguson for their constant support and for the trust they have always placed in me. I dedicate my dissertation to them, and to the memory of my parents. v Statement of Originality I hereby certify that all of the work described within this thesis is the original work of the author. Any published (or unpublished) ideas and/or techniques from the work of others are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. Marie-Thérèse Ferguson April 2015 vi Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... iv Statement of Originality ............................................................................................................................... vi List of Abbreviations (Primary Literature) ................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2 A Literary and Musical Background to Storm’s Music Novellas .............................................. 13 Chapter 3 The Power of Music in Ein stiller Musikant .............................................................................. 46 Chapter 4 Hopeless Aspirations in Zur “Wald- und Wasserfreude” .......................................................... 86 Chapter 5 Es waren zwei Königskinder: Romantic Realism in the Life of Music Students ..................... 118 Chapter 6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 143 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................. 146 vii List of Abbreviations (Primary Literature) BTSGK Der Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor Storm und Gottfried Keller. Ed. Peter Goldammer. Berlin: Aufbau, 1967. Print. TSBH Theodor Storm – Briefe in die Heimat aus den Jahren 1853-1864. Ed. Gertrud Storm. Berlin: Curtius, 1914. Print. TSES Theodor Storm – Erich Schmidt Briefwechsel. Ed. Karl Ernst Laage. 2 vols. Berlin: Schmidt, 1976. Print. TSPH Theodor Storm – Paul Heyse Briefwechsel: Kritische Ausgabe. Ed. Clifford Albrecht Bernd. 3 vols. Berlin: Schmidt, 1969. Print. TSSW Theodor Storm: Sämtliche Werke in vier Bänden. Ed. Karl Ernst Laage and Dieter Lohmeier. 4 vols. Frankfurt a. M: Deutscher Klassiker, 1987/88. Print. viii Chapter 1 Introduction Theodor Storm (1817-88), a poet and a canonical novelist of German Realism, spent most of his life in Husum, a small port town in Schleswig-Holstein. The bulk of his prose output consists of novellas. Densely atmospheric, his earlier work makes use of lyrical language and exhibits many Biedermeier characteristics. Over time, Storm’s writings took on an increasingly Realist character. From very early on, the thread throughout his oeuvre is the unavoidable passage of time and an engagement with immortality through art. One of the techniques he used in his endeavor to recapture the past was to give his novellas a frame structure, within which the characters reminisce. A further constant in his writings is the protagonists’ quest for happiness, which they seldom find.1 In Storm’s work, these overall themes recur in a variety of topics, often under the guise of historical novellas. Among the most important of these topics are the decline of the nobility, the marked differences between social classes, family conflicts, and the role of heredity. But Storm’s texts, notably with respect to the lament of transience and the question of art and immortality, reflect on artists and on their place and their role in society. His first novella, Immensee (1850) is known as a Künstlernovelle, the first of many. Its main protagonist is a poet who chose to live for his art rather than become a “useful” member of society (i.e., a burgher), losing his sweetheart to his rival in the process. This novella became an instant bestseller and has been the subject of many scholarly studies ever since. Eine Malerarbeit (1867) and Aquis Submersus (1876) feature two very different painters. The one in Eine Malerarbeit does not have 1 For a more detailed introduction to Storm and his oeuvre, see Fritz Martini, Deutsche Literatur im bürgerlichen Realismus, 1848-1898 (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1981) 630-61. 1 the necessary talent to become a great artist, but finds his calling and happiness in teaching a young aspiring painter and building a “family” around him. In this text, the painter expresses his sadness, and later on his new-found contentment in two different paintings that sum up his frame of mind. In Aquis Submersus, a painting contains a riddle solved with the help of a diary found long